What do you do with an old, falling apart Bible?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
#1
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#1
The pages have come loose from the binding, and Im afraid if I use it anymore it will just literally fall apart. It was second hand when I got it but if I sellotape it anymore it will collapse. I dont think many Bibles were made to last they get so worn and the spines get torn. Plus the pages are tissue thin its really hard to turn them. You'd be reading a page and then go to turn it and find youve turned two or three pages more than you needed to. My copy was published by Oxford ..I am thinking those in their Oxford University ivory towers have no idea how much use a Bible gets as readers we dont all just display them on a shelf for the gold lettered binding. I cant even glue or sew it back up will just make it even worse.

I have a newer Bible that is much better bound so am pondering shall I do with this old one...

what do you do with them? I am loathe to bin a Bible but, would it be disrespectful to donate it becaause the next recipient will find it as hard to read as I do. Keep it in a drawer or cupboard? Press flowers inside it? Make it into a doorstop? Its not really heavy enough, and rebinding it wont help the pages inside as its not just the cover thats falling apart.

What is your perfectly ideal Bible book made of?
 
tourist

tourist

Senior Member
#2
Mar 13, 2014
42,590
17,056
113
69
Tennessee
#2
The bible contains the Word of God but the book itself is still a book. If you have qualms about being disrespectful you could burn it but I would have no problem just simply throwing it away. I have a bible that is about to bite the dust too. My idea of a perfectly ideal bible is made out of paper. Of course, online bibles don't have the spines breaking and the pages falling out unless the hard drive crashes.
 
shittim

shittim

Senior Member
#3
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#3
have it rebound? Often the old papers have some acid content that causes them to break down anyway. Perhaps another "Ashes to ashes" situation?
 
Lafftur

Lafftur

Senior Member
#4
Apr 18, 2017
6,892
3,633
113
#4
Lanolin said:
The pages have come loose from the binding, and Im afraid if I use it anymore it will just literally fall apart. It was second hand when I got it but if I sellotape it anymore it will collapse. I dont think many Bibles were made to last they get so worn and the spines get torn. Plus the pages are tissue thin its really hard to turn them. You'd be reading a page and then go to turn it and find youve turned two or three pages more than you needed to. My copy was published by Oxford ..I am thinking those in their Oxford University ivory towers have no idea how much use a Bible gets as readers we dont all just display them on a shelf for the gold lettered binding. I cant even glue or sew it back up will just make it even worse.

I have a newer Bible that is much better bound so am pondering shall I do with this old one...

what do you do with them? I am loathe to bin a Bible but, would it be disrespectful to donate it becaause the next recipient will find it as hard to read as I do. Keep it in a drawer or cupboard? Press flowers inside it? Make it into a doorstop? Its not really heavy enough, and rebinding it wont help the pages inside as its not just the cover thats falling apart.

What is your perfectly ideal Bible book made of?
Click to expand...
Hello Lanolin,

That is so exciting that your Bible is falling apart...it means you have spent many hours reading and meditating over God's Word!

If you write in your Bible a lot it could be an amazing gift to your children or grandchildren to read your Bible and read what you were able to glean from God's Word.

I've got so many of my ancestors' Bibles full of their writings. I've kept them all even though some are falling apart....I love to read them all! lol! :giggle:
 
R

Runningman

Banned
#5
Mar 4, 2020
8,614
3,691
113
#5
shittim said:
have it rebound? Often the old papers have some acid content that causes them to break down anyway. Perhaps another "Ashes to ashes" situation?
Click to expand...
I like the idea of having it rebound. If that isn't an option, just box it and put it in storage. It's the word of God so even if the pages are falling apart it's still extremely valuable.
 
Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
#6
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#6
I have put it in my keepsakes box (just a shoebox) along with birthday cards etc. I havent written in it just on the inside cover as there is literally no room to write notes in it.

I have two other newer Bibles that I use now.

