The story goes that a man was travelling by train to a faraway country. Another traveller sat down beside him with a thick book, opened it and began to read… The man said to himself, “I’ll take out my book and read it too; it’s a good way to pass the long journey.” Halfway there, curiosity led him to ask his neighbour what book he was reading. He replied, “I’m reading the Gospel.”
The man answered in surprise, “Are there still people who read the Gospel these days? Are you crazy? Nowadays people read books of philosophy, science, discoveries, inventions… Look at my book: I’m reading the work of the famous philosopher Gaspard; his name is written right here…”
The other man nodded and went on reading in silence.
And so each of them went on reading…
A few hours later the train arrived at the station. They got ready to leave, and before getting off, curiosity again led the man to ask, “We haven’t introduced ourselves, my friend. What’s your name?”
He answered, “I am the philosopher whose book you were reading… My son,
however much a person philosophizes, learns, invents and rises in the world, all of it comes from the inspiration of the Gospel and of the Word of God.”
Truly, brothers and sisters, the Bible is the greatest book on the face of the earth, and there is plenty of evidence for it, including that the Bible is the most-read book in all of history; if we talked about how many times it has been read or heard, we would be talking about fantastic numbers no other book can match.
The American inventor George Selden is reported to have said on his deathbed, “There is no book in existence in which our souls find rest at the hour of death except the Bible.”
And again: a Christian preacher was preaching when a philosopher in the meeting interrupted him: “Enough of this nonsense! This book is out of date.” The preacher replied, “Tomorrow I can bring you hundreds of people whose lives have changed for the better because of this great book; but I challenge you to bring me just one person whose life changed and who left his sins because of the philosophy of the greatest philosopher.” The atheist philosopher withdrew, saddened and ashamed.
Prayer:
Lord, we thank you without end for the precious book you have given us: it is a lamp and a light for our lives. Help us understand how important it is, and to draw benefit from it in our lives, for as the psalm says:
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105).
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt El Rab team
