I’ve been asked by family members, golf club members, church attenders and even the odd clergyman – that’s “odd” in the occasional sense not in the weird sense, in case you were wondering. 

I think the problem has got more to do with superstition than just good sense.

The Bible is like any book in some respects. It is covered, full of pages, with much spilled ink on each of them.

Like any other book left on a shelf to gather dust, it is by neglect, a pretty useless book.

Apart from superstition and the possibility of it being useful for someone who doesn’t own a Bible, I think if it is worn out you could just throw it away.

It takes all my wisdom and knowledge of Christian truth to say that, because even for a bishop, and perhaps especially for a bishop who owns lots of Bibles, throwing them away never comes easy, especially when I love giving them away.

My response to the question, “What do you do with old Bibles?” is really a simple one, and one that is reflected in the pages of the Bible itself.

Perhaps this once you could open one of those old Bibles that you don’t know what to do with, go to the index and find John’s Gospel.

Then turn to its fifth chapter and the number 46, which is the verse number. Not a verse as in a song, but just a number to help you find your way around the Bible.

Jesus was speaking to a group of people who had Bibles and even read them and studied them diligently, but they did not understand them. That is not much better than leaving it on the bookshelf unread.

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” the Bible says.

Jesus’ challenge to them 2000 years ago was if they believed in Moses, which they indeed claimed to do, then they ought to have believed in Jesus.

Why? Because Jesus makes clear, that when Moses wrote thousands of years earlier, Moses was actually writing about Jesus.

We might say Moses was a prophet who introduced Jesus in advance.

Jesus was the fulfillment of what the prophet said people should be looking forward to.

Of course, Jesus’ point was, if they did not believe what Moses wrote, how would they believe Jesus’ words? 

You see it is not so much the book itself that is sacred, but Jesus and His words that are sacred.

The value of the Bible is not the paper or the ink spilled, but the person the words introduce us to and what Jesus has to say to us.

If you don’t value Jesus, then it doesn’t matter what you do with the book because the book is all about valuing Jesus.

Of course if you value Jesus, then the book is designed to help you hear Jesus’ words. 

That’s what makes it a holy book and not a book of magic. Superstition is the outcome of magical thinking while the Bible is “holy”, meaning “set apart” for God’s purposes.

There is nothing superstitious about the Bible, and if you read it you would know that it condemns superstition.

The value of the Bible is in its truth and its gift to us in helping us know and understand that Jesus is the answer to the deepest of all human needs.

It offers us wisdom, it presents the reader with a many-faceted hope, and makes it very clear how people are loved by God and can be reconciled with God through Jesus Christ.

Put simply, the Bible is a great read and it is life changing.

While the Bible is really God’s book to you and me, I think it is OK to get rid of old Bibles without any guilt. The guilt is not in tossing old Bibles away but in getting rid of God about whom the Bible speaks.

You won’t die condemned for throwing out an old Bible, but an old Bible will tell us that we will die condemned without God.

The content of the Bible is that important.

That’s why I will always buy a new one to replace the old ones I have thrown away or given away. I don’t do this to fill the space on the book shelf but to satisfy the space in the human heart that only God can fill.

Having said all this, I believe there are some old Bibles worth keeping.

This is not for superstitious reasons but for special reasons and I will talk about some special Bibles in the issues to come.

Rick Lewers

Bishop, Armidale Anglican Diocese 

The Anglican Diocese of Armidale is a partnership of churches and associated agencies and schools found in the northern inland region of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the major centres of Armidale, Glen Innes, Gunnedah, Inverell, Moree, Narrabri and Tamworth and surrounding towns and villages.

The aim of the Diocese is to introduce people to Jesus and to help them home to heaven – Colossians 1:28.