As for grandparents or parents heirlooms or even books my mother had some books from her school days but since they are fragile and falling apart she didnt give them to me. I do remember reading Charles Dickens and George Orwells Animal Farm of hers but you can find fresher copies of those in the bookshop.

I would feel a bit weird both burning a bible or recycling it to toilet paper or even binning it. And I couldnt give it to children because its not actually a childrens bible. I could probably show them as an artefact, but I couldnt let them touch it as would get wear out even more.

I probably would only bin a Bible if the pages were totally torn up, or it was covered in sauce or got moldy and the pages stuck together, and it wasnt one that I had ever read.
 
G

Gideon300

Well-known member
#7
Mar 18, 2021
5,343
3,147
113
#7
Lanolin said:
The pages have come loose from the binding, and Im afraid if I use it anymore it will just literally fall apart. It was second hand when I got it but if I sellotape it anymore it will collapse. I dont think many Bibles were made to last they get so worn and the spines get torn. Plus the pages are tissue thin its really hard to turn them. You'd be reading a page and then go to turn it and find youve turned two or three pages more than you needed to. My copy was published by Oxford ..I am thinking those in their Oxford University ivory towers have no idea how much use a Bible gets as readers we dont all just display them on a shelf for the gold lettered binding. I cant even glue or sew it back up will just make it even worse.

I have a newer Bible that is much better bound so am pondering shall I do with this old one...

what do you do with them? I am loathe to bin a Bible but, would it be disrespectful to donate it becaause the next recipient will find it as hard to read as I do. Keep it in a drawer or cupboard? Press flowers inside it? Make it into a doorstop? Its not really heavy enough, and rebinding it wont help the pages inside as its not just the cover thats falling apart.

What is your perfectly ideal Bible book made of?
Click to expand...
Internet. I have every version. It never wears out and I can search for any verse in seconds. You can get quickverse if you don't like the internet.

It helps to keep in mind that even Bibles are made to a price range. And God works in wonderful ways. A Bible that I needed to replace led to me finding my children. I had not seen them for 15 years as I did not know where they lived.
 
Blik

Blik

Senior Member
#8
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
2,428
113
#8
The dead sea scrolls found in the 50's in were, perhaps, copies of scripture of that time that they didn't want to destroy although they were worn out. They were in big clay jars in caves and serve as a wonderful bridge between us and people of the time of and before Christ.
 
Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
#9
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#9
Gideon300 said:
Internet. I have every version. It never wears out and I can search for any verse in seconds. You can get quickverse if you don't like the internet.

It helps to keep in mind that even Bibles are made to a price range. And God works in wonderful ways. A Bible that I needed to replace led to me finding my children. I had not seen them for 15 years as I did not know where they lived.
Click to expand...
I dont read the bible online. I look things up but i dont read whole chapters and books on it. I once had an bible app but it didnt update and had ads on it so I gave up.
PLus it takes power and battery.

Every Bible Ive had was given to me free, I have never actually had to buy one for myself. The ones ive bought were given away to others.
 
p_rehbein

p_rehbein

Senior Member
#10
Sep 4, 2013
30,693
6,883
113
#10
Lanolin said:
I have put it in my keepsakes box (just a shoebox)
Click to expand...
That was going to be my suggestion. To put it in a box and keep it away safely. You could even write a note/letter about that particular Bible, and what it has meant to you, and put the note/letter in the box with it, and let it pass to one or more of your children (if you have children), or even given to your Church as a "keepsake."

My perfect Bible is the one "written on my heart" by the Lord God, and interpreted for me by the Holy Spirit. :)
 
Dino246

Dino246

Senior Member
#11
Jun 30, 2015
25,470
13,782
113
#11
I have a cheap KJV that is falling apart. It would cost far more to have it rebound than to simply replace it. I too am loathe to bin or burn it. Even mailing it to an agency that transports Bibles overseas would cost more than it is worth. Maybe I'll try to rebind it myself... after I complete the hundred other projects on my "someday" list.
 
shittim

shittim

Senior Member
#12
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#12
here is a ;little video that might help with your project.
 
