LMBIS stands strong on the principles taught in God's Word. They don't teach much opinion, and they don't teach politics. LMBIS teachers meet with the students before, during, and after school. They eat with the students. As a matter of fact, the fellowship between students and teachers is no different than between students themselves. Even after one year of seminary, I knew that year had been well worth it. In my first year, I learned how to study for myself, and not just listen to what others say.
The major issue that separates us at LMBIS from other schools now is the Bible versions. We aren't against a modern version or new version. We realize the importance of the issue. If we are going to base our lives, and all of our church members' lives on a book, it had better be God's Word. I'd say we all believe the words were inspired or breathed by God. 2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God..." The question arises in preservation of the scriptures. Did God preserve his words, his general messages, or neither? Certainly if He did not preserve anything, we would have no reason to teach or believe the Bible. So He either preserved the general ideas of His Word or He preserved every single word He breathed.
Does the Bible give explanation or answer to what God preserved? If He preserved just the general ideas or messages, one would only have to read the Bible once, and never study again. 2 Timothy 2:15 in the KJV, however, teaches we must study to show ourselves approved to God. To gain the general meaning, one really only needs to know salvation, baptism, Lord's Supper, and love the Lord with all your heart mind and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. If, as the modern Bible version advocate suggest, the Holy Spirit will lead in understanding, one does not need to rely on the Scriptures since we only have a general idea which is left up to interpretation, but rather only learn the basics and then rely on the Spirit to guide the rest of the way. I challenge any to find a scripture which proves the Spirit works in that way after spiritual gifts were done away with.
Instead, the Bible teaches God breathed every single word, considers all of those words important, and preserved all of those words.
(Psalms 12:6) The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
(7) Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
(Exodus 34:27) And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
(Jeremiah 30:2) Thus speaketh the LORD God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
(Matthew 24:35) Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
See, God does not want us just to have his general ideas left up to our interpretation. Instead, He gave us his words, for man will live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).
What does all this tell us? If God breathed His Word (2 Tim 3:16 proves it) and if God preserves His words for all generations (as the other scriptures prove), then since the Bible has been completed, He's been keeping those words for each generation. The verifiable facts are that the pure line of texts which have remained the same as one another have been copied in the Textus Receptus (proven by comparing with early church father writings and recorded speeches). The Textus Receptus was so called because the over 5,000 texts were received as God's words. If we have over 5,000 surviving manuscripts that are over 99% accurate with one another, and by comparing any two to one, we can rule out the accidental copy errors, then we can KNOW what God preserved. Especially since no other texts have been made available to the churches throughout history. The question has only arisen in the past couple of hundred years when people began questioning whether or not we had God's every word. They concluded God had not preserved His Word. They found other texts which had been hidden away for centuries. Why would ANYONE believe God had hidden His Word? Because they did not believe God had preserved it in the first place.
So what do we learn? God breathed his words, preserved them, and the ONLY Bible which had been available to the churches throughout history is the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament and the Textus Receptus New Testament (and the texts it comes from which are the same as it). So what can we consider to be God's Word in English? Only a complete equivalence (aka static or formal equivalence) translation of the Masoretic Text and Textus Receptus. Do we have any of these today? The KJV is. The NKJV claims to be, yet it contains translational errors such as 2 Timothy 2:15. The Third Millenium Bible also makes the claim, yet it adds to the Word of God the entire apocrypha. So this leaves only the King James Version Bible as far as I am aware. The NIV, the ASV, NASB, RSV, NRSV, HCSB, and ESV all come from some text which has not been preserved, and the Living Bible, New Living Translation and the CEV, all are mere paraphrases (as their preface tells).
So why do I love LMBIS? It is a GREAT school, which has taught me the proper methods of study, and has a wonderful fellowship. But most of all, it stands up for the facts and encourages its students to study for themselves to see what is the Word of God. After I studied for a few years, I found the King James Version is defintely without shadow of doubt the ONLY English version of the God's words on which I can base my life at this current time.
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