The Bible, what is that?

We all know the Bible by name. But what is the Bible exactly? In this article we will give you an answer to this question. Now you will soon get to know more about the bible and what the overview is of the New Testament.

Bible

The bible is a book, a book with a collection of stories. In the past it was even called a holy book. The Bible consists of two books, two main parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Bible some say the word of God is written. A good christian needs to keep to the word of the Bible and also live according to the Bible. The Bible is seen as the foundation of the christian faith.

How did the Bible come into being and how can it be used?

There are different theories about how the Bible came into being and how people use the Bible.
Below they are all listed:

• The Bible is written by writers who have received the text in words by the Holy Ghost
• The authors received a tale from beginning to end that they could write down in their own language and in their own words
• The most important things were sent through transmission by the Holy Ghost to the authors, the details might not be correct, because they were thought of by the authors themselves.
• The reader determines how he or she interprets the Bible, the reader can also decide how important the Bible is for him or her. Are they simply beautiful stories, or is there more to it?
• The Bible can serve as a source of inspiration for the religion, as a guiding thread. 

The Children's Bible 

In some families the Bible is a common book. In the past the Bible was read in every christian family, before dinner for example. On christian schools there would be classes discussing the contents of the Bible. In those classes the Bible was discussed to a large extent. As homework you might be given several chapters to read and write down in your own words what you have read about. Not a simple job, at least if you had to use the Old or New Testament with its original text. Later a Children's Bible was written that is a little more easy to understand.

• The Children's Bible was purchased by parents that believed in God and gave the Bible to their children as a present. for instance if that child did his first commune (holiday of the catholics, the child "was now part of it" and was allowed to get a wafer at the pastor).
• The Children's Bible is written in clear language. Sometimes also with recognisable stories. In the past children would often think: Who is God? That will now also still be the case, although this is not priority and there are many people that do not believe in God. Thus not everyone will read the Children's Bible.
• Do you know what you should answer a kid when it asks about God? Nobody can explain to you who or what God is. God is love, god is the way of living with each other, respect etc. This is the explanation that you find more and more. Back to the Children's Bible now. 
• The Children's Bible is a book with stories. In the Children's Bible the stories are easy to understand. It is about God but also about regular people and their lives. The people that show up in the Children's Bible are all looking for God in their lives. Through this they all discovered something different about God. They all had a particular projection about God, but every time they had to adjust this image of God. In later times, it was not going well with the Jewish people, they were defeated and deported. They found relief in the Biblical stories. They told these stories to each other and at some point these stories were recorded. Later on a book was made out of this and it became the Bible. 
• Old stories were told anew. People started thinking more about the start: Creation, Adam and Eve etc. Every time when people though they were deserted they realised that God was with them in some way, not like they thought of before, but differently. In the Children's Bible there are beautiful stories that you can understand, with very common daily issues. It is about people who are looking for God in their lives. The difference is perhaps that God was involved in every part of peoples lives in the past. In the Children's Bible you read stories about the old Biblical message, the salvation by Jesus Christ.

The Bible Online

Whilst 85% of the readers of the Bible still rather read it on paper, a change is occurring. It is possible to read the Bible online, and people have started using this possibility. An American research shows that even 41% of the Bible readers used the internet for this. You can also download a Bible app on your smartphone. Of the Bible readers, 29% was looking for Biblical texts on their smartphone. E-readers and tablets are also used to read Biblical texts.

Division of the New Testament

The New testament is the second part of the Bible. Together with the Old Testament, the New Testament forms the Bible. The New Testament is a collection of 27 books, consisting of:

• The four gospels: the Gospel of Mathew, The Gospel of Marcus, The Gospel of Lucas and the Gospel of John.
• Acts of the Apostles
• Pauline Epistles 
• Other Epistles
• Johannine Works
• Revelation