Questions arise about what the bible is. In short, it’s a collection of religious texts sacred to Christians and Jews. It is one book, but it is divided into two main sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament is shared among Christianity and Judaism. It contains historical narrative, poetry (e.g., Psalms), laws (e.g., Leviticus), and prophecy. This Bible section was written over centuries (roughly 1200-1000 BCE). The New Testament focuses on Yehoshua’ life, His teachings, His death and resurrection (the fulfillment of prophecy from the Old Testament), and the early church. It was written in the first century CE and includes the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), writings of the apostles (e.g., Paul, Peter, etc.), and the Book of Revelation. The New Testament is central to the Christian faith, emphasizing the message of salvation through Yehoshua.
Where did it come from, you may ask? Its authorship is by many people — prophets, priests, kings, apostles, etc. — over ~1,000 years. The books were gradually collected and canonized. For example: “Jewish” scriptures were solidified around the 2nd century BCE. The “Christian” New Testament was primarily settled by the 4th century CE. These were written originally in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Today, they are translated into a mound of different languages worldwide.
The next thing you may be asking yourself is, is it true? That depends on what you mean by “True.” Historically, archaeology and historical records support some events and people described in the Bible(e.g., the Babylonian exile and the existence of certain kings). Still, many claims–especially miraculous ones–lack external verification. Does that mean they are not true or didn’t happen? Not necessarily; that’s where faith and how you view God come into play.
Theologically, for believers, the Bible is divinely inspired and spiritually true. Different denominations interpret it in various ways (literal vs. symbolic). The scholarly view sees the bible as a mix of history, myth, theology, and literature that reflects the beliefs and culture of ancient people. But what do you believe?
This is where our journey will begin…
I like to think of it this way: the Bible is God’s instruction manual for human beings. God created us, and like any other thing made, has an instruction manual. God didn’t create us and then say, “See ya!” No, He inspired people to write His instructions on how to operate to have a fulfilling life.
Let’s look at a couple of facts. The Bible is the best seller of all time. It has been around for thousands of years. More than 100 million new Bibles (reflecting other translations) are sold or given away freely annually. To think that at certain periods in history, the Bible or specific vernacular translations of it were outlawed. For example, the Roman Catholic Church banned vernacular translations of the Bible in particular regions and periods, primarily to maintain control over religious interpretations.
Here are some of those situations in detail:
The Second Council of Tarragona in 1234 banned ownership of Romance language translations of the Old and New Testaments, requiring them to be burned within eight days. Similarly, the diocesan synod of Trier in 1231 identified ‘heretics’ who translated scriptures into German.
During the Protestant Reformation, figures like John Wycliffe (who translated the New Testament into English) and William Tyndale (who translated the entire Bible into English) faced persecution for their work, as it challenged the Church’s control over scripture. Tyndale was even burned at the stake for his translation.
Following a period when English Bibles were allowed, Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary) of England returned the country to Roman Catholicism, making it illegal to print them again.
This was and is the work of the evil one that walks about the earth (1 Peter 5:8). And yes, I’m talking about Satan. His attack on God’s word was in hopes of squishing and eliminating the truth. This is just one of his schemes to lure people away from serving God and take them with him in the last days. But that’s another subject you can read about on this site.
Even though it was restricted or even attempts to eliminate it happened in the past, the Bible persists today—people who read it state that it had the most influence on their lives. But even with millions of Bibles out there, people around the world are biblically illiterate for the most part, unfortunately. They fail to recognize the Bible for what it is, the handbook or instruction manual, if you prefer that term, provided by God for our journey through life. The Bible was divinely inspired. As 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states, ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.’
With that said, never take just one verse or two and try to figure out what is being said; read it within the context of the book/chapter. I may have just stated those two verses above, but I encourage any verse I use on this site to read the chapter or even the book to understand the meaning. Also, never take what I said (or others) as fact; look it up yourself. Taking verses out of context is another of Satan’s attacks. If he can’t eliminate God’s word, he causes people to use it in a way that it was not supposed to be used. With this, he has keyed in our human laziness to distort God’s truth, pulling one or two verses and relying on others to tell us what it means.
This is a problem today and why most don’t try to pick up the book themselves. They listen to a person with a title, degree, etc., and assume they are telling them the truth, so they don’t bother making sure it is true. That is like picking up a romance novel or history book and just picking out one sentence and assuming you know what is happening at that time. Or say you are listening to someone explain that book, but they only give you that one sentence. That is not how we read any book to know what it’s about, so why would you do that with the Bible?
The Bible is a complete book that must be read from start to finish. (Spoiler alert: God wins in the end). And when I say start to finish, I mean starting in Genesis and reading through Revelation. Some “dry” areas in the Bible don’t seem all that interesting (i.e., the genealogies within certain books). But they are there for a reason. Do we need to be able to pronounce all those names? No, but if you plan on reading the Bible in the way it was intended, my suggestion is to go through those sections briefly. Skimming over those sentences to get a consensus. This will genuinely help you get through them and onto the good stuff.
Now that we know how to read the Bible, I encourage you to. You can read it in its entirety in a year. There’s a reading plan on this site to keep you on track. You can also download a PDF of that plan to mark it as you go.
If you want to know even more or are still a bit skeptical about all this, click the link below to go to a booklet that has tons of information about the Bible, and it will be able to answer any further questions you may have. You can also email me through the contact page, and I will try to answer it as best I can.
Answered Scripture 
Leave a comment