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The importance of the Bible to Christians
Formation of biblical canon
The Importance of the Bible
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Bible comes from the Latin word biblia meaning group or collection of books. When the word “Bible” is heard many think of the Christian Bible, however, it is not the only one. It is, still, very prominent. Given this acknowledgment the Christian Bible is the most important book of the Christian faith. Despite a unity between the many books there is debate on which should be included for the proper worship and instruction from God. Different interpretations have led to some of these disagreements which also led to sects forming and creating a bible under that particular group’s beliefs. Due to this the Christian Bible has undergone different kinds of changes since its creation. History Creation Due to the multiple changes it is hard to pinpoint exactly when the Bible was established. The date and time frame depends on what is considered the creation. The books that were selected for the official publication were written over thousands of years. Even at that they were not collected and approved at the same time. Originally the scriptures were handed down orally. Each generation would tell the next who would continue to …show more content…
The Pentateuch tells the stories of the beginnings. This is of the world, humankind, and God’s promise to the Israelites (Genesis 1-50) ¬. The Former Prophets contain the history of the Israelites. This spans from Moses’s death to the fall of the nation in 587 B.C. The Writings are a collection of narratives, such as the Book of Esther. Many are books of poetry and wisdom (Bible: The Old Testament). The Latter Prophets are thought by some Christians to be older than the Former Prophets. The narratives include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets. These prophets saw the coming of a Messiah, meaning anointed one. This man would be a king, and usher in a golden era of peace and
There are many different forms of covenants in the Old testament that the people of God agree to. The first one being looked at is between God and Abraham. God promised Abraham a great nation and God said he would bless Abraham (Gen 2:2). God also promised him the Promise Land (Gen 15:18) and said he would be the father of many nations (Gen 17:4). All God asked of him was devotion from him and his people and to have circumcision be the sign from the people (Gen 17:11). The promises of the covenant directly impact Abraham, but they also impacted the people who would follow. God would also use these vows in other covenants because they had historic meaning. The Mosaic covenant has several similarities to the Abrahamic covenant. God told Moses that he would make the people of Israel his treasured possessions (Exo 19:5), which corresponds with the promise of blessings in the first covenant. God also promises to bring the people into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exo 6:8). God still expected the people to follow and adhere to his words and the sign he required was following the ten commandments. These covenants were made when the people were forced to be a nomadic due to persecution. The promise of blessings and nations and land was something the people needed. The next covenant God made was with King David, this covenant also resembles the Abrahamic covenant. After the people had settled into their land God talks to King David, through the prophet Nathan. God tells David he will have a child who will establish a kingdom forever (2 Sam 7:13) and the kingdom, as well as the house, will be forever and his child will not lose the throne (2 Sam 7:16). These promises are like the ones made to Abraham, both are promised nat...
This quote by Gene Nowlin in his book The Paraphrased Perversion of the Bible summarizes the composition of the Bible. Throughout life, Christians grasp tightly to these words of God in hopes to inherit the Kingdom of God one day. In order to do this, they must study the Bible closely and apply it to their lives daily. Without the proper Bible, this may become a difficult task to accomplish. Although the various translations of the Christian Bible are exceptionally similar in their message, some have quite a few differences and perversions that set them apart from one another. Many of them even leave out several potentially important verses in their revision. These variations contribute to the justification of one translation being more reliable and accurate than the other versions.
The Christian Scriptures is the entire Christian Bible. It is composed of both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament. The Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) is composed of several books all containing stories about Jesus, and the Christian Testament (New Testament) which contains the stories of Jesus and the earliest Christian Communities. Although these stories cannot confidently prove to us that they are true there are several distinct similarities, which are contained in nearly all of the books. These similarities are so frequent that their constant occurrence seems more than coincidence. Although these similarities occur often in the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, there are four short books included in the Christian Testament, which we must rely on to understand Jesus’ ministry and life.
Every Christians today knows the story of Jesus birth. The story of how Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem for a censes declared by the Roman Empire. While not being able to find an inn to stay in and Mary getting ready to give birth, they stow away in the cave where the animals were kept. While there Mary gave birth to a son and called him Jesus. While Jesus was in a manger a heavenly host of angles came down and also Shepard’s from the field came and rejoiced the savior was born. This is where the typical nativity scene comes from. Unless you have a Doctorate and teach a History of the New testament class and go into fine detail about the story, then story this is what people hear. Well this is for History of the New Testament so the fine details are what we are looking for. Most people do not realize that the story they tell every Christmas is actually a combination of two stories. The birth story is told in the Gospels of Luke and the Gospels of Mathew but each tell a very different version of what actually happened and that is what leads to people questioning the accuracy of the bible today.
