Monday evening, the 14th of September, the moment had finally come. The now famous and record breaking bible arrived at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. Pastor Jonathan Barrett from the United Kingdom hand delivered the Bible. He was met by the country's youth director Jeroen Tuinstra and one of the church's youth members.
The following day the bible made its appearance at The Hague church, where an open seminar had been organised to think about the influence of language and culture upon the way we read the bible and how the bible and following traditions have influenced our lives today. The Netherlands Union Conference felt that it was important to make this an all-inclusive event. Other churches, religious institutions and other organisations were invited. Among the visitors were representatives of the national council of churches and the bible society.
Speakers were two professors, experts in their own field, Patrick Chatelion Counet and Rudy Van Moere, who held interesting lectures on culture and language. Afterwards attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions and were invited to share their thoughts. Even though it was 'Prinsjesdag', the day that the queen holds her annual speech and the budget is announced, about forty people attended the evening. Shortly a little booklet will be published, with in it the book of Jude (the book in the travelling bible in Dutch), commentaries from the two speakers at the seminar and possibly their lectures.
The next morning the Union office employees had their picture taken with the bible and were very much intrigued with all the languages that represented a diverse and worldwide church. Of course Dutch was looked up but Afrikaans and Pigeon English were also favourites. The gracious writings of some oriental languages harvested admiration. Later that day the bible travelled onward to Greece, where more people would be added to the list of those inspired to read a little more of that precious word of God.
Pastor Wim Altink (Netherlands Union President): "The Follow The Bible project has reached its goal in the Netherlands: at the day that the Dutch Queen read "the State of the Union" at the opening of the Parliamentary Year, one of the professors from the University of Brussels - who himself is an Adventist - clearly and eloquently stated that most issues in the area of different faith opinions can be addressed by "reading, re-reading and reading anew" of large portions of Scripture. God's State of Union was spoken of with love, expertise and dedication. The torch of FTB has rekindled the love of reading Gods Word, certainly for those who attended the seminar."
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
The following day the bible made its appearance at The Hague church, where an open seminar had been organised to think about the influence of language and culture upon the way we read the bible and how the bible and following traditions have influenced our lives today. The Netherlands Union Conference felt that it was important to make this an all-inclusive event. Other churches, religious institutions and other organisations were invited. Among the visitors were representatives of the national council of churches and the bible society.
Speakers were two professors, experts in their own field, Patrick Chatelion Counet and Rudy Van Moere, who held interesting lectures on culture and language. Afterwards attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions and were invited to share their thoughts. Even though it was 'Prinsjesdag', the day that the queen holds her annual speech and the budget is announced, about forty people attended the evening. Shortly a little booklet will be published, with in it the book of Jude (the book in the travelling bible in Dutch), commentaries from the two speakers at the seminar and possibly their lectures.
The next morning the Union office employees had their picture taken with the bible and were very much intrigued with all the languages that represented a diverse and worldwide church. Of course Dutch was looked up but Afrikaans and Pigeon English were also favourites. The gracious writings of some oriental languages harvested admiration. Later that day the bible travelled onward to Greece, where more people would be added to the list of those inspired to read a little more of that precious word of God.
Pastor Wim Altink (Netherlands Union President): "The Follow The Bible project has reached its goal in the Netherlands: at the day that the Dutch Queen read "the State of the Union" at the opening of the Parliamentary Year, one of the professors from the University of Brussels - who himself is an Adventist - clearly and eloquently stated that most issues in the area of different faith opinions can be addressed by "reading, re-reading and reading anew" of large portions of Scripture. God's State of Union was spoken of with love, expertise and dedication. The torch of FTB has rekindled the love of reading Gods Word, certainly for those who attended the seminar."
