Once again I have suffered from a lack of sleep as I struggle with a difficult question.
What colour should a Bible be? And does God have an opinion?
We have a hard-line element here in Frisby on Soar that believes that only a black cover is truly acceptable. For myself, I'm quite fond of my old red-covered Bible, which has really exciting pictures of Jesus - blond, blue-eyed, surrounded by friendly wildlife and beautiful Anglo-Saxon children. I realise that black is a more spiritual colour, reminding us of deeper and more serious things - death, sin and darkness - but then red is the colour of the blood of the martyrs' blood, while white symbolises purity. And of course brown is the colour that most NIVs seem to come in.
For myself, the colour is not as important as the binding. My new New International Luxury Study Bible is in distressed fawn skin, with the markings beautifully presented to display the gold-leaf lettering to the best advantage. Simply taking it off the shelf is a spiritual experience. I'm sure that St Paul himself would have enjoyed binding his letters in fawn skin. Indeed, if the Epistle of James had been bound in luxury distressed fawn skin, I'm sure that Luther could have come to love it.
You preach a dangerous heresy brother! Surely you know that the ONLY acceptable form of the Bible is the one delivered by God himself - the Authorised Version with black cover and gold lettering on the front...
ReplyDeleteHoly Spirit Red -every time!
ReplyDeleteBlack, of course, every time, but my sister has a Douai-Challoner bound in burgundy faux-leather, which is very handsome.
ReplyDeleteObviously multi-coloured with rainbow tags http://www.langtoninfo.co.uk/showitem_imagedetail.aspx?isbn=1934770973 to remind us that God will never again send a flood..although sometimes I wonder about this...
ReplyDeleteAre there plans to dis-fellowship from the heretics that endorsed a blue Bible in the poll? I can't find any justification for a blue covered Bible! We should be condemning in the harshest terms & disfellowshiping ASAP! :)
ReplyDeleteI have to explain, Rob, that though I agree with your feelings on blue as a Bible colour, the poll is strictly anonymous.
ReplyDeleteHowever be assured that there is One, the Great Service Provider, who will know their IP addresses.
I've been musing on this for a few days, as befits a question of such weight and depth.
ReplyDeleteI cannot under any circumstances condone the use of a red Bible. In biblical analogy, red is always the colour of sin - not the right colour for a Bible in my view.
There is no great objection to a black Bible, though I have heard that Catholics, Anglicans, Southern Baptists and other liberals use black, so that may be one to stay away from.
Blue is redolent of some of the hangings on the Tabernacle and so could be used.
However, I do feel that the most biblical colour for a Bible is found in Psalm 42:1. As a deer (or a fawn) pants for water, so my heart longs...
The Psalmist uses the analogy of a distressed fawn to convey our heart's longing for God, so it seems entirely appropriate that we should use this colour for our Bibles.
Revd Drayton Parslow, may God have mercy on their souls! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming that eddie has been consuming some beverages that the Roman Catholics would serve for their communion before making his comments, as clearly the color black is the universal representation of Sin, and red would be for the substitionary blood of Jesus shed on our behalf and foreshadowed by the blood of lambs for generations. Blue is still fully unacceptable, and a sure way of spotting those sinners in dire need of someone to set them straight or request they find another congregation to join! :)
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a sad sad growing movement of readers of your wonderful blog that have been led astray into the blue Bible heresy!
ReplyDelete@Rob Miller
ReplyDeleteI was talking about the Scriptural use of colour, not the way they are used in the traditions of the church. I really don't think that the Prophet Isaiah actually said 'though your sins are as black as scarlet, they shall be white as snow,' did he?