The Bible — in his own words

Joseph McNeill, a member of Holly Grove Holiness Church, hand wrote the entire King James’ version of the Bible, a process he said brought him closer to the Lord.

“I was on oxygen for seven years,” McNeill stated about why he chose to start handwriting the Bible from beginning to end. “I felt like doing it and the more I dd it the more I enjoyed doing it.”

McNeill started writing the Bible in May of 2013 and he finished six years later in April of 2018. There are 84 tablets filled with the writings.

He started the journey writing the words in cursive and he got all the way up to the Book of Jeremiah before his hand grew too tired and he started to write in print. He found that he liked writing in print so much more than cursive so he restarted his journey writing what he had already written in print.

“The more I did it, the more I wanted to do it,” McNeill shared. “I started off when I was sink in the hospital and I had her (his wife) bring my Bible and a tablet and I started writing it. I brought it home and it dawned on me, ‘why not write it all’ and I started writing it all. It’s like a roadmap. To me, BIBLE spells ‘Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth’ and that’s the way I look at it. I enjoy it.”

McNeill still writes to this day even though he is already completed with the entire Bible. He finds sections that he doesn’t like the way he wrote and rewrites them.

According to McNeill, he will get up every day and have breakfast, watch a little television then get to writing. The retired construction worker spends approximately seven hours a day writing out the Bible. He has a dictionary by his side to check out words that he doesn’t know so that he can better understand what he’s reading and writing.

McNeill’s wife Wanda McNeill said by writing out the Bible, her husband better understands the word of God. She has read the Bible now about five times and she says that she still can’t fully understand what some of the lessons mean.

“The more I do it, the more I understand it,” Joseph stated.

Joseph got a certificate from his church recognizing the fact that he wrote out the entire Bible. The veteran noted that he did not write the Bible out for recognition. He did it because it was something that he wanted to do.

He even wrote it out the way the Bible has it by writing the words of Jesus in red and the rest of the Bible in black ink. The McNeills have the Bible written out on white and yellow tablets. Joseph prefers the white tablets because the ink shows up better and it’s more comprehensive. So, Joseph is trying to find more white tablets to rewrite the parts written on the yellow tablets.

“The more you read something, the better you understand it,” Wanda stated. “I thought what he did was just so unique.”

Joseph has been reading the Bible all of his life. Wanda feels that what her husband is doing is encouraging. Their church encourages people to read the entire Bible. The pair could not say how much money they have put into Joseph’s project with the costs of tablets and pens.

“I didn’t do it for anyone else, I did it for myself,” Joseph stated. “I do hope that it encourages other people but I did not do it to impress someone else.”

Wanda wanted so much to help Joseph write out the Bible but he refused her help because otherwise he could not say that he wrote out the entire Bible on his own. But that doesn’t mean Wanda didn’t help her husband at all. According to Joseph, she would often take on tasks around the house that he felt he should be doing so that he could continue writing.

The pair are both retired now and spend almost all day together except for when Wanda goes out to run errands trying to keep her husband away from crowds with the global pandemic ongoing. She doesn’t want to risk his health if she can help it. Joseph just recently got off oxygen but he has had a pacemaker for about three years.

“We have Bible study on the phone,” Joseph commented. “Since this pandemic started you can’t go out and do things in public.”

The Bible study sessions have brought Wanda and Joseph closer to their friends Earl and Glenda Fields according to the pair.

“We get the phone and put it in speaker,” Wanda explained. “Each of us have our own chapter and now we’re in the Book of Luke. We just finished Revelations. People can say ‘yes, this pandemic is bad.’ But something good always comes out of something bad. So, we would have probably never started this Bible study over the phone had we been able to get out. We’ve gotten closer and closer all because of the word.”

The couple used to walk eight miles to church on Sunday mornings, nights and Wednesday evenings.

Wanda added that this year is the 21st year that the group Prayer Connections has been around. When people are sick or elderly and can’t go out the bed to go to church, Prayer Connections takes the church to those people.

“We haven’t done it since the pandemic,” Wanda explained. “There’s probably about 15 members but they don’t go every time because some of them have problems and they can’t go every time.”

Joseph will write for seven hours every day or until his hand will get cold from lack of circulation.

“I’ve had it to where the pen will fall out of my hand,” he stated. “I’ve also fallen asleep and my hand will keep going and I have to start over on that page from where I scribbled on it.”

Joseph has worked in construction in several states, including Alabama, Georgia, and Delaware.

“He’s always been affiliated with the church,” Wanda stated.

According to Joseph, he prayed to the Lord and asked whether he could just finish one thing in his life.

“When I got to the last two chapters, I stopped for a while and she (Wanda) said ‘why aren’t you writing’ and I said ‘well I asked the Lord to let me finish this and I might die,’” Joseph laughed. “Then I told her (Wanda) well I’m gonna finish this.”