Bible Access Restricted for 500 Million Christians
Another 125 million can't get it in any format, according to research by the Bible Access Initiative.
More than 500 million Christians live in nations where access to the Bible is restricted. That's what the Bible Access Initiative, a collaboration of several ministries, found, and International Christian Concern spread the word.
The study's two figures don't say the same thing. The first speaks of limited access; the second, of more than 125 million believers who can't get the Scripture in any format.
You and I open the app and in two taps we read whatever chapter we want. That gesture, so simple, isn't available to those believers. I'm not writing this so you feel guilty, but so you look differently at the access you already have.
«The access you have opens a door many can't cross»
Two lists and the same lack
The research sorted the problem into two lists. The first gathers the nations where access to the Bible is most restricted; among them appear Afghanistan, North Korea and Iran. The second names the countries with the greatest shortage of Bibles, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria.
The two lists tell different realities. In one, someone decides to close the door: laws, controls and bans. In the other, the door doesn't exist: there are few copies and almost no way to get one. The result looks similar: believers who hold on to their faith without being able to read the Bible for themselves.
What puts up those walls
The team identified five main barriers: persecution, poverty, illiteracy, political restrictions and lack of internet.
Each one acts in its own way. Poverty keeps the book out of reach; illiteracy puts a reader in front of a text they can't decipher; censorship keeps it from arriving; and without a connection, the phone is no use as a library.
What strikes me is that none of those barriers has to do with the desire to read. The problem is never the desire. A spokesperson for International Christian Concern asked people to pray and support initiatives that increase the availability of the Scripture among believers around the world.
What you decide today with what you already have
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105, ESV). That lamp lights the way for whoever holds it in their hand. What if this month you read one whole book of the Bible, without skipping around, to truly thank God for what others are waiting for?
You can also pray for Christians living under restriction and for their local churches, which gather with the little they have.
You can support projects that bring Bibles, audio and training to those who can't get them. And it doesn't take a flag or a partisan cause: the church doesn't depend on a country or a leader, but on its Lord.
The access you have opens a door many can't cross. What are you going to do today with that open door?
