Editorial May 7, 1990 Issue

To live fully

Michael D. Rissler

One million copies of the Bible had come off the press since a new publishing plant was established about four years ago in Nanking, China. This is one indication of the great hunger for the Bible message throughout the world: in China, Nigeria, Thailand, Cuba, Cambodia, to mention only a few of the countries reported on in an issue of the American Bible Society Record.

People continue to look back to the early Christian movement in order to go forward in their lives. This can seem surprising when so much is new and changing in the world. But the issues of New Testament Christianity are issues of justice, individual worth, preservation of community life, and healing, and these don't lose their significance.

People conceive of God in many ways. But however He is considered, God signifies Life. And to go forward is to want to live and to live fully. To realize this is to understand why Christ Jesus' statement in the book of John is probably one of the best-known Bible verses: "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."^{John 10:10.} When the Bible is viewed through the window of this promise, it's not surprising that people who hunger for progress are often drawn to New Testament Christianity. This isn't backward-looking at all; it's spiritual vision.