Talk:The Gideons International

message: Is it ok to take the bibles from hotels? If so, do they contain a message encouraging this or is it implied? 202.78.240.7 (talk) 00:33, 3 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Intended as a gift? 

message: *Iron Mountain, Montana ?
*Locomotive breath (fixed).
What else to say ? I'm glad to find that reference to a Beatles'one. And the habit of opening haphazard a book like a Bible to find an answer to any question or to no question in particular is not so bad. Especially when you're alone in a hotel room and your gal has gone. --Harvestman 20:28, 10 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Broken links 

message: Could we at least provide a notice that there is a dispute?  Enough people believe this and try to change it that it deserves some discussion instead of blind, ignorant removal. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.169.32.114 (talk • contribs) 02:46, 21 July 2006  (UTC)
Seconded. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.30.189.203 (talk • contribs) 03:06, 21 July 2006  (UTC)
There are at least 50 people who believe this is fully plausable and possible, two of which are christian who read from the books given out by Gideons International. Give us at least a dispute, or you are going against god's word and punishing those who follow him. Peace bee with you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.146.19.236 (talk • contribs) 13:28, 21 July 2006  (UTC)
:The text in question appears to be copied from the following site: Unknown Armies - Rumors - Street Theory, which opens with: "Street-level rumors, story seeds, and anything else a crackpot will tell you for a pack of smokes".  Not exactly factual content! -- MightyWarrior 14:04, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's blatant trolling. I first saw a screenshot on 4chan's /b/ channel, where the thread-starter posted a screenshot of the edited entry and made the sarcastic comment, "What have I done?" It's a juvenile game to them. Shanada 08:55, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It's an urban legend is all. Lots of people believe them.  i changed the text to read "An urband legend states..." and then the full text of the legend as it was.  That should provide enough context.  Now if someone would just provide a link to a source, we'd be all set.LiPollis 08:27, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Hotel Transportation

message: Perhaps some information should be given about the Auxiliary as well.  68.113.47.82 17:45, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Only men can become Gideons, their wifes form their own organisation i.e. The Auxiliary Group  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.209.185.23 (talk) 12:43, 20 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I believe adding this to the article may be of some benefit as there are a number of references to the Auxiliary, but there is no reference to who they are or what they do. 66.191.19.68 (talk) 19:15, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Auxiliary 

message: In my opinion, this is maybe a little American-centric, because i got my copy of the New Testament  on the sidewalk before my school (which should be, according to the article, orange), but it is dark-blue. DavidSpanel (talk) 14:40, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I believe I also got blue, think it was dark, more then once in the University of Auckland in NZ Nil Einne (talk) 11:21, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Color-coding 

message: It turns out that our only reference backing up a statement about translations used is a website devoted to proving the authority of the KJV and the corruption of all other versions. Removing the reference necessitated removing the statements based on it. DJ Clayworth (talk) 15:38, 8 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I added sentence with published source for the Gideons' use of the New King James Version, but I don't have a source for what may have been used in the past. LovesMacs (talk) 15:48, 8 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I have a Gideon New Testament in Japanese and English (facing columns); the English text is the New International Version, so sometimes the Gideons do apparently use other translations besides the KJV and the NKJV. Pais (talk) 16:47, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

text: I found an old 1979 edition that lists its translation as "Revised Berkeley Version", which is the first time I had ever heard of such a translation. It would be interesting to find some index of which translations they distributed when, but I haven't had much luck on that. Kadmii (talk) 14:00, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
thread_title: Translations

message: This section as previously written asserted without source that the Gideons Constitution Article 3 specifically excluded members of specific faiths from Gideons membership or attendance.  
A reading of (and link to) the actual text in question provides a more nuanced set of requirements which mentions no specific denomination by name.  
*"Protestant or evangelical" I took to be explicit enough to specifically list in the article Roman Catholics, Orthodox Catholics, and Mormons as excluded from membership (the latter supported by source from www.lds.org, which describes the LDS faith as "neither Protestant nor evangelical").  
*As for the other requirements listed (believing in Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, the Bible as inspired by God, and receiving Christ as one's personal savior), I could not find authoritative source sufficient to specifically include or exclude specific denominations; I chose to leave in my revised article the faiths listed in the original text, noting the lack of authoritative information on their inclusion or exclusion.
The original section also mentioned as support of the Gideons' membership policy a school-prayer suit filed by a Mormon family and a Catholic family, along with a link to the relevant article; I reviewed that article, found that it referred to the Gideons only in passing and did not support the contentions claimed, and removed the link and reference.
Wilsonchas (talk) 05:09, 3 November 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: *No idea but professional here could potentially simply mean those with a job Nil Einne (talk) 11:22, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

