I talked to my pastor about slicing up the old Bible (the binding was already defunct) before I did the slicing. He thought that it was a wonderful idea. He said he really hates going to someone's home and seeing a Bible on the coffee table that has obviously never been used. A Bible is meant to have notes taken in it, to be dog-eared, to have a raggedy binding, even to be sliced up so you can take it on a backpacking trip! It's not the physical book that's sacred but the Word in it!