Sacred texts have been a major part of most religions for many centuries. These texts retell the lessons and hardships that religious icons went through in their times. These texts provide many religions with a foundation for their beliefs, laws and customs. Most religions regard these text with a high sense of holiness. They base their theologies and practices from those which are mentioned in their holy documents and writings. With the very common use of the same sacred texts across a variety of religions comes various ways in which they are interpreted. The Christian faith refers to The Bible for most of its teachings and laws and has done so for centuries. Just like all sacred texts the Bible is read and interpreted in many ways. An example …show more content…
The If the Catholic and Pentecostal sects both refer to The New Testament but interpret them in different ways. They can be seen to have similar primary beliefs but with different ways to adhere to The Bible. Therefore, they can be classified as being under the same religion primarily but also viewed separately as different sects due to the difference in the ways that they adapt to the “Guidelines” that are set out in their common text The Bible.
The New Testament is the second half taken out of the Christian sacred text, The Bible. The New Testament contains the books of Acts, Letters, the Book of Revelation and the Four Gospels, together there are 27 books that make up the New Testament. The New Testament is the second half to the Bible which is used by Christians all over the world. Many studies have suggested that the written form of the New Testament was compiled through a time span of 2 – 3 decades after Jesus’ resurrection (Baker, 2008). The oral tradition, which was the first way of spreading the stories of the bible, is mentioned by Paul in the Book of Acts (20:35) when he says “remember the words the Lord himself said”. This is a direct reference to the retelling of Jesus’ word
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They see the New Testament as a book of writings with foundational morals from which their laws and customs are derived. Catholics believe that the New Testament provides them with values and ways of life taken from the early Israelites which they can mutate into their own modern lifestyles while having a similar foundation as those that began the traditions that have been carried on for centuries. Catholics teach younger generations and preach to older generations of the hardships, lessons and morals from the New Testament in a way in which there are applied to the modern lifestyle, but which are not literal
Having a sacred book is useful to conserve their doctrinal beliefs.
The King James Bible has been the focus of the moral compass of the world since its creation. Being that it was the English translated Bible, Christianity spread rapidly as more people began to know and study God about Jesus Christ. The language in the Bible holds better understanding in which why it became so well-known so fast. In study for the beginnings of the book, the revising of it turned people on to its stories like the Sermon on the Mount and Psalm 23. Translation of the King James Bible came directly from Tyndale’s writings of the New Testament written in 1524. The King James Bible is an adaptation of Tyndale’s writings.(1) Language in the King James Bible shows direct writings from Tyndale’s New Testament and poetic, literary wisdom,
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.
Sacred texts are essential for scholars or even the common person to gain knowledge about the foundation that a specific religion is built upon. For the religion of Judaism, the Jewish community relies heavily on the sacred text of the Torah, which can be considered as their guide through life; the Jews follow the Torah as their covenant or connect to Yahweh. However, another book has also emerged from Judaism that traditionally holds great meaning, but has lost prestige, called The Talmud or The Oral law. The Talmud is traditionally known for containing a variety of religious laws, folktales, and guidance through a balanced life all condensed into a one script; this causes the book to not be ideal for most people because of the rigorous challenges of studying involved. While considered out dated and irrelevant today, the Talmud is look upon as undervalued, but is essential for Jewish faith.
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.
For years, religion has played a role in the lives of many, after all, there are hundreds of religions being practiced around the world. From the celebrations of special birthdays by the Jewish or Hispanic cultures or the celebration of holidays by Christians and many other religions. There is a great amount of differences when it comes to religion, whether it be beliefs or religious traditions, but contemporary society has become more aware the impact that religion can have on numerous different things. Additionally, religion has been a vast role when it comes to literature. In countless stories, readers will find the topic of religion being influential aspect. For example, in Beowulf and The Canterbury Tales there were influences from the
Sacred texts and writings are integral to a living and dynamic religious tradition. Such texts are materials that can range from verbally spoken stories to writings. Sacred texts and writings provide followers with information on core ethical behaviour, rituals and ceremonies, as well as beliefs. The idea of the texts and writings being sacred refers to the texts encompassing divine inspiration. Christianity’s sacred texts and writings, such as the bible (conveyed as the word of God), are continually studied/interpreted throughout generations. The teachings of the bible and the ‘Ten Commandments’ provide Christians with morally accepted standards of behaviour to live their lives by and thus directly influence the day-today actions of its adherents. Furthermore, sacred texts and writings provide information on beliefs, which assist adherents in understanding and even answering significant enduring questions of life. For instance, the creation story ...
