The adventure that lasts a lifetime!

Your discovery of the Bible could be an adventure that lasts your whole lifetime! Sound ridiculous? Maybe, but there is an incredibly long line of people stretching for thousands of years who would insist it is true. Stop and think. Long, long before the world knew anything of television, radio,CDs,airplanes, automobiles, electricity, long before the world ever heard of Coca Cola, IBM,SONY, or microwave ovens, a book that later became known as “The Bible”was written that would be like none other. This book was even finished centuries before printing was available to mass produce books, and in those earlier centuries every copy of this book had to be done by hand. In every generation since it was written, it has been revered and looked to as a source of understanding our world, our humanity, our relationships, our reason for existence. Accept the possibility that the best things in our Western world,a world that slowly and painfully emerged from barbarism to an advanced civilization,emerged largely from the inspiration provided by the Bible. It played a central role in the formation of our culture. But now the flowers of that civilization, as someone put it, are cut off from the roots and are already beginning to wilt in the vase. Look at the solutions and cures that are typically offered. Do they give you much hope? Might it be that the way forward is to go back to the path we drifted from,to recover our roots, to rediscover the Bible?

What Kind of Book is This Anyway?

The Bible is often thought of as a “Holy Book.”Various religions have their “Holy Books.”Often these are reported as “revelations”coming through various means such as visions, dreams, hearing directly from God,or an angel. But the origin of the Bible is accounted for in a quite different way.

The Golden Gate in Jerusalem

The Bible is rooted and grounded in history. The Bible came from the experience of specific people, in identifiable places, at particular times. The Bible deals with the meaning of human life on this planet from within the stories of people who lived on this planet. So it is not a “Holy Book”in the sense of an otherworldly esoteric philosophy. It is “holy”in the sense that it represents the interaction of God and people in our world in the midst of everyday life.

A Book Like None Other

The world’s all-time best seller

One of the writers of the Bible said,“Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). An infinitesimally small number of books published rise up above their day and age and are considered worth preserving.Some become recognized as classics. But even among the classics the Bible stands out as incomparable. The Bible is the most circulated book in the history of the world. It’s been this way since the innovation of the Gutenberg press in the 1450’s when the Bible in Latin was the first large book to be printed by moveable type. Ever since, year after year, more copies of the Bible are printed and circulated than any other book.For the most recent year over 60 million complete Bibles,over 90 million New Testaments, and over 11⁄2 billion scripture sections were published in over 2,000 languages. The press runs keep growing every year.

It shaped our world and language

The Bible has had a singular role in shaping our Western world.Our language is laden with Biblical imagery that have become embedded in our cultural consciousness.For example,… The blind leading the blind, …Turn the other cheek,…Love your enemies, …A “Good Samaritan,”…Go the extra mile, …Separate the sheep from the goats,…Our daily bread,…For everything a time and season, …The apple of my eye.

The world’s most translated book

The world’s most translated book

The Bible has been translated into more languages than any other work ever written. There are now translations in more than 2,000 languages. Today literally thousands of dedicated men and women linguists pour out their lives to provide the Bible into every active language group on the face of the earth. Often they provide the first written version of oral languages.

And a Most Controversial Book

Though the Bible may exceed all the rest in circulation, it also leads in the controversy that it generates. The Bible has always provoked heated debate, drawing passionate reactions from some of the most notable thinkers and leaders across the ages. The Bible will continue to have a major place in our society and the controversy is sure to continue.

Some love it

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.

Horace Greeley (1811-1872)
It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated through this book…All things desirable to men are contained in the Bible.

Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804)
The Bible is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced.

Some hate it

Voltaire (1694-1778)

Voltaire (1694-1778)

If we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first of all destroy man’s belief in the Bible.

Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
The inspiration of the Bible depends upon the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
One does well to put on gloves when reading the New Testament…everything in it is cowardice and self-deception.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
. . .It would be more consistent that we call it the work of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind.

A Book for the Greatest Intellects

…and yet even for the small child

More books have been written about the Bible than any other subject, and the single person about whom more books have been written than anyone else comes from the Bible. It is Jesus. Over the centuries brilliant scholars have spent entire lifetimes trying to analyze and understand even small portions of the Bible.Yet the key sections of the Bible even small children in Sunday Schools are able to grasp.

I heard one time the Bible being compared to a pool of water. A pool that in some parts is so shallow that a child can go wading, but a pool also that is so deep in other places that an elephant can go swimming there. Well, the Bible is a wonderful book that contains passages which in some cases are very deep and profound. Yet, in general the Bible as a whole is simple enough for anyone who is untutored to read it and understand what God’s will and way would be for that person. Noted New Testament scholar –

Dr. Bruce Metzger

Stop and think of this

Why is it that the Bible has been used, and only the Bible, for the swearing  in of Presidents going all the way back to George Washington? Why
is it the Bible that witnesses place their hand upon in promising to tell the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God”
before giving testimony in court?

