Bible Translated Into Emoji as 'Scripture 4 Millennials'

Mankind created emoji in its own image. Now the popular ideograms are being used to spread the word of how God created mankind in his own image.

Bible Emoji: Scripture 4 Millennials was released this week on the iTunes store for $2.99 with the aim of reaching a new generation of worshippers.

The anonymous creator, known only as the "sunglasses smiley emoji," told religious website Christian Headlines that the new translation would broaden the appeal of the original version.

"What's amazing about emojis, and what's made them so successful, is that they're language-agnostic—they allow you to convey an idea to anyone, regardless of what language they speak," the creator said.

"A major goal of this whole process was to take a book that I think is very non-approachable to lay readers and try to make it more approachable by removing a lot of its density."

The digital missionary developed the emoji translator to be used on the King James Version (KJV) Bible, which according to Guinness World Records is the best-selling book of all time.

The translator program matched 200 words commonly found in the KJV Bible with 80 different emoji symbols. The new version cuts out about 10-15 percent of the original characters.

Reception of the emoji Bible has been mixed, with reviews on iTunes ranging from "kind of cool," to "why has God abandoned us."

One user by the name of Wildwesthero summed it up, writing: "As well-intentioned as the author is, this book is just terrible."