Church hopes to send million copies of Bible to Cuba

Church hopes to send million copies of Bible to Cuba
Posted: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 2:00 am
Hunter Williamson, Alligator Contributing Writer

Through a project known as "Cuba: Million Bible Mission," The Rock of
Gainesville Church is trying to raise more than $5 million to send a
million Bibles to Cuba.
The Bibles cost $5.40 each and, so far, the Rock has raised more than
$100,000 and purchased 20,000 Bibles.
All of those will be distributed by the United Bible Society, the
Council of Churches and the Rock in November.
The project began in June in partnership with the United Bible Society.
The Rock expects to reach its million-Bible goal by 2017 or 2018, said
church spokesman Oscar Candelaria.
According to Candelaria, the Rock and the United Bible Society have
received permission from the Cuban government to distribute the Bibles
in the country.
The Bibles are in "an easy-to-understand translation," said Candelaria,
who was born in Cuba.
According to the Rock, about 77 percent of Cuba's population is Christian.
The church said Christianity is growing by about 15 percent each year in
Cuba.
While some people, like Kevin Cauthen, a 17-year-old dual-enrollment
Santa Fe College student, think what the Rock is doing is a good thing,
some people, like Jonah Stokes, believe differently.
"Why a million Bibles for Cuba?" the 18-year-old musical theater
freshman at Santa Fe asked, laughing. "Aren't Cubans already religious?
They aren't a godless nation."
Sequoia Cervone Buzzella, a UF sustainability freshman, said she thinks
that the $5 million could go towards other things.
Tabitha Odabe, a senior at The Rock School who also attends the church,
said she disagreed.
"It's a good thing," she said, referring to the mission, adding that
"there are people who want to know God more and want to read God's
Word," but they don't have access to it.
Candelaria said people criticizing the effort to bring Bibles, rather
than aiding the poor and in-need, just don't have the right perspective.
"Most people in the U.S. don't have any idea what it's like to live in a
country where you're persecuted," he said.
"Where everything is illegal, where you can't raise your own food
without giving most of it to the government."
He continued, "And so, it's easy to criticize this project of bringing
in a million Bibles to Cuba, thinking you could use this money for
something else."
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 10/8/2014]

Source: Church hopes to send million copies of Bible to Cuba - The
Independent Florida Alligator: Local & National -
http://www.alligator.org/news/local/article_1e943014-4e9d-11e4-8f31-db6408f78199.html