Toronto: Bucknell University Press, 1990. p. 102-115. New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Nashville: National Publishing, Inc. Company, c. 1968. -
Christianity started as a missionary religion and has now become the world's most widespread faith. It focuses on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The traditional story of Jesus tells of his birth in a stable in Bethlehem in the Holy Land, to a young virgin called Mary who had become pregnant with the son of God through the action of the Holy Spirit. The story of Jesus' birth is told in the writings of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. The New Testament, a collection of twenty-seven books written in the century after Jesus' death in 30 C.E., has had importance by shaping the church's teachings, ethics, ritual, organization, and mission in the world (Van Voorst 245). His birth is believed by Christians to be the fulfillment of prophecies in the Jewish Old Testament which claimed that a Messiah would deliver the Jewish people from captivity ("The Basics").
The most highly referenced and revered as sacred are The King James Version, considered a masterpiece of English literature, The Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, The Aprocrypha, the books believed left out of some bibles, The Vulgate, the Latin Bible used for centuries by the Roman Catholic religion, and The Septuagint, the first ancient Greek translation of the Tanakh (Geisler and Nix 15, McCallum 4). The Bible is considered a sacred text by three major world religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Many believers consider it to be the literal truth. Others treat it with great respect, but believe that it was written by human beings and, thus is often contradictory in its tenets.
Spanning fifteen hundred years with over 30,700 manuscripts, extensive archaeological evidence and 2000 prophecies that have been fulfilled, the Bible is God 's word to us. (Yohn, 2013). In the Bible, the Father is essentially giving us a picture of the history of the world and is also leading us to a place where we must make a decision that involves whether we choose to accept his son or reject him and remain guilty. Additionally, the Word of God tells us what happened that caused this breach between us and God, the result of this and how God has rectified it through the blood of his son. In fact, from the beginning of the Bible (written 1400 B.C.) to the last book (A.D. 96), God is showing us why we need Jesus and how to find him. Just as a plant’s root system propagates and occupies the pot that encloses it, Jesus permeates the entire Bible. Therefore, the motif of the Bible is the story of the redemption of mankind and it all points to Jesus as the messiah and savior who secures this for all.
There are four main parts of the New Testament. They begin with the Gospels which are narratives of the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the second part consists of the Acts of Apostles written by evangelist Luke, the third part is letters of the of Saints; Paul, James, Peter, John, and Jude and the last part being the Book of Revelation. Assigning timelines to the books and parts has been extremely hard and has caused division in the Christian society as people argue about the chronological timelines of the parts. However, the book of James is believed to have been the first book to be written. It is thought that the book of James was written between 44 and 49 AD (Livesey, 2014).
The Bible contains two parts, which are the Old Testament, the so-called the Jewish Bible, and the New Testament. Though many different writers involved in writing the Bible, the two Testaments are not independent; they are cross-referenced to each other. Christians often treat the Old Testament not only as the historical documents or literatures of the Israelites, but also as an important element of the foundation of the New Testament, because the writers of the New Testament lay strong emphasis on the relationship of Jesus with the prophecies of the Old Testament, which includes "the birth of Jesus, the place of His birth, the flight into Egypt, the return to Nazareth, the role of John the Baptist in preparing Jesus for His public ministry," the crucifixion of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus.
Christians may then object that that there is something unique about the Bible that makes it a superior moral code. Unfortunately for Christians, there is actually very little law in the Bible -- either Old Testament or New -- that is original. Consider the Torah of the ancient Jews. The laws of the Babylonians, Assyrians, Sumerians, Hammurapi, Eshnunna, Hittites, Mishnah, and Israelites all bear a striking resemblance to each other, due to widespread copying of laws. Shared social norms produced identical laws against sorcery, kidnapping, sale of an abducted person, false witness, business dishonesty, bribing judges, property right violations, shutting off irrigation canals used by others, etc. The complete list of identical laws and customs is quite extensive.
The Oral Tradition Theory by Geisler suggests that the common basis of the Synoptics was entirely oral due to the instruction of the Apostles during their prolonged stay at Jerusalem. This material came to be repeated by all the same way. (Thiessen, Introduction to the New Testament 2002:106) This theory is true but has its limits. Surely the teachings of Jesus Christ and facts of his life were first given orall...