Phillip Patterson has more dedication than I do. Four years ago he decided to start writing out the Bible, and he plans to finish the task on Saturday.
Patterson is a 63-year-old retired interior designer who attends church but doesn't consider himself particularly religious. He suffers from AIDS, which has slowed his work.
The idea was sparked in 2007, when his longtime partner mentioned that Islam has a tradition of writing out the Koran. Patterson replied that the Bible was too long for this task, and his partner suggested he try writing out the estimated 788,000 words.
"The next day I started researching pens and pencils and paper and never looked back," says the Philmont, NY, resident. He worked on a "prototype" of the Pentateuch (the Bible's first five books) before starting on the complete King James Bible in 2009.
His process makes an already stupidly long task even longer. First, he pencils in ruled lines onto 19-by-13-inch watercolor paper to guide his writing, then he writes out the words, then erases the lines when he is done, leaving black ink on creamy white pages.
2,400 creamy white pages later, he's almost done.
He's worked as many as 14 hours a day on the project, though he averages around six to eight. He plans to donate the finished version to his church, but the Book of Revelation may not be his final chapter: "I will take any opportunity I can find to do this again," says Patterson.
Seeing as he found the time to do this project, I don't see why he wouldn't be able to do it again. Or why he'd want to.
If you want to see a gallery of some pictures of his work and his work station, read on.
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