The Oldest Book In History Still Beneficial

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The Hebrew Bible is not one book, but rather an ancient collection of writings, comprised of 66 separate books, written over approximately 1,600 years ago.  With at least 40 different writers, the actual author of the bible is Jehovah God.  The bible provides the history of God's dealings with a variety of people in a variety of situations, giving us insight as to who God is, how he reacts and interacts with us. More importantly, it provides the account of human creation and our purpose on earth, which certainly needs to continue being passed on to generations.<!--more-->

Although the bible has sold more copies than any other publication, many feel that the work of the bible is outdated and does not apply to our day and time.  That is untrue.  There are several biblical prophecies that apply to our day and age.  As taken from Mark 13:8, “For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”  Clearly this scripture forewarned of disasters throughout our day and time, the most recent, Hurricane Katrina, Haiti, and many wars in the Middle East to name a few.

According to Richard Joseph Krejcir, the bible “has been more influential than the U.S. Constitution, the Magna Carta or any philosophical or political idea. The Bible is so important it has influenced much that we take for granted in the world from science, technology, and even our political system!”  If we consider the US Constitution, it has been amended over 27 times.  Texas’ Constitution has been amended over 350 times.  Yes, the Bible has been translated from its original languages, but it has not been changed, interpreted or interpolated along the way.  Today's Bibles are not translations of texts translated from other interpretations, they go right back to the ancient source manuscripts. The primary differences between today's Bible translations are merely related to how translators interpret a word or sentence from the original language (Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek).

According to the Hebrew Scriptures in Malachi 3:6, God told the nation of Israel: “I am Jehovah; I have not changed.” Some 500 years later, the Bible writer James wrote of God in James 1:17, “With him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.” Why, then, does it seem to some that the God revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures is different from the God of the Christian Greek Scriptures?  The answer is that different aspects of God’s personality are revealed in different parts of the Bible. In the book of Genesis alone, God is described as feeling “hurt at his heart,” as the “Producer of heaven and earth,” and as “the Judge of all the earth.” Do these differing descriptions refer to the same God? They certainly do.  To illustrate: A local judge may be best known by those who have faced him in court as a firm enforcer of the law. His children, on the other hand, may view him as the loving, generous father that he is. His close friends may find that he is an approachable man with a good sense of humor. The judge, the father, and the friend are all the same person. It is just that various aspects of his personality become apparent under different circumstances.

Devotion to the Word of God continued to live in the hearts of many pilgrims who sailed to colonize North America. In early America, "reading and religion were inextricably intertwined, defining a culture based entirely on familiarity with the Bible," says the book A History of Private Life—Passions of the Renaissance.  The Author of the Bible, Jehovah God, is familiar with all our ways. He knows more about our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs than even we do. Thoughtfully, he sets clear limits for human behavior.  It makes sense to seek to understand those limits and directions and learn to live by them. Happy is the man whose "delight is in the law of Jehovah," says the psalmist, "Everything he does will succeed." as taken from Psalm 1:1-3.  Such a prospect surely merits our close examination.

WORKS CITED

<em>"Why Study The Bible?" Into Thy Word Ministries. 2004. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. </em> &lt;http://www.intothyword.org/pages.asp?pageid=53487&gt;.

<em>Jehovah's Witnesses: Watchtower Society Official Web Site</em>. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.      &lt;http://www.watchtower.org/&gt;.

<em>New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures: Rendered from the Original Languages</em>. Brooklyn, <em>NY:</em> Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, 1984. Print.

<em>Church Leadership</em>. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. &lt;http://www.churchleadership.org/&gt;.

"Online Hebrew Interlinear Bible." <em>Scripture4All - Greek/Hebrew Interlinear Bible Software</em>. Web. 20 Feb. 2011.                                                             &lt;http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/Hebrew_Index.htm&gt;.