The Good Book is the world’s most widely distributed book. It is also the world’s best seller. And now, sales of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures are rising.
The Wall Street Journal reports on this recent uptick in sales. The headline declares: “Sales of Bibles Are Booming, Fueled by First-Time Buyers and New Versions.” The subtitle notes: “Publishers attribute a 22% jump in Bible sales this year to rising anxiety, a search for hope, or highly focused marketing and designs.”
The WSJ quotes a Kansas Christian bookstore manager as saying of Bible customers, “They’re looking for hope with the world the way it is, and the Bible is what they’re reaching for.”
This is a significant trend. The Bible has played a key role in the life of our nation.
This returns to a key question: What is the purpose of life? The Bible answers that question.
Erwin Lutzer, long-time pastor of Moody Church and bestselling author, once penned these words in his book Exploding the Myths That Could Destroy America: “An atheist’s logic tells him that he is of no more value than a baboon or a grain of sand, yet his life contradicts such a conclusion. He may provide for his wife and family, and if you were to steal his car, he would want you to be punished---all this because he is created in the image of God….We are still coasting on the values derived from our rich Judeo-Christian heritage.”
It’s hard to live without purpose. But life does have meaning. And we find that purpose in the pages of the Holy Scriptures.
The Bible says God created us, and we will give an account before Him one day. In the 4th century, St. Augustine wrote his classic book Confessions. On the very first page of that influential volume, he writes, “You have made us for Yourself, Oh God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”
It’s natural to assume that life has a purpose and meaning. But that is just an assumption—predicated on the Judeo-Christian concept that God made us and that, therefore, life has meaning.
But if life is merely an accidental product of time, matter, and chance, then life has no design—and thus no real meaning. And that’s the view adopted by many hardcore evolutionists. In some cases, this is so they can live as they please. Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World (1932). He was the grandson of Thomas Huxley (Darwin’s bulldog, who did much to promote the cause of evolution).
In a 1944 book, The Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley wrote, “The liberation we desired was…liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom…The supporters of these systems claimed that they somehow embodied the meaning (a Christian meaning, they insisted) of the world.”
Huxley was basically saying they wanted life to be meaningless because then they could pursue sexual lust without restraint.
But the unbeliever doesn’t seem to understand that God’s rules are for our good. God, the Creator of all, has made certain boundaries that are helpful to us.
Ultimately, the question is: What is the purpose of life? It can only be answered by the author of life, God Himself. Indeed, if there’s a God, life has a purpose. And he’s revealed that in the Bible, which is His Word.
I like the purpose that the Pilgrims gave us in the Mayflower Compact of 1620. They said their voyage was “for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.”
The Scriptures have significantly impacted Americans through the ages---including many of our presidents.
President John Adams, one of our nation's founders and its second president, said: “I have made it a practice every year for several years to read through the Bible.”
Ulysses S. Grant, the eighteenth president of the United States, declared: “Hold fast to the Bible as the anchor of your liberty; write its precepts in your hearts and practice them in your lives.”
Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United States, observed: “If a man is not familiar with the Bible, he has suffered the loss which he had better make all possible haste to correct.”
Ronald Reagan, the fortieth president of the United States, said of the Scriptures: “It is my firm belief that the enduring values presented in its pages have a great meaning for each of us and our nation. The Bible can touch our hearts, order our minds, and refresh our souls.”
It will be great news for the nation if this new increase of interest in the Bible continues.
Dr. Jerry Newcombe is the executive director of Providence Forum, a Coral Ridge Ministries division, where Jerry serves as senior producer and on-air contributor. He has written/co-written 33 books, including (with D. James Kennedy), What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? and (with Dr. Peter Lillback), George Washington’s Sacred Fire.