Why Are There Gideon Bibles In Hotel Rooms?
Because Gideon put them there! The Gideon Bible is not some special edition or translation of the Bible that hotels really like (the books are usually the plain old King James Version); They are named for the group that distributes them.
Why Do Hotels Have Bibles?
Here’s how it all started. In 1898, John H. Nicholson stayed at the crowded Central Hotel in Boscolo, Wisconsin. The place was so crowded that it was called Samuel E. he Had to share a room with someone else named Hill. They got to talk, as you might if you were sharing a room with a stranger, and found that they were both Christians. That evening, they prayed together and spoke together with traveling Christian businessmen.
In 1899, he put this idea to practice. Your numbers—William J. In another addition to the Knights—the men presided over a meeting at a YMCA aimed at creating a union of people who wished to achieve “mutual recognition, personal gospel, and united service to God.”
Initially, the three men mentioned above were the only people in the union because they were the only people who actually attended the meeting. Hills was named president, Knights vice president, and Nicholson held the roles of both treasurer and secretary.
Simultaneously, the men decided that their new outfit needed a name and prayed to God to lead them in the best way possible? The prayer apparently worked, or the knights simply had an epiphany. Shortly after the prayer, they directed the other two men to the Old Testament story about Gideon and declared, “We shall be called Gideon.”
The story of Gideon is recorded in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Judges, chapters 6-8. He is not the most obvious of names for a band of Christian men—a translation of his name means “destroyer.” However, Gideon was a man accused by God of being led by a relatively small number of men (300). A massively large army and he was able to defeat them.
Gideon was an apt name for a small organization that had big dreams. Gideon International says that the organization tries to maintain Gideon’s mentality no, not hunting and killing a vast army of Midianites but willing to do God’s work at any time and by any means. He intends to do it.
Over the next few years, the Gideon Association gained more members, all of whom were visiting Christian businessmen who spent considerable time in hotel rooms. The topic of becoming a more effective witness in the hotel arose, and in 1908 the Bible Project was adopted.
One of the association’s trustees proposed the project, who believed that Gideon’s should make it a goal to put a Bible in every hotel room in the United States because it “would be a kind act, fully fulfilling the divine mission.” Considering the Gideon Association.”
Although the Bible Project was adopted in Louisville, Kentucky, the first Gideon Bible was actually housed in 1908 at a hotel in Superior, Montana. Since then, more than 1.8 billion Bibles have been placed in hotels across the United States and in more than 190 other countries, written in more than 90 different languages.
But How Do All These Bibles Get Into Hotel Rooms, And Who Pays For Them?
Donations pay for Bibles to the group as a whole, and donations probably come from individuals or churches that support Gideon’s cause. As for how Bibles end up in hotel rooms, Giddens will formally present the Bible to a hotel manager at opening a new hotel. They then provide enough Bibles for each hotel room to be distributed by the hotel staff.
Gideon’s will also provide replacements for Bibles that are worn out or “missing”—Gideon’s does not believe any of their Bibles have ever been stolen from hotel rooms; They are taken only by those in need, and this counts as success in their mission of spreading the word of God.
Supposedly, it is estimated that about 25% of people who stay in hotel rooms actually read the Gideon Bible provided to them. As Gideon International estimates that each Bible has a lifespan of about six years, this means that it is read to about 2,300 people during a hotel room stay.
The numbers are based on research conducted by Gideon through the hotel industry. The Bible Project has done so well that many other religions have started providing literature to hotels. That way, you can have a Quran or Book of Mormon next to your Gideon Bible on your next hotel stay.
