Most people today put little stock in reading and studying the Bible. In some circles of so-called “higher learning” it is even considered a mark of inferior ability to study the Book of books. Yet among the readers of the Bible, in all ages, have been some of the ablest leaders and most brilliant minds. Even many who believed in its value admitted they did not read it as regularly as they should. Still, they recognized its unmatched worth. Consider a few of their words:
- George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible… He is worse than an infidel who does not read his Bible and acknowledge his obligation to God.”
- John Adams: “The Bible is the best book in the world.”
- Thomas Jefferson: “I have always said and always will say that the studious perusal of the Sacred Volume will make better citizens, better fathers, better husbands… The Bible makes the best people in the world.”
- John Quincy Adams: “My custom is to read four or five chapters of the Bible every morning immediately after rising… It seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day… It is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue.”
- Abraham Lincoln: “I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book upon reason that you can, and the balance by faith, and you will live and die a better man.”
- Theodore Roosevelt: “To every man who faces life with real desire to do his part in everything, I appeal for a study of the Bible.”
- Woodrow Wilson: “I have a simple thing to ask of you. I ask every man and woman in the audience that from this day on they will realize that part of the destiny of America lies in their daily perusal of this great Book.”
- Martin Luther: “Holy Scripture is a sweet-scented herb, and the more you rub it, the more it emits its fragrance.”
- John Wesley: “O give me that Book! At any price, give me that Book of God. Here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one Book.”
- Sir Isaac Newton: “I find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history whatever.”
- William Penn: “The Scriptures contain a declaration of the mind and will of God… They ought also to be read, believed, and fulfilled in our day. We accept them as the words of God himself.”
- Benjamin Franklin: “Cultivate an acquaintance with and a firm belief in the Holy Scriptures. This should be your certain interest.”
- Daniel Webster: “From the time that, at my mother’s feet, or on my father’s knee, I first learned to repeat the verses from the sacred writing, they have been my daily study and vigilant contemplation.”
- William Gladstone: “I have known ninety-five great men of the world in my time, and of these, eighty-seven were followers of the Bible.”
- Douglas MacArthur: “Believe me sir, never a night goes by, be I ever so tired, but that I read the word of God before I go to bed.”
If such influential men and women found strength, wisdom, and guidance in the Bible, how much more should we treasure it as God’s inspired word (2 Tim. 3:16–17)? The question is not whether the Bible is valuable—it is whether we personally value it enough to read, study, and live by it.
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