The Christians of Pakistan are not behind other Christians in the world when it comes to showing their love, reverence and even creativity for the word of God. Although having not as many resources most of the times to accomplish a religious commitment in the way they want it to, their dedication and the help from the Lord makes it all happen for them.
A splendid manifestation of such reverence that the Christians of Pakistan have for the word of God is seen in the first large-scale handwritten Urdu Bible published by the Pakistan Bible Society.
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan. This handwritten Bible is not only unique in the way it is written, designed and compiled, but it also reflects the hard work of the Pakistan Bible Society team who made this all happen, as well as the beautiful handwriting of the writers who contributed and led towards its publication.
It has been created to commemorate the completion of 150 years of the ministry of the Pakistan Bible Society. This Bible is not for sale, but put on display inside the Pakistan Bible Society, situated in Anarkali, Lahore.
The idea was that of Anthony Lamuel, the general secretary of the Pakistan Bible Society, who has been working and playing a major role in spreading the word of God through Pakistan Bible Society since November 1997 along with a dedicated team.
"Forty one men and women wrote this Bible, and it took about three years to complete this project," he said.
The size of each page is 23 x 36 inches and the Bible measures 4 feet across when it is fully opened. The weight of the book is around 90 kilograms.
When I asked him about the total cost spent on this project, he told me that the 41 writers contributed and rendered their services as volunteers. The binding and other production costs came to 40,000PKR (around £230).
This handwritten Urdu Bible has been attracting scores of the people ever since it went on display in November 2013 and captivated the hearts of all those who looked at the Word of God marvelously brought about by the efforts of devoted Christians.
Reverend Dr Samuel Titus, the pastor in charge of St Paul's Church situated in Rawalpindi visited the Pakistan Bible Society to see the handwritten Urdu Bible.
He said: "I feel proud when I saw such a nice handwritten copy of the Bible and especially in our scenario where we almost every fortnight read different things about Koran. AUrdu is the language which can express the Biblical terminology in its complete sense, so I always enjoy to read it in my own language," he said.
The Pakistan Bible Society has been in existence since November 1, 1967, and is a member of the United Bible Societies. Working and spreading the word of God in a country where the Christians have to face sometimes so much discrimination, hatred and also the brunt of the blasphemy law, the Pakistan Bible Society has over the period of time started to work more strongly and never held back its efforts to spread the work of the Lord.
This handwritten Urdu Bible is certainly a work that the Christians of Pakistan will always take pride in, and which will always keep reminding the future generations about the hard work done by their ancestors to revere the name of Jesus Christ and glorifying the word of the Lord through different ways.
