In the world of eBooks and electronic readers, it is more difficult to keep up with the exact number of books printed/emailed, and read. The Holy Bible is purported to be the greatest selling book of all time, but is it? Here are a few examples:
100,000,000 copies Dreams of the Red Chamber (1791) Cao Xueqin
107,000,000 copies Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) JK Rowling
140,000,000 copies The Hobbit (1937) JRR Tolkien
150,000,000 copies The Lord of the Rings (1955) JRR Tolkien
6,001,500,000 copies Holy Bible (1500 BC-100 AD) 40 authors
There has never been a single-volume book that remotely approaches the Bible in sales.
We can level the playing field if we include the most successful Series of books:
Series of Books Sold:
65,000,000 copies Left Behind (1996-2007) LaHaye/Jenkins
130,000,000 copies Chicken Soup for the Soul (1997) Canfield/Hansen
450,000,000 copies Harry Potter (1997-) JK Rowling
6,001,500,000 copies Holy Bible (1500 BC-100 AD) 40 authors
There has never been a book series that remotely approaches the sales of the single-volume Bible.
Why is this?
How could there be more than 6 billion books of any nature sold? That’s nearly one Bible per person. There are reasons because the Bible is not an ordinary book.
Some interesting facts about the Bible (KJV):
There are 31,101 verses and 783,137 words.
The longest verse (78 words) is Esther 8:9.
The shortest verse is John 11:35 (2 words): Jesus wept.
The word God appears 3358 times.
Lord appears 7736 times.
The chapter system was introduced in 1238 AD.
The original KJV had 81 books instead of 66.
The middle verse in the Bible is Psalm 118:8.
The middle chapter is Psalm 117.
The shortest chapter is Psalm 117.
The longest chapter is Psalm 119.
The longest book in the Bible is Psalms.
According to Jeremiah. J. Johnston, President of Christian Thinkers Society:
Government-sponsored destruction of the Bible has occurred for two thousand years. Even in the English-speaking world, significant attempts have been made to usher the Bible into extinction. After John Wycliffe (1320–1384) and his followers created an uproar by translating the Latin Bible (Latin died as a language with the Roman Empire in ad 476) into English, it became a capital offense to translate, read, or possess an English Bible. In the fall of 1526, the Bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall, led a massive book burning behind St. Paul’s Cathedral, in an area known as St. Paul’s Cross. Thousands of Bibles were lost. What happened? History tells us the Bible grew in prominence and respect because the Bible is also the Holy Survivor.
That was then, this is now.
It is interesting that the Bible is one of the most challenged books in the public/university library systems, but I imagine these same libraries aren’t kicking out the Quran. I do not know if the challenges are because of content, which has proven to be accurate so far and has been heavily scrutinized, or for hatred/fear.
Revelation plainly states with zero gray area that when the last days arrive, the worse things get, the more man will curse God. Here is an example:
California fires are the worst in history, again. They get worse every year. Yet protesters in California a few weeks ago were carrying signs stating We don’t need God!
Hard to imagine that the best-selling book in the world could be banned from anything.
That brings us to the Tennessee dilemma.
Tennessee decided to submit a bill to make the Bible the official state book. Seems logical that the best-selling book in the world that has been shown to be historically accurate would be a good choice for a state book. It did not take long for the Governor to say nyet. Vetoed.
First, SCOTUS kicks God out of school in 1963, then we kick Him out of the libraries, and the best-selling book in the world is kicked out of the Tennessee state book contest. We constantly kick our Moral Compass in the face and then wonder, Why is the world going to hell in a handbasket? Do we need to ask?
There are more than 25,000 archeological discoveries that back up the Bible’s history and accuracy. One such discovery is the Cyrus Cylinder and another, the Rosetta Stone. And of course, the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I wonder if any science books are being challenged? Apparently not.
According to First Things magazine, William A. Wilson has found much evidence that many published science writings are based on false research. Science research apologists have a “self-correcting” theory that claims, in spite of the lies, everything will eventually be known.
Okay.
The Bayer Aspirin folk examined 67 drug discovery publications and found that 75% were wrong!
Another scientific study indicated that 89% of pre-clinical cancer research publications are wrong.
The same thing even goes on with physics, an exact science. It seems that an experiment in Antarctica, the BICEP2, led to the discovery of “cosmic inflation and gravitational waves.” The results have now been retracted.
This manipulation of science is seen daily in the manipulation and expounding upon of climate data and so-called global warming (man-made of course).
In 2011, a survey of 2000 psychologists had more than 1000 admitting to selectively reporting their data that agreed with the point they were attempting to make.
It is doubtful that any science books will be banned from a library unless it offends certain communities and lifestyles.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which finds the Bible oppressive, managed to force three VA hospitals to ban the Bible from “Missing Man” displays those that honor veterans.
During the formative years of the United States, the Founders and justices were not ashamed of the Bible and would be embarrassed at seeing what is happening today. They were promoters of God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible. They were not promoters of the Quran. Congress even printed a Bible for America.
Here are a few of their early-American thoughts:
“The United States in Congress assembled … recommend this edition of the Bible to the inhabitants of the United States … a neat edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools.” -United States Congress 1782
“The Congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.” - United States Congress 1782
“I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.” John Adams
‘There is a book [the Bible] worth all the other books ever printed.” - Patrick Henry
The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts. John Jay, First Supreme Court Justice
“Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America’s basic textbook in all fields. God’s Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.”
Noah Webster
“And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God … and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
Abraham Lincoln
The world of the present, at least the United States, has lost its Moral Compass. In Las Vegas hotels, the Gideons Bibles are out; virtually reality porn is in.
In the Veteran’s Affairs hospitals, the Bible is out and multi-sex bathrooms are in.
Libraries are trying to ban Bibles but can’t keep enough copies of Fifty Shades of Grey, more modern porn; porn lite.
It is sad to see what has happened over the past fifty years in the good ole USA. In fifty years we moved from a stable and safe country of unlocked car doors and houses, of few broken families, and very little threat that our children would share a restroom with an adult of the opposite sex. Where did we go wrong?
The list is long and growing faster than a baby Great Dane.
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The 7-book series "The End: The Book" takes a group of senior citizens on the journey of a lifetime as Islamists take their fight to the Bible Belt. They thought Christians would turn the other cheek.