Monday, October 26, 2020

Books You Can't Read

By David Bragg
    You could, if so inclined, go to your local library and read various books about George Gordon, better known as Lord Byron. What you can't read, however, is his autobiography. Byron, a noted poet who lived a flamboyant, controversial life, left his memoir with a friend. But upon learning of Byron's death his friend, hoping to spare his Byron's reputation from the scandal that would inevitably result, burned the manuscript.
    While at the library you could check out several  of William Shakespeare’s plays. But you can't read “Love’s Labour’s Won” or “Cardenio.” Although they are found in early lists of the noted writer's plays they are nevertheless lost to history.
    If you are really motivated you could read Homer's “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” but you can't read his third installment, the “Margites.” It has not survived.
    You can read Earnest Hemingway's “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Islands in the Stream,” but not some of his earlier stories because they were packed inside his wife's suitcase which was stolen in a busy train station (Nate Barksdale, history.com).
    But you can read the Bible. God has preserved it through the centuries. By reading and obeying, you can live a life that is pleasing in His sight and share your hope with others as you make your way through history. You can read it, but do you?
- David Bragg serves as one of the ministers at the Northwest Church of Christ in Greensboro, NC and is co-editor of BulletinGold. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.nwchurchofchrist.com/ or his blog: http://davidbragg.blogspot.com/


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