Robert Truelove
Puritan Board Sophomore
In the past we have used the KJV in our family devotions and my daughter (she is now 8 years old) has been reading from it for as long as she could read. I had an understanding that I wanted my children to grow up on the KJV so they could become familiar with it and not struggle with the language by becoming familiar with it. Besides the fact that I was a Traditional Text adherent, I also had no confidence in where the modern translations were ultimately going to go (gender inclusiveness for example) so I figured that it was also 'safe' to raise them on the KJV as that honorable translation is fairly well 'fixed in stone' for all time.
We home school our kids and part of their schooling is to read scripture. My wife has my daughter (my son is just starting to read) read a chapter each day from the scriptures and then in the evenings I ask her questions about what she read. For the most part, she could hardly remember anything she had read and she rarely had any questions (though she could read the text well out loud to my wife). I figured it was because she was only 7 and that her reading skills needed to improve (though she is about 3 grade levels ahead in her reading curriculum).
Then an amazing thing happened, I had a change of understanding about the Critical Text and was studying the ESV as a potential replacement for my KJV as my pulpit Bible. I bought my daughter an ESV and had her start reading from it. After the first day, when I sat down in the evening and asked her what she read I was completely blown away. She had read John 4 about the Samaritan woman and she had a very solid understanding of the text. She knew the whole story and told me all about it (and I do mean all about it, she remembered all the details). Then she had some really good questions for me.
I read the KJV like it was the newspaper because I am very familiar with it. In the past, I haven't had much patience for people who say that they 'can’t understand the KJV'. This experience had changed me. The question struck me, "do I want children who can read Elizabethan English, or children who understand their Bible?"
We home school our kids and part of their schooling is to read scripture. My wife has my daughter (my son is just starting to read) read a chapter each day from the scriptures and then in the evenings I ask her questions about what she read. For the most part, she could hardly remember anything she had read and she rarely had any questions (though she could read the text well out loud to my wife). I figured it was because she was only 7 and that her reading skills needed to improve (though she is about 3 grade levels ahead in her reading curriculum).
Then an amazing thing happened, I had a change of understanding about the Critical Text and was studying the ESV as a potential replacement for my KJV as my pulpit Bible. I bought my daughter an ESV and had her start reading from it. After the first day, when I sat down in the evening and asked her what she read I was completely blown away. She had read John 4 about the Samaritan woman and she had a very solid understanding of the text. She knew the whole story and told me all about it (and I do mean all about it, she remembered all the details). Then she had some really good questions for me.
I read the KJV like it was the newspaper because I am very familiar with it. In the past, I haven't had much patience for people who say that they 'can’t understand the KJV'. This experience had changed me. The question struck me, "do I want children who can read Elizabethan English, or children who understand their Bible?"
Last edited: