The World Sets Aside a Day to Honor the Bible
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Not only is the Bible the best-selling book of all time, it has its own annual day. This year's International Day of the Bible was Monday, Nov. 24.
Every year a major metropolis is named the host city for the Bible-honoring day, and this year it was Oklahoma City.
A number of distinguished Oklahomans gathered to celebrate the Bible by reading from it high up in the rotunda of the state capitol building.
Event organizer Richard Glickstein, president of the National Bible Association, told CBN News Oklahoma City was a good fit because it's one of the most evangelical cities in America - if not the most.
"So it is a wonderful, Bible-based town," he said. "And people love God here."
One of the first readers was Cindy Lankford, whose husband James had to cancel his appearance. Having just been elected the state's newest senator, he had to be in the nation's capital rather than Oklahoma.
Mrs. Lankford read from , "It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life."
states, "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God." So if the Word's God, then that suggests people certainly need to know the Word to know God.
"There is an intimacy with God that we develop through the Word being in us," Glickstein said.
Glickstein talked about how the Bible can refine readers' character and act like a brake. He explained that when left to our own devices, we might rush toward bad behavior.
"My mind's like a bad trap," Glickstein explained. "And I need something in there that helps me to say, 'No, don't go there. No, that's not a good thing to think. Don't say that about that person.' So it really is a restraint."
Another of those reading the Bible in the rotunda ceremony was Bobby Gruenewald, who with his team at LifeChurch developed the YouVersion App that's taken the Bible out of its covers and put it on your smart-phone or tablet.
Gruenewald told CBN News he believes if you want to hear from God, you have to dig into His Word.
"It's a way for Him to illuminate His direction in our lives," Gruenewald said. "So I think it's extremely important that we begin to make not just a habit for habit's sake, but that we actually make God's Word a part of our everyday life so that we can really be able to hear His voice and direction in our lives."
Steve Green may be best known as the president of Hobby Lobby, headquartered in Oklahoma City. He was at the Bible-honoring event in the state capitol because of His deep belief the Word can do massive good for any society or individual that embraces it.
"Some people are skeptical of this book," he said, looking at his Bible. "But the problem is, they don't know it. Before they criticize it, my suggestion is they read it, see what it has to say."
"And I believe that if they apply the principles that it teaches, what history has shown is that it is good for mankind," he said. "And I think it's good for an individual if they do the same."
The ceremony wrapped up with a Jewish cantor singing a chant that rang throughout the capitol building.
The song concluded the hour when denominational differences were laid aside and everyone from pastors to priests to politicians to a former chief of the Cherokee nation came together to honor a book so rich and full, it's called the Book of Life.
