Dad encouraged me to read the Bible. He followed the practice of reading through the Bible every year, and he invited me to do likewise.
My earliest memory of Dad is the same as the last one: up early in the morning, alone, reading the Bible. He always started the day with a cold shower and the Scriptures. I didn't take to the first practice, but the second one stuck.
My dad had little formal education. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, of Lutheran parents, he went to sea at age 14. He sailed the world on sailing vessels, spending months away, weathering the storms of Cape Horn before the Panama Canal was completed. Years later we all (there were nine of us, with me last) sat enthralled as he told and retold stories of life under the mast--adventures, good times and bad times, months of going hungry at the hands of a cruel captain and an unscrupulous ship's purser.
They fell in love. Dad sailed back to Sweden, completed his contract, then returned to Australia as an immigrant to seek out the young woman who had won his heart. Edith shocked her family--staunch Anglicans all, pillars of St. Andrews--by breaking her engagement to the young man approved by the Painters to marry the sailor with no prospects.
As I think back on my father, gone now for 37 years, I find it hard to imagine what he was like when Edith first met him. I remember him as a kind, gentle, godly man that one would never spot to have lived the harsh, rough life of a sailor in those times.
Dad's life changed, changed radically. "To all who received him [that is, Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God," writes the beloved John--"children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1:12, 13, NIV).
At some point Joel Johnsson opened his heart to Jesus. He "received him." He believed in His name. And he became a new person, a different person, a better person. It was as though he had been born again--born of God.
I wish I knew when and how Dad was led to accept Jesus. So many questions I have now that only he could answer, questions I never thought to ask him. Such is the way of a child with their parents: the child thinks the parents will always be there, but then the child leaves home, and before they know it the parents are gone.
This I do know, however: after Joel had been married to Edith for several years, he joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The city of Adelaide, in the tradition of London's Hyde Park, set aside a public area where on Sunday afternoon anyone who wished could mount a soapbox and solve the problems of the world. One Sunday Dad went to the park and heard an Adventist preacher, E. B. Rudge. The speaker's remarks piqued his interest; before long he was getting Bible studies, and at length he was baptized.
Edith also took Bible studies. The preacher who visited her, however--so she recounted the story much later--seemed heedless of the crying babies and pressing household tasks. Edith, whose religion was strongly practical, was turned off by his behavior: whatever the truth of his doctrines, the preacher didn't act like a Christian in her book. She stayed with the Anglican church.
The Adventist message took deep root in Joel's life. He became unswervingly upright in character: years later when as a ministerial student I preached in Adventist churches around Adelaide I met people who volunteered: "Your father was the hardest worker in the building industry"; "Your father is the most honest man in this town."
Sometime--I don't know when--Dad began to get up early to read the Bible. He became thoroughly versed in it, not as a scholar, but as one who loved his Lord devoutly and came to the Word as his daily bread. He served on the conference committee, preached occasionally, helped start a new congregation, and is still most remembered for the Sabbath school class he taught until a few months of his death at age 80.
Growing up, I wasn't a Christian. I didn't read the Bible. But around age 10 or 11, encouraged by Dad, I began to read it--to read it all the way through. In the King James Version, of course.
Whenever I had a question, I would ask Dad about it. Sometimes he didn't have the answer, but would get the answer from a pastor. I remember coming across the word "Selah" in the Psalms and asking Dad what it meant. He didn't know, but he found out for me.
There is power in the Bible. It is an old, old book--in fact, a library of 66 books--but a Life force throbs through it. It is God's Word to us, and if we permit it, that Life will quicken and change us. "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God," Peter tells us (1 Peter 1:23, NIV).
I read the Bible through. I did it again. And again. And again. Inevitably I became a believer. I gave my heart to Jesus, was baptized, and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church at age 16.
For almost as long as I can remember, I have read the Bible through every year. Don't ask me how many times. I don't keep count. The number of times isn't important; feeding on the Word is.
The Bible is a treasure. The whole Bible is a treasure. That's why I think every Christian would want to discover all its treasure.
I once heard an Adventist preacher state publicly that he had never read the entire Bible through, that he found some books so wonderful and helpful that he didn't need to spend time with some of the other parts.
Now, my friend, either the Bible--the whole Bible--is God's Word or it isn't. Either it is all Scripture, or God speaks through only part of it.
We Seventh-day Adventists take the entire Bible as God's word to us. Our very first fundamental belief, titled "The Holy Scriptures," states: "The Holy Scriptures, Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by divine inspiration . . ."
