Is the Bible the Most Shoplifted Book? (2024)

FAQs

Is it true that the world's most shoplifted book is the Bible? ›

The Irony of “Thou Shalt Not Steal”

Among the most shoplifted books in the world is the Bible, according to several sources including CNN and the NY Times. Yes, that's right. The word of God is in such high demand that people resort to shoplifting to get their hands on it.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. Although the 19 books contained within this text were included in the Holy Bible for thousands of years, they were removed a little over 200 years ago. Its now time to reclaim these treasured scriptures and get further insight into God's word.

The Complete Apocrypha: Collection of all the 16 Books Rejected from the Bible.

A 2005 poll for Newsweek magazine found that despite average sales of more than $1 billion annually, only about 20 percent of Americans read their Bible daily — making the Bible the most owned, least read book in history.

Regular Bible reading

Fewer say they only read it once a week (12%), a few times a month (11%) or once a month (5%). Close to 1 in 8 (12%) admit they rarely or never read the Bible.

In 1199, Pope Innocent III, writing in a letter to the bishop of Metz, banned the reading the Bible in private meetings (which he labeled as occultis conventiculis, or "hidden assemblies").

Psalm 151 is a short psalm found in most copies of the Septuagint (LXX), but not in the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible. The title given to this psalm in the Septuagint indicates that it is supernumerary, as no number is affixed to it. The psalm is ascribed to David.

However, in the 16th century, Martin Luther argued that many of the received texts of the New Testament lacked the authority of the Gospels, and therefore proposed removing a number of books from the New Testament, including Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation.

The Book of Enoch was considered as scripture in the Epistle of Barnabas (4:3) and by many of the early Church Fathers, such as Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Tertullian, who wrote c. 200 that the Book of Enoch had been rejected by the Jews because it purportedly contained prophecies pertaining to ...

One in five Americans, Lifeway Research found, has read through the Bible at least once. That includes 11 percent who've read the entire Bible once, and 9 percent who've read it through multiple times. Another 12 percent say they have read almost all of the Bible, while 15 percent have read at least half.

Is the Bible mostly accurate? ›

These Biblical records can be and are used as are other ancient documents in archaeological work.” In other words, not only does archaeology confirm that the Bible is historically accurate, but professional archaeologists actually use the Bible as a guide in their work.

Reading the Bible on a regular and consistent basis has several benefits. First, the Bible shows us God's character and provides us God's revelation of himself to his people. In each section of the Bible, we see God's holy, unchanging, faithful, gracious and loving character.

However, Bond makes the case Jesus died around Passover, between A.D. 29 and 34. Considering Jesus' varying chronology, he was 33 to 40 years old at his time of death.

"The Apocrypha refer to texts which are left out of officially sanctioned versions ('canon') of the Bible. The term means 'things hidden away,' which implies secret or esoteric literature. However, none of these texts were ever considered secret.

While Christianity is currently the predominant religion in Latin America, Europe, Canada and the United States, the religion is declining in many of these areas, including Western Europe, North America, and Oceania.

Women of the gentry and nobility were only allowed to read the Bible in private. The Act forbid the reading of the Bible in English by "women, artificers, apprentices, journeymen, serving-men of the rank of yeoman and under, husbandmen and laborers".

Virtually unchanged (99.5% accuracy rate) over the centuries, the New Testament can be deemed reliable and accurate.

Currently, among China's major religions, which include Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and folk beliefs, Christianity is the only one whose major holy text cannot be sold through normal commercial channels. The Bible is printed in China but legally available only at church bookstores approved by Beijing.

Thus, there are no federal laws in the United States that forbid "religious vilification," "religious insult," or "hate speech." Some states retain local blasphemy statutes on the books. Most are from the 19th century.

Is the Bible the most banned book in the world? ›

They are meant to immortalize historical events, unique stories, and fantastic worlds. To ban a book is to ban creativity. The American Library Association recently released a study showing that the Bible has become the most banned book for the first time in history.

Jesus' name in Hebrew was “Yeshua” which translates to English as Joshua.

Psalm 88 has been called "an embarrassment to conventional faith."¹ What we hear in the psalm is a voice of despair, fear, and hopelessness, crying out to a silent and absent God. It is little wonder that Ps 88 is often regarded as one of the darkest corners of the Psalter.

Books of the Bible. Written under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit by laymen and scholars, commoners and nobility, the Bible is as unique as it is profound, containing 66 ancient books that have shaped laws, influenced culture and inspired billions to faith over three millennia.

Roman Catholic Christians who believe in purgatory interpret passages such as 2 Maccabees 12:41–46, 2 Timothy 1:18, Matthew 12:32, Luke 23:43, 1 Corinthians 3:11–3:15 and Hebrews 12:29 as support for prayer for purgatorial souls who are believed to be within an active interim state for the dead undergoing purifying ...

