Towards the end of the bible, within the book of Revelations, there is a verse that reads …
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book – Revelations Ch 22 v19
Readers Digest, as I sure many of you are aware, is famous for publishing condensed and abridged versions of famous literary works. The bible was no exception to this process … as explained on their web site …
Reader’s Digest Association published its condensation of the RSV of Bible, known as the Reader’s Digest Bible (RDB) in 1982. … the Old Testament was cut by 55% and the New Testament by only 25%.
The punchline here is this … the verse from the Book of Revelation, quoted above … which basically says that anybody who takes anything away from this book will be personally stuffed and mounted on the wall in heaven by God himself.
Apparently … Readers Digest decided to leave that verse out of their abridged version :-)
God must be slipping, they published in 1982, and RD is still a thriving business almost 30 years later.