Yes, there are many ways to study the Bible--topically, by taking a theme and tracing it through the Scriptures; opening to a passage or verse and meditating upon it; and so on--and all can bring a blessing. But if we would be grounded in the Bible, we must become acquainted with all it has to say. Which means: Read it right through.
One of my all-time favorite preachers was the late H.M.S. Richards, Sr. I remember sermons he gave many years ago. Richards was always out-and-out biblical, always down-to-earth; and you always walked away knowing just what he had meant.
On his last visit to the Washington, D.C., area I spent a delightful Sunday morning with him. I had asked for a one-hour interview; he gave me the whole morning. Among the many areas we covered that day was the importance of reading the Bible--the whole Bible. He told me he read through the New Testament every month and the Old Testament about three times a year. He had read the Bible between 150 and 200 times.
Have you ever read through the entire Bible? A great many people who see this article will have to answer no.
I'm not here to put a guilt trip on you, my friend. I just want to encourage you just to do it, as my father encouraged me.
It was the best gift a father could give a son. It was the best legacy he could leave me.
I want you to have that gift. It will change you, strengthen you, stabilize you, encourage you, inspire you, motivate you. Keep reading the Bible through, and you will become a new and better person.
Do I hear you say, "I've tried to read through the whole Bible, but I can never get past Leviticus."? Or "I start out to read through the Bible, but I get caught up in so much other stuff that I can't find the time"? Or even, "It's so confusing--some people say to read only the King James Version, but others read new versions, and there are so many; I don't know which to choose"?
So let me give short, pointed answers to questions you may have.
Do I have to read the Bible? Could I listen to it on cassette, for instance?
Surely. Use any technology you choose--cassette, CD, video. Just so long as you get the Scripture itself, not someone's comments or spin on it. Let God speak to you through His Word.
Which version should I use?
Any. The King James Version's lofty language is magnificent but out-of-date. Try a modern translation. No translation is perfect, but God speaks through them all. Here are a few with some of their features:
The New Revised Standard Version uses inclusive language.
The Message, just completed, and strikingly up-to-date.
The Clear Word, is an expanded paraphrase with an Adventist slant. Good for devotional use.
The New Living Translation is a thought-for-thought translation. Good for devotional use.
The New International Version, translated by evangelical scholars, has a good literary quality.
Do I have to start with Genesis and read right on through?
No. Start with the New Testament each year, as I do. I read through the New Testament, then the Old Testament, then read the New Testament again to complete the year. Or you can follow a plan that takes a portion from each Testament each day.
How much time are you talking about each day?
Evangelism for Evangelism
To coincide with the Year of World Evangelism, the Ellen G. White Estate is offering a study guide for use with the book Evangelism, a compilation of Ellen White's counsels regarding personal and public evangelism. The study guide for this and other books by Mrs. White is available from the Ellen G. White Estate Web site: www.whiteestate.org/ guides/studies.asp.
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Twenty minutes or so. You need at least 20 minutes with God for Him to settle you down and get through to you.
How will I ever find that sort of time?
Let me ask you: Do you find time to eat? If you want to, you can find the time.
I have tried before, but peter out.
You can't do it? Good. Let God take charge and do it for you. Noelene Johnsson found that out. See her sidebar with this article.
How do I get past Leviticus?
Keep reading--you will be out of that book in only a week. Or start with the New Testament and finish that before you read the Old Testament.
Where do I find a Bible?
Try your Adventist Book Center or a Christian bookstore.
How do I get through the whole Bible in one year?
Simple. Read three chapters each day and four every Sabbath.
But it's already into January. Do I have to wait for another year to start?
No way. Simply read four chapters every day, and you will soon catch up.
Any other suggestions?
Always pray before you open the Bible. Ask God to help you to be open to His Word for you (yes, Leviticus is His Word!).
Year by year, change the version.
Put yourself in the story. Identify with a Bible character.
Look for Jesus--in both Testaments.
And start--start today.
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William G. Johnsson is editor of the Adventist Review.
HEN I WAS 10 OR 11, MY FATHER GAVE ME A wonderful gift. It was a gift that changed me and has stayed with me to this day.
On one of his voyages Dad's ship sailed down to Australia and anchored at Port Adelaide. While he was there a group of young people--a glee club from St. Andrews church--gave a program one night at the sailors' mission. Through that seemingly chance encounter Joel Johnsson, a tall strapping Swede who knew no English except cuss words, met Edith Painter, a petite, pretty, feisty brunet.
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