2006-10-09 09:01:54 · 12 answers · asked by Mike 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I would love to send you a Bible absolutely free if you will e-mail me with your name and address. Or I can send you a link to a site where you can buy a Bible.
The Bible is being discussed today more than ever before. Many articles about the Bible are appearing in magazines, indicating a new interest in this ancient and historic Book. Some people want to get rid of it completely. Some want to keep it just as literature. And many, believing it to be God’s Word, want to live by it. Does the Bible have anything to say to us?
The Constitution of Our Faith
The United States has a constitutional form of government. A number of men, after long argument and debate, drew up the Constitution and submitted it to the 13 Federated States for ratification. The presupposition of these framers of the Constitution was that law was absolute.
People in the United States were to be free, for they were to know what the law required and also what the law could not do. They were to know their rights, their privileges and their limitations. No judge was to be unfair but was to judge cases as the law required.
People found that if they knew the law and kept it, they would be truly free. They knew where they stood, for constitutional law made it clear.
The Bible is the constitution of Christianity. Just as the United States Constitution is not of any private interpretation, neither is the Bible of any private interpretation. Just as the Constitution includes all who live under its stated domain, without exception, so the Bible includes all who live under its stated domain, without exception.
God’s laws for the spiritual world are found in the Bible. Whatever else there may be that tells us of God, it is more clearly told in the Bible.
Life as It Is
Nature in her laws tells of God, but the message tells us nothing of the love and grace of God. Conscience, in our inmost being, tells us of God, but the message is fragmentary. The only place we can find a clear, unmistakable message is in the Word of God, which we call the Bible.
True Christianity finds all of its doctrines in the Bible; true Christianity does not deny any part of the Bible; true Christianity does not add anything to the Bible. For many centuries the Bible has been the most available book on the earth. It has no hidden purpose. It cannot be destroyed.
The Bible has a magnificent heritage. It has 66 books, written over a period of 1,600 years by more than 30 writers, and yet the message is the same throughout—so clearly that the 66 books are actually one book.
The message, in every part, is straightforward. No writer changed his message to put his friends in a better light. The sins of small and great alike are frankly admitted, and life is presented as it actually is.
The Center of Controversy
The Bible is the most modern book in the world. It has been the anvil upon which the critics have worn out their hammers. Critics claim the Bible is full of forgery, fiction and unfulfilled prophecy, but the findings of archaeology have corroborated rather than denied the biblical data.
Our faith, which is not dependent upon human knowledge and scientific advance, has nevertheless presented a magnificent case at the “bar of knowledge.”
How many times we have heard someone say, “Why, the Bible contradicts itself!” Very few who make that statement have used the family Bible for more than a storage place for pressed flowers.
The first requirement placed upon critics is that they read carefully every chapter of the Bible. They ought also to know something about how we got our Bible, the miracle of its writing. Biblical history is fascinating and makes us appreciate the Book that has been preserved for us to this day.
If you are setting yourself up as a critic, it is your responsibility to read and know both sides of the question. It is significant that very few Bible critics have bothered themselves to read the literature available on the defense of the Bible, much less the Bible itself.
The Bible will always be the center of controversy. For many centuries there have been purges and bonfires. There are Bibles in existence today that were baked into loaves of bread to keep them from the hands of leaders who wanted to destroy the Word of God. There are Bibles in scores of languages; organizations are working around the clock to provide Bible portions for remote tribes so that they, too, may have God’s Word.
Light and Strength
You may ask me today, “What is the message of the Bible?” The message of the Bible is Jesus Christ.
The Bible is concerned only incidentally with the history of Israel or with a system of ethics. The Bible is primarily concerned with the story of humanity’s redemption through Jesus Christ. If you read Scripture and miss the story of salvation, you have missed its message and its meaning.
The story of Jesus can be traced through the Bible.
In Genesis He is the Seed of the Woman.
In Exodus He is the Passover Lamb.
In Leviticus He is the Atoning Sacrifice.
In Numbers He is the Smitten Rock.
In Deuteronomy He is the Prophet.
In Joshua He is the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts.
In Judges He is the Deliverer.
In Ruth He is the Heavenly Kinsman.
In 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles He is the Promised King.
In Nehemiah He is the Restorer of the Nation.
In Esther He is the Advocate.
In Job He is My Redeemer.
In Psalms He is My Song.
In Proverbs He is Wisdom.
In Ecclesiastes He is My Goal.
In the Song of Solomon He is My Satisfier.
