VPP: A NEW DOCTRINE!

This was the verdict given by the Judge at the trial between Life BPC and the FEBC (see Straits Times July 1, page B7). What is VPP? It is Verbal Plenary Preservation. The advocates of this doctrine say that God has preserved the New Testament manuscript, the Textus Receptus (TR) or Received Text, from where the KJV Bible is translated, to be God's preserved manuscript for the Church today. This is new to us in the B-P Church.

We were taught VPI by our founding father of the B-P Church, the late Rev Timothy Tow. VPI means Verbal Plenary Inspiration. That means the Bible is wholly God's Word. Every Word of it is God-breathed. Then suddenly, FEBC came out with this new doctrine sometime in 2002. Rev Tow was also influenced by it. VPP and VPI are two different doctrines to me.

While we believe that God did preserve the Bible for us today, the KJV is not the only version God has given to the church. VPP proponents will always deny that it's not about the KJV but it's about the TR. But when you tell them that you are using a Bible version other than the KJV, they will mark you as a neo-evangelical or a neo-fundamentalist, etc. To them, the KJV is the only Bible to be used in the church. To this people, this is the only Bible God has preserved for the English speaking church. This is all new to the church.

When a new doctrine is taught we must be careful! These people have denied that it is a new doctrine. We see it as a new doctrine (teaching) when it was first introduced to the B-P Church, and now it has been confirmed by a non-Christian Judge that it is a new doctrine.

Brethren, keep VPP out of Grace Church! Be careful that it does not creep into our teaching. This new doctrine has troubled the B-P Church. Churches and family members have been divided on this doctrine.

God has given us His Word, the Bible, not only in the KJV but also in many good and faithful translations today. One of the translations you may want to use for your personal study is the English Standard Version (ESV). This is a more literal translation than the NIV.

The B-P Church has always been using the KJV. Since the dissolution of the B-P Synod in 1988, some B-P groups have gone on to use the NIV, but most are still using the KJV. We have no problem accepting either one of these versions. But the KJV-Only people will fight even those churches using the KJV. Strange behaviour indeed!

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