FYI

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My (Jesus’) words will be no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35)

I recently came across this highly interesting set of figures from the yearly State of the Bible researchbythe Barna Group and the American Bible Society in 2021:

• 50% of Americans are “Bible users,” who “read, listen to, or pray with the Bible on their own at least 3 or 4 times a year outside of a church or church event.”
• 71% consider the Bible the Word of God.
• 34% read the Bible once a week or more.
• 59% prefer a paper version, though the number of people who access the Bible electronically is growing.

From the Guinness World Records: best-selling book of non-fiction, I accessed the following paragraph (4/13/2019):

“Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book. A survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 1975, but more recent estimates put the number at more than 5 billion!” Other sources add that the Bible has been translated into 349 languages!

According to The Economist (December 19, 2007), over 100 million Bibles are sold or given away for free every year in the world.

We may reach at least 2 conclusions from these statistics:

1. The Bible is the most widely distributed and best-selling book in the world.
2. “… the Word of God is not chained” (II Timothy 2:9b)! Nobody will ever be able to dispose of this eternal Book that only God could write – – and did!

You mean you haven’t read it yet??