The Bible is not just one book. It’s a collection of books. It’s a library. It has 66 different books with many different genres, written by over 40 different authors who were farmers, fishermen, tentmakers, homeless prophets, doctors, scribes, musicians, and pastors. It was written in the span of over 1,500 years across three different continents in three different languages. Every year, more than one hundred million copies are sold or given away. The New York Times omits the Bible from its list of bestsellers because it would almost always be on top. The Bible has been translated into more than 2,454 languages. There are also 3,200 verses of fulfilled prophecy. According to National Geographic, the Bible is the most significant object that has shaped the entire world.

 

The Bible has shaped the way we see government structure. The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution and established the United States of America based off of biblical principles. What we know as a democratic republic today has been formed by what the Bible says about how all people are created equal. Today, we name our children after authors of the Bible, like, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, while we name our pizza and dogs after Caesar, the ancient Roman dictator who tried to stop the Way of Jesus, but failed.

 

The Bible has also shaped art, infrastructure, and architecture. Architecture was sent through a revolution because Christians wanted to build churches, monasteries, and cathedrals so they could read together the written Word of God. Famous painters like Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Giovanni Bellini, and Titian lead the artistic renaissance because of their paintings that depicted stories of the Bible.

 

The Bible has also impacted the beginnings of modern education. Our collegiate educational system was first established by schools like Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, Yale – all of which started off as Bible schools to equip pastors to preach the Bible.

 

The Bible has even effected our geography. Think about the names of many cities, like St. Petersburg, St. Paul, St. John. These were named after authors of the New Testament. There are also cities like St. Augustine, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, San Angelo, and San Antonio (my home). These cities were named after people who preached the good news of the Bible.

 

The Bible has influenced modern technology as well. The first book that was ever mass produced on the Gutenburg Press was the Bible. The first ever radio broadcast on Christmas Eve in 1906 was the reading of the nativity story in the book of Luke.

 

The Bible has changed the way we view all of life. Before the New Testament was written, unwanted babies (predominately girls) were left to exposure, in which the parents would place the baby in a deserted area alone to die. After the writings of the New Testament, Christians started orphanages to take in these unwanted babies because they believed in what the Bible said that everyone is made in the image of God. When diseases would break out and most of the population would flee the country, only Christians would stay because they wanted to care for those who were sick – something the Bible speaks much about. In the first century, a woman’s eye witness testimony wasn’t believed in a court of law because they were not viewed as equal to man. However, the Bible shares stories about how women are treated with dignity and respect. In fact, Jesus first appeared in His resurrected body to women at the tomb and charged them to share their eye witness testimony of His resurrection.

 

Regardless of what you believe about the Bible, it is indisputably the most successful literary creation of all time. The Bible has literally changed everything in our entire life and we don’t even realize it.

 

The free YouVersion Bible app has 2,062 versions of the Bible in 1,372 languages. We have the bestselling, most influential, most accessible book of all time! However, research shows that although 78% of Americans own a physical copy of the Bible, only 9% of them read it regularly. George Gallup Jr. says, “We revere the Bible, but don’t read it. It is the best-selling, least-read book in America.”

 

So where does this leave us. You’re here reading this maybe because you want to learn how to read the Bible. That’s great! There’s many resources here to help you. However, we must first come to the understanding that the Bible is just a means to an end. It has shaped the whole world and our culture, yes! But it shaped the world because it had transformed individual people to change the world. Do you believe it can transform you?