The Bible Part 3, Its Unique Circulation

 In our current age, where print has been around since all of us were born, we don't think much about the time before books and magazines as being the main source of communication. 


 Today, even printed publications are becoming a thing of the past.  But prior to the printing press, the pages of the Bible were handwritten meticulously,  kept in safe places, and God used word of mouth to teach Scripture by a chosen few.  Again I say, it is a supernatural thing that the truth of God's word was spread from one generation to another, for more than a thousand years. Only the elite could physically read what was penned through the Holy Spirit. 


  But then, the invention of the printing press in 1450 made it possible to print books in large quantities. The first book printed was the Bible! Since then, the Bible has been read by more people and printed more times than any other book in history. By 1930, over one billion Bibles had been distributed by Bible societies around the world. By 1977, Bible societies alone were printing over 200 million Bibles each year, and this doesn’t include the rest of the Bible publishing companies.  The Bible has been translated into approximately 1,400 languages. No other book even comes close.


  It is human nature that when something becomes readily available, we seem to value it less (unless it's money, power or fame ;-)).  But we need to resist that and value the written Word of God above all other physical things for He has made it available to any and all who will hear from Him.


  Part 4 will talk about the Bible's unique survivability!