What Does Bible Mean To Me

The Bible; I believe the Bible is the source of God's Word to all. It was written by human authors under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is where we should look to for the source of truth for our Christian beliefs and living. (2 Timothy 3:15–17) I also believe it is our truth without any error that while we as humans misread it the text and book itself is always right and true.( Joshua 1:8)

Most Christians do not think about the canon of scripture or know what it is or means in theology. Most take for granted the Bible they have and never question how it came into being. Today, we have 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. There was a time, however, that we did not have a canon. Bruce defines canon as books of the Bible that were recognized to be considered scripture (p. 17). The importance of the canon and how it was developed was intriguing to professor and author F.F. Bruce. He dedicated his book The Canon of Scripture to explore and explain the formulation of the canon we have today. Bruce taught in universities, including the University of Manchester, where he began to lecture students on the

As Scott Duvall and Daniel Hays state in Grasping God’s Word, every copy of the Bible today is a translation, “unless everyone wants to learn Hebrew and Greek (the Bible’s original languages)… (Duvall and Hays 23). This being the case, people may debate which translation is more accurate; however, the best way to understand the Bible is by reading several different translations and comparing them to one another. The main reason several translations helps people grasp the full meaning of Scripture is because some translations are word for word, which is the formal approach in translation and gives a reader the closest possible words from when the text was written. On the other hand, the more functional approach in translation is thought for

Generally, I find the theology behind the numerous aspects of the Bible not only, helpful, but also fascinating. Learning about the four different views about God’s role in the inspiration of the Bible makes me more aware of the theology behind certain doctrines and principles I may not have been aware of. This unit has forced me to tear down my assumptions about the Bible and go into the Bible with a new perspective of innocence. Through having an open-mind I am able to have important conversations with people, about the Bible, from all Christian backgrounds. Additionally, learning about the multitudes of translations of the Bible, and how they fall into three distinct categories, has helped me understand there are different purposes and intended audiences for each translation of the Bible. Before, I struggled with the fact that there were so many English translations of the Bible, but now I understand each one

The Bible, one of the world’s most ancient works of literature established into a book several years ago, can be debated to be true or false. However, whether or not it is doesn’t matter because either way it is incredibly fascinating. There are some truths and mysterious secrets embedded within the Bible. I believe the Bible should be taken figuratively rather than literally. To think that a group of writers from the ancient past had integrated stories with important morals and philosophies. The Bible has remained relevant for centuries and unfortunately has been neglected by the ignorance by the generations of today. Believe it or not, languages and popular phrases have been passed from the Bible and they may not even realize it.

In order to be declared acceptable to be included within the canon there are specific criteria that are considered for the Old Testament. One of the first questions asked by the curious reader is, “Who authored the Old Testament?” The easy and most appropriate answer to that important question is God. That is to say that the Bible is divinely inspired and is an important, the most important, criterion for acceptance into the canon (Detweiler, 1985).ne can look to 2 Timothy 3:16 for confirmation, “all of scripture is God-breathed’ (NIV). Evidence is found in scripture itself. For instance

For many years Hickory Christian Academy (HCA) has used the New American Standard Bible (NASB), but I believe that needs to change. The NASB is certainly a praiseworthy translation, no one is suggesting otherwise, but the ESV is nonetheless better. The NASB is like getting a cake with no icing. The cake bread tastes wonderful; in fact, some might prefer just the cake bread, but I think I speak for the majority when I say cake tastes better with icing. The ESV is the icing on the cake. The ESV is not only the same as the NASB fundamentally- the cake bread- t it is, over all, better than the NASB- the icing on the

Around the 16th century many people started to question the Roman Catholic Church. One of the problems some people had was that if they wanted to read the Bible they had to go to the Church, and even then the Bible was locked up in chains so that it couldn’t be taken. Not only was there only one Bible but it was also in only one language which in turn didn’t help many people because they couldn’t read or it wasn’t in their native language.

John Rogers, a friend of Tyndales picked up the pen where Tyndale left off and finished translating the Hebrew Old Testament. In 1539 These were printed in England and the publisher was so impressed with what he saw, he went to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in an effort to get the approval to have them published. The Archbishop consented to help and took them to the King for approval, the King granted his approval. This Bible was printed under an alias; the

The translations of the bible have been derived from actual manuscripts. Different translations depend on how the scholar takes in a sentence of word. Translations come from original languages of the bible such as Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek.

There is much debate over the accuracy and the inerrancy of Scripture. Pertaining to this debate there exists an underlying question as to whether or not the New Testament is considered part of the canon or for that matter if it is actually given by the inspiration of God. How did the books that are in the New Testament get there? Who decided which books should be added or taken out? Do we have all the books that we should have? Many ask these questions, but Christians are ill equipped to give an answer. For centuries, Christians have claimed that they have the absolute truth, are saved only by faith, and claim the Scriptures as inspired by God. In spite of these

In the Catholic faith, the Protestant belief of “sola scriptura” or “scripture alone” is to be used along with the Magisterial authority of those in the church such as the Pope and Bishops, which is a long standing belief from the church’s founding in 33 AD. The Protestant Bible and The Catholic Bible both use the same New Testament, which was defined by Athanasius in 367, but use a different Old Testament. The Protestant Old Testament is different than the Catholic Old Testament because of the history of the founding of the Protestant faith. The Protestant Old testament comes from the Hebrew Bible which was decided to have 24 books, with this canon being accepted at the Councils of Jamnia in 90-118 AD. (Coffman)

The King James version of the Bible affected many things and had a major impact on society and the English language. It was created by King James to benefit and fill a request given by the puritans to King James. It took seven years to write and it became the English standard version of the Bible. The King James version includes a lot of formal and poetic language to describe stories and events in the other versions of the Bible. It taught the Bible in a different way making it easier for some people to understand and believe in the stories and truths of the Bible. This version is the most influential version of the Bible. It is also the most referred too and the most popular for many groups of people. Overall it is a descriptive and creative translation that combines truth with poetic art and beautiful language appealing to many different groups of people.

The New Testament was canonized over a period of approximately four hundred years (Stotesberg). From AD 50-125, the books which in the end constitute the New Testament were written. Simultaneously, other books, which did not end up being included in the final canon, were produced. These books are the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didache, I Clement, the seven letters of Ignatius of Antioch, etc. (“Development of the Difficult Canon”). As more and more books were written, Christians realized that it was imperative that they gather and consolidate this material before it became lost. Sometime before AD 100, ten of Paul’s letters were gathered and combined into their own canon. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) were combined to form another canon soon after the canonization of Paul’s letters. The Gospels and Paul’s letters became the main body of a new group of Scriptures that would soon become the New Testament. Soon Acts, I Peter, I John, and Revelation were inserted into this body of Scripture. Following this, the rest of the books were added to the New Testament (Barker).

The bible was written as an account of what many viewed that God had accomplished so his actions and words could be passed on for generations. Some believe it is a literary account and some believe it is a historical account. The word of God in the bible comes in many forms and is left up to interpretation by the reader. Some believe that the word of God should be the only word and should be strictly followed. Some believe that the words are meant as a guideline to help us through life. Whatever your belief is you can always seem to find the meaning behind your belief through the word of God in the Bible.