The Holy Bible
The word “Bible” comes from the Greek, which was the most spoken language in the civilized world for several centuries. It was the most common language in the time of Jesus and His apostles. The New Testament was mostly written in Greek. The word “Bible” means collection of books, such as a library or anthology.
The word “holy” means distinct. The Bible is not just a simple collection of books like any other. It is a distinct collection of distinguished books. They are distinguished because they were inspired by God and have a divine message for us all.
So the Holy Bible is a Distinct Anthology in which all its books bear the mark of God-inspired messages for humanity.
The Bible is God’s permanent communication to humanity. The Bible is the result of God communicating words to men who in turn wrote them down. God’s communication is progressive through time, culminating in His last communication that was put in writing – the book of Revelation.
There are no errors in the Bible, nor contradictions, as some claim. A close reading of the Scriptures, using normative interpretation, understanding the progressive nature of God’s revelation, brings the honest student of the Bible to the incontrovertible and amazing discovery of its self-unity, accuracy with extra-curricular fields (history, science, etc.), and unfathomable depth of spiritual truth.
The Bible itself is a miracle. It was written over a period of 1600 years, by about 40 writers, from three different continents. These men represented many cultures, and they had a wide diversity of careers – from simple shepherds and fishermen to kings, generals and philosophers. Not all of these men had access to previously written biblical books. That all these men could have written so much and not have contradicted each other in any way is absolutely impossible – unless there was a divine Author behind there writing.
Some claim that the books in the Bible do not contradict each other because religious people edited out the mistakes and contradictions over the centuries. However, archeological finds have eliminated these claims. Very ancient manuscripts of the Bible have been found, some going back several millennia, and they are almost identical to the ones we have today. Nobody has been editing the Bible.
The only explanation for the Bible’s unity is a divine author who moved men across 1600 years to write His message to humanity. No other book on earth is like this.
Another important fact regarding the Bible is predictions found in it. In the books of the Bible there are sometimes specific predictions made by God in regards to human history. These are not vague and ambiguous predictions such as found in other religious and occultist writings. The Bible’s prediction are very specific and cannot be interpreted to mean anything one wants. Yet, many of the Bible’s specific predictions came true in every detail.
We can trust that the Bible is God’s Word to humanity. We can trust its message and know that it is a spiritual authority for our lives.
The Bible is therefore and necessarily the only and supreme authority for human beings in all things, especially those of the spiritual realm. Anybody, including any well-respected religious leader, who contradicts the Bible is therefore not speaking from God but against Him.
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