I was challenged this month to collect all of my household’s Bibles into a stack and take a picture. The point is to recognize just how much Scripture we have, in contrast with the many people around the world who have none. It was an eye-opening experience.
I actually somewhat dreaded doing this because I didn’t want to have to go all around the house to put everything away when I was done. That alone is telling! (I actually did have trouble remembering where some of them went, to put them back.) I didn’t even manage to get quite all of them into the picture!
As I was anticipating this project, I saw my youngest daughter, in her car seat in preparation for the drive to church, cooing at her own little New Testament, and it hit me — my baby has, all to herself, more Scripture than many entire people groups!
My baby has, all to herself, more Scripture than many entire people groups! Share on XA few days later, I went and gathered our Bibles. My plan was to show you all of my Bibles — that is, those that belong to me, personally — and then all of the remaining household Bibles. You can see the stacks below, but they’re missing some. My other study Bible, my “pocket-“sized Bible, and some paperbacks are missing from my stack. The other stack is missing some, as well. All together, I found five more Bibles in the first half hour after taking the photo (and dismantling the stack) — including Michael’s and Ariel’s primary Bibles — and I know of more than four more that I wasn’t able to locate immediately (including another study Bible Michael has, and that little New Testament Livia has in the photo above).
This doesn’t even count our “children’s Bibles,” which are comprised of Bible stories, or our hundreds of Bible studies, Bible dictionaries, and commentaries. It also doesn’t count my GoBible, Bible on cassette, mp3 Bible on DVD-ROM, or eSword in my laptop.
Of the Bibles I collected, one was Greek, one was Hebrew, and one was Spanish. The remaining Bibles were all in English. I counted at least six different English translations (apart from eSword which has more).
We are so rich in Scripture!
But are we? It’s only any good to us if we read it. I know I don’t read it as much as I should. Do you? Are you taking advantage of the wealth of Scripture we have available to us here in the US? (Or UK or Canada, or wherever you’re reading this from? If you’re reading this, it’s probably safe to assume you have legible Scripture.)
Let me challenge you: create your own Bible stacks. And if you have social media, post your stacks so everyone can see them.
I love that picture of your little one! And having the Bible available online and on ereader just opens up a whole new dimension of thinking about this. I’m feeling very spoiled today.
“We are so rich in Scripture. But are we? It’s only any good to us if we read it.”
Oh, this is so, so true. And I know what you mean about the dilemma regarding putting them all back! I found some Bibles in places that I shouldn’t put back! It has made me consider having a shelf, or some sort of space, specifically for our Bibles. Why didn’t I ever think of this before?
“my baby has, all to herself, more Scripture than many entire people groups!”
Wow. That’s a powerful image!
And, I’m so glad that you pointed to the importance of reading the Bibles that we own (and/or) have access to. It’s frustrating to think that there are people around the world who are hungry and desperate to be able to hear the word of God in the language they know best while many homes here have multiple Bibles gathering dust.
Thank you for using your voice for OneVerse!!
Rachel, I love the title of your post. Thank you for doing this activity with our OneVerse Bloggers. You have some great points that I highlighted in a post on the OneVerse blog: http://blog.theseedcompany.org/onevers/take-the-bible-stacks-challenge-with-the-oneverse-bloggers/ I so appreciate your heart in this!