Fraternity-Testvériség, 1966 (44. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1966-01-01 / 1. szám
2 FRATERNITY What is causing this decline? The tremendous world population explosion is one major cause. Communism is another. Let’s face it. This is not a Christian world! As concerned Christians we want to give the men, women and children all over the world a fighting chance to make their own decisions. We believe that if these people have the opportunity to read the Word of God, they will learn to live useful Christian lives . . . and they will have the hope that Christ has promised us all. This is the work of the American Bible Society ... to see that the Word of God is placed into the hands of these people in the lands where they live, in the languages they speak, in the formats they need, at the time when they are making the most important decisions of their lives. A marketing man might say: “With modern methods of distribution, creative ways may be found.’’ All right, let the churches find creative ways to distribute the Scriptures to Latin America, to India, to Africa, to Thailand. But what Scriptures? Certainly not English Bibles to Spanish- speaking families and churches of Latin America. And, in India, where there are more than 875 different languages and dialects — what Bible should we send them? The American Bible Society has an answer. It aids in the translation of the Bible. At least one book of the Bible has been translated into more than 1,200 different languages and dialects. But there still are hundreds more to go .. . and even in those areas where we do have translations, the population is expanding much faster than our resources to supply Scriptures. SPIRITUAL HUNGER IS UNIVERSAL! Whether you are the president of a corporation, a carpenter or an errand boy with problems too big for your shoulders, have you never felt that you walk alone on this earth? What would you do if you never had a Bible? Where would you get your strength? Because we can reach up on a shelf and find a Bible, because we can go to the nearest bookstore and buy any one of a dozen translations at almost any price, we tend to forget that more than 80 percent of the world must depend upon the Bible Societies for its supply of Scriptures. Imagine, only 20
