What is the Bible?

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by about 40 authors in three different languages on three different continents over approximately 1 ,600 years.

The Bible claims to be inspired and inerrant. This means that the Bible claims to be from God and that it is without error in everything it addresses.

The Bible contains many different styles of writing, such as poetry, narration, history, law, and prophecy, and must be interpreted in context of those styles.

It is the source of the Christian religion in that the Bible contains the words of God and how the

Christian is to apply the words of God to his life. Basically, the

Bible describes the origin of man in the Garden of Eden along with his fall into sin and out of fellowship with God.

It then describes how God called out a special people to himself, the Israelites. He promised the

Israelites a future Messiah who would restore mankind's relationship with God. The Bible is the account of the work of God and, in history, bring to fruition his prophetic declarations concerning Jesus.

Jesus was born of the Virgin, died on the cross, and paid for sins, just as the

Bible prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New. In short, the

Bible points to Jesus. John 5 .39 says, "...you search the

Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of me."

Furthermore, the Bible teaches us that forgiveness of sins is found in Jesus alone, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Some say that the Bible is nothing more than fairy tales. But this cannot be, for it contains great wisdom and truth, and it has been verified throughout history as being accurate.

Its historical accounts are flawlessly accurate. In fact, archaeology routinely demonstrates the accuracy of the biblical records concerning locations and events recorded in the

Bible. The Old Testament books were written by such prophets as Moses, David, Isaiah, etc. In the

Old Testament, we have the first five books called the Pentateuch. These are the books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

There are twelve historical books, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2

Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

There are five poetical books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.

There are seventeen prophetical books. Of those seventeen, there are major prophets.

They are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

There are minor prophets. They are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

In the New Testament, we have the books written by those who either knew Jesus or were under the guidance of those who did.

We have five historical books in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts.

We have thirteen Pauline epistles, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2

Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2

Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. There are nine non -Pauline epistles,

Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation.