The leader of the Danish Bible Society just said that more than 60% owns a Bible, but only abt. 5% of our people would open it which amounts to abt. once a month. The picture may be different in the U.S., but I´m not sure.

Last summer I was invited to a party of Christian members of a big evangelical church in the state of Washington.  The church has several good programs, always good preaching and singing, and many nice people easy to talk to at one of their coffee tables.

So I came along with my good American Bible knowing that the U.S. is the Bible land.  My hostess said to me was, “There will be no Bible tonight, we just want a good time together…” Something like that. There was a table prepared with choice delicacies where the guests could just help themselves, and so I joined the group of men sitting in the warm summer terrace while the ladies enjoyed themselves inside the house.

I politely asked the men about their relationship to the Bible.  I got some honest, but meager answers. There was practically no real relationship to the Bible.  I was inquiring of the fire of passion coming from being saturated with God´s living word.

They were good, honest men so we discussed things in a good spirit, but no wonder then that there was little passion for the world outside the church walls.  At the close of the evening there was, though, a session of prayer together with the ladies. The Bible remained closed, however.

But this is how it is over here also. And yet new paraphrasing translations emerge constantly to make the Bible more “exciting”.  The unregenerate mind has its subtle ways to make it “con amore” enjoyable.  In practice, there is no “poor and contrite spirit that trembles at my word”, Isa. 66:2.

Luther said, “If Christians can come together without the word of God they may as well not come together anyway.”  Think about it.

Nov. 5, 2014 – jn