Burning Books

On June 12, 2012, author Ray Bradbury passed away. In one of the novels that he penned and published in 1953, Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury shows how television destroys reading literature. There are others who say that his book shows the danger of censorship. Regardless, Fahrenheit 451 shows us a society that has determined books have no value and has even made it the job of firemen to burn houses with books. The novel even points out that the Bible is included as a book with no value.

Although I hope our society never becomes a society that fails to recognize the importance of literature, our world is slowly becoming a society that fails to recognize the importance of the Bible.

Bradbury tells us in his novel that the censorship started with individuals ripping a page or a paragraph from books because the people disagreed with what was said. This continued until the value of literature was completely lost.

How many times in our society do we unwittingly do as those in Bradbury's book did and devalue the Bible?

How many times do we tell ourselves that certain sections of scripture don't apply to us?

How many times do we falsely tell ourselves that if we "rip" out or don't follow one section that it will be okay?

In Jeremiah 36:23 the Bible tells us, "As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot."


Jehoiakim cut the word of God into pieces because he didn't like what it said. Notice what God's response was in Jeremiah 36:29-30.


29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, 'Thus says the LORD, You have burned this scroll, saying, "Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?" 30 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.


God took what Jehoiakim did very seriously. Do you devalue the word of God and try to censor it? Do you try to pick and choose what you are going to obey?


I encourage all to obey the "whole counsel of God" that we have recorded for us in God's inspired word.