Listed below, in no particular order, are eight fascinating facts about the Holy Bible:
Fact 1 – did you know that Samuel Morse, who invented the telegraph in 1844, used a quotation from Scripture for his first message ever transmitted over his new invention: “What has God wrought.” (Numbers 23:23).
Fact 2 – did you know that one of our most cherished symbols of freedom in America, the Liberty Bell, which was cast in 1752, and came to us from England, in addition to the famous crack on the bell, proudly bears the following inscription: “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” And as you might have guessed the source of this wonderful phrase is from our old friend the Bible – (Leviticus 25:10).
Fact 3 – did you know that Johannes Gutenberg, who invented the movable type printing press in the mid-fifteenth century, had this to say about the Holy Bible – the first major book printed on his press:
“God suffers in the multitude of souls whom His word cannot reach. Religious truth is imprisoned in a small number of manuscript books, which confine instead of spread the public treasure. Let us break the seal which seals up holy things and give wings to Truth in order that she may win every soul that comes into the world by her word no longer written at great expense by hands easily palsied, but multiplied like the wind by an untiring machine.”1
“Yes, it is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams, the most abundant and most marvelous liquor that has ever flowed to relieve the thirst of men! Through it, God will spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men.”2
Fact 4 – did you know that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and it has been on the best-seller list for 2,000 years or 100,000 weeks!
Fact 5 – did you know that in the winter of 1968, a historic event took place that sent excitement throughout the entire world as few events had ever done before. The spaceship Apollo 8 made the first voyage from our planet to the moon. Commander Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders became the first men to orbit the moon. But what many people are not aware of or have forgotten was the fact that while orbiting the moon, with the earth behind them and the entire universe before them, over one billion people began to hear read the opening ten verses from Genesis. It is only fitting that the creation story was read on man’s first flight to the moon. God’s Word has now not only been circulated throughout this world but to other worlds as well.
Fact 6 – did you know that the Bible is the only book that gives the account of special creation. It is the only book that gives a continuous historical record from the first man to the present era and on into the future. It is the only book of antiquity that accurately details prophecies of events to come. And it is the only book that convicts men of sin and leads them to salvation.
Fact 7 – did you know that back in 1636, Harvard was founded. Part of their “Rules and Precepts” adopted in 1646 contained the following:
“Everyone shall consider the main end of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life.
“Seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, everyone shall seriously by prayer in secret seek wisdom of Him.
“Everyone shall so exercise himself in reading the Scriptures twice a day that they be ready to give an account of their proficiency therein, both in theoretical observations of languages and logic and in practical and spiritual truths…”3
Fact 8 – did you know that theologian Bernard Ramm once said in referring to the incredibly wide scope of the Bible:
“From the Apostolic Fathers dating from AD 95 to the modern times is one great literary river inspired by the Bible – Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, Bible lexicons, Bible atlases, and Bible geographies. These may be taken as a starter. Then at random, we may mention the vast bibliographies around theology, religious education, hymnology, missions, the biblical languages, church history, religious biography, devotional works, commentaries, philosophy of religion, evidences, apologetics, and on and on. There seems to be an endless number.”4
1 Alphonse De Lamartine, Memories of Celebrated Characters, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. (London: Richard Bentley, 1854), 323.
2 Alphonse De Lamartine, Memories of Celebrated Characters, Vol. 2, 2nd ed. (London: Richard Bentley, 1854), 334.
3 The Rebirth of America (Philadelphia: Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986), p. 41.
Did You Know the Bible Refuses to Stay in a Box? (M.R. Neveu)
Curt’s “did you know” list reads like trivia, until you notice the pattern. The Bible doesn’t merely survive history, it keeps turning up at history’s pressure points.
It shows up in inventions, institutions, and symbols, like a quiet witness nobody can successfully evict.
Here we go – by the numbers.
1) The Bible is woven into the wiring of the West (even when the West rolls its eyes).
The first telegraph message quoting Scripture wasn’t a random religious flourish. It’s a snapshot of a culture that assumed God-talk belonged in public life, because truth belonged in public life.
Same with the Liberty Bell inscription. Freedom talk didn’t materialize out of political vapors. It inherited moral categories. People can argue about outcomes, abuse, hypocrisy, and all the ways we reliably ruin good things. But the categories themselves didn’t come from nowhere.
And Harvard’s early “rules and precepts” weren’t “education is neutral.” They were “education is accountable.” The modern world calls that oppressive. The older world called it sanity. Go pound…I mean, go figure 🔥
2) Providence loves distribution. People invent tools. God keeps using them. 🖨️🌍
Curt points at Gutenberg, you can almost hear the thesis. Once Scripture could be multiplied cheaply, it became harder to gatekeep.
Not impossible to mock, censor, or distort, sure. But harder to contain.
Then you get the Apollo 8 moment. Genesis read while orbiting the moon is more than sentiment. It’s symbolic. When folks finally stared into the abyss of space, we didn’t read a lab manual or a manifesto. We read, “In the beginning.”
3) The real scandal isn’t popularity. It’s durability under hostile cross-examination. ⚖️
Here’s the apologetic pivot.
Lots of texts are influential. Fewer survive sustained, multi-century, global hostility while still converting the hearts of the people trying to disprove them.
And Curt doesn’t frame the Bible as merely “historic.” He frames it as morally active. It convicts, it exposes, it drives toward salvation. That’s why people don’t just ignore it. They either surrender to it… or spend energy trying to shut it up.
The Bible is “anti-fragile.”
Some things break under pressure. Scripture has a nasty habit of doing the opposite. Pressure tends to create more copies, more translation, more circulation, and often, ironically, more curiosity. Persecution doesn’t just test faith. It accidentally markets the message.
If the Bible were merely a people-project, it should have stayed local, stayed tribal, stayed trendy for a season, then died like yesterday’s intellectual fashion. Instead, it keeps outliving the empires and ideologies that declared it obsolete.
So yes, Curt’s facts are fascinating. But the point is this.
The Bible isn’t a relic we admire behind glass. It’s a voice that keeps reaching into public history, private conscience, and human suffering, insisting it still has the right to speak.
You can treat it like trivia. The Bible will still be there tomorrow, doing what it always does: reading the reader.
A book that survives fire, empire, and fashion isn’t “inspiring.” It’s indicting. Ignore it if you want. It will outlive your excuses. 🔥📖
Thanks Mr. Blattman.