Meandering river of life
Each religion has its own literature in which its origin, history, and beliefs are contained. The Bible is Christianity’s holy book. It is the benchmark for all other Christian writings, such as creeds, dogma, theories, commentaries, and messages.
The Bible consists of two main parts, the Old Testament (39 books about Israel) and the New Testament (27 books about Christ and the early church). In terms of pages, the Old makes up about 77 percent and the
New about 23 percent of the entire Bible.
The Old Testament addressed Israel and was written in Hebrew (except for a few Aramaic passages where the Babylonian king speaks or is spoken to).
The New Testament addressed the church, and was written in common Greek, used in many countries since the conquests of Alexander the Great. The first translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, was in common Greek, too.
By the end of the third century, there was growing consensus among theologians about the canonic books of the Bible. This notion was confirmed by general church assemblies in the fourth century.
Dispersion of the Bible remained a tremendous task over three millennia. Handwritten copies were meticulously made by scribes. Originally, scrolls made of soft, cured animal skin were used to write on; later, papyrus sheets were stitched together in the form of a book, called a codex.
After Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in the 15th century, copies of the Bible could be multiplied and dispersed faster. Martin Luther’s translation of the Bible into German was followed by the English versions of William Tyndale and others. Their efforts influenced the King James Version which is still held in high esteem.
The idea that every person should be able to hear God’s word in his/her native language was planted with the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). The Reformation of the 16th century revived this notion by translations and dispersion of Bibles. Since then, the whole Bible has been translated into over 400 languages, and parts of it (like the gospels and psalms) into over 2,700 tongues.
Radio, television and electronic devices have accelerated the spreading of the Bible. It honours the last command of Christ: taking the gospel to the whole world (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8).
As a river meanders through mountains, hills, valleys and plains, so God’s path to humanity has come a long way. Starting with Moses, God used about 40 different writers to complete his word over 1,500 years. Despite the different contributors, the Bible shows a remarkable unity of theme: it is all about salvation for sinners.
Before one can honestly reject it, one should at least read some of it, like the psalms and gospels.