The Bible-What is it?

So many today have become so accustomed to what we call the “bible” as the one bound volume of God’s word that we are apt to forget that its different books were written by many different people, in many periods of ancient history which spans over 1500 years, and that the books were first circulated independent of each other. It was only gradually that the independent books were gathered together and put into collections which later were selectively assembled to what we call the ‘bible” today.

The “bible” is also one book, it arose out of the religious experience of one people (Israel) and with their God (Yahweh). The bible explains the origin of this people, the character of their history, the nature of their institutions, the purpose of their existence, and their ultimate destiny as the people of God. The Christian Church regards itself as the true Israel of God, and the events of it’s founding as the fulfillment of the purpose of God as expressed in the holy writings, however as the holy writings so clearly dictate, God’s true Israel is all nations… not just one select group.

The books that appear in our bible are thus only a part of a larger group of literary works of both Judeo-Christian religion. Our biblical books come to the fore and maintained their prestige not only because of their assumed connection with people believed to have been God-inspired but because of their value for worship, instruction, guidance of life in the communities for which they were written. For the most part, they became “approved” books in their communities long before they were included by official action in the closed collection.

As is clearly detailed in the bible.. it is.. and remains the word of God spoken to a group of people for which God had intimate fellowship with, and was created to meet the needs of the ancient communities in which they first appeared. The proper interpretation of them requires that we see them primarily as written for the circumstances of the author’s own time, and not for posterity… or for all generations… past, present and future. The prophets were declarers of divine will for the people of their age, they were not the predictors of the future for our benefit, and to equate them as such is to make void the very essence and value of the bible as the “word of God”. We see that the letters of all the Apostles as well, are practical directives for the “church” of their day. They did not write with the idea of posterity in mind to proceed beyond their own years… but for their time.. and to the people of their times and their day. The book of Revelation, which some claim to be so futuristic and having been incomprehensible until now by anyone but ourselves, was written for those who lived in the time of the final fulfillment of prophecy, and was actually “tailored” for the church which was in Asia Minor at the end of the first century A.D. It’s readers then certainly understood it far better than we do today, and seen it for what it was, and remains today… the final fulfillment of prophecy for them. It is for that reason that we are able to live in the benefits of the final fulfillment today, without need to repeat it or wait for it to come to pass.

Yet when we look at this.. it’s clear to see that it is a book of the words of God spoken to the people of God, during the time of God in their lives, and in their own time and has been preserved so that we can read them and understand not so much the individual words but the theme of the “bible” as the history of God’s people and their relationship with Him, and the nature of God Himself. The bible remains a strangely modern book often reflecting clearly the lives that we live today, and this is because the human situation in every age remains fundamentally the same. We are born, grow up in families, marry, beget children, and work for a living in a natural order often hostile to our best efforts. We struggle against human enemies and cringe before the face of death. In every age, people are tempted to worship the creation more than the Creator and to seek self-gratification rather than the well being of all people. Though culturally the setting of human life varies from age to age, its basic situation remains the same, and therefore the “bible” is relevant to our lives… as the basic situation of human life.

One must come to the realization that to believe that the “bible” is the conclusive word of God.. is to believe that God stopped talking with the writings of those that have been “approved” and compiled into the “bible” we know today… which is obsurd. It’s the very essence of the bible that clearly shows us that God has.. and continues today to have an intimate and personal relationship with HIS CREATION.. .and speaks to them today as He has in times past and will continue to for all of eternity. It only takes a moment to step back from the teachings of men that have for years taught that the “bible” that we know is the conclusive word of God to see clearly that the theme of the “bible” is that God has done what was necessary to redeem HIS creation… to deem them righteous in HIS own eyes.. and to speak to them.. and to insist that they HEAR HIM… and not hearken to the voice of another. It’s clear throughout the “bible” that God always directed hearing from HIM… listening to HIM.. and living by what He spoke. People were told that they were not to live by bread alone but by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of God. No where is it stated in the writing of God to the author’s of the books of the “bible” that we are to read about him.. and come to know Him by reading about Him, or for that matter having someone else tell us about Him. It’s very clear to see.. and the following examples will help you to see God’s will and plan from the beginning of time… for us to HEAR HIM… and Listen only to Him.

In this example.. we’re going to look at the relationship of Father and Son. As God is our Creator, Father, and God, we are HIS children. We have been created in His Image and after His likeness… and in that, we have the same nature and characteristics of Him. As a son is born to a father, the son has to do nothing to be the child of the Father, other than to live. That’s the same situation with each of us. We have nothing more to do than to live knowing God’s is our Father to have the relationship established with God. Secondly, a son doesn’t come to know his Father by “accepting him”, “asking him to come into his heart” , or any of the other things that so many today try to tell us that’s required to establish a relationship with God as our Father. But the simple fact of the matter is that a son comes to know his father by spending time with his father, and having his father love him and care for him. Spending time sharing heart to heart is how any of us have come to know our father… or even in the case as is so prominent in our society today, one comes to know his father through DNA testing.. or through the words of another, it’s likewise the same with God. You can come to know him as Father by testing him and listening to what the writers of the “bible” tell all of mankind. It’s clear… your Father is God, you are His, and you come to know Him and be known by HIM by simply living with His breath of life in you.. and spending time with Him… asking Him questions, and learning from Him. Directly and personally, without the influence or interpretation of another.

