Reading the KJV Bible
A True Story
A dozen years later, another great American statesman named Theodore Roosevelt, who served as U.S. President early in the 20th century, pointed out that "a thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education".
Then Ronald Reagan, arguably the greatest American president since World War 2, quipped, "Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face."
As you can see, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan were such great believers in the Bible. Recently, I asked myself: If those wise, learned and clear-thinking statesmen believed deeply in the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, who am I to doubt it?
To tell you the truth, there was a time when I doubted the veracity of the Bible; that was in the years 2006 and 2007 when I was a student at Starehe Institute. I remember one night in April 2007 as I was having a conversation with some folks at Starehe, I dismissed the Bible, rather condescendingly, as a book of the Jews.
Around that time I made that condescending remark about the Bible, I joined a choir of All Saints' Cathedral church in Nairobi. Guess what! When it came time to be vetted whether I was fit to sing with the choir on Sundays, one of the choir committee members interviewing me asked me if I read the Bible. I lied to him that I did. And when he insisted on knowing which version of the Bible I read, I again lied to him that I read the King James Version (KJV).
As I have said, I didn't believe in the Bible at that time I was interviewed by a choir committee at All Saints' Cathedral. I just lied that I read the KJV Bible so that I could be permitted to sing with the choir and play the organ. And I don't know how the King James Version Bible came into my mind when one of the committee members insisted on knowing which version of the Bible I read. Maybe it's because it was the version I had heard about most.
The choir committee must have discerned that I was lying because they didn't permit me to sing with the choir. They had me stay on probation for quite a number of months. And during those months, I began warming towards the Bible. Eventually, I came to embrace it as the inerrant Word of God and as my code of conduct.
Over the years, I have managed to read the whole Bible but interestingly, I have never laid my hands on the King James Version (KJV) until this month. Well, I didn't read the whole of it; I only went through the books of Proverbs, Psalms and Matthew (in that order). Imagine since 2007 when I lied to a choir committee at All Saints' Cathedral that I read the KJV Bible, I only read it for the first time this month - that's more than 14 years later! I was such a big liar.
Now, the King James Version Bible is so named because it was published under the auspices of King James of England in the year of our Lord 1611. Having been published many years ago, it is full of such archaic words as "thee", "thou", "thy" and "ye".
Before I began reading the KJV Bible this month, I was a bit apprehensive that it might bore me to death with its archaic language. But wow! I actually enjoyed reading it, so much that I found myself underlining verse after verse which I'd love to read again in the future. Allow me, my dear reader, to briefly tell you the verses from the KJV Bible that stuck most in my memory.
From the book of Proverbs, the verse that I remember most is Proverbs 4:7 which says, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: And with all thy getting, get understanding." That verse has inspired me to keep growing in wisdom, in knowledge and in understanding.
From the book of Psalms, the verse that I recall most is Psalm 37:5 which says, "Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." That verse has encouraged me to keep involving God in everything I do and to believe in Him.
And from the book of Matthew, the verses that I recollect most are Matthew 6:14-15 which say, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Those verses have reminded me that I need to forgive those who have wronged me just as I need to be forgiven for the many times I have erred. That's all I am saying.
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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed the above story on me reading the KJV Bible, you might also enjoy another one on "Understanding the Bible" which I wrote about two years ago. Just click on that link in blue to dive straight into the story.
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