What is the story of the Bible?

Answer 1

Different people have very different opinions about this. For some, the story is that God created people and wants a relationship with them because he loves them. The Bible gives us a guide to go by to have a good life. God even sent his only Son to come to earth to save people from their sins.

There were many other early religious writings, both of the Jews/Hebrews/Israelites, and of the early Christians. The decision about what to include in the Bible was made over the course of many centuries, and was not actually "finalized" until the 1500's and 1600's.

AnswerFor others, it is basically a collection of Hebrew nomads' campfire tales and fables.

In reality, the Bible did not begin as a single book. The portion known as the "Old Testament" consisted of religious writings by a large number of different authors over many centuries by the Hebrew people -- the Israelites (descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel) and a subset of the Israelites, the Jews (descendants of Judah, one of the 12 sons of Jacob.) The first 5 books of the Old Testament are basically what is recognized as the Torah in today's Jewish religion. The book of Psalms is a collection of poems/songs, many written by an early king of Judah, David. Some books of the Old Testament contain historical, or pseudo-historical accounts, of the trials and tribulations of the Israelites and the Jews. Other Old Testament books include the teachings of specific prophets in the period from about 400 BCE to about 100 BCE. The New Testament, by contrast, was apparently written over a period of less than 150 years -- between 33 AD and about 175 AD. It too consists of multiple books by different authors. The first 4 -- the Gospels -- tell of the life and times of Jesus, who is viewed as the Christ (the Redeemer) by Christians. The remaining New Testament books are largely letters from various Apostles (early followers of Jesus or Christ) to individuals or churches. The book of Acts is a history of the evangelizing efforts of those Apostles (its full name is "Acts of the Apostles", and the Book of Revelation -- the last book of the Bible -- is a highly allegorical story of the predicted "end of time."

The Bible was not always known as the Bible...in fact the first Bible was only printed for issue in the 14th or 15 th century. Prior to that I believe it was text from various historical text which was written in Hebrew. The first ever translator of the Bible in it's current form was a Protestant in the years of the Reformation. This caused the only Christian church known (Catholic) to panic as it bought to light that salvation was achieved through Jesus and not the church and so many false doctrines the church practiced. The Catholic Church actively pursued anyone who had a copy and charged them with heresy and were burnt at the stake. That is how much of a threat the Bible was to the Catholic church and still is today in that they don't like anyone interpreting their Bible.

The story of the BibleThe Bible is God's personal letter to mankind to save him from his sins. It is true that the Old Testament (the first half) of the Bible was dedicated to the nomadic journeys of the Jews, as the good news of Jesus Christ is for the Jews first, and also to the Gentiles, or the non Jews.

The exile from Egypt is just like a Christian leaving the world for the first time, as it is a vast desert at first, and depending on the person, the desert can be considerably longer or shorter, but God parts the massive waters, and creates water from a rock, and leads them to the land of milk and honey, that is the magnificent grace and peace and prosperity of the Christian life within the will of God.

God called out a Arab, Abraham, as he was the only righteous man in the Ur of Chaldees (modern day Iraq, I believe), Abraham became the father of the Jewish nation, for he was called out first, and given the promise of having a nation come forth from his children.

The purpose of the Bible is for the salvation of mankind, so that man recognizes his sin and need for salvation from it, and once he admits that he needs God's help, God forgives him of his sin, and he gives him new life and a new nature, as all things, through Christ, become new again, as those who are saved are born again, spiritually.

The main person of the Bible is Jesus Christ, as He is the fulfillment of all of the OT prophesies about a Savior and a Messiah (the first prophesy was Genesis 3:15), and all throughout the OT, Jesus' main ancestors were a picture of His holiness and leadership, starting with the first man, Adam, all the way to Christ's precursor, the one who prepared the way of the Lord, John the Baptist, the one who baptized Christ Himself.

The Bible can also be viewed as allegory for the concepts we, humans, struggle with. Beginning with the creation myth, in which we wonder about our origins as a separate and distinct species, and moving through monumental changes, such as floods and droughts, then culminating in issues such as self-governance, laws, dualistic concepts of right versus wrong, good versus evil, and redemption versus damnation, finally coming full circle into understanding our mortality, death and the unknowable beyond, the Bible challenges us to conceptualize our lives in a meaninful way.
God created His son, Jesus Christ, His holy angels, then the Heavens and the Earth. He then created and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where they'd live forever, as long as they acknowledged that God has the right to decide what is good and bad for His entirecreation. God created all of His intelligent creatures with a 'free will'. (Satan was a 'good' angel, but he used his 'free will' to get other creatures to worship him. As an honest person can make themselves into a criminal, he made himself into Satan the Devil, lying about God, and resisting God's purpose for a peaceful universe.) God put "The tree of the knowledge of 'good and bad'" [which was a symbol of God's right to 'be God'] in the Garden. He told them not to eat from the tree, or they'd die. Satan lyingly told Eve that eating from the tree would 'make her like God, and she wouldn't die'. She later talked Adam into eating from the tree. Man lost Paradise.We all die because we're all Adam's descendants. The Messiah had to give his perfect human life to replace what Adam lost.God became friends with Abraham, a very righteous man. God promised that the Messiah would come as one of Abraham's descendants. The Old Testament tells of Abraham's descendants and waiting for the 'Messiah'. Many persons were faithful, and there are beautiful prophecies that led people to Christ.The Law of Moses, was a 'tutor' for the Jews until the Messiah came. The New Testament tells of how Jesus came, cured many and taught thousands about God's Kingdom, He suffered death so that we all can live in Paradise, on Earth, with Jesus Christ as our King. Paradise is regained by men. That is what the Bible is all about!