I recall seeing a Charles Shultz cartoon with two students talking. One says to the other, “I think I’ve discovered the secret to understanding the Bible. I’ve started reading it.”
America is flooded with Bibles. Almost nine out of ten households own a Bible, according to the American Bible Society. But reading it? Not so much. More than half of Americans have read little or none of the Bible. A third never pick it up on their own. Scott McConnell of Lifeway Research says, “Americans treat reading the Bible a little like exercise. They know it’s important and helpful—but they don’t do it.”
A friend gathered 30 children to share the Good News from the Bible. She asked what they knew about Jesus. No hands went up. “Anything?”
Finally one little fellow asked, “Why did His mommy give Him a swear word for a name?” That’s all they knew of the One who died to save their precious souls.
The Bible is a miracle in itself—its authorship, composition, teachings, and survival. No book has been so banned, burned, and spurned. Yet since its printing by Gutenburg in the 1450s, it’s been the world’s all-time bestseller every year.
The Guinness Book of World Records says, “It’s impossible to know exactly how many copies have been printed…but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies.”
A New York Times bestseller must sell at least 5,000–10,000 books in one week. But the Bible sells on average about 385,000 every week! And this doesn’t include the ones given away. The Gideons alone distribute a million free Bibles each week!
Did you know the largest Bible factory in the world is a Communist government-sanctioned NGO—the Amity Bible Printing Company in Nanjing, China? According to their website, more than 260 million Bibles have come off their presses in 229 different languages.
Actually there are complete Bibles in 724 languages and portions in 2,850 more. In whole or in part, the Bible is accessible to 98% of the world’s population.
Why all this effort and expense for a Book penned thousands of years ago? Let me state boldly: If the Bible isn’t true, then nothing really matters; if the Bible IS true, then nothing ELSE really matters.
The Bible is the only Book that reveals God’s plan for the ages, the purpose of creation, the reality of heaven and hell, the offer of free salvation through Christ’s sacrifice, and the absolute assurance it provides. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)
I grew up in a home with lots of Bibles. I confess I took them for granted. But as a boy of 13, on a trip to Miami, I met four men who had escaped from Cuba on a raft made of truck inner tubes. That night they were given their first Bibles. Tears streamed down their faces as they hugged them.
I’ll never forget that moment when I realized that God’s words ought to be “more precious than gold” to us, and will become “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19:10) to those who savor their truth.
Time to look in the Book.
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Saturday, May 18, 2024.