53° P/SUNNY, Want to help write the Bible?
Last Modified: Friday, November 28, 2008 at 10:35 p.m.
People here can be among the more than 31,000 Americans helping hand write the entire New International Version translation of the Bible.
Two married couples are driving a recreational vehicle from Grand Rapids, Mich., to San Diego - with plenty of stops in between - collecting handwritten Bible verses on a promotional tour called Bible Across America.
The RV will be at Christian Supply in Spartanburg from noon to 6 p.m. Monday.
South Carolina is one of 44 states the RV is rolling through on its five-month tour honoring the 30th anniversary of the NIV.
This is the first NIV Bible to be written "one-verse, one-person" at a time, according to a news release.
The NIV is the most popular Bible translation sold at Christian Supply, owner and president Chuck Wallington said.
Wallington attributes the translation's popularity to its readability and accuracy.
He said many pastors preach from the NIV.
Participating in Bible Across America is a chance to be a part of Bible history, Wallington said. Scribes originally hand lettered the Bible and "this is a little bit of a throwback," he said.
He's hoping Christian Supply will be one of the top sites on the tour.
The Bible Across America RV will visit Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis, Tenn., before coming to Spartanburg.
The books of Numbers and Deuteronomy were completed Nov. 20 when the RV stopped in Oklahoma City.
Zondervan publishes the NIV Bible and launched Bible Across America.
Brian Scharp, vice president of Bible marketing for Zondervan, said Wallington understood the vision for Bible Across America.
Wallington was one of the first to really want to be a part of the project, Scharp said in a phone interview.
"(Bible Across America) was designed, more than anything, to connect people with God's word in a fresh and innovative way, hopefully a way that might encourage them to go and spend more time with the Bible than maybe they've been doing previously to having this experience," he said.
Bible Across America is "a very experiential way for people to engage with God's word," Scharp said.
Some believe the Bible verse they copy is a direct message from God, he said.
Bible Across America participants receive a card with a Bible verse on it that they write twice.
Zondervan will create two Bibles with the handwritten verses.
Scharp said one will be donated to the Smithsonian.
The other will be auctioned on eBay to benefit the International Bible Society, a ministry that translates the Bible and distributes Christian literature.
Copies of the handwritten Bible will be in bookstores by next fall, Scharp said.
People who write a verse receive a card with their name, date and the book chapter and verse that they contributed to "America's NIV."
A number of children have written verses.
Scharp said the only real requirement is that people be able to read and write.
For more information about Bible Across America, visit www.bibleacross america.com, where you can track the RV's route and read the tour team's blog.
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Comments
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November 29, 2008 7:53:45 am
RE: Link
I've heard that the NIV version entirely deleted many verses contained in the King James version. Does anyone know if this is true?
November 29, 2008 10:40:12 am
Both Bibles had 7 books removed from them, and the main difference between NIV and King James IV is that King James IV uses words like thy, which were used in King Jame's time.
November 29, 2008 11:14:33 am
The KJV isn't the original, either. Few read the original. They blindly believe the contents of a human-made and heavily edited text. If humans are proven to lie (and we are), and humans wrote a set of books over a period of years that contain stories of talking snakes, seas magically parting, virgins giving birth, and many other tooth-fairyesque stories, why would we choose to believe them?
Just curious. I'm not attacking. But, if someone wrote a book like that today nobody would believe it. If a man walked the Earth today and claimed to be the "son of God", nobody would believe him. In fact, he would most likely be committed to a mental institution with padded walls and thick steel doors.
November 29, 2008 1:41:03 pm
Richard-The NIV Bible does not contain several verses that are in the KJV Bible. The NIV footnotes, references the verse and states that some older manuscripts contain the verse. The Geneva Bible, which was 90%+ copied to give us the KJV, was the first Bible to separate the text to chapters and verses. Many scholars believe the "verses" are the result of copying the scripture and often times a priest would make a note or comment in the margin. Some of these notes may have found their way into the text on some manuscripts. The KJV contains these verses, generally with no footnote as to their ommission from many manuscripts.
November 29, 2008 2:30:31 pm
The NIV doesn't delete verses, but it does have a different choice of wording...big difference.
Anyway, every denomination believes what they want the way they want, so I guess it really doesn't matter now does it?
November 29, 2008 5:25:03 pm
Of course, there is no "original." There is no letter in the handwriting of Paul. There are no scrolls that have the exact sayings and teachings of Jesus in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Even the oldest Hebrew manuscripts that exist are copies of copies of copies several hundred years removed from the events they record.
November 29, 2008 6:23:30 pm
History tends to support that the manuscripts first found were no more than 50 yrs removed from the times they describe.
November 29, 2008 6:27:35 pm
Have you not heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls?
November 29, 2008 6:29:41 pm
Felix-Maybe delete isnt the right word, but there are several verses in the KJV that are not in the NIV, for the reason I noted before. Check out Matthew 17:21. I can give you 10-15 more if you want to check them out.
November 30, 2008 3:58:51 am
Yes. Those scrolls are what some Bible scholars describe as the "earliest manuscripts" that we have extant. Yet those scrolls are still copies of copies.
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