Brother, Sister Relationship Over VPP

Brother, Sister Relationship Over VPP

By Rev Tan Eng Boo

In 2022 I travelled with my two sisters and my wife to Turkey. One of the biblical sites we visited was Hattusa. It is about a three hour drive from Ankara. The distance is 197 KM. Hattusa was the capital city of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze age. The Hittites were an Ancient Anatolian people who established an empire centred on Hattusa in north-central Anatolia around 1600 BC. The city was destroyed, together with the Hittite state itself, around 1200 BC.

I am glad that I was able to accompany my two sisters to visit my nephew’s workplace in Ankara. This would be my sister, Ivy’s, last overseas trip. She went home to be with the Lord on Friday 17 May, 2024. In my testimony at the two nights of vigil service held in Calvary Pandan BPC, I wanted people to know that my sister was a fervent servant of the Lord. I also wanted people to know that we remained a family unit in spite of our differences in Bible version. She was for the King James Only, VPP position. VPP stands for Verbal Plenary Preservation. It simply means that God preserved only one Bible for the English-speaking world, and that is the King James Version (KJV). The basis of this belief is that God has preserved certain Greek Manuscripts underlining the KJV. The B-P Church in Singapore went through a traumatic experience during that period, resulting in family members not talking to one another and not worshipping together.

My family

There are seven of us siblings, two girls and five boys, of which Ivy is the eldest and I am the youngest in the family. We have a 12-year age gap. In her younger days she was a very fervent Christian who was constantly reading her Bible. The Lord used her as His instrument in starting a Bible study group in the Pasir Panjang Community Centre in 1960. I recalled being with her for this Bible study. This was to be the pioneering group of Galilee BPC.

In 1962, Ivy was called to the Lord’s work. She was one of the first students in the Far Eastern Bible College (FEBC) which was started in the same year. Fast forward to 1975, I was also called to the Lord’s work and I studied in FEBC that year.

My father was very happy to see his eldest daughter and youngest son in the service of the Lord. He was most happy when he witnessed my Ordination in October 1981 by the Bible-Presbyterian Synod in Life BPC.

I want to encourage Christian parents to be open and willing to offer their children to full-time Christian service.

Our relationship

We never let the VPP issue break up our brother-sister relationship. She would come to my home on Saturdays before my grandchildren were born and she would be us the whole day. My wife and I would bring her out for lunch or shopping. The most memorable time we had together was the Turkey trip in 2022. Praise the Lord.

I mentioned this matter in my testimony because I know of families who have broken up and are not on talking terms over the VPP issue. This is not the way Christians should behave.

If anyone is going through this issue with your family members, do not let it break up your family unit.

I read the English Standard Version (ESV). We don’t fight over this version. I know she loves her KJV Bible. We don’t thumb each other down.

Will I see my sister Ivy in heaven because I differ with her on Bible version? YES! 

 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom 10:13)

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:          

just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, 

if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34, 35)