What does “Bible”mean?

The word probably comes from the port of Byblos in Lebanon. Byblos was known to be an important place
for the shipment of papyrus.“Byblos” in the old Greek language originally meant the inner bark of the
papyrus plant. Papyrus was used for paper in the ancient world. We get the word paper from papyrus. It’s
as simple as that. “Bible” simply refers to “book,” and what we think of as the Bible wasn’t even called the
Bible until about the 4th century AD.

The World of the Bible

In this shot from NASA taken over the Nile River, you see the Mediterranean Sea in the center, the Nile Delta in the lower center, the strait international boundary between Israel and Egypt, where the coastline angles, and Asia Minor. This is the world where most Biblical  events took place and where the Israelite nation and the Christian church were born and grew.

The Bible, for the most part, centers on a small part of the world—seen here from space—with the primary events taking place in the small land of Israel. Israel is roughly the same in size as the state of New  Jersey.You can readily see why this region has always been a kind of crossroads of the world.Here Africa, Asia, and Europe meet. This is where most of the Bible was written and where most of the Biblical events happened. The focal point of the lands of the Bible, the small city of Jerusalem, is sacred today to Jews,Christians, and Moslems. This city is mentioned 656 times in the Bible.Over the centuries it has been destroyed 17 times, and 18 times has been rebuilt.

A Treadmill or a Track?

The Bible’s view of what history is differs  markedly from the typical views that prevailed. In Bible times it was common to think of the world as an endless cycle, tied to nature and the seasons, or a “wheel of unending recurrences,” as the Greeks put it. Whereas the Bible’s view is  progressive or linear, with history having a purpose, and the world moving forward to a goal.

It’s Not Really a Book, But a Little Library of Many Books

There are two major sections:

THE OLD TESTAMENT

• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• 1, 2 Samuel
• 1, 2 Kings
• 1, 2 Chronicles
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Esther
• Job
• Psalms
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• Song of Solomon
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Lamentations
• Ezekiel
• Daniel
• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi

The Old Testament consists of 39 Books. The Hebrew Bible has 24 books, but those 24 books correspond exactly to the 39 books in Christian Bibles. The difference is that the Hebrew Bible combines 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles and Ezra & Nehemiah into single books, and counts the last 12 or “Minor Prophets”as one. The Old Testament was written over a very long time. It took at least a thousand years, from 1400-400 BC, and no doubt considerably more.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

• Matthew
• Mark
• Luke
• John
• Acts of the Apostles
• Romans
• 1, 2 Corinthians
• Galatians
• Ephesians
• Philippians
• Colossians
• 1,2 Thessalonians
• 1, 2 Timothy
• Titus
• Philemon
• Hebrews
• James
• 1, 2 Peter
• 1, 2 and 3 John
• Jude
• Revelation

There are 27 New Testament books. The New Testament was written over a much shorter time than it took to write the Old Testament. The New was written over a period of about 50 years from probably about 45 to 95 AD.

A word about terminology—“Old”and “New”can be misleading

In our novelty crazed culture we often think of what is “old” as obsolete. It would have perhaps been clearer if the parts of the Bible were called the “first” and “second” testaments, or “earlier” and “later.” It is becoming more common today to refer to the “Hebrew Scriptures” and the “Christian Scriptures” instead of calling them the “Old” and “New”Testaments.

Some Bibles Have More Books

The Apocrypha or Deuterocanonicals

There is an additional section in Roman Catholic and Orthodox Bibles usually called the Apocrypha, or Deuterocanonical books (meaning a second canon). Some Protestant Bibles also include them as valuable for edification but not as authoritative Scripture. These books were written between 300 BC and 50 AD and provide most valuable information and insight on the life and trials of the Jewish people between the testaments. The events covered in the Old Testament ended at about 400 BC. The New Testament writings began in the 40’s AD. Thus, the Apocrypha
provides an important bridge between the two testaments.

A savage ruler who tried to destroy the Jewish people and their book

Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, nicknamed “the madman,” tried to impose Hellenism on the Jewish people. He desecrated their temple and carried on a merciless persecution.The Jews revolted and the Maccabean Wars resulted.

Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people and that all should give up their particular customs.…He directed them to follow customs strange to the land.…They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, so that they would forget the law.…The books of the law that
they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law was condemned to death by the decree of the king.…But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. 1 Maccabees chapter 1

Explore posts in the same categories: Bible