Here is a video recording covering this teaching check it out by clicking here
Hey everyone, Welcome back to Critical Thinking Aloud. We have been having a great time lately looking at the Bible in its original Near Eastern context. We were reminded just how important this is to adapt into our Bible study over the coarse of the, Why is the world the way it is?, and the follow up Question & Answer series.
If you haven’t had a chanced to check those out yet you can do so by clicking here.
I have been planing out what we are going to go over in upcoming teachings here on Critical Thinking Aloud but while doing so I realize that there is one crucial series we need to start with. Before we talk about all the great topics we have lined up for future teachings, I came to the conclusion it would be most appropriate to cover the fundamentals first.
Today we are going to start a new series on What is the Bible and How to Read it.
Let’s get Started!
What is the Bible?
Have you ever asked yourself the question of What is the Bible? It is easy for a believer to answer this question with the typical response of “It is Gods written word”, which of coarse is correct. As believers we have come to this conclusion after reading the contents of the Bible and except this truth for ourselves.
If we were to ask this question anew without our believing “bias” what would we be able to conclude. In hopes that we may be able to get people outside the believing community to start critically thinking about the Bible differently, I have come to look at the answer to this question like this.
At the very least the Bible is a collection of ancient Near Eastern literary documents.
Again that is not to say that I do not believe the Bible is the word of God, because I do, but I have only reached that conclusion upon reading this ancient Near Eastern literary document for myself and placed my belief in its truth claims.
Why is literature important?
If we start at the fact that the Bible is ancient literature we have just leveled the playing field. Literature is a human communication devise that we used to relate information to one another. A gambit of literary devises communicating a plethora of information is discovered at the core of the Bible.
There is Narrative, Comedy, Tragedy, Poems, Epics, Satire, Horror, Letters, Songs, Etc. found with in the pages of this amazing literary work. These are all used to communicate to us some important truth. Whether or not we discover who is communicating with us about these truths is another question.
How I think about the Bible
The best way I have found to answer the question of what is the Bible? is this:
The Bible is a library of ancient Near Eastern literary works.
The Bible and libraries share a lot in common. For example:
In library’s you will find many different kinds of literature which is also true for the Bible. There are many different things to be learned and much information to be discovered in each of the books of the Bible, just as in any given book in a library.
Just like in any library, the Bible contains many works from different authors spanning a vast amount of time. Each book within a library was written at a different time in different cultures, the same can be said about the books within the Bible.
The bible is not only a hand held library of ancient Near Eastern literature, it is much much more.
A book like any other book
When we think of the Bible it may be helpful for you to think of it like all other books.
I mean to say it has everything in it that we would expect from any other book on your book shelf. Similar to all authors works the books contained within the Bible have authors who use their life experiences to shape their particular works.
The Bible just like any other book has main characters made up of protagonists, and antagonists. Like all great stories the Bible also takes place in a specific setting and primarily focus’ on the characters in that setting. The stories in the Bible follow recognizable story telling patterns consisting of an origin, climax, and conclusion.
Sadly there is a tendency for people to alienate the Bible to a place that separates it completely from all other humanly produced works stripping it of its humanity, and in the end making it something it is not. If you would like to hear about this topic check out our teaching on Biblical Inspiration here.
You may find it extremely beneficial to adopt a view that accounts for the fact that the Bible in many aspects shares commonality with all other stories and books.
The book unlike any other book
While sharing many things in common with others books, there is a reason that the Bible stands apart from all other books.
Not only is it hands down the best selling book of all time but there is no other book that has ever been created like it. Inside the pages of the Bible you will find one consecutive epic that is told by 40 different authors written over a time frame spanning 1,500 years.
Laying within the meta narrative that the one epic is telling are hundreds of stories chronicling creation, prehistory man, the birth of the nations, and ancient world history. This history has recorded the raise and fall of the most powerful nations to have ever existed finding its culmination in the time period of the Roman empire.
The Bible consists of two parts, split between to covenants that God had made with Humans. The first being Old Covenant (Testament) which consists of 39 books and the New Covenant (Testament) made up of 27 books.
We will spend more time on this in future episodes so here is a super brief summary.
The Old Covenant
The Old Testament follows the development of the promise that was given by God to restore Humanity back into His family after they chose to rebel.
The New Covenant
The New Covenant follows the fulfillment of that promise in the God-Man Jesus of Nazareth and the implications that being reconciled back to Gods family has on the Human race.
Inspired by God
While the Bible is like all other books in that the writers used their life experiences via recognizable literary devices to communicate information to humans, it is wholly unique in the fact that God is the one who ultimately authored this work to communicate His truths to His creation.
One helpful way I have found to think of this aspect of the Bible is to compare the Biblical text to Jesus.
Fully God Fully Man
Jesus
Jesus is one hundred percent Human. He is born of a woman. He was born as a baby. He spent nine months in gestation in His mothers womb, was birthed, had to grow up, He could die. Everything that Humans experience He experienced apart from sin.
Jesus is one hundred percent God. He was born by the Holy Spirit, had control over the elements, as well as sickness, and death. He is the visible representation of the Invisible God.
The Bible
Fully Human
The Bible is one hundred percent written by humans. The authors write through their life experiences communicating to us via known and recognizable literary devices. Like all other books the Bible was written and was undertaken by an editing process to help clarify the message that is being related to us.
The use of a common writing process as well as story telling patterns that we are familiar with helped to procure the efficiency of the Bible for all time. Though some of our understanding of the original context of the culture that the Bible was written in, is lost by time and space with the advancing of different cultural perceptions, the humanity reflected in the Bible and its truth claims is something all humans can relate to.
Fully God
The bible is one hundred percent authored by God. God wanted to communicate to His creation, using the same process that all human works are written with, so that we can fully understand who He is and who we are.
Through the Holy Spirit God guided the process of the formation, and editing of the Bible. God chose to communicate in a way that is common to all human so that we can fully understand what He wants us to learn without any hinderance.
Over the 1,500 year period in which the Bible was written God moved upon the authors to produce the most amazing work that has ever been written.
Give it a read
We hope that this gives you a fresh perspective on The Amazing Bible, with some new talking points that you can share with your friends. Hopefully throughout the coarse of this series you will be moved to a renewed love for this book.
This is where we will conclude for the day but I want to leave you with this. If you have never read the Bible before ask yourself why not?
Maybe it’s because of the bad press you have heard about it, or may its because you never had one. What ever the reason is, think to your self if it is worth missing out on the greatest story you could ever experience?
What ever reason it may be, chances are that its not worth missing out on such a treasure and you are doing your self a great disservice. Even if you never place your belief in this book or if it doesn’t become foundational in your worldview, what do you have to loose?
At the very least you will gain information and experience the beauty of this ancient literature. Ultimately its up to you but if you have never tried how will you ever know that the Bible is not for you. Take the leap and find out for your self.
Check out this short video series on Spiritual beings by our friends over at The Bible Project by clicking here. They are amazing and super helpful to better grasp what we will be covering in this series.
Check out this awesome series from our friends over at The Bible Project
Call for action: Help us out by learning more
Our Favorite Bible
U.K. Link: NKJV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible- Hardcover Bible, Kindle Edition
U.S. Link: NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible- Hardcover Bible, Bonded Leather Bible, Bonded Leather: Thumb Index, Imitation Leather Women’s, Imitation Leather Men’s, Kindle Edition
We have a great selection of Bibles, some of which are free, some of which are for sale, but all of which we use and recommend, on our resource page which you can access by clicking here.
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