The Bible (1)

The Bible is a collection of stories, history, advice, songs, poems, science, prayer and many other things. For Christians it offers guidelines on how to live their life. It is important to understand the structure of the bible.

The Hebrew Scripture (39 books)

Torah / Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy These are the books of the Law of Moses. Believed to have been given to Moses on Mt. Sinai by God. Includes the 10 commandments (Exodus 20)

Nevi'im / Prophets: These are divided into the major prophets and the minor prophets.

Ketuvim / Writings: These books include the history of the Jews and the Jewish people and the Psalms of David, a collection of songs.

The Christian Scripture (27 books)

The Gospels & Acts: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts of the Apostles. These five books tell the story of Jesus of Nazareth and the early church. The 4 gospels tell the same story with different "slants" or emphases.

Letters / Epistles: Romans to Jude (21 books). These tell the stories of the early Christian communities and the problems that they faced. These letters were written by Paul, Peter and John three of the early followers of Jesus.

Revelations: This was written by John (the same person who wrote the gospel) and contains a collection of visions about the future.

Use of the Bible

The Bible will be used by Christians:

• during worship both private and public
• for private study and reading
• during times of difficulty or problems.

We will use the bible as a source text to help us to understand what Christians believe, how they apply that belief to Ethical and Moral dilemmas and to living their lives.