Some people actually think this. There's not really much to argue about, though. The KJV was translated from the Koine (common) Greek (actually the 1550 edition of Stephanus). So clearly, the Greek version is at least as good, and it is hard to doubt that it is actually better.
So what about these other modern English versions? Can't they be just as good as the KJV? Well, for a while I thought so. I even told a few people that I thought the NASB was a better translation. That was before. There's just something to be said about the tried and true. Listen to (well, read anyway) this quote from S. Frank Logsdon, who sat on the commitee that brought us the NASB,
"I must under God renounce every attachment to the New American Standard."
Well. That's pretty strong. And he said that after his acquaintances kept asking him questions he couldn't refute.
There are some other reasons he gave for using the KJV as the sole English translation (regardless of the quality of others):
Regarding other versions-
- They cause widespread confusion
- They discourage memorization
- They obviate the use of a concordance
- They provide opportunity for perverting the truth
- They make teaching of the Bible difficult
- They elicit profitless argumentation
My pastor made a statement one day that I found remarkable, "Nobody ever went to hell because of the King James Bible". I am not saying that everyone that reads KJV is going to heaven and everyone who reads The Living Bible is doomed to eternal hell, but, whatever things may be wrong with the King James Bible are not so doctrinally poor that it will not lead someone to eternal life.
References:
http://logosresourcepages.org/logsdon.html
Interlinear Greek-English New Testament, George Ricker Berry, Baker Books (ISBN 0-8010-0700-3)