Luther and other Reformers reasserted the authority of the Scripture alone, as opposed to tradition and church hierarchy. They maintained that salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.

Second-century Syrian writer Tatian attempted to create a canon by weaving the four gospels together as the Diatessaron. The Muratorian Canon, which is believed to date to 200 A.D., is the earliest compilation of canonical texts resembling the New Testament.

The true authorship of the Book of Enoch is unknown, but it is believed to be the work of a number of different authors over hundreds of years, with each portion having been added separately. Traditionally, however, it is attributed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of the biblical Noah.

Enoch describes the ten heavens this way: The first heaven is just above the firmament (Genesis 1:6-7) where the angels control atmospheric phenomena such as the storehouses of snow and rain and the waters above. In the second heaven, Enoch finds darkness: a prison where rebel angels are tortured.

On October 11–15, 2022, Meyer and six other Christians from all walks of life quoted the entire New Testament from memory at the ICR Discovery Center in Texas. This was the first time in recorded history that such an endeavor has been accomplished.

Is it OK to read the whole Bible? ›

Reading the whole of God's Word is worth it because we receive the gift of hearing from our God from Genesis to Revelation. To know and to love him is always our primary objective.

After the denominations in the Oneness Pentecostal movement, the largest nontrinitarian Christian denominations are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, La Luz del Mundo, and Iglesia ni Cristo.

Moreover, the death and resurrection of Jesus are also key to Christian theology. These claims the Bible makes either correspond to reality or they do not. Christians believe that they do correspond to reality, meaning that the Bible is true. God really exists, Jesus is not a myth, and the resurrection really happened.

Aramaic is best known as the language Jesus spoke. It is a Semitic language originating in the middle Euphrates. In 800-600 BC it spread from there to Syria and Mesopotamia. The oldest preserved inscriptions are from this period and written in Old Aramaic.

Scripture increases all our holy capacities for the glory of Jesus. Without the nourishment of Scripture, we easily lose steam. We become spiritually winded and require more rest, more time away from the active pursuit of Jesus' earthly work. We will be slow and plodding, lacking energy and will.

There's nothing in the Bible that says, “You must read Scripture every single day.” Yet a lot of times we act that way. We get down on ourselves when we miss a day or two. We “encourage” (more like “guilt-trip”) those who have missed a few days to “get back on” the Bible-reading train.

Worshipping God is a commandment

As one of His Ten Commandments, God commanded that we keep the Sabbath day holy (see Exodus 20:8–11). One of the ways we keep this commandment is to meet together on Sundays to worship God and give Him thanks.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Bible is the best-selling and most widely distributed book in the entire world. Though it's impossible to know exactly how many have been sold over the centuries, Guinness estimates more than 5 billion!

If you were to take The Bible with you or remove it from the hotel room, The Gideons would not accuse you of stealing it. Some believe that The Gideons actually want you to take these Bibles, perhaps in hopes of spreading the Good Word. However, your hotel staff may disagree.

Why is the Bible the most sold book in the world? ›

It has been printed in just about every known language (including braille) and each year, since it was first written, it has been the world's greatest bestseller year after year. As time marches on it is continually printed in yet more languages. Collectors of rare books treasure it in every form.

Under Chinese law, it is illegal to bring printed religious material into the country if it exceeds the amount for personal use.

1. "Gender Queer: A Memoir," by Maia Kobabe. The most banned book of the 2021-2022 school year was "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe. It was removed from school libraries and/or classroom bookshelves on 41 separate instances, according to PEN America.

The Confession provided the rationale for the exclusion: 'The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority in the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings' (1.3).

It is impossible to know exactly how many copies have been printed in the roughly 1500 years since its contents were standardized, but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies.

King James Version (55%) New International Version (19%) New Revised Standard Version (7%)

These are not left there haphazardly, but rather they are distributed by an organization, The Gideons International, as a means of evangelism. The Gideons hope to spread the good news of their faith to weary travelers by distributing Bibles in hotel rooms.

The main reason why Bibles may not be needed is because so many hotels are equipped with Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is now a necessity and most major chains offer free Wi-Fi to guests and allow guests to pay to upgrade to higher speed Wi-Fi.

Not as many hotel rooms provide Bibles today

So you'll be a little more hard-pressed to find a Bible in every single hotel room drawer these days. Technically, however, it's not one of the 8 things you'll definitely never see in your hotel room again, yet.

How many books have outsold the Bible? ›

He found that the Bible far outsold any other book, with a whopping 3.9 billion copies sold over the last 50 years. "Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-tung" came in second with 820 million copies sold, and "Harry Potter" came in third with 400 million copies sold.

The earliest portion of the Bible was written over 3,500 years ago.