AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE

(Message by Tanny)

1. An introduction to the Bible

a) Christians believe the Bible is the inspired word of God.

b) The Protestant Christian Bible contains 66 books, from Genesis to Revelation. The Catholic Christian Bible contains the same 66 books and an extra 7 books. Those extra 7 books are mostly historical accounts of events that took place before the time of Jesus.

c) The Christian Bible is divided into two parts - the Old Testament and the New Testament.

d) The books of the Bible were written by about 40 different people, including prophets, poets and historians.

e) The Old Testament books of the Bible were composed  during a period of time that lasted about 1000 years. That period of time began with Moses, who lived about 3400 years ago. It ended about 2400 years ago, which is about the time that the prophet Malachi lived.

f) The New Testament books of the Bible were written sometime from about 50 AD to about 95 AD (that's about 1950 years ago to about 1900 years ago). Jesus was crucified by the Romans in about 30 AD.

g) The New Testament contains the "four Gospels," which refers to the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It also contains "epistles" or "letters" that were written by Peter, Paul, James and other followers of Jesus. It also contains the book of Revelation.

The End ...