text: *The reason the Gideon membership is limited to "business and professional men" is because Gideons have to be able to be flexible during working hours in order to distribute the Testaments.  I am a member of the Gideons, and this is how the membership limitation is explained in the Gideon Guidebook.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 197.243.155.201 (talk) 13:33, 17 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Membership

message: Anyone know how these are printed? I have a green I got back in college. I love the cover/binding. It's leatherette (plastic) and done quite nicely. Other than some military manuals, I've never seen that. It just says Gideon Society or something on the inside and doesn't list the publisher. Do they publish in-house? Anyone know anything further about the Gideon Bible as a material object? It really is a nice book. It's fairly odd, too considering most everything lately is published in 5 1/2 X 8 or larger.Guinness4life (talk) 19:17, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I would imagine they do it in house, but I'm not certain of that. I believe any publisher is able to publish copies of the Bible because there is no copyright attached to it. I still have mine, presented to me in 1986, during my first year of high school. That version has a red cover printed with their symbol and "NEW TESTAMENT AND PSALMS". There are no details of the publisher, but inside it goes on to say "Presented to [my signature] by the Gideons International in the British Isles". Paul MacDermott (talk) 12:13, 28 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: It is contracted. PCHS-NJROTC (Messages)Have a blessed day. 03:05, 28 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Gideon Bible, taken as a book 

message: Article describes the preface as giving the Biblical view of salvation. This is subjective, recommend that it be clarified to reflect that this is the organization's view of salvation.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.15.68.189 (talk) 16:36, 20 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: View of salvation

message: The intro sentence says, "Gideons International (also known as Gideon's Bible)" ... Is the organization itself actually known as "Gideon's Bible", or is that what they're best known for distributing? Caduon (talk) 07:53, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I couldn't find reference to it on their website, so I removed it.  Please let me know if I erred in doing so, thanks. Caduon (talk) 08:02, 17 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Name 

message: I removed the tag because, quite frankly, I didn't see anything that came across as unfairly presenting any opinion on the issue of distribution in schools toward one side or another.  I also didn't see any relevant discussions about it on this talk page to explain why it had been tagged since 2011.  74.219.76.162 (talk) 23:35, 17 May 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Unbalanced" tag 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: This article could point out that some Gideon Bibles, as well as the Bible, have suggested prayers in. I remember the copy of the Gideon Bible I was given as a student and that had a section of recommended prayers for different situations. Vorbee (talk) 06:39, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: The only suggested prayer, aside from those suggested in the Bible itself of course, is the one in the back under "my decision to receive Christ as my saviour." I believe it is in all of the testaments except the red ones, which are intended for use in distributions on school property during school hours and have that removed due to the separation of church and state issue in public schools or doctrinal issues at Christian schools of certain denominations (like Catholic schools). The sections you are thinking of are the sections in the front that give suggested verses to read in certain situations. I have one of the orange ones in my hand right now (which could be used as a primary source per WP:RS, but it's tricky not to violate WP:OR while using it). By the way, I too have Asperger's Syndrome. Probably why I think outside the box on a lot of Wikipedia issues. PCHS-NJROTC (Messages)Have a blessed day. 02:39, 12 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Prayers

message: This article could point out that the Gideons give out New Testaments in schools, with one request  - that people read the New Testament every day.Vorbee (talk) 06:50, 22 September 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: I’ve been in several schools and colleges and have never said this, so it must not be a universal thing. PCHS-NJROTC (Messages)Have a blessed day. 02:50, 28 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title: New Testament in schools

message: This article as written is entirely U.S.-focused and lacks any coverage of Gideons' national associations in many countries, with activities in Central and South America, Europe, Mozambique, Kenya, Indonesia, Philippines, India, etc. Gideons is a worldwide organization but the reader wouldn't know it by reading this article, except for the title.  JGHowes   talk 13:38, 16 February 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Worldview needed 

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thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion 

message: I can't place the source, but I remember stories that prostitutes wrote their names and numbers in Gideon Bibles in hotel rooms, hoping to drum up business.  I thought that was the reference the Beatles meant.  Does anyone else remember this? RussellBell (talk) 04:38, 25 October 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Illicit uses of Gideon Bibles 

message: Hello sir can I take a bible 2409:4064:258C:9402:EC08:E590:A7E5:470C (talk) 18:04, 10 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Hii sir distribution 

message: Giddeon's also produce a "New Testament Psalms and Proverbs" size 118mm x 80mm x 16mm (roughly A6). It has a white cover. Inside it says "This Book is not to be sold." 
A tiny dark blue New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs is also available.
The normal size of the dark green New Testament with psalms is 226mm x 153mm x 17mm (roughly A5).
See http://gideons.bible.is . MountVic127 (talk) 20:07, 20 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Tiny New Testament