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HOW
THE BIBLE CHANGED A SOCIETY
"My
righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine
arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me,
and on mine arm shall they trust" (Isaiah 51:5, KJV).
"Famous
mutineers who sank the British ship Bounty, ended up settling
with their native women on the lonely island of Pitcairn (in
the South Pacific). The group consisted of nine British sailors,
six Tahitian men, ten Tahitian women, and a girl of fifteen.
One of the sailors discovered how to distill alcohol, and
soon drunkenness corrupted the island colony. Fighting among
the men and women grew into violent exchanges.
"After
a while only one of the original men who reached the island
survived. But this man, Alexander Smith, discovered a Bible
in one of the chests taken from the ship. He began to read
it and to teach the others what it said. As he did so his
own life changed, and finally the lives of all on the island.
"The
islanders were completely isolated from the outside world
until the arrival of the United States ship Topaz in 1808.
Its crew found the island a thriving prosperous community
with no whisky, no jail, no crime. The Bible had changed the
island from a hell on earth to an example of what God wants
the world to be."--Discover, We Can Believe The Bible,
pp., 1, 2.
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