On the shelf

A church in Wiltshire has discoverd that an extremely rare first edition King James Bible had been sitting on a shelf gathering dust for the last 150 years.

The BBC reported that it is one of fewer than 200 original printings of the KJV known to exist.

Church council member Geoff Proctor told the BBC that the most important thing about the discovery was that it was meant to be a living working book for people to live by.

"Well I think what it's going to do is enable us to talk about the Bible," he said.

"Because in a secular world it's seen as an important document, it will actually bring the opportunities to us to go and discuss it in more detail.

"When we took it for evaluation to the curator of a museum, one of the first things he said was whatever you do you must display this so that people can read the word.

"That stuck with me—the fact that it's what it says rather than what it is," he said.

It struck me how this story is repeated in millions of households in the UK and beyond. It's surprising how many houses you go in have a Bible on a shelf somewhere. But it's not a lucky charm, and it's no use if it's not read.

And I'm not talking about non-Christian homes…