Why do motel rooms have bibles in them?

Question

When you go to a motel there is always bibles in the bedside cabnitnets why is this so?

Answer 1

They are most always placed there by a group called the Gideons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideons

Gideons International is an evangelical Christian organization dedicated to distributing copies of the Bible (in either the King James Version or the New King James Version in the United States, but other translations in over 80 languages in more than 180 countries of the world) to those who might not otherwise encounter it, most famously in hotel rooms. The organization was founded in 1899 in Boscobel, Wisconsin as one of the first parachurch organizations dedicated to Christian evangelism. It began distributing free Bibles, the work it is chiefly remembered for, in 1908, when the first Bibles were placed in the rooms of the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountain, Michigan.[1]

In addition, this practice has inspired other religious organizations to distribute their sacred texts in similar fashion, such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with the Book of Mormon.

The organization describes its link to the story of Gideon thus:

"Gideon was a man who was willing to do exactly what God wanted him to do, regardless of his own judgment as to the plans or results. Humility, faith, and obedience were his great elements of character. This is the standard that The Gideons International is trying to establish in all its members, each man to be ready to do God's will at any time, at any place, and in any way that the Holy Spirit leads."
In keeping with this symbolism, the symbol of the Gideons is a two handled pitcher and torch, recalling Gideon's victory over the Midianites as described in Judges chapter 7.

In addition to their well-known hotel-room Bibles, the Gideons also distribute Bibles to members of the military of various countries, to hospitals, nursing homes, prisons and also to students. A typical Gideon Bible or New Testament will contain:

a short preface;
an apparatus suggesting Bible verses which may be of assistance in various sorts of trouble;
translations of John 3:16 into a variety of different languages and scripts;
the Bible text itself, without notes, references, or any other reference matter other than chapter and verse headings — this can either be the full Bible (as with most of the ones they put in the hotels), or just the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs (typical in the Bibles which are handed out as gifts rather than left in rooms for temporary use);
a short description of biblical salvation, with biblical quotations, and generally a place for the reader to sign and date his confession of Jesus (this is especially common in the shorter editions of just the New Testament and Psalms).

[edit] Popular Culture References
The placement of Gideon Bibles in hotel rooms has made the Gideon Bible a frequent subject for comment in popular culture; it is alluded to among other places in the Beatles song "Rocky Raccoon", the Jethro Tull song "Locomotive Breath", and the Bill Hicks comedy album Rant in E-Minor, in which the legendary comedian speculates how Gideons operate and considers capturing and studying them as hobby. The Manic Street Preachers titled their third album The Holy Bible. It included the lyrics "I know I believe in nothing but it is my nothing" and "All I preach is extinction". Of the album title, Richey Edwards (lyricist) said "In every hotel in the world, the only constant is the Holy Bible."

More recently, the Louisville, Kentucky band My Morning Jacket released a song called "Gideon" the lyrics of which say in part "Religion - Should Appeal To The Hearts Of The Young. Who Are You? What Have You Become?" The band The Hold Steady mentions a character named Gideon who rips the pages he likes from "the Bible from his bedstand in the motel" (presumably left by Gideons) in their song "Cattle and the Creeping Things".

Also in the 1996 film Mission Impossible, Tom Cruise stumbles upon a clue to unraveling who is conspiring against him when he notices that the Bible in his hotel room is a Gideons International Bible but stamped from a hotel in a different city. When this clue is later revealed to the conspirator, (played by Jon Voight), he remarks "They stamped it didn't they, those damn Gideons."

Answer 2

I steal them so I can donate them to the Sally Ann. (Just Kidding) The Gideons used to say that you were welcome to take them because they were free. They wanted to spread The Word.. The last time I saw a Gideon Bible it had a note inside advising that taking it was theft and the Hotel would charge you for it. There have been times I read the Gideon Bible when staying in hotels. I don't watch much TV and sometimes it can get boring when you are working out of town with no family or friends near. The Bible is a bit more interesting than the telephone book, even for a complete disbeliever it has some weird stories in it.

Answer 3

I have no idea but my family started writing comments (clean) in bibles left in motel rooms almost 35 years ago and now my kids who are adults do it too. Sorta like a message from us to the next person.

Answer 4

me and my family stay at the motel and we noticed also the bible. my children asked me why theres a bible near the bed? i answered them with no hesitation and frankly telling them, first the used of motels. they attentively listened. Lovers with discreet relationship usually choose motel to stay for short time or short period just to be alone and shows their forbidden love to each other. if they noticed the bible (hope they wont ignore it )their concience will bothered them, or depends how strong and weak their belief, if the the concience bothered them then thats good , if not theyre answerable to gods punishment. theres always an end to this kind of relationship. then my children asked me again...and why we are staying here at this motel? i told them its cheaper and we all laughed. while we are at the motel after a long day of shopping, we read the bible and share what we had in mind. sometimes people choose motel because its cheaper, some people are religeous and theyre happy to see a bible in the room. some ignore the bible, maybe because they had their own belief. people have different opinion, and i shared mine.

Answer 5

The Gideons place bibles in motel rooms, it's a mission that they have.

Answer 6

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/axV6N

Bible promotions in paid-for lodgings are an extremely minor imposition designed to control and take over the world one page at a time. In the grand scheme of things though, I am far more prone to show resistance against increased encroachments on privacy in such places as airport security initiatives propped up by an onslaught of fear mongering, a mounting lack of dominion over our bodies as enforced by WHO, death by toxicity at the plastic-gloved hands of pharmaceutical corporations, enslavement of our dying population by the likes of financiers and all manner of robber-barons who decant the life force from the working classes... ad nauseum. I really do think we have 'bigger fish to fry' than the threat of world domination by hospitality conglomerates that store bibles in hotel rooms where we pay for the privilege of briefly occupying their philosophically tainted premises.

Answer 7

They are always Gideon Bibles, I believe because there is a religious group (the Gideons?) who feel it is their duty to supply hotels with Bibles, to help guide the wayward traveler.

Answer 8

I used to know the exact answer, but I know it has something to do with these two people that started leaving them in the rooms... now a religious group of some kind pays for it.

Answer 9

because if people are going into the motel to have sex, they can open the bedside cabinet and read the Bible instead.

Answer 10

The Gideon Society puts them there...