In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:21
Christianity has been given a “bad rap” in our day and age. People who hear about the “intolerance” of Christians and “inconsistencies” of the Bible declare that it is a religion of hate and repression. The problem with those declarations is that the “declarers” have mostly failed to check it out for themselves! People who hate Christians as “haters” have often isolated 6, 7, or 10 verses that (on their face) are violent, what our society would call “intolerant,” or may seem to contradict other parts of the Bible. However, and that is a big however, it is really important to keep in mind that there are 31,102 verses in the Bible! If we up the estimation to 20 verses that don’t pass your loving, tolerant litmus test, they represent 0.0006% of the bible. That is 6 one thousandths of 1%.
From a Christian perspective, however, the facts are that the intolerance and inconsistency are not exactly what they seem — but we’ll get more into that discussion at a later date.
THE BASICS:
The first thing to know and understand about the Bible is that it isn’t really a book at all. In fact, it is 66 different books! “Bible” is a word we use to describe the collection of books – or canon of scripture – that make up the Old and New Testaments of the Christian Bible. The word Bible is derived from the Latin word “biblia” which is translated as “book” and is why most people consider it to be one book, I suppose. Anyway, the Bible is actually a compilation of books that were written by 40 different authors over a period of 1500 years between approximately 1400 BC and 90 AD. Theologians, or those who are experts in the study of the nature of God and religious belief, are not 100% sure who every one of the 40 authors of the books of the Bible are although they have verifiable historical information to support their beliefs about much of the authorship.
Many people who disparage the Bible have never actually read it — in reality, I believe that most people who identify as Christians have never actually read the bible, either. It is understandable because the Bible can be a difficult read. To understand what much of it means, you have to be willing to read it in a historic and faith context. There are tools available online to help you understand, as well as written commentaries, dictionaries, concordances, and histories for in depth study. Although most people don’t like to hear this part, it is also extremely important that you find a Biblically based Teacher or Pastor who teaches through exegesis. You can find many great teachers on You Tube or in podcasts…but beware! There are many teachers out there who have cut and pasted scripture to fit their world view. As Christians, we have to cut and paste our behavior to meet God’s expectations — which he lays out in his letter to us — The Bible!
The Bible tells the story of The Creator of the universe and His love for and relationship with His creation — us. The Bible was physically written by men, but those men were given the words directly by God. It was as if God sat next to them and dictated every word. When you read the words “Divinely inspired,” that is what is means. God actually wrote the Bible, people just made sure His words were put down on paper. From a Christian perspective, the Bible is a long, personal letter to us all from our Creator. It was not written just for Christians or Jews — it was written for everyone . It sounds trite, but even if you don’t care a whole lot about God, He really does care a whole lot about you.
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