G

Godsgirl83

Guest
#13
#13
Gideon300 said:
It helps to keep in mind that even Bibles are made to a price range. And God works in wonderful ways. A Bible that I needed to replace led to me finding my children. I had not seen them for 15 years as I did not know where they lived.
Click to expand...
Well now that sounds like a story I'd like to hear more about......
 
Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
#14
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#14
Godsgirl83 said:
Well now that sounds like a story I'd like to hear more about......
Click to expand...
yes we wanna know...care to share. How can you lose your children?!

I am not sure about the keepsake thing though, books cost quite a LOT to repair regarding rebinding. Replacing covers is easy but if the stitching is coming undone then glue wont help. Ive done it before sent a bible to be rebound and ended up giving that Bible away to a church.

This made me think about our bodies when does God judge they are beyond repair? Jesus was flogged and crucified, yet his bones were not broken. His internal organs were fine its just he lost a lot of blood. He had a few scars and holes in his hands but otherwise he was fine when he got resurrected.
 
Nebuchadnezzer

Nebuchadnezzer

Well-known member
#15
Feb 8, 2019
1,134
205
63
#15
Lanolin said:
The pages have come loose from the binding, and Im afraid if I use it anymore it will just literally fall apart. It was second hand when I got it but if I sellotape it anymore it will collapse. I dont think many Bibles were made to last they get so worn and the spines get torn. Plus the pages are tissue thin its really hard to turn them. You'd be reading a page and then go to turn it and find youve turned two or three pages more than you needed to. My copy was published by Oxford ..I am thinking those in their Oxford University ivory towers have no idea how much use a Bible gets as readers we dont all just display them on a shelf for the gold lettered binding. I cant even glue or sew it back up will just make it even worse.

I have a newer Bible that is much better bound so am pondering shall I do with this old one...

what do you do with them? I am loathe to bin a Bible but, would it be disrespectful to donate it becaause the next recipient will find it as hard to read as I do. Keep it in a drawer or cupboard? Press flowers inside it? Make it into a doorstop? Its not really heavy enough, and rebinding it wont help the pages inside as its not just the cover thats falling apart.

What is your perfectly ideal Bible book made of?
Click to expand...
My suggestion is to throw it out and buy ten new bibles. I like the paperback, large print ESV (blue cover).
 
shittim

shittim

Senior Member
#17
Dec 16, 2016
13,799
7,783
113
#17
There was an acidic nature of most paper that causes most old Bibles and bookd to suffer with age. the pages themselves may disintegrate.
 
Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
#18
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#18
The oxford bible was printed on india paper.

The problem with India paper it is tissue thin. This Bible had 1319 pages

my newer bible has 732 pages but the paper is thicker and the font is smaller, but actually it turns out its much more readble than the oxford one! Also since the paper is thicker there is not much bleed through of ink through the pages, so that also makes it easier to read.

I think publishers are subscribing to a false economy when they make the pages tissue thin! They SAY its premium grade paper, but in reality, if you read the Bible regularly those flimsy tissue thin Bibles dont last and dont stand up to everyday use. The pages may be slightly yellower but actually the whiteness of paper doesnt affect the reading of it...in many instances, paper that is TOO white can be offputting.
 
Lanolin

Lanolin

Well-known member
#20
Dec 15, 2018
23,460
7,188
113
#20
I had another Bible this time a childrens illustrated one that had come loose from the binding but I have glued it back with PVA and am pondering what to cover it with.

It says its modern and in todays language but modern for like 1950! I'll have to wait and see if children go for it. One of my bible ladies donated it to the school. Thankfully theres nothing wrong with the pages as they are nice and thick.

if the pages are torn or scribbled on I will write it off. Problem is one Action Bible is like that even though it just a couple of pages out of nearly 700 it has spoiled the book. I suppose I could colour photocopy a page of an intact bible and replace that page.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.