In the years since I became a Christian as a wee chile, I’ve accumulated quite a cache of Bibles: large ones, small ones, this translation, that translation, leather bound, paperback, kiddie award Bibles, gold-embossed grownup Bibles. Many are worn past practical use, secreted away in a musty box. Their pages are ripped, stained, marked. Covers are cracked, torn, and threadbare. They seem mere wisps, held together only by the power of the Holy Spirit. Picking them up requires cradling them in a certain careful way, like a newborn babe, lest they slip through my hands.
I have newer Bibles now, with better structural integrity. But although I don’t use my old Bibles anymore, I still have them. I’ve never gotten rid of them because …. I don’t think I can.
And by that, I don’t mean “I don’t think I’m “able,” though there is a bit of that.
I actually mean “I don’t think I’m allowed.”
But where does this notion come from? Is this a Divine Compulsion? Or a self-imposed one? Would parting with these Bibles be a practicality? Or a sacrilege? It seems wrong, disobedient even, but then ….
Psalm 119 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” In Proverbs, I’m told to guard His teachings, to write them on the tablet of my heart. A word engraved on the very tablet of my heart would be imperishable, indeed. Whether I had the physical source of it or not, that word would endure. I’m exhorted to be so familiar with the Word that it’s safely inside, buried, no matter where the actual book may be.
It’s not the book, it’s the Living Word contained within its pages.
So then why can’t I part with my tattered, unused Bibles sitting in that box? Why, even after what I just wrote, do I still feel that I can’t? That I shouldn’t? That I mustn’t?
Perhaps the reason is less legalistic, more raw:
The Word is not etched deeply enough on the tablet of my heart.
It’s scratched the shallow surface, I suppose, but not far enough to be called truly “hidden in my heart,” not far enough that I wouldn’t feel lost if all my Bibles, both new and old, were taken from me.
I cling to the external because I haven’t spent time enough making it internal.
So it’s time to lay the chisel to my heart, time to allow the Holy Spirit to carve deep His truths, time to have the Word hewn in my heart.
Not just sitting on the nightstand.
Oops! I had some technical problems and lost the previous comments on this post. My apologies to those who already commented!
You can always comment again, you know …;-)
I think one thing you said is perhaps the most revealing for where our hearts truly are with respect to God’s word: what would we do, and how would we feel, if all of our Bibles were taken from us? Would we be lost? Would we not care? Why wouldn’t we care? What would we do? And what would we do if we got our hands on another Bible after having lost all of them for a time?
As for old Bibles, I don’t know what I’ve done with them save one. I’ve had 6 Bibles (that I can remember). Two of them are lost – probably somewhere in the mountains of clutter that form the walls of my parents’ house. Three of them are currently used – one for home study purposes (with all its notes and such), one for travel (cuz it’s tiny), and one Thai/English New Testament that I bring to Im Jai House a lot.
But for the remaining one, I’m very happy about how I disposed of it. It was my “kiddie award Bible” used up to and through college and now, praise God, it is in the hands of a seeking student in China. I couldn’t bring extra Bibles across the border, and I couldn’t just give him the Bible because it would be dangerous for him to have one (that wasn’t edited by the government, that is). But he asked for it, and I gladly gave it with all my underlining, highlights, and worn out bindings.
I don’t know if I could ever throw a Bible away either, but giving one away is surprisingly easy. Maybe we could slap some duct tape on our old ones and head out to Southeast Asia and the Middle East…
what wonderful call to renew my commitment to memorize scripture.
Princess Bride – word for word.
The Word -too painful to admit how sadly lacking I am.
Thanks though for the pricking thoughts.
Yeah, Adam, you touched on some stuff I wrote in my earlier, accidentally deleted comment.
I had posed this “what if”: If there ever comes a day in our country when Christian homes are broken into and Bibles taken away, how lost would we be? How much of the Word would we have “written on the tablets of our hearts” in a concrete, permanent way, not a vague, paraphrased way?
Also, WordGirl had said she can’t throw away her Bibles either, that it seems blasphemous.
But I just pose the question — is it blasphemous? If it’s worn past use, pages missing, stretched out like an accordian, can it be thrown away?
The book is just the container, right? But I can’t thrown them away either!
So I’m asking people to ask themselves why not.
Maybe I need to take some duct tape to my accordian Bible and send it off as you suggest. 🙂
And Jaymarie — I’m with you on The Princess Bride thing …. sigh ….
” ‘Ello! My name es Ineego Montoya. You keel my Fadther. Prrrrepare to die.”
Also (if anyone cares):
“I’m not crazy, Malin. I’ve just been in a very bad mood for forty years!”
I can do the one woman show, impromptu.
Though it has sprung to mind (since my last post 45 seconds ago) that if we had an award winning cast and a punchy rewrite, we could *watch* the Bible over and over and commit it to memory. Problem is, it would be a bit like doing the same with an Algebra book.
I don’t think this debate should be taken to the “I-can-memorize-a-movie-so-why-not-Scripture” level. Because it’s so much more dense and comptemplative. In short, HARDER. And it’s an historical text, *not* a play. Come on, who’s going to bother making “Leviticus” into a screenplay?
