Publishers have already published five billion copies

It was written by 40 authors over about 1,500 years. From uneducated fishermen and tax collectors to monarchs, nobles, prophets, wise men and politicians like Daniel, intellectuals like Paul and even the doctor Luke, with a journalistic profile. Appreciated by millions, hated by just as many, it was banned, destroyed, adulterated. However, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the Bible remains at the top of the best-selling books in history, with more than five billion copies, a fact that began with the printing press of the German Johannes Gutenberg. The printer took five years to publish the Bible, with 180 copies, 135 on paper and 45 on parchment.

For the Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant, whose life spanned most of the 18th century, “the existence of the Bible, as a book for the people, is the greatest benefit the human race has ever experienced. Any effort to depreciate it is a crime against humanity.” This is explained because the goal of Lutheranism was to educate people to read the Bible, in order to break the medieval bonds of ignorance.

But there are those who had a contradictory attitude, such as the Brazilian emperor Peter II. He confessed to loving the Bible, reading it daily, and that the more he read it, the more he loved it. This is not an honest attitude, given that slavery reigned in Brazil until 1888, a year and a half before the republican military coup, even though authors such as Laurentino Gomes guarantee that there were no slaves in the imperial palaces, especially in Petrópolis.

On the other hand, in the Northern Hemisphere, President Abraham Lincoln advised to take “what you can from this book (the Bible) by reason and the rest by faith, and you will live and die a better man.” King Solomon himself, one of the authors of the Bible, recommended kindness and faithfulness as vital characteristics for those who wish to find peace with humanity and, above all, with God. It should be remembered that Lincoln abolished slavery.

The Bible transforms lives, changes the script programmed by limited visions. For former Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna, who died in 1994, the Bible gave him a great gift: God. According to American neurosurgeon Ben Carson, the Bible taught him to control his violent impulses, giving him a promising future.

The apostle John assures the Bible-reading scholar that he will find the central character of the Scriptures, Jesus Christ. If someone has doubts and prejudices regarding the Holy Book, it is recommended to start reading with the book of Proverbs. The benefits of the content of the biblical narrative will certainly be felt in one’s personal life and in those around one.

Ruben Dargã Holdorf, Comm.Se.D