Marlin has always loved the simple, sensory pleasure of holding a real book or magazine; the feel of the paper, the weight in his hands.
In this episode, he reflects on how rare and precious books once were in the Middle Ages, when monks painstakingly copied them by hand. Then Gutenberg’s printing press changed everything by giving “wings to truth.”
He beautifully connects this to God’s own design: trees become paper, language becomes Scripture, and the written word allows divine truth to spread across generations.These short, heartfelt Minutes with Marlin deliver quick moments of wisdom, faith, humility, and encouragement—perfect for busy homestead days when we need a gentle reminder of what really matters.
Learn more about Plain Values at https://plainvalues.com
Transcripts
Marlin Miller:
I love words. I love the magazines. I love the books. I love the way the paper feels against my skin and my hands. Back in the Middle Ages, it was incredibly rare and very expensive to own a book because monks had to copy them in solitude and silence for long periods of time to hand write these things over and over and over. It was not a very common thing. When Gutenberg invented movable type, he said this about what that printing press meant. Religious truth is imprisoned in a small number of manuscripts which confined instead of spread this public treasure. Let us break the seal, which binds these holy things. Let us give wings to truth in order that she may win every soul that comes into the world by her word, no longer written at vast expense but multiplied by a machine which never weared.
I think he gets it. I think he got it at the time. I think he understood what that printing press was going to do. And in fact, further down in that quote, he called the scripture a liquor, which I think is pretty funny. In the book of John, Jesus is referred to as the word. God put trees on the planet. We take paper out of the tree. He gives us a written language. He reveals himself in the written word and we can capture thoughts and keep them for posterity on the paper that come out of the trees that he gave us. Words are all around. It’s so fascinating to me that he did all this for us to reveal himself to us. Here’s an ironic thing. Take time, put down the screen that you’re watching me on and go read a book and go grab a magazine.
It makes me laugh that I’m even doing this on a screen when I’m encouraging you to put the screen down. I think that’s pretty funny. Let’s not let AI and technology take our own humanity away from us.
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