A musical, maybe…
Contemplative — whatever…
Hmmm … well, I was actually thinking of the *book* of “The Princess Bride,” not the movie. I can’t speak for JM. (I actually don’t really care for the movie version.)
So I wasn’t thinking of a movie/book comparison here when I made that part of my comment.
I was thinking about what consumes our minds more easily — and it’s not Scripture. It *is* harder to commit to memory — the enemy comes against us at every turn, trying to turn our thoughts to the trivial. How much more room I’d have for the Word if I could delete all the “stuff” that’s lodged there!
So my call here, the challenge for myself, is to feed my mind fewer empty calories and more *actual* nutrition.
I would pose another reason why it’s hard – if not borderline impossible for many of us to throw away a Bible.
It’s because the words are precious to us. They come from the One we have chosen to serve to the death. They are final physical words we have from the One we love.
Try this: imagine a love note from your beloved spouse. Then imagine that you mistakenly made a copy of the note at Kinkos when you thought you were making copies of tax forms. Wouldn’t it be hard to throw that away as well? Not the actual note, just the copy.
Words are powerful things. Words from the Creator of the universe – even mere copies of translations of them – are immensely powerful things.
How about this: as opposed to wondering why we have a hard time throwing old Bibles away, how about wondering why we don’t use welding gloves and a long stick to open that book, and read those words? To paraphrase (kind of) C.S. Lewis: those words are good, but they are not tame.
T:
YOWSA! T is BACK!! Woohoo! Gimme’ dap, grrrl. Hear ya’.
“The Princess Bride” in print is waaay different than the movie, good point. Also agree on the empty calories of literature. That’s why I made a commitment (with MF as a witness) that I would read no tabloid material for at least a month. It’s a time toilet, patently untrue in most cases, doesn’t feed me, and keeps me from getting to the stuff I *should* be reading. Now I’m nearly caught up on my devotionals and very close to finishing the Gene Wolfe novel I previously had no time to read.
Steve-o:
Perfect comparison. Love (and know ver batim) the Lewis quote; spot on. Just had this conversation with a friend of mine over dinner and Bible study Monday. “Aslan” is not a safe lion, neither is His Word. Yet, we *have* been allowed the luxury of approaching Him barehanded. What a gift. A gift we should honor as such. Thanks for brightening my morning!
Okay, everyone. But no one’s really answering the question I’ve dared to ask — hypothetically:
*Could* we throw away an old, wipsy, falling apart Bible?
Or *is* it wrong?
Maybe it’s just a strange question, but if we ever were to throw away such a Bible, would the Lord on Judgment Day say, “Why did you throw away that Bible?”
I’m just wondering.
Who will ponder with me what, if anything, the Lord would say to that?
😉
Although, it would be hard for me to throw away a Bible, I have given many away – to people and to second-hand stores.
But technically, I don’t think it really matters if an old and warn Bible is tossed out. When I think about getting legalistic about it, my mind wanders over to the recent events in the news over the Quran in Guantanamo Bay. If the same situation would have happened to my Bible, I would have been miffed, but then gone and bought a new one. It’s not the paper that the Bible has been printed on but the words within it that is of value.
I don’t think the question will be “why did you throw away that Bible”, but why didn’t you listen to my words in the Bible.”
Just my 2 cents….
I just had another thought… You could give it a proper burial. Dig a hole in your back yard, say a prayer and cover it up with dirt. Then plant your favorite flower near it. That way, it won’t be misused by others and you didn’t toss it aside haphazardly and it will decompose and fertilize the ground from which the paper came. And when the flower blooms you will think of all the good years that Bible gave you.
Tracey — go ahead and throw it away if you want. There are a zillion copies of the Word in the world today — and most people don’t read the copies they have. So who’s going to miss one of your old copies? 8)
But is it a sin? It might be if the old Bible is useable, readable, and otherwise in good shape. If that’s the case then being a good steward and not wasting God’s resources is relevant. Like others have said, giving old Bibles away is commendable.
The paper and the ink mean nothing, though. They’re just the delivery system for the Living Word. Hide the Word in your heart and mind and do with the rest what you will. 😉
Anita and JayGee — good thoughts. We both agree, John, that the book is simply the container of the Living Word.
I also appreciate your thoughts on stewardship. If an old Bible’s still in good shape, give it away.
And I completely agree with you, Anita. The Lord will likely say, “Why didn’t you listen to my words — why didn’t you DO my words,” before He says anything else.
http://www.charitybaptist.org/CBF/Foundation.htm
This i s a ministry that sends KJV Bibles and Christian material overseas free of charge
Here’s another site that sends donated Bibles to persecuted Christians in the world.
http://www.thebiblesite.org/
I found these by doing a google search, I’m sure there are more if someone wanted to search them out.
I don’t think throwing away an unusable bible is sin, it’s not the material book that is sacred, but the Living Word inside it.
Lyn — Thank you so much for searching those out! I truly appreciate it. T.