Bible blogger blows up

Today I went ballistic. Trouble is I have a blog and when you have a blog your meltdown moments aren’t only witnessed by the doorknob. In this case I went a little bit postal when I heard that logos.com was giving away 72 “ultra-premium” Bibles over the next six months. Since when is there such a thing as “ultra-premium” Bibles?!?

Normally I’d shrug off such a goofy example of American consumerism in the name of the Lord or just make fun of it and move on, but for the last several days I’ve been stuck in a veritable Biblical desert. All I wanted was to be able to share some electronic Portuguese Bibles with my students here in Mozambique and what I discovered is that there's nothing out there. Unless you want an eye patch and a wooden leg. So I’ve been working on cobbling together electronic Bible tools for my students and then this thing about “real Morocco goatskin leather cover and full leather lining for unsurpassed beauty and durability” comes along and I do the little steam-coming-out-of-my-ears routine.

Even now that my anger has calmed I still believe that logos.com’s campaign is wrong. But what would be the right thing to do in this case? Here we are rich Americans with enough Bibles on our bookshelf to sink a dingy. Buying another Bible is probably not going to gain me any big insights into God’s word that I’m not already getting with the cheap NIV Study Bible that I bought eight years ago at Walmart for $14.99. My problem is I don’t spend enough time reading the Bible I already own.

But I don’t want to suggest that we should take all the money we saved by not purchasing the $229.99 "NKJV Wide-Margin Reference Bible, based upon Cambridge's NKJV Pitt Minion Reference Edition" and buy Bibles for the underprivileged Bible readers in Africa. Charity isn’t the answer. Perhaps what we need to do is examine that impulse that makes us desire a fancy Bible. Is it just plain lust? I have to admit I love beautiful books. Heck, I love ugly books. I just plain love books. But how many books do I need? I’m just glad I live in a village in Africa where I’m not tempted by all those bookstores. But if it’s not lust maybe it’s a spiritual yearning that we hope we can fulfill by another type of study Bible or devotional Bible. I’ve been there and done that, too.

Several commenters on my blog have mentioned that proceeds from Bibles sold in America benefit Bible translation overseas. I find that justification hard to swallow. The image that comes to mind is the rich man throwing scraps to Lazarus. The only way for the rich man to be saved is either for him to leave the party and go feast on garbage with Lazarus or throw open the doors of the banquet hall and let in all the riffraff. And I have to say that, painful as it is, the first of those options is probably the only salvation for American believers. The believers in the developing world don’t want your scraps. And I tend to think that deep down they probably don’t want to feast at your table. Instead, there’s a common ground when we live as if there is no “third world.”

This is easy for me to say because I live in Africa. I hang out with Africans. In an hour I’ll be sitting in a classroom with Mozambicans talking about 1 John 5. But I wonder what you folks in the developed world can do to bridge the gap between yourselves and the believers overseas? You’ve got all the Bibles. But in most cases, they have all the faith. Their material poverty is overshadowed by spiritual riches that in essence puts them in the feasting hall while you’re the one outside the gate.

You can check out Logos’ give-away here: Greatest Bible Giveaway Ever!

My rant is here: Logos.com hawks luxury Bibles while the world starves for God’s Word

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Comments (12)

I find this rant no different than being upset over a steak house that is feeding luxury dinners to Americans while there are people starving around the world. I feel and understand your pain, however you are pointing your finger at a for-profit company and criticizing it for not pursuing charity work — when it just as well might behind the curtain.

While on the topic of providing Bibles, Eastern European Missions http://www.eem.org is a mission effort that continues to surprise me with their success. While prayer is not allowed in American schools, the Russians are begging Eastern European Missions for Bibles to provide to their school children. Even the government officials over there are asking for Bibles for themselves. It's a very remarkable mission field right now in Russia.

I hurt that you are not able to provide Bibles to all the people you encounter, however this luxury Bible give-away is a misguided reason to be upset. There are many efforts out there to provide Bibles and I suggest looking beyond this give-away.
On comparing steak dinners to "luxury" Bibles there is one thing that jumps out at me. I am pretty sure no one has ever gone to hell because a rich American failed to convey to them the nutritious benefits of a steak dinner. I also feel you should be careful to equate government officials asking for Bibles with an actual interest in learning more about the Bible. I have been in more than a few third world government offices and I can tell you officials will ask for whatever it is they think you might be interested in giving them, a Bible, the Book of Mormon, Websters Swedish - Italian dictionary... Without followup and discipleship Bible distribution can be a HUGE waste of money no matter what they cost. David's point is availability. We "rich Americans" can get excited about a sweepstakes to get an expensive Bible that will either sit on a shelf or send our previous Bible to the shelf with a dozen other variations while we are doing nothing to help even one Bibleless language get the Bible that the church is earnestly begging for.
You're making a strong judgment statement claiming this topic is on the grounds for delivering people to hell.

For another good mention, Advent Hope Ministeries, Inc. helps provide Bibles to Africa: http://www.biblesforafrica.org...

