From Florida

Greetings from sunny Miami, Florida!

I remember when I was first introduced to Alpha and Omega ministries. It was 2001, and I was a sophomore attending Clearwater Christian College taking Greek for the first time, and I had a dear friend of mine that was KJV only (actually there were four of them, but I’m only going to mention one of them). One morning a chapel speaker came and used the NASB as his text, and not the KJV. Before I go on, let me just say that the CCC did not take a “KJV Only” stance, but used the KJV for the sake of tradition (whatever that meant), and so required the speakers to use the KJV when they spoke in chapel. So I mentioned it to my friend in a kind of joking manner about the use of NASB, and he was not happy about it. So I asked him plainly, why he took the stance on the KJV. He basically told me that it came down to the Greek Text. He explained to me about the TR being the superior Greek text, and that the CT was just a “man made compilation.” Needless to say, I was distraught and felt ignorant because I had never heard that before. At the time, I thought it was just Hebrew and Greek and I didn’t know there was any such thing as a Textus Receptus or a Critical Text. It also bothered me because I wanted a NASB because of it was a literal translation. I called my brother on the phone, who was attending seminary at the time, and told him this argument that was presented to me. He was also caught off guard with that argument!

For weeks I prayed and thought, and then…it happened. My roommate, who also took Greek with me, said that he just found out that Erasmus had “back-translated” a part of the TR from Jerome’s Vulgate. I was suprised, and I asked my roommate where he found such a jewel of information, and he said to me that it came from “James White’s website.” So I thought to myself, “Ok someone who has answers.” So the next day I talked to my KJV friend about my discovery, and he really didn’t have an answer for it. Soon after I was getting ready to drive to Miami for Easter break, and my brother calls me and says, “Juan, get over here before you go home, I have something for you to listen to.” So I went to my brother’s apartment and he said, “I have a debate between a KJV guy, and this guy James White, have you ever heard of him?” I said, “Actually, I just heard about him.” So I stayed at my brother’s apartment for a while, and listened carefully to your debate with Dr. D.A. Waite of the Dean Burgon society. I was fascinated with your responses, and your clear presentation of the transmission of the New Testament. After that day, I have been a regular visitor to your website to not only read and hear about “KJV-Onlyism”, but also Roman Catholocism, Islam, and your defense of Calvinism. AOMIN.org has been a starting point to much of my research on said issues. I also direct people all the time to check your website when they want information about certain Christian issues.

In 2002, I was further blessed when I was able to see you debate live against John Sanders on the issue of Inclusivism and Open Theism in Clearwater and Orlando (yes I was part of group of college kids who followed you around Central Florida). Now that I’m back in Miami, I pray that I get to see you debate again in January against Bart Ehrman.

I listen to the Dividing Line every week, as well as watch your videos on YouTube. I pray that the Lord continues to bless your ministry, as you continue to give a ready defense of the hope that is within you.

–JF