The Bible and You - Part 1
1st October 2011
During the tyrannical rule of King Henry VIII, news of the Reformation began to reach England. People here began to rediscover the true Gospel, of salvation that comes through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and not through religious observance, that a person can have a personal relationship with God, direct and not through the priests. Books written by leading reformers were translated into English and sold here. Many were imprisoned, tortured or executed for reading them, or for not attending a catholic church, or for not observing the catholic rituals in the prescribed way.
In fact, both Protestants and Catholics were imprisoned and executed for having beliefs that were different from what the king believed.
At that time, William Tyndale translated the Bible into English. For this, he and several of his colleagues were executed. But the desire of the English people to read and understand the Bible was too great for Henry to prevail, and more and more Bibles were printed and, later in his reign, Henry authorised various translations to be openly bought and sold.
In the preface to one of these translations, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, wrote this:
Here may all manner of persons: men, women, young, old; learned, unlearned; rich, poor; priests, laymen; lords, ladies; officers, tenants and mean men; virgins, wives, widows; lawyers, merchants, artificers, husbandmen; and all manner of person, of what estate or condition soever they be; may in This Book learn all things, what they ought to believe, what they ought to do, and what they should not do, as well as concerning Almighty God, as also concerning themselves, and all others... I would advise you all, that come to the reading or hearing of This Book, which is the Word of God, the most precious jewel and most holy relic that remaineth on earth, that ye bring with you the fear of God... and use not your knowledge thereof to vain glory of frivolous disputation, but to the honour of God, increase of virtue, and edification both of yourselves and of others.
People gave their lives so you and I could read this book! They believed that the Bible is the most precious thing on earth.
So do I. Would I give my life for the Bible? I hope never to be put to the test. Should I be willing to give my life for it? Yes!
What would we know about God, or about the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, or about the Holy Spirit, if we didn't have our Bibles? And what would we know about how to live as His disciples, if we couldn't read our Bibles in our own language? And how difficult would our prayer times be if we weren't inspired to pray by the words or scripture?