The Bible in 16 Verses?

Image courtesy of Ryk Neethling on Flickr

A common reason for not reading the Bible is that it is too long. Particularly the Old Testament. 66 books that talk about Creation, the history of the People of God, songs of praise and much much more. It is easy to see it as a series of different stories, by different authors about different things. The New Testament then takes through the life of Jesus, the growth of the early Church and takes us to Judgement Day. 

Author Chris Bruno has attempted to "piece the jigsaw together" and put the OT and NT into just 16 verses... 11 of the Old Testament and 5 of the New Testament. Can this really do the Bible justice? (See his book <here>).

His selections for the OT rely heavily on Genesis...

1. Genesis 1:31
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2. Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

3. Genesis 3:6-7
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

4. Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

5. Genesis 12:2-3
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

6. Genesis 49:10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

7. Exodus 12:23
For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

8. 2 Samuel 7:12-13
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

9. Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

10. Ezekiel 37:3-5
And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.”

11. Isaiah 65:17
For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

Read his justification <here>

The NT article is <here>

Do you agree with his selection? Is it possible to reduce the whole Old Testament to just 11 verses? Is this a useful starting point? What else would you have included?

The Bible: TL; DR

Image courtesy of Ryk Neethling

So is the Bible too long to read all of it? One uknownFacebook user has decided to produce a "TL; DR" overview... that's "Too Long; Didn't Read".

Here it is (click on image on mobile device):

Do you think it is fair to say the Bible is 'too long'? Do you think the writer of this has summed up the different parts well? What do you think 'the things' are?

What Would Jesus Say?

Lot's of things in Aramaic!

This was Jesus' native langauge and one of the 50-90% of the world's languages likely to become extict in the next 100 years.

It's an ancient language, over 3,000 years old, originally spoken in the Middle East. However, the largest concentration of speakers is now in Chicago's northern suburbs. Here lives tens of thousands of Assyrians, who are Aramaic-speaking Christians, driven here by persecution and war.

Linguist, Geoffrey Khan of the University of Cambridge, has travlled to Chicago to try and record and document the different dialects of Aramaic. Even now, he tries to find elderly people who accents have been less mixed and influenced by their new surroundings.

Parts of the Bible and the Jewish Talmud were written in Aramaic and Jesus is quopted on several occasions speaking in this langauge. Even on the cross, he  cried out, “Elahi, Elahi, lema shabaqtani?” (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
This important part of history and culture is already being 'lost' and Khan is desperate to preserve something of its remaining speakers.

Do you think it's important to document Jesus' native tongue? Is it significant that it is soon to die out? Do you think in 100 years time people will just speak English, Spanish and Mandarin as some people are predicting?

Read more here: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ideas-innovations/How-to-Save-a-Dying-Language-187947061.html

Taking The Bible Literally?

• 30% of Americans read the Bible literally, as word-for-word truth (Down from 40% in 1980 to 1984 period).
• 49% of Americans believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, but not everything in it should be taken literally.
• 17% believe the Bible to be a book of fables and legends.

Source - Gallup Poll

David Lose, a Bible scholar and published author, wrote a reaction to this. He highlighted four reasons why Christians should not be taking the Bible literally.

1) Nowhere does the Bible claim to be inerrant. The closest we get is, 2 Timothy 3:16: "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." Just because it is inspired, does not mean it is without error, it is after all largely persuasive writing by early Christians.

2) Reading the Bible literally distorts its witness. The Gospels confess faith rather than day-by-day record history, an example given being the Cleansing of the Temple. 

3) Most Christians across history have not read the Bible literally. St Augustine struggled with taking the Bible literally until it was explained by St Ambrose that interpreting it in an allegorical way may help. Early Christians did not need subscribe to the idea that for "something to be true it had to be factually accurate".

4) Reading the Bible literally undermines a chief confession of the Bible about God. Many of our Bible 'heroes' are not exactly ideal. As Lose cites, "Abraham passes his wife off as his sister -- twice! -- in order to save his skin. Moses is a murderer. David sleeps around. Peter denies Jesus three times."

Lose does not address the question as to why many Christians, particularly in America, do still read the Bible literally. Is it easier to read it literally? It is necessary in Christian churches that do not have other doctrine (as opposed to the Catholic Church)? What difficulties do Christians have when following it word for word?

Read his article in full: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-lose/4-good-reasons-not-to-read-bible-literally_b_919345.html  

Pope: You're Getting the Nativity Wrong!

"In the gospels there is no mention of animals" says the Pope. However admits that other parts of the Bible may have inspired Christians to include them and even the Vatican has included them in its nativity scenes in St Peter's Square.

Pope Benedict XVI in the third of his triology of books about the life of Jesus also questions the moment angels descended to tell the shepherds the son of God was lying in a manger nearby.

He points out there was no singing involved, and that the Gospel points out that the angels 'said' their message. However he does go on to point out that the Christian tradition is that angels always give their message in song.

Pope Benedict also reminds Catholics that the Virgin Birth, like the resurrection, is one of the "cornerstones of faith".

"If God does not also have power over matter, then he simply is not God," he writes. "But he does have this power, and through the conception and resurrection of Jesus Christ he has ushered in a new creation."

Take the Nativity Quiz - How much do you know? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/shortcuts/quiz/2012/nov/21/how-much-know-birth-of-jesus

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/20/pope-nativity-animals

Authority of the Bible

This site provides great infographics, this one is on the authority of the Bible:

http://www.66clouds.com/extras.html