WHILE traveling to Tokyo, I eavesdropped in conversation between a skeptic
American and a Korean minister.  In speaking of the Bible, this American
guy said it was quite impossible these days to believe in any book whose
authority was unknown.

The minister asked him if the compiler of the multiplication table was
known.  "No," he replied without much ado.  The Korean immediately
articulated, "Then, of course you do not believe in it."  The skeptic's
reply: "Oh, yes, I believe in it because it works well."  To which the
minister retorted, "So does the Bible."

It is commonly known that the Bible, in its hundreds of different
translations, is the most widely distributed book in human history.
Moreover, in all its forms, the Bible has been enormously influential, and
not only among the religious communities that hold it sacred. The
literature, art, and music of Western culture in particular are deeply
indebted to biblical themes, motifs, and images.

Translations of the Bible, such as the Authorized Version (or King James
Version, 1611) and Martin Luther's translation of the Bible into German
(first completed in 1534) not only influenced literature but also shaped
the development of languages. Such effects continue to be felt in emerging
nations, where translations of the Bible into the vernacular help to shape
language traditions.

Statistics assure us that the Bible is still the world's bestseller, but
evidence of biblical literacy is not encouraging.  The late Bruce Barton
was too painfully near the truth when he entitled his book about the Bible,
The Book Nobody Knows.

The term Bible is derived through Latin from the Greek biblia, or "books,"
the diminutive form of byblos, the word for "papyrus" or "paper," which was
exported from the ancient Phoenician port city of Biblos.  By the time of
the Middle Ages the books of the Bible were considered a unified entity.

If you were to open a Bible for the first time, the thing that might
immediately attract your attention is that there are two major divisions in
it: "Old Testament" and "New Testament."  The word testament means
"covenant" or "agreement."  As Henrietta C. Mears explains in her book,
What the Bible is All About: "The Old Testament is the covenant God made
with man about his salvation before Christ came.  The New Testament is the
agreement God made with man about his salvation after Christ came."

The order as well as the number of books differs between the Jewish Bible
and the Protestant and Roman Catholic versions of the Bible.  The Bible of
Judaism is in three distinct parts: the Torah, or Law, also called the
books of Moses; the Nebiim, or Prophets, divided into the Earlier and
Latter Prophets; and the Ketubim, or Writings, including Psalms, wisdom
books, and other diverse literature.

The Christian Old Testament organizes the books according to their type of
literature: the Pentateuch, corresponding to the Torah; historical books;
poetical or wisdom books; and prophetical books.  The Protestant and Roman
Catholic versions of the Old Testament place the books in the same
sequence, but the Protestant version includes only those books found in the
Bible of Judaism.

The New Testament includes the four Gospels; the Acts of the Apostles, a
history of early Christianity; Epistles, or letters, of Paul and other
writers; and an apocalypse, or Book of Revelation. Some books identified as
letters, particularly the Book of Hebrews, are theological treatises.

"The Bible has given us the most marvelous record of family life of any
civilization on earth," points out historian Edith Deen.  "The Bible never
grows old.  We grow old.  Our houses grow old.  Our businesses become
outdated.  Our wardrobes change quickly.  But the Bible, a study of man's
relationships to God, never changes.  That's why the way of life of the
family of Israel has survived the centuries.  Faithful records of the
family life of other civilizations contemporary with the Bible - the
Babylonian, the Hittite, even the Greek - have perished, but the family
record of Israel is alive and vital today."

Dwight Moody shares: "The Bible is a storehouse of whose contents no one
can afford to be ignorant.  It repays reading and study whether it be
approached merely because of its literary value, or its ethical teachings,
or its practical bearing on everyday life."

Recently, a close friend sent me a Bible brainteaser.  "I thought you might
enjoy this little 'brain teaser' that poses a test of your Bible
knowledge..." There are names of 16 books of the Bible mentioned in the
paragraph below. See how many you can find?

I once made a remark about the hidden books of the Bible. It was a lulu,
kept people looking so hard for facts ...and for others it was a
revelation. Some were in a jam, especially since the names of the books
were not capitalized. But the truth finally struck home to numbers of
readers.  To others it was a real job. We want it to be a most fascinating
few moments for you. Yes, there will be some really easy ones to spot.
Others may require judges to help them. I will quickly admit it usually
takes a minister to find one of them, and there will be loud lamentations
when it is found. A little lady says she brews a cup of tea so she can
concentrate better. See how well you can compete. Relax now, for there
really are sixteen names of books of the Bible in this paragraph."

One Christian pastor found 15 books in 20 minutes ... but it took him three
weeks to find the sixteenth one! Let me know how much time it takes you.
As for my record, it took me 15 minutes to get all the books featured in
the paragraph.  If you can't find all the books, send me an email and I
will share to you the complete list.

ooOoo