Modern scholars believe that the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, was composed by four or five writers between 1000 to 400 BCE based on much older traditions. The New Testament was composed by a variety of writers between 60 to 110 CE. The contents of the New Testament were formalized by Athanasius of Alexandria in 367 CE, and finally canonized in 382 CE (Geisler and
Everything about the Bible is questioned constantly by believers and nonbelievers. Bibliology discusses topics such as inerrancy, inspiration, and illumination. The Bible is looked at not only as a source for wisdom and meditation but an authoritative source. The authority behind the Bible is God. Scripture was “God-breathed” and “God-Inspired”. Handwritten by human authors which sometimes may leave people to question if it is truly the word of God or not.
Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit various authors composed a collection of 66 books that today we call the Bible. Written around 300 BC the earliest Bible translation was of the Old Testament. The Hebrew scripture was translate into the Greek language. This translation was known as the Septuagint. Today the Bible has been translated into over 550 different languages and over 2,900 languages have at least
The biblical narrative is one that is still going on to this day. The biblical narrative tells the story of God and how he reveals himself to us. Rhodes points out that “God comes to each through a historical event or series of events” (2). It is in this way that God reveals himself to us and this maintains the relevance of the biblical narrative in our lives. God reveals himself through formative stories in the bible such as Creation, Adam and Eve, the Fall of Man, The Flood, God’s Covenant with Noah, and the Tower of Babel. From the very beginning of the biblical narrative we see that God relates to us on a personal level. He created us, he formed us, he created the world in which we live, and he has been an active participant in the narrative since before it began.
...her diverse literature. The Christian Old Testament organizes the books according to their type of literature: the Pentateuch, corresponding to the Torah; historical books; poetical or wisdom books; and prophetical books. Some have perceived in this table of contents a sensitivity to the historical perspective of the books: first those that concern the past; then, the present; and then, the future. The Protestant and Roman Catholic versions of the Old Testament place the books in the same sequence, but the Protestant version includes only those books found in the Bible of Judaism. The New Testament includes the four Gospels; the Acts of the Apostles, a history of early Christianity; Epistles, or letters, of Paul and other writers; and an apocalypse, or book of revelation. Some books identified as letters, particularly the Book of Hebrews, are theological treatises.
Centuries ago, shortly after the death of Jesus Christ, Christian leaders gathered together to formulate what we now call the New Testament. Thousands of books and scriptures from countless different countries, and time periods were gathered, examined, and carefully selected into groups of what these religious leaders found the most valuable in telling the story of Jesus Christ and his Ministry. Each gospel, letter, or scripture selected confirmed and testified the life of Jesus as the Messiah and were considered divinely inspired by the church . Roughly 60 years and 27 canons later, and the New Testament was founded and distributed to the Christian community.
In another attempt to defile the integrity of scripture, critics have found what they believe to be flaws in the Old Testament. One example of this is a theological flaw. They propose that Christians create an entire idea or philosophy based merely on a singular verse or phrase. A great example of this is that the idea of original sin can only be supported by Psalm 91:5. (Suttile, 2008) This notion proposes that the Bible is not supportive of itself and also leads many to jump to conclusions and make uninformed assumptions. The idea marking its consequence by creating the stereotype of bigotry and uninformed decision making which deters credibility for the Christian religious institution as a whole. Another attack, and a very threatening
The Biblical cannon is the complete, inspired, and inerrant Word of God, inspired and preserved by God, including the construction of the cannon. It is composed of 66 books written by over 40 different authors over a thousand-year time span. The first set of writings were the Old Testament, complete approximately four centuries before the birth of Christ. The first book to be completed was the Torah, written by Moses approximately 1400 B.C. His writings were considered authoritative because of his authority as a prophet, backed the miracles God performed through him (Cartwright, Jonathan, Gutierrez & Hulshof 2016). The Torah, known in the English Bible as the Pentateuch, or five books, comprised the cannon to which all other books would be compared.
The gathering of books of the New Testament was arisen in the end of the second century, A.D. The church influential established books they believed were built on eyewitness versions of the events we read today, while discarding many Christian texts.
relevant to life, such as do not kill and do not steal. The bible also
The bible is what helps keeps our faith alive as it contains a rich amount of history that tells us of God’s revelation and the ways how our faith works. Although the bible contains numerous works of different people, it is still a work of God that helps our faith remain constant and grow, as everything written was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In some way, I was able to understand the value also of the other books, as before I did not really take interest of the other books included bible, aside from the likes of the Gospels, Genesis, Exodus, Psalms, and Proverbs. Nevertheless, I realized that the books are all part of the bible as each has a purpose to serve and stands as a testament to the infidelity of humanity, and of God’s unfailing love for