Bible Basics

The Bible is a collection of 66 separate writings. Some of these writings are letters. Some are poetry, historical documents, and biographies. The Bible was never intended to record every fact or human event throughout history. On the contrary, the Bible has a very specific purpose.

The purpose of the Bible is to give humanity the understanding of where it came from, who their Creator is, and how we are supposed to live. The Bible also tells us about how this world will end and about the new worlds to come.

Throughout history, God (Hebrew name Yahweh) used people to record specific events He wanted preserved.  Yahweh guided these writers to make sure they accurately recorded what he wanted preserved. It is an indisputable fact that none of the writers Yahweh used knew they were writing the Bible. The authors wrote to record history, to send letters to people, to correct issues, to record the works of Jesus, and more. The Bible did not come together until some fourteen centuries later.

So, how did the Bible come to be?  Again, portions of the Bible were written throughout history. People recognized the importance of what was written. They preserved the writings and made exacting copies with the greatest of care. It was in 1455 that the first Bible was printed. People prayerful worked to verify the authenticity of each writing. They compared many different texts. They sought Yahweh to see what writings were from him and should be included, and which writings were not.

As a result of all their work, the Bible has been proven through the test of time. Archeological diggings have always verified what the Bible has said. No digging site has ever contradicted any part of the Bible. The Bible is the most researched and verified ancient book ever. It can be trusted.

I want to share with you something very important. The original authors and readers of the various parts of the Bible were familiar with each other. Therefore, they could write less formally and without complete detail.  Also, not every event in human history is recorded there. So, we must use the Bible correctly. We must view it as it is. For example, if we are reading some part of the Bible that was originally a letter, we must read the whole letter to get the best possible understanding we can. We must put ourselves in the author’s and reader’s shoes. Also, we must never take a little part of the Bible from one section and mix it with another part of the Bible. If we did that, there would be no limit to what crazy doctrine we could create.

Where the Bible is silent, we must fill in the gaps from other works (for example, you do not read your Bible to learn how to program your cell phone.