Did you know that 60% of filipinos do not own a Bible? That 70% of both teenagers and young professionals do not own a Bible? If we are to take the Bible as our ultimate guide to life, then this is not a very good sign.
In a survey done by the Philippine Bible Society not long ago, they gathered a collective reaction why these young people do not own a Bible. Here’s what they found out:
1. We don’t know where to start/how to read it.
2. We don’t understand our Bible version.
3. We do not see the relevance of the Bible in our lives.
For a country considered as a Christian nation, where there is bountiful supply of Bibles, i find these reasons very alarming. The issue here is no longer on the availability of the Bible, but the problem is the lack of advocacy and leaders that will teach this generation the importance of reading the Word of God.
It is in response to this reality that the Philippine Bible Society (PBS), together with the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches (PCEC), the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), through its Episcopal Commission on Youth (ECY), have rallied together to bring about the Youth Explode Series.
Youth Explode 2008 will happen on November 29 (Saturday) at the Folk Arts Theater. Filipino youth, regardless of denomination, will gather as one to fire up God’s Word among their generation. Come and let us join the battlecry of our youth!
Fast facts:
Did you know that the word Bible is from the Greek biblia, which is the plural form of biblion? Biblion is the diminutive of biblos (book), from byblos (papyrus). In ancient times papyrus was used to make the paper from which books were manufactured.
The words biblion and biblia are used in the Old Testament and the Apocrypha for the Scriptures (Daniel 9:2; 1 Maccabees 1:56; 3:48). By about the fifth century AD the Greek Church Fathers applied the term biblia to the whole of the Christian Scriptures. Later the word passed into the western church, and although it is really a plural neuter noun, it came to be used in Latin as a feminine singular. Thus “The Books” became by common consent “The Book.”
