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importance of 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
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
The Old Testament and the Bible itself has been studied extensively for centuries. Archeologists and Scholars have labored and pondered over texts trying to decipher its clues. It does not matter how many times the Old Testament has been studied there will always be something new to learn about it or the history surrounding it. In the book Reading the Old Testament: an Introduction, the author Lawrence Boadt presents us with a few different authors of the Old Testament that used different names for God and had a unique insight into the texts. These four sources are titled P for priests, E for Elohim, J for Jehovah, and Y for Yahweh (95). These four unique sources help us realize that there is more than one author of the Pentateuch. These authors took the text and adapted for their culture. This independent source is used by scholars to help gain insight into what was behind the texts of the bible so we are not left with an incomplete picture of what went into the creation of the bible. Julius Wellhausen used these four sources to publish a book to able us to better understand the sources and to give it credibility with the Protestant scholars at the time (Boadt 94). These sources that is independent of the bible as in the DVD Who Wrote the Bible? and the Nova website aide in shedding light on the history that surrounded the writers who wrote the text and what inspired them to write it in the first place. The DVD shows the discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls and the extensive history of the texts and all its sources in an effort to try to find exactly who wrote the bible (Who Wrote). These scrolls have aided scholars immensely by giving us some of the oldest known manuscripts of the bible in the world today. It shows that the bible w...
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.
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 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.
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.
relevant to life, such as do not kill and do not steal. The bible also
The Bible is the book sacred to Christians and is seen as the indirect word of God. To Christians, the Bible is a guideline on how to live their lives. It also provides information on how the Earth was created, how humans came about, and provides explanation to anything life has to offer. The Bible is split into two segments which include the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the sacred book of the Jews. It provides information to everything before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The New Testament starts with the birth of God’s son whom he sent down to Earth, Jesus Christ. The Bible is a sacred book for the Christians as well as a history book composed of many first and second hand accounts of not only Jesus Christ,
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.
...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.
The term 'Scripture' refers to the sacred writing of the Old and New Testament. Sacred Scripture are the books which 'contain the truth of God?s revelation and were composed by human authors inspired by the Holy Spirit' (CCC 105). Sacred Scripture is one of the several names denoting the inspired writings which make up the Old and New Testament. The words of the Sacred Scriptures, 'for their part proclaim the works and bring light to the mystery they contain'.
As a child, I was raised to know there is a God. Any problems in your life can be solved by praying to "our father '. The Bible to me is a guide through life as a cheat sheet is helpful to a test. In life, you will overcome multiple obstacles and also tests. The only way I know how to get through the laborious times in life is to reach out to God. To me, the Bible is a hands on learning experience about how to get through life itself The Bible teaches you how to get through every season in your life. The Bible has an answer for every issue in your life such as depression, financial hardships, losing a loved one, relationships , and strength. In life, you always have to have faith the size of a mustard seed. When