The Bible: Living Word

The Bible is said to hold the record for most books sold the world over. Of the total population of the world, only a small percentage-if even that many- have never heard of it. Many of the modern western clichés that we use come from it without thinking about it. And it is considered to be one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time.

It is also probably the most controversial book of all time as well.

I don't think a person can count on one hand how many physical conflicts have spawned with the Bible used as its justification or source. In the 20th century and now today in the 21st century, it spawns all new types of conflicts as well: verbal ones, that have been just as nasty and intense as any war and with almost as many casualties.

Why is this? And what is the Bible?

The answer widely depends on who you're asking: for believers, it is a holy book, the living word of God. For scholars, it is a beautiful collection of artfully written pieces of literature. To some rebellious people and groups, it is an obsolete obstacle to true liberty and the inborn rights of humanity. And there are still others.

Allow me to give you my perspective. Please take it as you will.
Since human nature deals primarily in the 3rd dimension, a dimension of senses, I feel it's important to start there. Tangibly the Bible is indeed a collection of works, written by various authors from the geographical area of Israel/Palestine and the Mediterranean over the course of thousands of years. The large majority of it pertaining to Israel before its Roman occupation, was brought together and formed into the Hebrew Bible. Later, the followers of Jesus Christ, whom many believed to be the manifest fulfillment of the Hebrew bible, took and added to it what we know as the four gospels, and the epistles. The compiling of all these books into what it is now took centuries and wasn't considered formally completed until roughly 400 years after Jesus' death.

These are facts. There's no room for interpretation here or debating of meaning. From an outside and objective point of view, the Bible is a collection of various historical records, poems, and letters of instruction written to specific people or persons of a specific time. This is the view point of taken up by people of scholarly mind, science, and literature. And to this degree most of them respect it with great affirmation and would not question its importance or influence on the world stage within these genres.

But what about on a intangible level? Is it more? For Christians this where the source of faith can come from as well as contentions with other conclusions that don't agree with it. For the Christian, the Bible is the Living Word. This description of itself is written in the letter to Hebrews. God speaks through this book and has done so for centuries. And this therefore makes it not only relevant to the timeframe in which it was written, but to future generations as well. And it is also a standard: a guideline for which every believer across time can judge their lives to see if they are living according to God's righteousness.

Ah and what about those who hate it? There's no single uniform appearance about such people. The Romans would burn copies when they were persecuting Christians. Different dominations would burn other denomination's copies because they were deemed heretical. In Japan the Tokugawa Shogunate outlawed and persecuted the Christian faith largely because of one verse: 'All men are created equal'. People of dubious reputations would often ignore or laugh at it, even if they didn't destroy it. In the modern era Yoko Ono made herself infamous to many believers by ripping a Bible in two, and so the list goes on.

Because the cross section is so vast, I will focus on the modern era.

I believe that the reason in general why some hate the book is because it is viewed as an hindrance. For the last 2000 years the Bible has been where the western world has primarily gotten it's general moral code, or adopted somehow to include certain precepts within specific sub-cultures and groups. Around the 1960's the western world seemed to take a 180. Specifically in America, there was a large social upheaval against many social injustices that had been ignored or justified using the Bible in some way for centuries. And that wasn't even considering the Vietnam War controversy.

Many of these people wanted to throw out the old world and bring in a new one that was more free, less status quo, and stood for true justice and freedom as they dreamed it to be. The Bible was seen as part of the old world. More than that, it was also seen or portrayed as a moral bashing bat used to judge others who rightly or wrongly, did not conform to society's standards and to justify those who held positions of power by either rank, society, sex, or race. And this perception continues among many today.

I believe the Bible to be all of these, and more. Some believers feel that if certain criticisms about the Bible are acknowledged, then its meaning and affirmation will be lessened or nullified. Yet this does not have to be the case. It would be wrong to turn the Bible into something it's not: a self-sustaining entity onto itself. It is not. It won't tell you what the weather will be like. It won't tell you if your neighbor has a specific problem or what that problem is.

Many biblical people lived and worshiped God without the use of a Bible, or any written account to speak off for centuries. I do believe that the writers were somehow divinely inspired, but this does not take away from the fact that these writers were still humans also writing with their own agendas. They weren't supernaturally possessed or in most cases, even aware that God was going to use their work to inspire others down in the future. They wrote from what was going on in their own lives at that time, and their writings thus contain their own biases. This also contributes to some of the 'contradictions' the critics love to point out in the Bible.

God is bigger than all these factors. He is bigger than whatever version an American, Chinese, or Pakistani maybe reading. He is bigger than the cultural biases the writers brought into their writing or the cultural biases the reader maybe reading it with. He is bigger than the historical notes and poems that make up the Bible.

God is not the Bible.

The Bible is the Living Word because God makes it alive, not because of the words themselves, or as if they were acting as his house or cage. If it were the other way around, try and guess how many evil acts could be attributed to God and those doing the accusing would be right! Or it would become the new temple mount to replace the old ones destroyed in Jerusalem centuries ago.

I believe that we cannot be afraid of what someone may or may not say about the Bible, because the Bible is not my faith. If it were, it would be an idol to me. 1 Corinthians 15 tackles this concept of having one's faith challenged directly, where Paul directly addresses the consequences if Jesus was not resurrected. I found it one of the most bold statements ever written historically because most religions will not even dare approach such an 'sacrileges' aspect to their beliefs.

We use the Bible to help us in our faith, And God can speak many things through it, but our faith comes from and is to God alone. This allows the believer great freedom because we can use it as a living word or a historical document or anything else for that matter, and God can still speak something to us. And if the Bible is attacked or criticized, neither do we need to be reactionary or defensive. Because God does not live in the bible, He can't be measured or fully grasped. I hope we use this freedom as we continue to use the Bible in our faith.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com

We use the Bible to help us in our faith, And God can speak many things through it, but our faith comes from and is to God alone. This allows the believer great freedom because we can use it as a living word or a historical document or anything else for that matter, and God can still speak something to us. And if the Bible is attacked or criticized, neither do we need to be reactionary or defensive. Because God does not live in the bible, He can't be measured or fully grasped. I hope we use this freedom as we continue to use the Bible in our faith.

Simply great message.

It is so true that it is our faith that makes God as Almighty and Bible His Word, Word of His mouth. To many Bible may be a book of fables and yet to some it is corrupted but to us it is Word of God, spoken by God, written by men inspired and guided by the power of God. The article speaks generally to questions raised by many and thank you for posting it here.

In Christ

Great message and it answered many questions. God bless you Dove

The Bible is the infallible Word of God!

The Bible is our:
B - basic
I - instructions
B - before
L - leaving
E - earth

Good message!