Christian
Christian
The person who follows the teaching of Lord Jesus Christ is a true Christian.
[Category:Other Religions]]
An Introduction to the Bible
‘Christian scriptures are commonly known under the name of 'The Bible', in English. The word itself is derived from Greek through Latin, and originally was a collective name meaning the books or the rolls. Its universal and constant use for sacred scriptures of Christianity has made it so common that it is now usual to speak of the ‘bible' of other religions...The Bible has a central place in the life and worship of the Christian church. Acts of worship usually include readings from the old and New Testament. In private devotion and meditation a Christian uses the Bible. The Bible exercises a normative influence in checking and correcting the thinking of scholars and teachers about the Christian faith.’ (Mathew P. John)
The Bible is by far the most widely read book in the world. It is translated in almost every important languages of the world. No other book has been so minutely examined and commented upon as the Bible and the literature on the sacred volume is very vast. The Bible is the source book of Christianity. Anybody who wants to understand the Christians, their principles of ethics, their history, sociology, economics and even their politics, must study the Bible. But the primary purpose of the Bible is religious, or more exactly soteriological i.e. concerned with the history of salvation. It is historical, but it gives divine interpretation of history. Such an interpretation is guaranted by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The authority of The Bible is intimately bound up with the authority of Christ. For the Christians, religion meant loyalty and commitment to Jesus Christ.
The Bible consists of two collections of books known as 'The Old Testament' and 'The New Testament', (The word 'testament' means covenant, promise and bond). The former contains thirty-nine books and the latter twenty seven.
The Old Testament is the sacred scripture of the Jews as well as the first part of the Christian scriptures. Christianity arose within the Jewish religion and was at first reckoned as one of its sects, and The Old Testament formed its sole scripture for the first century or more of its existence. When the writers of The New Testament speak of scriptures, they are thinking of The Old Testament. It was originally written in Hebrew. According to Jewish reckoning, The Old Testament is divided into three sections: The Law, The Prophets and The Writings.
The Law, which is the most sacred and authoritative, is contained in the first five books, attributed to Moses. The first book is called Genesis, meaning the origin of the universe. The second book is named Exodus which narrates the birth of Moses and his early life and experience. The next book, Leviticus, provides some of the laws- religious and ceremonial, as well as moral and civil which were to govern their (Jews) existence as a nation. The fourth book, Numbers, gives some enumeration of the tribal groups. Deuteronomy, the last of the five in their existing arrangement was perhaps the first to be written in its present form and accepted as authoritative. It contains a summary of their history and a restatement of their covenant obligations, in the form of discourses by Moses. This book ends with the account of the death of Moses, who led the people to the threshold of their "promised land", Palestine, but did not enter it.
The Prophets, the second group of sacred writings, is sub-divided into 'Former Prophets' and 'Latter Prophets'. Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 kings constitute the 'Former Prophets'. These historical books do not present history from a secular view-point, but from an angle of vision of the nation as a chosen people of God. The book of 'Joshua' gives an impression that the conquest of Palestine was achieved in one grand campaign. In the book of 'Judges' the deliverance is through an act of God responding to the repentance of the people. Samuel was a religious and national leader. In the greater part of the two books, 1 and 2, Samuel is devoted to the accounts of the first two kings of Israel - Saul and David. In the book I and 2 kings the judgment on the reigns of particular rulers is given in terms of their faithfulness towards their God. The 'Latter Prophets' are unique in the religious literature. The books are attributed to Isaiah, Jeremiah and others are collections of sayings in prose and poetry, collected by their disciples. The Prophets spoke out of their own experience and to the men of their times. They spoke, not on any basis of authority, either of office or power, but through an awareness contained in the word, "Thus says the Lord".
The Writings: The rest of the books of The Old Testament were called in general 'the writings'. Of these books, the collection of 150 hymns called the Psalms has been most familiar to Jews and to the Christians. The Psalms were used by Jesus, quoted by the writers of The New Testament and became the treasured book of worship of the Christian Church from its beginning. Some of them, like 23rd (The Lord is my shepherd.) have become part of the world literature. In Job we have a discussion on the difficult problems of unmerited suffering. It is the story of a good man who suffers total disaster. The Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before. The book of Proverbs is a collection of moral and religious teachings in the form of sayings and proverbs. The 'writings' also include five short books called the Five Scrolls, Ruth, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations and Esther, which had their place in particular festivals of the Jews and also Daniel (prophecy and vision) Ezra, Nehemiah and 1 and 2 chronicles (History).
The New Testament Consists of 27 books written in Greek. Some of them are very brief, even less than a page in length. The first four books are called gospels. The word 'gospel' is derived from the old English form 'godspell' meaning good news. The Gospel of Mathew tells the good news that Jesus is the Promised Savior, the one through whom God fulfilled the promises he made to His people in The Old Testament. The gospel of Mark presents the story of Jesus in a straight forward, vigorous way, with emphasis on what Jesus did, rather than on his words and teachings. The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as both the Promised Savior of Israel and as the Savior of all mankind. The Gospel of John presents Jesus as the eternal word of God, who "became a human being and lived among us". The closing chapters tell of Jesus' arrest and trial, his crucifixion and resurrection, and his appearances to his disciples after the resurrection.
The next book in The New Testament is called ‘The Acts of the Apostles’. It is a brief account of the Christian Church in its very early days in Jerusalem followed by the story of the conversion of Paul and his evangelistic activities. The word "Apostles" comes from a Greek word meaning "to send" and may be translated as ‘emissary’. Paul's letters to the Romans which comes next, is first of the "Epistles" of Paul. It was written to prepare the way for a visit Paul planned to make to the church at Rome. All the other epistles of Paul are to churches founded by himself or his fellow-workers or to individuals known to him. Letters to Corinthians I, 2, 3 deal with problems of Christian life and faith that had arisen in the church which Paul had established at Corinth. In the concluding chapter of the Letter to Galatians, Paul shows that Christian conduct flows naturally from the love that results from the faith in Christ. In other epistles of Paul questions of worship, conduct, faith, factions and litigations within the group, are all discussed. Besides the letters of Paul, there are epistles attributed to James, Peter, John and Jude. The last book of The New Testament, The Revelation (To John) was written at a time when Christians were being persecuted because of their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. It concerns mainly to give his readers hope and encouragement, and to urge them to remain faithful during times of suffering and persecution.
