Posted by
Sparky Man on Friday, March 02, 2007 3:48:34 PM
Which Bible did Ronald Reagan believe in?
by Josh Sparks
A little-known fact is that former (God rest his soul) President Ronald Reagan publicly and emphatically stated his belief in only one version of the Bible. I agreed with him long before I knew this fact, but it was comforting to know I was in such company when I heard this. The story behind that is an interesting one, too. I used to live in Rapid City, South Dakota, home of Mount Rushmore, and not exactly the conservative capitol of the U.S. Being unemployed at the time, I hung around the public library there quite a bit. They had a pretty good collection of books, videos, and audios in the collection, and one day I ran across a CD that had good ole' Mr. Reagan's smiling face on the cover, a snapshot that appeared to be taken probably in the mid-1960' s or 70's. It was a collection of the nationally syndicated daily radio broadcasts Ronald did back in about '75 or so, after leaving the Governors' office, and going back into private life. I checked it out, went out to my car, and put it in the CD player.
To my amazement, the topic of the Bible came up about 3 or 4 episodes into the disc. I sat there with my jaw hanging open as I heard the great man say, "For more than 3 1/2 centuries, its language and its images, have penetrated more deeply into the general culture of the English speaking world, and been more dearly treasured, than anything else ever put on paper." Of course, he was speaking of the King James Authorized version, first translated in 1611. To hear him say this in his own voice on my car system made me feel like he was sitting right next to me, engaging me in conversation. The impact was further broadened by the fact that I had just finished reading a couple of really good books on him, detailing the depth of his intellect, and his conversational astuteness.
Amazingly in this day of political correctness, he also engaged in some rather pointed barbs against the other, more 'modern' so-called versions of the "Bible." Such as-"In the New Testament, in Matthew, we read "The voice of the one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way." [Matthew 3:3] The Good News version translates that, "Someone is shouting in the desert. Get the road ready." It sounds like a straw boss announcing lunch hour is over." It was a real gasser, as they used to say!
So, for those of us who have the guts to stick to the old book, the next time some liberal 'Christian' jumps on you for believing that 'archaic, mis-translated' version, just tell 'em you'll stick to the same Bible as the honorable President Ronald W. Reagan, thank you very much!
http://www.ebookmall.com/ebook/93843-ebook.htm
http://av1611bible.faithweb.com/