Thinking Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Thinking Religion - Essay Example Another misconception is that Baptists only believe in the St. James Bible, which is the first Bible to be mass produced and distributed. This misconception came about because some Baptist churches insisted that worshippers coming to the church were given St. James bibles only. People bringing in their own bibles were pointedly asked by ushers which bibles they had, and if were any other version of the Bible, they were asked to use the St. James Bible only. Those who refused were asked to leave the church. This gave everyone the impression that Baptists believed in the St. James Bible only and not any of the other versions of the Bible which people used. These conservative Baptists believed that other versions were not true interpretations of the word of God and that the true word of God must not be diluted or misinterpreted in any way. This fierce debate was generated by Dr. Peter Ruckman with his book, Bible Babel (1964). Dr. Peter vehemently attacked those who did not agree with h im. This hostility caused embarrassment to Baptists when the debate spread even over the Internet. Before this controversy, choosing a Bible version was quite easy. However, there are some scholars who have maintained self-esteem and responsibility in these discussions. Such sanity is much-admired and highly praised. Instead of making personal attacks on others, they believed in the power of God and his text and did not think that a good Christian is the one that reads the St. James Bible only.