As I listened to the radio this morning, there was the Sunday Morning segment about things that happened in history on this date. One that was mentioned was the Gutenberg Bible becoming available to the general public.
This got me thinking how much I appreciate that God's Word is so easily accessible to so many people.
And taking it even further, on this Sunday in March 2020 in the middle of the Covid-19 situation, when church buildings are closed, we still have a plethora of choices to watch for church online.
Hearing and learning God's Word is not inhibited during this difficult time. Praise the Lord!
So go and give your Bible a big hug today- AND take time to read it each day. It might be a cliche we use when teaching our children, but it truly is God's love letter to us!
Here are some things to ponder about the Holy Bible:
1. "The most reliable information about the Bible's date comes from a letter. In March 1455, the future Pope Pius II wrote that he had seen pages from the Gutenberg Bible, being displayed to promote the edition, in Frankfurt.[11] It is not known how many copies were printed, with the 1455 letter citing sources for both 158 and 180 copies. Scholars today think that examination of surviving copies suggests that somewhere between 160 and 185 copies were printed, with about three-quarters on paper and the others on vellum.[12][13] However, some books say that about 180 copies were printed and it took about three years to produce them."
2. THE GUTENBERG PRESS: AN INVENTION THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
Thanks to Johannes Gutenberg, today’s high-speed commercial printing presses can produce up to 15,000 sheets an hour! His invention of metal movable type in 1450 has accurately been called “an invention that changed the world.” And the first major book he printed was the Bible!
It’s estimated there were about 30,000 books in all of Europe before Gutenberg’s press. Less than fifty years later there were as many as twelve million books, and the book that was printed was often the Bible. As people became more interested in studying the Bible, Bibles were printed not only in Latin, but in German, French, and even ancient Greek.
Many believe that without the Gutenberg press, the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century might not have been possible.
3. How We Got Our Bible:
Christian History Timeline
A brief chronology of how we got 'The
Good Book'
by
PHILIP W. COMFORT
C. 1400–400 B.C. Books of the Hebrew Old Testament written
c.
250–200 B.C. The Septuagint, a
popular Greek translation of the Old Testament, produced
A.D.
45–85? Books of the Greek New
Testament written
90 and
118 Councils of Jamnia give
final affirmation to the Old Testament canon (39 books)
140-150 Marcion’s heretical “New Testament” incites orthodox
Christians to establish a NT canon
303-306 Diocletian’s persecution includes confiscating and
destroying New Testament Scriptures
c.
305-310 Lucian of Antioch’s
Greek New Testament text; becomes a foundation for later Bibles
367 Athanasius’s Festal Letter lists complete New
Testament canon (27 books) for the first time
397 Council of Carthage
c. 400 Jerome translates the Bible into Latin; this
“Vulgate” becomes standard of medieval church
c. 650 Caedmon, a
monk, puts Bible books into verse
c. 735 >Historian Bede translates the Gospels
871-899 King Alfred the Great translates the Psalms and 10
Commandments
950 The 7th-century Lindisfarne Gospels receive English
translation
955-1020 Aelfric translates various Bible books
c. 1300 Invention of eyeglasses aids copying
c. 1325 Both Richard Rolle and William Shoreham translate
psalms into metrical verse
1380-1382 John Wycliffe and associates make first translation
of the whole Bible into English
1388 John Purvey revises Wycliffe Bible
1455 Gutenberg’s Latin Bible—first from press
1516 Erasmus’s
Greek New Testament, forerunner to the Textus Receptus used by KJV translators
1525
William Tyndale makes the first translation of the New Testament
4. Click HERE to read "The Word of God: How Am to Love God by Loving It"
5. Click HERE to read "10-reasons-why-i-am-thankful-for-the-God-breathed-Bible?"
6. Click HERE for online 10-day devotional "Love God's Word" This resource I am sharing with our kids. Good way to spend some of our extra time!
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