German Youth Starving For Biblical Teachings

Chronicle (Levin), 11 September 1948, Page 4

German Youth Starving For Biblical Teachings

If Bibles could be sent. in sufficient quantities to Germany they would be read, as there was a great revival of interest in the teachings of the Scriptures in that country today. This opinion of a German dean, one of the delegates to the conference in Holland in 1947 of the newly formed United Bible Society, was quoted by Mrs. V. Markham Jones, organsing secretary to the British > and Foreign Bible Society, when she spoke to members of the Levin ' branch at its annual meeting on ■ Wednesday. There was little other literature ' in Germany in any case, and for the past 25 years the Bible had been unknown to Germany's youth. The dean had said that ne knew of one pastor in possession of only five copies of the Scriptures in the German language but how to distribute this small numiber among the many young people seeking them was a perplexing problem. To Germany last year had gone 10,300 copies of. the Bible in the German tongue, issued from the British Society 's headquarters in London. This year it had been .decided to send 48,000 Bibles to the secondary schools in the British Zone of Germany. On receipfbf advice of this consignmenc, a letter h'ad been sent from . Germany thanking the society which Stated that the reintroduction of the Scriptures had already born fruit, most of the young people reading the contents for the first' time. "If you could oniy rpp t,hft result of vour work over

here you would indeed feel rewarded," added the writer. Speaking of the newly formed United Bible Society, Mrs. Markham Jones said. that there were 19 different eountries represented, including eountries such as Japan, Indonesia, Czechoslovakia and Poland. There were 72 different Janguages spoken by members. She had been surprised recently to find that Iceland was a member and that it was this year celebrating the 400th anniversary of the translation of the Bible into its language— 250 years before the British translation. Finland was celebrating the 400th anniversary of the translation of the New Testament and was marking the occasion by the issue of a special edition of the New Testament.Countries such as Denmark which had not liad the printing of copies of the Scriptures interrupted by the war, had offered assistance to other. eountries through the United Bible Society. Denmark was already in fact, issuing copies of the Bible in the German language to refugees who were daily returning from Denmark to Germany in hundreds. She was hopeful of a bright future for the United Society and saw in it the possibilities of a means to bring nations closer together through the friendships. that were made between delegates from the various countries. That spirit of friendship, she hoped, would permeate and influence those nations which at present called themselves united. Many churcnes were still arguing about the ques.tion of uniting, while the Bible Societies, in the belief that unity was strength were now all going forward together.