To understand the Bible you must know some basic things about it.
First, it is a history of the creation.
Second, it is a history of the human race and our relationship to the creator.
Third, it is a history of a covenant between God and Abram [ afterward called Abraham ] and his millions of descendants
up to and including the arrival of Messiah, the Anointed One, the Christ, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Fourth, it recounts the teachings given to us by the same Jesus, The Christ.
Fifth, it prophesies and documents Messiah.
Sixth, it tells us how to have eternal life and foretells the world's end.
Seventh, aside from the historical content, it is a spiritual message.
This is what matters most to us who believe.
Which version should you read ?
Read the version that is written in a language style you can easily comprehend.
I may look at the King James Version or the Douay-Rheims version to see how a certain verse is rendered.
Sometimes they are more poetic and pleasant sounding. But they were translated into an English in common
use hundreds of years ago. I do not speak that old language. When I read to understand, I read either
the New International or New King James versions in English. Read the one you like. If you can trust
God for your eternal salvation you can surely trust Him to reveal His truths to you through any version.
If you join a church or study group you will likely use the version popular among the members. If you
find it incomprehensible, use a different one or change groups to one using a Bible you can study.
Is the Bible TRUE ?
Good question. The Bible contains facts, allegories, songs, poems, histories and more.
Is it true that a shepherd boy named David slew a giant named Goliath with a stone he hurled? Who knows?
Who cares? I don't. But I assume it is true.
I can draw a spiritual insight from the event as described in the Bible. David overcame the larger, boastful
enemy using a simple method. He slung a stone. Elsewhere in scripture you can read that Jesus is a stone ...
a cornerstone as well as a stumbling block to many. I can put my faith in Christ up against any adversary or
adversity.
I know that historically David was king of Israel after Saul. I know a lot about David that inspires me.
I know of his failings too. I readily accept the story that he killed Goliath with a stone but I do not
consider that information to be important to my salvation so it does not matter to me whether it is true
as written or embellished and exaggerated for posterity. The story is not important to my faith and
understanding.
I recognize that in David's era the average man was probably no more than five feet tall. Goliath might
have been seven, eight, or even nine feet tall just as there are such people today with Marfans Syndrome.
The Philistines mat have been a tribe of very large people with Goliath being unusually tall.
What difference does it make? I don't need this story at all. It is sufficient to me that God set David on the throne
of Israel and that David wrote numerous psalms we can enjoy.
Parables
Jesus used parables to teach spiritual matters. A parable is a verbal illustration of some principal.
When He told the parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-9, do you think He talking about a real man throwing real seed which
resulted in four different consequences ? No. He was illustrating what happens when people hear the Word.
The chapter continues with an explanation of why He spoke in parables and provides many more parables.
So how do we rate the TRUTH of the Bible on this point ? The spiritual message is true. The details of the
story used to convey the spiritual message need not be factually true in themselves. Listen to the Spirit.
He will lead you into all spiritual truth.
Did God create the earth and all in it in six days then rest ?
A day is determined by exposing the earth's surface to the sun's light as earth rotates on its axis.
By the end of the first day of creation there were light and darkness but the earth was formless and void.
My point is that this is not a literal history. When God said, "Let there be light", light happened. What light ?
The visible spectrum perceivable through our eyes, or all the wavelengths in all forms of other than darkness ?
I have a brother in the Lord (meaning fellow believer) who is a Biblical Literalist. He asserts every word
is literally true as written. I challenged him with scientific findings. He contends that the earth came into
existence six thousand years ago, not six billion, and that carbon dating and the fossil record are traps set
by God to fool men who think themselves smart. In other words, God is a deceiver.
We verbally fought over this topic but he is unyielding in his belief. Is he right, the planet is only
six thousand years old and God chose to deceive humankind? Ridiculous. God is about Truth, not games of
deception. Yet, this person of whom I speak is a convicted believer and is saved. Stupidity won't prevent you
from being saved. Stubborn resistance to accepting Jesus as Savior will do the trick.
If you desire justification for a literal reading of Genesis chapter 1, consider what is said in
2 Peter 3:8
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"But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day."
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Time does not exist in eternity. The earth could have been made as it now is
in an instant or over billions of years as we mark time. Peter could have said a million or billion years is
as a day. Maybe he didn't know those sorts of numbers in his time.
It does NOT MATTER to your salvation. What matters is your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your
personal Savior. You could, in fact, never read anything if you believe this one thing, because,
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things,
and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."
[ John 14:26 NKJV ]
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Firstly, the Holy Spirit ( also called Holy Ghost, Paraclete, Comforter in various versions ) will
teach you all things. Imagine ! God knows everything. His Spirit will teach you everything you
need to know. In some versions it reads "lead you into all truth".
Secondly, The Holy Spirit will call to your remembrance what Jesus said. This is how Matthew and John were empowered
to set down in writing all that is in their Gospel records. For the Spirit to call to YOUR remembrance all
that Jesus has said, you must first know what it is He said. That is your reason for reading and studying
the Bible, especially the New Testament. You cannot remember what you never heard, so read it and hear.
He will show you the way.
God wants you to understand His word and come to know your Savior intimately. When you hear other
believers say something like, "I am in love with Jesus", they so say because they have studied Him and
know Him. Who does not love someone who has saved him from certain death ?
Depending on your circumstances and appetite for knowledge, you can read a single verse each day or entire
chapters in a sitting as you feel led. I set great store by being led by the Spirit. I have tested the
truth of Him 'teaching me all things', even to the mundane. He knows where I left the key I think is lost and if
I ask and wait upon Him I will find it. Likewise I will understand the word of the Lord by asking the Spirit to
help me ... to show me the meaning. My answer may not come as I read. It may come months later. But come it will.
Let me share with you an example; what I find the most difficult passage in Scripture. Jesus was teaching in a
synagogue (Jewish church) in Capernaum when He said this recorded in John 6:53-58 NKJV:
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Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink His blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
This is the bread which came down from heaven not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.
He who eats this bread will live forever."
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If this passage was meant to be literal, only a small number of people then present had the opportunity to
kill Jesus and cannibalize his remains. Only they would have had life within them and the billions born since
would have been out of luck.
But if you read on you understand [ John 6:60-69 ] ...
Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"
When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them,
"Does this offend you?
What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
But there are some of you who do not believe."
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.
And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"
But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
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Many did not understand He was speaking of spiritual matters because they did not realize that He was the
incarnation of God on earth, sent to teach how to gain eternal life. No amount of flesh and blood from any
source in any form will save your soul. People of various denominations quarrel over the ordinance or
sacrament of Communion, The Lord's Supper, or whatever they call it, all of them being absolutely certain
they have the correct interpretation. One version employs the miracle of transubstantiation in which some
bread made according to rigid rules, along with some wine similarly produced, are miraculously changed
from bread and wine into the actual, real, and present flesh and blood of Jesus. Why on earth would anyone
ignore what Jesus explicitly stated and substitute a modern miracle in its place ?
The last I heard Jesus ascended bodily into heaven and is the right hand of God. If there is any flesh
or blood in the body he took with Him, it is not in bits and pieces in church buildings on earth.
I do not for a moment doubt the POWER of GOD to change such food. But why would He ?
He told us this is spiritual food and drink.
You will find that reading the Bible with an open mind and heart will fill you with this spiritual food
and drink which is the word that gives eternal life.
Amen to that.
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