As for the interpretation and influence of another… let’s look at this example.. to help understand the relationship between a Father and a child. First, any loving and just father, wanting to share with his child his wisdom, or instruction, doesn’t go to the next door neighbor’s house… and tell the man living there what it is that he wants to share with his child.. then instruct the neighbor to go tell his child. It simply doesn’t happen that way.. nor does it happen that way with God. He doesn’t tell someone else what He wants you to know.. He speaks to you… directly and personally… and all one has to do is simply ask Him to receive wisdom from Him. The “bible” makes clear that “if you lack wisdom, ask God”. There is not a situation where God directs his word to one person and tells them to go tell his children … other than in the situations that are clearly defined in the “bible” as the times when the children aren’t listening to what He has said, and He’s trying to get their attention before the mandated discipline for not listening occurs. So many today have been and are still being taught that they must be under the subjection of teachers , preachers, pastors, and such to learn the will of God.. and to know HIM.. but that clearly is contrary to what the “bible” states even in times of old.. and knowing that God doesn’t change… it’s relevant and still very much the will of God today… after all, the very reason for the creation of all mankind was to fellowship with GOD.. not with each other… but GOD first! Hear Him, and talk to Him, it’s His will for all mankind. As He spoke to those of long ago, He still speaks today… we’ve just become a society of people influenced by the teachings of men and the traditions of men that we’ve come to believe that God has changed.. and have likewise subjected ourselves to damnation for being a rebellious nation as the rebellious nation of years past were. God told them clearly… “woe to the rebellious children who take counsel but not of God”. It’s rebellious to take counsel or direction, or instruction from anyone other than the very mouth of your Father.

With that.. let’s look at this. Let’s go back to the time that we were all children, and we were living with our father. Now if your father told you that your curfew was 10 PM, and your friends father told him that his curfew as 9 PM, would you be in trouble with your father if you came home at 10 PM? Would your friend be in trouble with YOUR father if he came in at 10PM? No! You would be in trouble with your father if you came in after 10PM and your friend likewise with his father if he didn’t obey what his father told him. One curfew for one child doesn’t ever constitute a curfew for all, and neither does the words of God recorded in the “bible” relate to all mankind. It’s so clear to see, you are responsible for what you know.. and hear directly, and are not in anyway subject to the consequences of not doing what your father hasn’t instructed, taught, or guided you to do. The same is true with God, and is recorded in the bible also. Jesus said, I do what my Father tells me to do… and say only what my Father tells me to say. Paul says, “that which you know to do and do not, to YOU it’s a sin”. The bible clearly says that no longer will the fathers eat grapes and set the children’s teeth on edge… meaning that no longer will anyone be under the consequences of sin, death, hell, or the grave based on the actions of another… even Adam. No longer are we subject to sin, and death because Adam sinned against God.. nor are we subjected to it because the Romans “all sinned and fell short of the glory of God’… nor by the words of others that said, “if you (speaking to the group of people in front of him.. and not for all people of all times) say you have no sin, then you are a liar and the truth is not in you”. God mandates that we are to hear Him, obey what He tells each of us individually, and to follow what He has said to us…. not the instruction that He gave to men of years gone by, nor of men to come, but of each of us today.

In summary, we can clearly see that the “bible” is a valuable book in the life of any child of God, as we enjoy hearing and reading about the things that our earthly father has said and done before we were born, or before we were able to remember, likewise we want to hear what God has said and done in the lives of those that were before us. It never has been the intention of God for the bible to replace Him and hearing HIS voice, nor would it be for your father to want to be replaced in your lives by books, photo albums, or the witnessing of others to you. It’s great to hear others speak of your father, and to read about all the wonderful things that he did in the past, and that he continues to do in the present, but it’s hearing HIM tell you HIMSELF that’s important to HIM and to YOU and will establish a relationship between the two of you that will last throughout all of eternity… just as it does with GOD… so as a child of the living God, Creator of all the universe, HEAR HIM, talk to HIM, and spend time with HIM, and read the bible with the understanding of what it is.. and why it’s been preserved even until today, and what the essence of the bible is… God speaks to HIS own.. and always has… and has never one time stopped, nor has He insisted on being replaced in the lives of His children by a book we know as the “bible”.