Why the Bible Just Won’t Die (1/2)
The Wall Street Journal reported Bible sales being up 22% in the U.S. (from October 2023 to October 2024) in an article entitled “Sales of Bibles Are Booming, Fueled by First-Time Buyers and New Versions.”
Western secularism has tried to demystify the Bible as an antiquated, anti-scientific, and anti-freedom work of ancient literature. But the Bible is proving itself (once again) to be like a stubborn zombie that just won’t die. It’s the best-selling book of all time (5-7 billion sold) with roughly 80 million new Bibles printed annually and it’s currently experiencing a resurgence on top of its already known popularity.
Why won’t the Bible just go away and disappear in our post-modern, scientifically evolved, and philosophically sophisticated West?
Our Giant Vacuum of Meaning
John Vervaeke, an award-winning associate professor of cognitive science and psychology at the University of Toronto attributes our cultural mental health crisis and the feeling of disconnection to others and the world as “The Meaning Crisis.”
Put simply: We no longer have a story to live by. There’s no unifying story that informs us of our purpose and meaning. For millennia, the ancients were able to articulate some version of a coherent story and tradition which oriented individuals to a community within the grander backdrop of the world. Most of human history was lived with a story to live by providing a sense of meaning and purpose.
But when objective truth is a relic of the past (thanks to postmodernism) which unravels how we understand meaning and purpose and are given the task of creating our own story, identity, and purpose, it places an unbearable weight on the individual to forge that which was never meant to be created by one’s imagination. “My truth” doesn’t work in an environment devoid of “our story.”
How the Bible Gives Meaning
Philosophers have said that a worldview must answer the 5 following questions in a coherent and livable way:
Origin - “How did we get here?”
Identity - “Who are we?”
Purpose - “Why are we here?”
Morality - “How do we live?”
Destiny - “Where am I headed?”
It’s no coincidence the Bible won’t go away. The 66 books, which tell one unified story, are able to answer the five questions with precision in an experientially accurate and beneficial way. The story of God and His Kingdom invites us to grasp ultimate reality making sense of our lives and the world around us.
God’s Genius in the Bible
For many years, I wondered why God chose to reveal Himself primarily through the written Word. “Wouldn’t it be more expedient for God to demonstrate Himself through explosive miracles?”
But I’ve sinced learned that miracles themselves don’t necessarily provide meaning. And without meaning, the human heart will grow tired and familiar even with miracles. The human soul needs to situate the mundane and miraculous in ultimate meaning. Purpose is the soil in which all things become rooted and bear fruit.
Thankfully, the Bible can provide this. The Bible isn’t accidentally surviving. The Bible is enduring and thriving because we’re story-formed creatures living in a story-shaped world - and God’s Word provides the story that’s stood the test of time.
