The Truth in the Bible Still Survives from 1895 to Today

1896 in History :: So what was going on in 1896?

Tonight we start the first part of a series of studies on how to study the Bible, called Journey Bible Class.  Yesterday I picked up a Bible at a local store specifically to start using tonight, but I have about 30-35 Bibles here in my office so I guess I could have used one of those but I was looking for one in particular.  One I have here in my office is this one Bible published in 1895 I picked up after someone threw it away back when we were in the book business. The Bible I picked up at the store yesterday was a relatively nice leather covered Bible but it made me think about this one I have that was published more than 100 years ago.

It is far from fragile and you can flip through the pages, look at the illustrations and everything you do with a Bible purchased today… but… in it’s time, this Bible must have cost a small fortune.  It took more than 100 photographers and a huge number of editors and all the other people to put this 1895 Bible together.  It weighs about 6-8 pounds, is a hard cover, has tons of illustrations, and is even referenced and includes commentary, wow.

You can read it very well on the photo, but if you look on the blank page it has, written in pencil,

Oct the 6 1896

Presented To.

Mary Jane Williams.

By

G.E. Th Williams.

and on the inside it still has a cross stitched book mark that says “I love Thee With All My Heart”.  Of course if you flip through the pages you will see that the scriptures are the same in this book published in 1895 as in the book I purchased yesterday.  The history of this Bible is incredible to me.  I am holding in my hand something that is tangible evidence of a God’s word being passed on from person to person more than 113 years ago.

I took these photos today when I got to work.

January 4 Following Mormon abandonment of polygamy, Utah admitted as 45th state
January 5 German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen’s discovers x-rays
January 7 Fanny Farmer publishes her 1st cookbook
January 18 British troops occupy Kumasi, West Africa
January 29 Emile Grubbe is 1st dr to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
February 8 Western Conference forms of Midwestern U, later renamed Big 10 Conf
February 18 Cave of Winds at Niagara Falls goes almost dry for 1st time in 50 yrs
February 23 Tootsie Roll introduced by Leo Hirshfield
March 1 Battle of Adua: 80,000 Ethiopians destroy 20,000 Italians
March 8 Volunteers of America forms (New York City)
March 20 Marines land in Nicaragua to protect U.S. citizens
March 25 Modern Olympics began in Athens, Greece
April 4 Announcement of Gold in Yukon
April 6 1st modern Olympic games open in Athens Greece [3/25 OS] American, James Connolly, wins 1st Olympic gold medal in mod history
April 15 1st Olympic games close at Athens, Greece
May 4 1st edition of London Daily Mail ( penny)
May 6 22nd Kentucky Derby: Willie Simms aboard Ben Brush wins in 2:07.75
May 14 Lowest U.S. temperature in May recorded (-10 degrees F-Climax, Colo)
May 15 Tornado kills 78 in Texas
May 18 U.S. Supreme Court affirms race separation (Plessy vs. Ferguson)
May 27 Tornado hit St. Louis, killing 255 and leaving thousands homeless
June 6 George Samuelson leaves New York harbor to row across Atlantic
June 15 Tsunami strikes Shinto festival on beach at Sanriku Japan 27,000 are killed, 9,000 injured, with 13,000 houses destroyed
June 26 1st movie theater in U.S. opens, charging 10 cents for admission
July 8 William Jennings Bryan “cross of gold” speech at Dem convention
July 21 National Federation of Afro-American Women and Colored Women’s
July 28 City of Miami incorporated
August 16 Gold discovered in Klondike, found at Bonanza Creek, Ala
August 20 Dial telephone patented
October 1 Yosemite becomes a National Park
November 1 1st bare women breast (Zulu) to appear in National Geographic Mag
November 14 Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation
December 8 Start of Sherlock Holmes “Adventure of Missing 3 Quarter”
December 25 “Stars and Stripes Forever” written by John Philip Sousa
December 30 Stanley Cup: Montreal Victorias beat Winnipeg Victorias, 6-5
December 31 25th auto built in US [thanks]

Don’t think my Bible is going to be around in 2133 but I guess it could be.  So if those items above are facts of history, how far back do we go before we don’t think these things actually took place.  We have buildings in this country that go back to the 1600-1700’s, China and Japanese history goes back a pretty good ways, and so does Israel and the history spoken about in this book.

Of course we as human beings selectively choose what we believe as truth. Perhaps today this poem I wrote below is what truth is.

What Do We Believe is the Truth

Truth is all relative.
Truth is what we make it to be.
Truth is fluid.
Truth is adjustable.
Truth is changing.
Truth is false.

Truth is love.
Truth is faith.
Truth is belief.
Truth is alive.
Truth is sacrifice.