On Sunday, we talked about the Bible and some "facts" about the Bible that some of you may have been surprised about.I won't take the time to reiterate what was said, but I do want to add one more thing to yesterday's message.
The fact that the Bible has been preserved with integrity is something that, in my mind, can only be a God thing. It seems to me that God wanted His words preserved in a way that they would hold the same meaning to us as they did way back when they were first written. That tells us that His word is important and we should pay attention!
It is so easy for all of us to take the Bible for granted! There are probably only a few bookstores in the United States where you can not pick up a copy of the Bible. If you can't find one in a given bookstore, it is probably because that bookstore is dedicated to a certain philosophy that doesn't value the Bible or it is some kind of bookstore that is focused on technology or science or medicine or some other area of study or expertise. Most every bookstore that sells "general" books would have a Bible, and usually in more than one version (NIV, KJV, etc.).
Because the Bible is so readily available to us, we do take it for granted. I probably own at least two dozen Bibles in various forms and versions.
When Beverly and I took a trip a few years ago, we went to the New Holy Land center in Arkansas. While there, we viewed a documentary about how the Bible came to be translated into English. I did not realize that it wasn't until people like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale came along that the Bible was translated for the common people in the language that they could read and understand.
Many people were persecuted for bringing the Bible to the common people, and some people (like Tyndale) were actually martyred for it.
So this book that we so take for granted is a book that was brought to us by great sacrifice by scores of people.
So the next time you read your Bible, say a prayer of thanks for all those who came before you who sacrificed so that you could hold that book in your hands!
