In many countries in the world, it is a capital offence to own one; in others it is imprisonable; smugglers risk their lives and freedom to take this volume to the spiritually hungry and sadly, its value to people seems inversely proportional to its accessibility.
4o different authors wrote it but a single hand guided its production. Written over centuries it possesses an amazing consistency.
It is criticised heavily but has very rarely been read by those who attack it.
Defended by Christians, there are nonetheless not all that many who have actually read it from cover to cover.
Derided as myth and fantasy, its position due to archaeology, science, and history actually gets stronger as year follows year.
I determined to read the whole thing as a project before becoming a Christian as it was clearly the most important and most influential book ever written, so how could I possibly consider myself to be 'educated' if I had not read it?