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"MP3 Bibles" Reach Those Who Can’t Read the Printed PageImagine if the only way you could read your Bible was to use your fingers? Or wait until someone had the time to read it to you?
That could be you if you were one of the estimated 116 million illiterate or seven million blind people in China. One full Chinese Bible in Braille takes 32 volumes, while one requires the knowledge of at least 3,000 Chinese characters in order to read a newspaper. Those most affected by the lack of opportunity to read God’s Word are those in the rural areas, the ethnic minority groups, the sight-impaired and the elderly who have forgotten how or never learned to read.
In May and June, Open Doors began distributing a small handy “MP3 Bible.” Our first priority was to provide the comfort of God’s Word to victims of the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province. Other groups such as a church for the blind in eastern China and some house churches in northeastern, central as well as southern China were also among the first recipients of the initial 700 “MP3 Bibles” of a planned 3,000 that were distributed.
Praise the Lord, we are already receiving positive feedback for this project!
A church co-worker had given one to an 86-year-old sister who has difficulty in reading a printed Bible. The elderly sister joyfully said, “This is such a precious thing to me. From now on, I can hear the Word of God for myself without having to wait for other people to read it to me.”
Another blind believer who also received an “MP3 Bible” said, “Thank you so much for your love. Even though we are blind, we can now listen to the Word of God while we are working at the massage center. The Braille Bible is a rare find and even if we have it, we have to read it slowly because we need to feel the pages with our fingers. But with this ‘MP3 Bible,’ we can listen to the Word of God clearly.
“We work until 2 a.m. and are too tired to read the Braille Bible after work. Furthermore, it is big and inconvenient to carry around. However, this ‘MP3 Bible’ is so small that we can carry it anywhere we go, even to work. So we can now listen to God’s Word everywhere and at any time.” |
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