Steele's Introductory Remarks




My name is Darron Steele.  I am at the other end of this public correspondence.  I have some comments that I am hoping that Brother Morton will share with you.

First of all, it is sometimes alleged that Christians who advance positions holding that the King James Version is superior to any other English translation or even any translation into any language do so for personal gain.  I have never doubted that T. Morton truly does believe that the King James Version is superior to any other Bible translation, and both reading his book and our private and public correspondence confirms this in my judgment.

I first contacted T. Morton in 2002 to try to explain a position that he criticized in his book on pages 25 and 26 with these words:

“Frequently, when Bible believers say the King James Version is the pure, inerrant word of God, someone will object and say: "If God gives the English speaking people a perfect Bible as you claim, is He not obligated to give one in every other language?" The answer is a resounding NO! Bible correctors and ignorant Christians often use this type of "logic" to try and intimidate the believer into thinking it is impossible for the Authorized Version to be pure and inerrant. Actually, they are saying either the King James Version has errors in it or God is unjust in not giving all other nations a perfect Bible in their own language. With this kind of either/or reasoning, they try to force the Bible believer to concede that the Authorized Version has errors in it by insisting that if it does not, God's integrity is in question. What a devious tactic: trying to pit the believer's love and respect for God against God's word and promises. These people did not learn this type of reasoning by studying the Bible; it is purely human, if not Satanic.”

I tried to explain to him how the argument actually works, and that the people who use it are not evil people.  He returned an e-mail gently attacking my position.  Our e-mails escalated into less than pleasant ones.  We only corresponded sporadically, but every time we did our e-mails escalated.  A couple of habits that bothered me about Brother Morton were 1) his tendency to allege that I did not believe cardinal doctrines of proper Christian faith, and 2) his tendency to attack me on issues completely unrelated to the subjects of discussion.  Over time his reasons for doing both seemed to become understandable.  Since I did not hold the same position as he did regarding biblical authority, it is natural that he would suspect that I rejected cardinal Christian doctrines exposited by Scripture in any Greek text.  His second tendency seemed at first to be in part a coping strategy for being unable to deal with the central issues of the KJV debate and in another part an inability to attack an issue without attacking its holder, but over time it became apparent that He was concerned that I am not saved because I did not think like he does on many subjects.  Naturally I appreciate his concern about my salvation!

Subsequent bursts of communication occurred  because I had questions for T. Morton.  I am delighted to have a 'superiority of the KJV' author to correspond with because although I have an academic understanding of this position, I do not understand it fully because I do not hold it myself.  Brother Morton does not always answer questions kindly when he suspects that the asker does not believe like he does regarding the KJV.  This resulted in escalations into less than pleasant e-mails and one or both of us would come to our senses and just stop.  The burst of communication that inspired this public correspondence started when I sent T. Morton a pre-publication copy of my book.  It was just an 'F.Y.I.' and I was surprised when he responded about two months later.  He took issue with something in my book that had nothing to do with the KJV debate.  This resulted in escalating less than pleasant e-mails and I finally had enough; I decided this time that I was going to try to show him the folly of his position even if he would not accept it.  He got tired and suggested a public correspondence, and at the same time I independently began to feel guilty for my part in a correspondence that would not glorify God and the religion of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.  I confessed to both myself and to T. Morton that I had begun writing e-mails not just to defend myself personally anymore but also “pushing to win.”  I told him that I now recognized that I would not convince him anymore than I would convince Dr. Samuel Gipp or Dr. Peter Ruckman.  I asked permission to ask questions as I had them, but I did not want to argue anymore.  He responded that he likewise was curious about my ways of thinking since I think uniquely.  I consented to this public correspondence which you can now read.

T. Morton is not like many who hold to the 'supremacy of the Authorized Version.'  Many will do no more than regurgitate what their pastor tells them or what the intellectual leaders of the 'supremacy of the KJV' movement write.  T. Morton is not like that.  I read his book and would sometimes get the impression that he agrees with something the likes of Dr. Peter Ruckman or Dr. Samuel Gipp wrote, only to learn in an e-mail that in fact he does NOT believe something I deduced he did.  This happened multiple times in our private correspondence.   I have come to the conclusion that T. Morton is indeed an individual thinker within the 'supremacy of the KJV' movement, and is as complex and analytical as the movement's intellectual leaders.

The reader needs to understand the basics of my religious convictions. I believe that the Hebrew/Aramaic Old Testament and Greek New Testament as God gave them the first time bear God's full authority.  Details are best seen in the PDF outline.  I believe Christians should believe everything that those Scriptures teach and dogmatically hold no belief that they do not authorize.  More importantly than this, however, I believe that

1)     all people are sinners
2)     that God cannot allow sin to go unpunished
3)     that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and died a brutal death bearing the punishment for the sins of those who would accept His act on their behalf and would recognize Him as Lord
4)     that those who trust Jesus Christ to save them on virtue of His brutal death and will strive to serve Him as Lord will have their sins taken away and be forgiven of them so that they go to Heaven and escape Hell.

I have accepted Jesus Christ's sacrifice on my behalf and seek to serve Him as my Lord.  If you have not done so, I cannot urge you any more strongly that you should do this immediately.



Back to,
 Morton/Steele Debate Home

or,
Morton/Steele Debate - a