An old Bible is a physical object that may have passed through many hands and served as a source of wisdom and encouragement for many years. Its cover and pages have been opened and turned to in times of great need and emotion. But, in other ways, an old Bible is like any other old book. It is physically made of ink, paper, and other perishable materials. It is inanimate. It would be wrong to treat it like an idol—something sacred in itself.
Both Islam and Judaism look upon their core religious writings as sacred in themselves, and thus have strict, written rules for disposing of worn-out copies. Muslims require Islamic literature to be either buried in a place where people normally don’t walk or to bind it with weights and submerge it in flowing water. Jews have traditionally required either a proper cemetery burial or placement in a storeroom (usually within a synagogue or cemetery) called a genizah and securely held there for burial.
Christians view this kind of reverence for physical objects as bordering on idolatry. But even though we don’t venerate the Bible as a physical object, we should treat old Bibles with respect because of the sacred truth they contain.
It is somewhat a matter of Christian liberty how we dispose of an old Bible. Probably most of us would be comfortable with burying or burning1 old Bibles, showing them the same kind of respect we show to the material remains of our loved ones. Sometimes old Bibles can be refurbished or “recycled” through donation to a Bible distribution society.
In any case, we should treat an old Bible with the respect a precious material object deserves, but not treat it as though the material it is made of is divine or holy. It isn’t the manner in which we dispose of it that matters, but our attitude towards it and our motivation for doing so.