You can help raise awareness to Bible sweepstakes or you can help raise awareness of ministries that help place Bibles in peoples' hands. Either way, the words we choose have the power to build or the power to destroy.
I wish I had left the first two sentences out of my reply because that seemed to remove the focus from the rest of what I wrote. The fact of the matter is, this IS about heaven or hell. There are 2,500+ languages that still don't have even a New Testament, and unfortunately thousands are dying that never even get the chance to hear. The key here is, "Support Bible Translation". Start here: https://www.wycliffe.org/websh...

This is a really great article David. I have often wondered myself, is all the English Bibles we have and especially all the various derivations of study Bibles available more of a curse than a blessing? Are the evidence of our own spiritual lethargy or spiritual fatness than our spiritual strength in the Lord as as disciples of Jesus?

You make such a great point - are we even reading the Bibles we already have? What makes us think having a “real Morocco goatskin leather cover and full leather lining for unsurpassed beauty and durability” edition of a Bible will get us into the word?
What a smart and well-balanced person! (Is it bad that I want to win one of those Bibles though?)
I would agree with you on this one though I think several of his normal blog posts would be better titled "Bible Blogger Blows Hot Air". :) He really is a good guy though.
How many pairs of shoes do we need? I think Bibles are in a way similar to shoes. We often have several for different uses and no one begrudges us that. But if a person has too many Bibles I think it's fair to question if they're strictly necessary or if it's even right to have so many Bibles when other people are walking barefoot.
Wow - you actually cover a number of different topics in this one post.

1. Bible publishers - it would appear that some of them are more "good" than others when it comes to their money and power. My sister runs a bookshop for CLC (Christian Literature Crusade) and has interesting opinions on the likes of Zondervan, Crossway, etc

2. Bible versions - wow, there are _lots_. I can cope with different translations, and even with different versions with different prices. But when it comes to the "Super slim Bible for everyday apostolic women in their 50s (married)" edition, I smell a rat. I also remember being very frustrated as a teenager with the increasing ubiquity of the NIV, so much so that the assumption was that it was the only translation. When you hear sermons based on a few words in English that are translated different in your version, you begin to wonder.... My Bible teacher at university always said "never trust a Bible without notes" because it is in the notes that you can understand the bias of the translator.

3. Copyright of Bibles - As an avid follower (and user) of the Sword Project, I was saddened to hear of the problems with the portugese translations. I hope and pray that somebody will step forward and release a Portugese Bible that is available for the project.

It should probably be noted that I bought (another!) Bible the other day, although only for £4 (about $7 I guess) and a translation I don't already own. My current list of available Bibles in my house (including my wife's) is something like this: Good News, NIV, NRSV (2 copies), The Message (complete, and a NT&Psalms version), Jersualem (3 copies - pocket, slimline leatheretter and study), Amplified, Interlinear Greek NT (old version with Textus Receptus) and probably a couple of others I've forgotten about, not to mention having some from the Sword Project on my laptop.
One of the things I am constantly trying to drum into my children is that you're not rich when you own a lot of things, you're rich when you value what you have. And one example I used to demonstrate this was bibles. We have a lot of bibles in my house, I'm afraid to say. But I pointed out to my sons that perhaps the fact we own so many bibles means we don't appreciate them as much. Now we do occasionally thank God for the fact we have the bible to read. But the odd thank you here and there isn't really appreciating something deep down. I suggested that maybe if we found it hard to actually get hold of a bible, we would really begin to understand its value and importance.
This seems silly. Children are always fighting because brother A. got more than brother B. The constant retort you hear is “it’s not fair”. I just read Matthew 20 this morning about the vineyard workers who complained that the one-hour workers were overpaid and the all day workers were underpaid. Not fair. Let’s quit this Christian class warfare and complaining.

There are a couple of issues here. David needs more Bibles for his new converts. I say we raise funds here to make this happen.

The second issue is that David thinks the average western Christian has too many Bibles. What should the cut-off number be? Two, four, six? If you compare owning Bibles to shoes how many pairs of shoes should you have in your closet? I have had 4 core Bibles in 35 years. I use them till the covers fall off, then I have them re-covered till eventually the pages begin to tear. Then I retire them. I love having these old companions around, they are filled with many excited notes I have scribbled in the margins. I have a slim Bible that fits into my attache case for traveling. I may have an amplified Bible and a 4 translation parallel New Testament in my library, only because I thought I needed them as a new Christian.

I don’t begrudge anyone for having several Bibles, I rejoice that the word of God has become so available. The ancient Jews were commanded to wear scripture collections on their foreheads and arms (Phylacteries). They were also commanded to write scriptures on the doorways and gates of their houses “Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6: 9. Paul owned a library of scrolls and parchments which he asked Timothy to send him in Rome. “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, and my scrolls, especially the parchments.”

So let’s praise the Lord for the abundance of his word that fills our homes and also contribute to those who may not have access to the Bible. Two issues.


I don't know if this will help, but the Forum of Bible Agencies International has compiled a list of available bibles by language. Their website is http://www.forum-intl.net
I hope it helps!

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