Episode 21--Is The Bible Real or is it a Book of Fairy Tales?

Hello, Civilla Morgan here! Welcome to episode 21 of the Not Just Another Religion and Politics Podcast! Thank you for tuning in! So here’s the deal: 

I want this podcast to speak to people, not yell at people. Whether you are a Believer or not, a Christian or not, I want this podcast to be so plain in its language, that even if you have never stepped foot in a church, you will get this. You will get who Jesus is, and you will get what relationship with Him could be like, despite what people--Christians and non-Christians, try to do to get you to turn your back. Come along with me. I promise it will be a really cool experience! 

Body of episode:

In today’s episode, I’m going to discuss the Bible. Is it real, is it a book of fairy tales as some belief, who wrote it, how long did it take to write the Bible? All of that and more will be discussed in this episode. 

So, look, we all know there are people who do not believe in God. That’s not really what this episode is about, technically. What I mean is that some people believe the Bible was written a long time ago and that it is a book of stories that were written to help us deal with our own issues, you know, like a self-help book.

Some believe there is a higher being, but they don’t believe he is an actual god or even our creator, he’s just a ‘higher power’. And the Bible, well, no way so many different people wrote it over the course of so many years. More on that in a moment.  

 

Bottom line, there are many beliefs, opinions, thoughts, etc., on the Bible and what it is really all about. 

Speaking from a Christian standpoint, I can tell you the Bible is real because of my relationship with God. 

Let me explain: in two words, things jive.

What? OK, here’s the thing. 

1. The Bible has been around for thousands of years, and it is still relevant today. How? Well, the way God told us to live, via the Bible, still makes sense today. He told us to love our neighbors. ‘The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[g] There is no commandment greater than these.”--Mark 12:31. We are still taught from the time we are toddlers, to treat others as we would like to be treated right.  They call it the golden rule, don’t they? Well, The Golden Rule comes straight out of the Bible.    

 

1.  Here’s another example. And some may have a problem with this because it comes from the Old Testament. Some people don’t like the Old Testament because they really feel it’s not relevant because of the book of Leviticus where all of the rules and regulations are. I mean from the very first chapter there are rules and regulations, and some of them are downright scary.  So the questions are asked, well what kind of loving God has rules and regulations like that? How could He be a God of love and allow for entire families to be stoned to death? I always wondered why He allowed Tamar to be raped by her own brother and then to have to live in seclusion for the rest of her life. THAT is not fair! 

Note: There are two Tamar’s in the Bible. The one who fought her father in law for her rights (Genesis 38) Yes, we women have been fighting for our rights for thousands of years. And the Tamar I am referring to, King David’s daughter. 

But we sure love those promises though! That new song The Blessing by Elevation Worship, link in the show notes, is awesome, isn’t it? Well, the scripture, I mean the literal words, from that song, is from the Old Testament. 

‘“The Lord bless you

    and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you

    and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face toward you

    and give you peace.”--Numbers 6:24-26.  I have always loved this blessing. It has always made me feel safe in God’s arms. I hope it makes you feel the same way. 

 

The fact is that we will probably never understand all of God’s decisions and the things He allowed to happen or take place. But I do know that back to the New Testament for a moment, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.’--Romans 8:28.

 

It doesn’t feel good while we are going through whatever it is we are having to deal with. We have all been through great difficulties in our lives. No one escapes this life without some type of grief. ‘Life is not for the faint of heart’, is what I always say. And the Bible does not go into any further detail about Tamar. I put a link to an article in the show notes on the rape of Tamar. The author did a powerful job with this article. I have never quite heard the story discussed like this before.

 

Well, I can tell you that many of us as Believers have prayers that were never answered. At least not in the way we wanted or expected. We have been through some very unfair, traumatic experiences. But we still trust and Believe in God. The One we believe created everything we see on this planet and in the skies above. Why?

• Because when we pray we believe He hears us. 
• When we are in relationship with Him, we feel a heart connection. 
• When He answers our prayers He always goes above and beyond what we could ever expect.  
• When our hearts are broken over a life issue or over an unanswered prayer, He is still there, in the mix, and in the midst. And the only way to explain it is to say that we just know. We can feel His presence. You ever feel like someone is looking at you and you look up and sure enough, you catch someone’s eye. It’s a feeling right? And then you get confirmation when you catch them looking at you.  Well, imagine that feeling 10 times over, and from deep within your heart.  And know that it is only for good. Always only for good even in the bad times.

   

So, the Bible, is it real? When was it written? Please know that I will try my very best to make the timelines make sense, but it can be a little confusing…OK, a little more than a little confusing. 

I was going to say ‘let’s start from the beginning’, but, well, you’ll see what I mean.

The Christian Bible has two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible, the sacred scriptures of the Jewish faith, written at different times between about 1200 and 165 BC. The New Testament books were written by Christians in the first century AD. Jul 12, 2011

 

Bible #1. The oldest surviving full text of the New Testament is the beautifully written Codex Sinaiticus, which was “discovered” at the St Catherine monastery at the base of Mt Sinai in Egypt in the 1840s and 1850s. Dating from circa 325-360 CE, it is not known where it was scribed – perhaps Rome or Egypt. Aug 30, 2018

 

According to both Jewish and Christian Dogma, the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (the first five books of the Bible and the entirety of the Torah) were all written by Moses in about 1,300 B.C. There are a few issues with this, however, such as the lack of evidence that Moses ever existed ...Feb 22, 2018

 

Anywhoo...

How many years after Jesus died was the Bible written?

forty years

Written over the course of almost a century after Jesus' death, the four gospels of the New Testament, though they tell the same story, reflect very different ideas and concerns. A period of forty years separates the death of Jesus from the writing of the first gospel. 

 

So 40 years after Jesus died different authors started writing the contributions to the Bible, and although there were different authors over the course of many, many years, the Bible is still coherent, cohesive, written logically, and clearly. I mean clearly and logically as in it makes sense.

 

 

 

 

 

 https://www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/whats-a-christian-worldview/ 

Bonus:

This is what I listened to as I worked on episodes 20 and 21:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw5OZiMB-Z8

Episode Takeaways:

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/whats-a-christian-worldview/

 

How do we know the Bible is 100% Accurate?

http://bit.ly/3avdIXK

https://www.compellingtruth.org/write-the-Bible.html

 

www.biblegateway.com

 

The Blessing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp6aygmvzM4

 

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/read-rape-tamar-and-pay-attention-verbs

Closing commentary:

 

Don’t forget, I would love to hear from you on the question: 

‘Who is God?’ 

 

Episode outro:

 

Well, thank you for tuning in. Let me know via social media or by email, if you have feedback. I would love to hear from you! You may email me at [email protected]. Please give me 24to 48 hours to respond. And don’t forget to check the show notes for the sources used for this episode. Until next time! 

 

Episode quote:

‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.’--2 Timothy 3:16-17.