In the prophets He is the coming Prince of Peace.
In the Gospels He is God in Christ Jesus, come to redeem.
In Acts He is alive in the Church.
In the Epistles He is Christ at the Father’s right hand.
In Revelation He is the Mighty Conqueror.
The Bible’s Story
The message of Jesus Christ, our Savior, is the story of the Bible—it is the story of salvation; it is the story of the Gospel; it is the story of life, peace, eternity and heaven. The whole world ought to know the story of the Bible.
But if this Gospel is hidden today from anyone reading these words, it is hidden because you have never opened your Bible—or you have opened it, but with a closed mind.
He Bridges the Gap
The story of the Scriptures is the story of your redemption and mine through Jesus Christ. The Scriptures teach the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Jesus Christ is the Gospel. His death, burial and resurrection is the Gospel story, and without Him you are lost and doomed.
The Bible teaches that there is a hell and a heaven. The way to heaven is by receiving and trusting Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NKJV). The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23, NKJV). The Bible says, “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20, NKJV).
And the Bible says the only way to bridge the gap between us and God is through Christ. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, NKJV).
Today you can accept the Christ of the Bible. You can know peace of soul, peace of conscience and peace of mind by letting Him come into your heart by faith.
Will you now, as you read these words, open your heart to Christ?
2006-10-09 09:58:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are many things in the Bible. Some myths and legends. A rather garbled history of a tribe in the middle east. Poetry, a collection of wise sayings, a builing code, a rudimentry code of civil law, a political constitution, a dietary code. There is much more. God is not the real big part of the book. It gets even richer when you start to understand the other cultures around them and the pagan roots of their religion. To properly understand the bible you need to understand the previous and competing religions that the writers of the bible borrowed and stole from. It is best viewed as an anthology. the collected works of ?? kind of like a readers digest over 1,000 years. Try also the talmud.
2006-10-09 09:24:50 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Old Testament~
The first 5 books are supposed to have been written by Moses,
around 4000 yrs. ago. These books are still what the Jewish people use as their Bible.
The rest of the Old-Testament books were chosen by scholars around 2300 yrs. ago. These few books were chosen from thousands of old writings ranging centuries apart for their being most inspired, probable, harmonizing with each other, and verifiable.
The New Testaments:
first 4 books,
'the Gospels'
were to have actually been written
by the 4 disciples themselves within 50
years of the Crucifixion.
The rest is primarily
accredited to Paul,
within about 150 years of the Crucifixion
(with exception of some of the letters: John1,2,3,
James, Timothy1,2).
All of the Bible is Holy and was written, selected, and recorded by inspired men, yet due to centuries of changing culture and translation into English from Greek (new-testament) and Hebrew (old-testament) some of it's true teachings have been distorted.
My ultimate understanding of the Bible is that it is a multi-layered
book of instruction with different interpretations that are equally valid. In large part it is astrological alagory. Chapt. 49 of Genisis desribes Jacob (the Sun) and his 12 sons (which are actually precice descriptions of the 12 constellations of the Zodiac).
The Bible speaks of the Heaven's in all their Truth, and Glory.
What it means is that God is real and that He Truely loves us very much.
2006-10-09 09:35:03 · answer #3 · answered by punk bitch piece of shit 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your first two questions can be answered by reading it. Whether one has faith in God or not, one should read the book that has most influenced world history, politics, and societal behaviors for over 2,500 years. It is part Jewish history, part law, part poetry, and part religious fanaticism.
The answer to the third question depends on if you believe that humans or God wrote it.
The fourth question is the same as the second.
2006-10-09 09:17:05 · answer #4 · answered by bikerchickjill 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The bible is just one of the many human-written books.
2006-10-09 09:04:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
It is just a book with little history and lot of fancies.
It is about love, war, revenge, adultery, homo-sex, birth, life and death of the Christ and about (St.)Paul's hijacking of the fellowship(of the disciples)
You have it because you bought it.
The whole book has no a single meaning.
2006-10-09 09:13:24 · answer #6 · answered by Baby 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a record of religious experiences from the ancient Near East.
2006-10-09 09:04:33 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Great question, who compliled the Bible and edited it and faked some bits of it entirely and for what sinister reason.
2006-10-09 09:05:18 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
its a book. just like any other book. it has words, it was written by man, and full of stories. entertainment purposes to some to others its a way of life.
2006-10-09 09:05:44 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
One thing is true about the Bible: It is NOT hypoalergenic. Toilet paper is.
2006-10-09 09:04:01 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