Is it bad luck to throw out my old Bible?

Q: While clearing out some books, I came across my old school Bible. I was going to put it in the recycling bin, but then I had a sudden fear that I might be struck down by lightning, so I put it back on the shelf. Am I being silly? I.W., Smiths Beach, VIC

A: Sure, you may like to think of yourself as an erudite, educated, enlightened thinker who scoffs in the face of superstitious hocus-pocus, but even the scoffiest of us can, occasionally, be struck down with a chronic bout of the Just-In-Cases.

You may not be a religious person, but you felt compelled to hang on to that Bible, just in case – just in case, there actually is a petty, vindictive spirit in the sky who punishes Bible-binners, even though you planned to use the correct, council-approved, Bible-recycling bin.

Others may not be able to delete an unflattering photo of a loved one, just in case – just in case this somehow also deletes the person and then neither can be retrieved from the cloud, not even if you call Geeks2U. Personally, I can’t bring myself to erase decades of text conversations with my wife, just in case – just in case this mysteriously erases our relationship, our story, even though pretty much all of those conversations are “Need bread/ [thumbs-up emoji]/milk too!”, sent while we’re both at home, sometimes in the same room.