What is the King James only movement?

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As a KJV Onlyer I guess I can at least answer what my view is. I go a little stronger than the only English translation. I believe it is the Word of God for this generation. To try to concisely answer the reasons for that view:

  1. Psalm 12:6-7 says that God has promised to preserve His Word unto all generations.
  2. Inspiration without preservation doesn't make sense
  3. If God promised to preserve it to all generations, then at any generation in time there is a place you can turn to get God's Word. In the days of Moses and the Prophets it was in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the days of the Apostles and Acts it was in Greek. In the time of the early church it was in Syriac, etc.
  4. Based on the method of translation, the manuscripts that went into the translation, how God used the translation, the fact that God has allowed English to be a major language across the world today, etc, I believe that English is the language in which you find the pure Word of God today and that it is found in the King James Bible.

EDIT:
I didn't answer the question of how common these views are. That I think is hard to say. It is a popular belief amongst the churches and pastors I fellowship the most with. It is by no means held by everyone I fellowship with. Having said that, I am sure it is a minority view in what in general is referred to as "Christianity" today (just take a look at any "Christian" bookstores Bible section, the KJV is one of the smallest and generally not prominently displayed.)

Another KJO view (the one you mention) is that the King James is the Bible in English (I would say that this is not really KJO but KJO-In-English). I believe that most who hold that view, hold it because of the manuscripts that were used for the translation (the Textus Receptus and the Masoretic text), since all other modern English translations use a different text.

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There are differing groups throughout the United States that argue (quite vehemently) about solely using the King James version.

It seems to be divided (very roughly) based on the culture of the area. In the South, for example, some denominations tend to preach out of the King James version more often than churches from the Northern parts of the US (or churches from different denominations). The line in some communities is quite divisive, in fact.

Having said that, I think it boils down to the community itself and what they prefer to listen to and read.

I've been to churches that are primarily older people (with the average age well over 60) and they solely use King James version. Churches that are filled with younger people tend to use a more modern version.

Ultimately, while there are some people who strongly oppose anything but KJV, it seems that it's a matter of preference.

Also, I should note that New King James version seems to be just as popular than KJV. (The numbers are very close.) It retains many of the same translations but changes the "thee" and "thou" for the more modern words "your" and "you".

Ironically, you do lose a sense of singular/plural-ness when you drop "thee" from the vocabulary (which muddles the translation a bit).

As a side note, I once heard someone say that they prefer the King James Version on the grounds that "if it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

Obviously, he was not a biblical scholar. ;)

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