Appearance of Evil
I'm certainly no expert in the Bible versions issue, and while I'm currently a "KJV Best" advocate, I'm not (yet! <grin>) a KJVO person. In any case, I had to come to the defense of the KJV in church last weekend.
The pastor was discussing 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22 "Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil."
He mentioned that we usually think of "abstain from all appearance of evil" as never acting in a way that others may mistake for wickedness, and this is how I always looked at it. However, taken in context with the previous verses, it may be more correct that this verse is referring to rejecting new prophecies that were not true. Since the Scriptures were not completed yet, NT believers had to be very careful about new prophecies. Paul was telling them not to despise them, but to prove them (like the Bereans), and to hold fast to those that are true, but to stay away from those that are not.
My main reason for posting this is that he began by saying that the KJV translation was a "bad translation".
As has been discussed in this thread, we need to learn to understand the KJV Bible, not keep revising it every couple of years to try and mold it to the current "understanding" of English words. I pointed out that the word "appearance" also means something that comes out of mid-air, as when a magician makes a rabbit appear. Thus, "abstain from all appearance of evil" perfectly well fits the understanding of "stay away from all new emerging evil [prophecies]".
When I approached him with this, he said he in no way meant to put down the KJV Bible, though in my mind saying that it was a bad translation was certainly putting it down!
Doug A.
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