What do the Bible, 'Hunger Games' and '50 Shades of Gray' have in common?

As it's Bible Sunday, I have been looking into some little known facts about the Scriptures. Did you know, for example, that over 100 million copies of the Bible are sold worldwide every year. In fact it is the bestselling book of all time with total sales exceeding 5 billion. It is also the most commonly stolen book in the world – largely thanks to the Gideons who kindly put around two million Bibles into hotel rooms and hospital bedside cabinets, and the fact that so many of our places of worship are largely kept open.

I must admit I am a bit of a collector of Bibles. At the latest count I have around twenty (all bought not stolen I might add) ranging from the standard NSRV found in Church of England pews to the contemporary English version The Message. I have lots of youth bibles including a super one produced by my publisher Authentic Media and one of my favourites, the Poverty and Justice Bible which highlights all the passages focusing on God’s justice and love for the poor.

I picked this one up when I joined the G20 Put People First march in 2009. At the initial service at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster, the leader held up a rather mauled copy of the Bible made up of little more than a spine and a couple of pages. He had taken out all the pages that related to what God had to say about poverty and injustice and that was all that was left.

My absolute favourite though is a rather funky New Living Translation in a chunky metal cover complete with a coke-can style ring pull and the word ‘thirsty’. It was the first Bible that I bought as an adult. At the time I was working in the media and felt a bit embarrassed about my burgeoning obsession with Jesus (my fellow journalists tended to be very skeptical and dismissed Christians as a bit soft in the head). So I bought this camouflaged copy so that I could read it on my commute to, and at, work without giving myself away as a ‘God-botherer’.

One evening when I was sitting reading on the train home, a very large punk covered in piercings came and sat opposite me. She was fairly spectacular and kept on staring at me which began to make me rather nervous. As we drew into Tring she got up and loomed over me. I was rather alarmed and unsure what would happen next when she said to me ‘I’ve got that one. It’s great aint it?’

God taught me an important lesson that day. Of course these days I would have just used a Bible app on my phone or Kindle. Another little known fact - the Crossway Bible is the top highlighted book on Kindle followed by Steve Jobs by Jacob Issacson and the Hunger Games

The Bible is available in just about every form you can imagine. It has been translated into 532 languages and there are even Minecraft, Lego and Manga Bibles.

So there really are no excuses for not reading the Bible are there? We live in a country where there are no restrictions on religious freedom. We can go into any bookshop or go online to access God’s word but in some countries of the world just owning a Bible can land you in jail or worse.

Another little known fact - what does the Bible have in common with the porn fiction title 50 Shades of Gray? It is one of the top 10 most banned books in the world. In North Korea, if you are found with a Bible you will face imprisonment, torture or even death. It illegal to take a Bible to the beautiful holiday islands of the Maldives or an Arabic translation to into Morocco or Libya. But this doesn’t stop ardent Bible hunters.

During the height of the oppression against Christians, foreign missionaries would risk their lives to smuggle bibles into the country, and locals would then risk the most terrible punishments to distribute the Bibles to those who needed them. In fact our vicar’s wife was one of those who smuggled Bibles from Hong Kong into mainland China.

So why do so many people risk their lives for this book? There’s no doubt it’s a great read, made up of stories of fantastic and failed individuals, battles and miracles, but people generally aren’t willing to risk their lives for a page turner. The sheer fact that so many are willing to lay their lives on the line to read it, is proof that this is no ordinary book.

In his second letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul writes ‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ (3:16). We know that the Bible is written by human authors. In fact it is made up of sixty six books written by a variety of writers over the past 1,500 years from Moses to the Paul. And it is made up of a wide variety of types of writing from history books to apocalyptic visions, poetry and song to wisdom literature. But all have one thing in common - they are God-breathed or inspired.

It may have been humans who picked up pen or the quill, but the words of the Bible are inspired by God. This does not mean that every word of the Bible must be taken literally. It is important to recognize that while the writers of the Bible were inspired by God he didn’t get them to take dictation. Instead they had to find ways to interpret revealed truths that are beyond our human understanding in the best way they could. The result is a revelation of God’s blueprint for humanity from the creation of the universe in Genesis to the end of the world as we know it in Revelation.

In Hebrews, Paul also writes that ‘the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart’ (4:12). God’s word is dabar or creative; it is living and active. In Isaiah we read that

‘As the rain and snow

Come down from heaven

And do not return to it

Without water the earth

And making it bud and flourish

So that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater

So is my word that goes out from my mouth

It will not return to me empty

But will accomplish what I desire.’ (Isaiah 55:10-11)

God’s word has been speaking into lives over centuries, transforming them in more ways than we can ever imagine. And words written 1,500 years ago often have startling relevance for our lives today – providing the guidance, challenge and comfort we need. It is important to understand the context in which these words were written, but truths of the Bible are timeless and often speak to us in an amazingly personal way.

One of the other words used to describe God’s word is the Greek logos which means nothing less than ‘the mind of God’. It is also the word that John used to describe Jesus. When we read God’s word we see the ordering principle behind the universe and his love for humanity. It is a book that literally gives us the meaning of life.

So why is it that so many of us find it hard to engage with the Bible regularly?

I once read a story about a young couple who had gone on their honeymoon and due to a flight delay arrived at the hotel in the early hours of the morning. The night manager gave them a key to a box room with a single bed. They were so tired they decided just to suck it up but in the morning complained.

The day manager who had just come on duty accompanied them upstairs and asked if they had noticed the double doors which the couple had assumed was a wardrobe. He opened them to reveal a sumptuous room complete four poster bed, a balcony with a sea view, flowers and champagne on ice. They had spent the night in the lobby – not realizing what lay within.

It came be the same with our Bibles. There is an old Chinese saying that a book unopened is just a block of paper. A Bible unopened though is a tragedy. All too often we pray to the Lord, give us this day our daily bread – our spiritual food – without recognizing the food that lies in front of us in the form of his word – the living logos. We dip in and out of this sacred book without appreciating the full mystery that is unfolding before our eyes.

So on this Bible Sunday why not commit to getting to know the Bible better.

It doesn’t matter where you start – you may decide to read the whole Bible bit by bit over the next year. Or you may decide to get to know the Gospels or Psalms better. You might decide deepen your understanding by reading commentaries. You could may choose to spend time with God’s word at the beginning of the day or the end – or to do what I did and read on the train to work. You might decide to read one of the new translations or to get an app on your phone. It really doesn’t matter. The important thing is that we make God’s living word a critical part of our daily lives.

Kate Nicholas’s best-selling memoir Sea Changed (shortlisted as Christian Biography of the Year 2017) and her latest book Sea Changed: A Companion Guide – Living a Transformed Life are available at Christian bookstores and online at eden.co.uk , kooroong.com and Amazon worldwide. Her recent TV series Living a Transformed Life can be viewed on demand on www.tbnuk.org or at www.katenicholas.co.uk .