How to dispose of a Bible?

Cardinal Richelieu

Well whats the official line from the various Christian denominations represented here. Say I had a moth eaten copy of the bible, how do I dispose of it without the risk of damning myself to the pits of hell?

Atlantis50

Dispose of it like you would dispose of any other unwanted book.

But I suspect you are TROLLING.

Peregrinus

There's nothing sacred about paper and ink. Dispose of it however you wish. As long as you're not intending to desacrate or to shock or offend, I can't see a problem. Recycling it in some way might be more praiseworthy than burning it or turning into landfill.

If there's a Christian denomination which has an official teaching different from this, I don't know of it.

If you want to damn yourself to the pits of hell, I'm afraid you're going to have to work a bit harder. And you'll have to take a personal stance on the age-old dispute about whether damnation can be acheived by faith alone, or whether good works are also necessary.

PDN

I know there are problems with the new wheelie bin service providers in Dublin - but in my part of the country you make sure you're paid up, you have your sticker on the bin, and then Oxigen come once a week and take your rubbish away - Bibles and all!

homer911

In fairness to the OP, I have previously asked the same question and I wasn't trolling. Somehow casually disposing of the word of God seems disrespectful, a bit like using God's name in vain.

"In the beginning was the Word..."

Peregrinus

homer911 wrote: »

In fairness to the OP, I have previously asked the same question and I wasn't trolling. Somehow casually disposing of the word of God seems disrespectful, a bit like using God's name in vain.

"In the beginning was the Word..."

Yes, but Christians are not bibliolators. The paper and ink are not the word of God; they are a convenient technology for recording and presenting the word of God. When they cease to be convenient, you can dispense with them. All the bibles in the world could be pulped, and the word of God would be unaffected.

Nowadays, we increasingly encounter the word of God on screens. How will you dispose of your iPad when its date with destiny arrives?

I knew of a youth minister in the US who used to underline this understanding of the word of God by getting his teenage charges to open their bibles at random and tear out pages. Some of them found it very confronting.

getz

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Well whats the official line from the various Christian denominations represented here. Say I had a moth eaten copy of the bible, how do I dispose of it without the risk of damning myself to the pits of hell?

charity shop,who knows it may end up converting someone

ISAW

Cardinal Richelieu wrote: »

Well whats the official line from the various Christian denominations represented here. Say I had a moth eaten copy of the bible, how do I dispose of it without the risk of damning myself to the pits of hell?

i know a TD with a load of printer cartridges for recycling; You could ask him.

Jesus Shaves

Burn it.

Manach

I'd been told a respectful way to dispose of such would be to burn.

homer911

Manach wrote: »

I'd been told a respectful way to dispose of such would be to burn.

Thats what I ended up doing, but a thick book is actually very hard to burn - you really need to rip it up a few pages at a time. It still didnt seem right, so when I wanted to dispose of an old illustrated children's bible, it went in the recycling - that would have been way harder to burn!

gimmebroadband

Manach wrote: »

I'd been told a respectful way to dispose of such would be to burn.

Ditto!

I have read that sacramentals should be either burned or buried, and should not be mixed with regular trash/rubbish.

Cardinal Richelieu

Atlantis50 wrote: »

Dispose of it like you would dispose of any other unwanted book.

But I suspect you are TROLLING.

Not actually trolling:rolleyes:, my question stems from a radio report on NPR in the US were they were covering the recent troubles in Afganistan stemming from the burning of the Koran with rubbish. The reporter asked various religious groups what was the proper religious way to dispose of Holy books such as the Bible, Koran and Torah. All of them seem to agree that it should be handled by a religious representative such as a priest etc

Jewish- Bury
Greek Orthodox- Burn on own
Catholic- Bury or Burn
Lutheran- hadn't actually a policy but recommended burning by a minister

So is it the same in Ireland, if I dropped my damaged bible into the local priest/rev, will he/she know the proper procedure or could my bible end up in the recycling because they haven't dealt with such an issue before?

Seaneh

homer911 wrote: »

In fairness to the OP, I have previously asked the same question and I wasn't trolling. Somehow casually disposing of the word of God seems disrespectful, a bit like using God's name in vain.

"In the beginning was the Word..."

That "word" does not mean the bible. It means the actual spoken words of God, as in, that through which he spoke creation into existence, not what was written down by Moses, the psalmists, prophets and Desciples.

When they said "The word was God and the word was with God" they are talking about Jesus, Jesus is the "word" of God.

Jesus is not the bible.

It's just paper, throw it in the bin, give it to a second hand book shop, whatevsies.

Run_to_da_hills

A lot Bibles nowadays can be downloaded, if you don't want them you simply delete them.