First of all, I don't agree at all with the premise of your reason for the AV's existence.

Also, your NASB doesn't have marginal notes or alternate readings? Sure it does if yours is a reference Bible.

If I had an NASB handy (I don't), I will guarantee you that I could find a LOT of words that you would need a dictionary to look up meanings for. Any fairly literal rendering of Hebrew and Greek into English is going to include plenty of words that require defining UNLESS YOU CHANGE THEIR MEANING (NIV, NLT, Message, etc).

I have read the Dedicatory to the AV and The Translators To The Reader numerous times and I can assure you of this: There is absolutely no way in the world that the AV translators would have worked from the corrupted, incomplete manuscript base that is used for today's modern versions - including your NASB.

I am of the opinion that most - if not all - of the 'new' translations produced since 1970 exist primarily for profit. The only exception (in my opinion) would be old Living Bible. I believe Kenneth Taylor honestly intended to produce a paraphrase for everyman. I don't use it (I did, though, in the 70s) but I don't consider it to be Scripture by any means.

As far as the Bible's influence on Western civilization, surely you would agree that America, the UK and most of Europe (excluding the Godless communist countries) have been comprised of a mostly moral people in recent history. Laws everywhere were based strictly or loosely on Biblical truths and principles. Today, however, it seems that we have lost our moorings and satan gains more ground with each passing day. I believe that the rate of decent has increased at an unprecedented speed during the past 40 years & I would blame this primarily on a lack of faith in and knowledge of the Scriptures by people.

How is it that during the period when the AV was utilized almost exclusively in Western nations the church was strong, Scripture was the primary basis of laws (both federal and local) and most folks had a working knowledge of God's Word? Why is it that most people have no use for God's Word anymore and the few who do have no idea what it says? Why does no one memorize Scripture anymore like they did when the AV was utilized in most places of worship?

They also didn't have a hodgepodge of corrupted manuscripts to contend with.

http://www.christian-worship.org.uk/

Check their website:

http://www.trinitarianbiblesociety.org/

"The gospel needs to be preached by men with the world at their back, the good book (AV) in their hand, and their face looking upward to heaven. These men should be grave, because their message is a message from GOD, and woe unto them if they have corrupted it or preached it in a lighthearted way. Mens' eternal destinies are at stake here. They perish or get saved!"

Do you (Bryan) have anything intelligent or of substance to add to this thread or did you just decide to express your baseless disdain for those of us who do?

Naive and arrogant? I would go so far as to say that I can tell you exactly the songs that were spoken of in those two verses: God's own inspired book of songs, The Psalms. That's all the church sang until centuries later when men like Gadsby and Wesley began composing man-made, uninspired hymns. Look up 'psalms, hymns and spiritual songs' in your Greek dictionary and lexicon. They were singing God's Psalms. Also, name me a hymn that was written 1500 years ago (other than the ones in Scripture).

You are arguing a weak point as far as I'm concerned because I don't have much use for most of the hymns we sing in church, either. Most of them are doctrinally questionable at best and many of them are downright wrong or silly. (But they are still far better than the mindless, repetitive, nonsensical 'praise choruses' that have become all the rage - mainly to line the pockets of the writers and entertain worldings). If I could find a sound church in my area that sang the Metrical Psalms unaccompanied by ANY instruments I would be on the front row every week.