The Holy Bible is the bestselling book of all time. Even today, sales are booming. According to a Wall Street Journal story December 6, Christian bookstores boasted a 25 percent increase in sales from 2003 to 2005.

Helping to fuel the boom is the fact that the Bible today comes in hundreds of varieties, one to suit every taste. The covers are changing in colors (from two-tone to camouflage) and in material (from metal to duct-tape to water-resistant). Celebrity-narrated audio versions are increasingly popular: James Earl Jones, who made the statement “I am your father” famous in the Star Wars movies, can be heard saying, “My Father is greater than I.” And Cuba Gooding Jr., known for the phrase “Show me the money!” can be heard reading “For the love of money is the root of all evil.”

Is this a sign of rising religious fervor, or simply a result of better marketing gimmicks?

A marketing executive at Thomas Nelson, Inc., said: “What people are saying is, ‘I want to find a Bible that is really me.’”

The fact that more Bibles are flying off the shelves is surely a good thing. It remains an open question, however, how many of those volumes are being used for the Bible’s intended purpose: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). The Author of this Book intends that those who read it be changed by it. Instead, the trend today is to find a version that suits you—not just in look and feel, but also in content.

Our human nature resists having the Bible govern our behavior; rather, we tend to want a version that justifies or explains it.

And why not? After all, the Bible is truly a mystery to most. Have 10 scientists read a biology textbook and tell you what it means, and you’ll likely have 10 similar reports. Have 10 “traditional Christian” ministers read the Bible and tell you what it means, and you’re sure to have 10 vastly different takes.

Bible marketers are simply putting a pretty package on an age-old riddle. Religious leader Herbert W. Armstrong described the Bible as a jigsaw puzzle. The Bible itself says that its passages must be pieced together “precept upon precept; line upon line … here a little, and there a little” (Isaiah 28:10). Its Author, according to these claims, didn’t intend for someone reading it straight through from cover to cover to be able to understand it thoroughly.

That is why Herbert W. Armstrong, toward the end of his 93-year-long life, wrote a summation of his life’s work: Mystery of the Ages. He asserted that, though the Bible was indeed a puzzle, Mystery of the Ages put the pieces together in an understandable way. Read it for yourself: The book is available absolutely free. (However, its cover only comes in navy.)