Dear friends,
Welcome to 2011!
The start of a New Year is always the time to make new promises and commitments, so what is it going to be this time?
This year is the 400th anniversary of the King James version of the Bible. It has been described as the single most important publication in history. The last Harry Potter book sold 44 million copies - the Bible has sold 2.5 billion some say, or six billion, say others.
But how many of us actually read this book today?
I want to use 2011 to encourage people to read what the Bible actually says. We might be surprised!
My own personal pledge is to read the Bible from cover to cover this year – something I haven't done for many years. If you want to see how I'm doing, pop into church and round the walls I'll be sticking up a visual indication of how well I'm doing. There are 774,746 words in the Bible altogether, so I'm taking on a task of reading slightly over 2000 words a day!
If you want to keep up with me electronically, why not follow me on Twitter – I'm @nlsharp. I'll be tweeting my progress to keep you informed.
I'm not expecting anyone else to take on the same challenge (but don't let me stop you if you want to!) However, I would love to encourage you to read at least some of this amazing book for yourself, and make up your own mind about it.
During the year I hope to publish some articles about different books in the Bible, to encourage you to dive in and have a go for yourself.
Why not make this a truly Biblical New Year?
With love,
Nick
