Did you know that burning bibles is a common thing, during protests? To make some point, Bibles put in a fire, and somehow that level of aggression communicates something useful.
Really, burning books is irrational behavior. The person who owns the book can replace it, and continue reading. With online books, a cell phone can hold a large library. Angry protesters are not trying to destroy all copies of a book. They are trying to emphasize an angry point.
I don’t think it’s working.
The world is not being moved by displays of anger, book burning. Different books may be burned, but the one that gets burned the most seems to be the Christian Bible.
The video linked here is more than a year old, but if you can access it, the fuel in the protest fire is the pages of a Bible.
Recently, a speaker was invited to a College, in Wisconsin, U.S. and were confronted by protesters outside. The contentious issue seemed to be about trans-sexual ideas. A young man decided to make his own statement, and stood among the protesters, with a microphone and a Bible. When he tried to read words aloud from the Bible, protesters surrounded him. One pounded on a plastic pot, and another held a loud siren close to his face.
Drowning out the words is similar to burning the pages.
Finally, a protester took the Bible from the young man and tore it up, and pieces of the Bible were scattered on the ground. As the scraps of Bible paper scattered in the wind, at least one protester started to eat them.
That’s different from burning a Bible. Stand in front of a camera and eat it.
We live in interesting times. Now, destroying a Bible, in some way, is a statement of virtue. People believe in the statements they make in a protest.
Jesus warned his followers:
“The time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.” (John 16: 2 to 4)
So, we should not be surprised, but what are the lessons here? How should we respond?
We might get emotional; laugh, or get angry, or we might be afraid. We could question the mental health of some people.
Modern protest politics give us arguments, that are not really arguments. Emotional statements are designed to produce emotional responses. If we don’t get emotional and shout back, it’s all a waste of time. The goal is to make other people crazy and emotional, and then have a big fight at that level.
We are not persuaded, we are provoked.
Have you noticed that modern debates have come down to the level of angry insult exchanges. The calm, rational discussion that could teach us all something, is almost extinct.
Stay out of that arena. The experts with all the experience will win every time.
Another response is to look at ourselves. What are the loud protesters trying to block, in my life? When they bang on a bucket and play with a siren they are trying to keep me from something. A street demonstration will last about an hour, but they want more than that; they want to change us.
I recommend reading the book that they keep burning. Their point is to keep something out of our lives.
Put it in your life, and find out what the fuss is all about. And then invest calm rational thought into what you just read.
The Bible is a unique book, it is available free, on your phone, in hundreds of translations. It’s also a great, free, tool for learning another language.
Those angry protesters should cause us to ask a question: What is my intellectual diet? Or, what information am I feeding myself? There is something they want to take away from us. Even if you agree with some protesters, your mind is a part of you that should be fed, not just provoked.
Here is an example of the many translations of the Bible. This is the “Easy to Read” English translation, a good tool for someone learning the language:
“How can a young person live a pure life? By obeying your word. I try with all my heart to serve you. Help me obey your commands. I study your teachings very carefully so that I will not sin against you. Lord, you are worthy of praise! Teach me your laws. I will repeat the laws we have heard from you. I enjoy following your rules as much as others enjoy great riches. I will study your instructions. I will give thought to your way of life. I enjoy your laws. I will not forget your word.” (Psalm 119: 9 to 16)
Whatever you believe, I hope you can benefit from an intellectual exercise with the Bible. We didn’t burn it, or drown it out with loud noises, or stuff pages into our mouths and chew them.
We fed our minds.
And sometimes we sing the words:
OpentheWord.org 