1.10 – The Bible

TASK – memorise word for word the two key words below:

Revelation – is the word used to describe all the ways in which God makes himself known to human beings. Christians believe that God does this finally and fully in the person of Jesus Christ.

Inspirations – refers to ‘God breathed’. The belief that the Spirit of God guides an individual to act or write what is good and true

CATHOLICS AND THE BIBLE – TAILGAP

Catholics believe:

• the Bible is the inspired word of God.
• God made use of specific people who wrote down God’s inspiration in a human language.
• these people wrote at a particular time and place in history
• not everything they wrote might have been historically or literally accurate – they may have made some guesses based on what they knew to be right at that time and place. This may now have changed
• Catholics must work and think to determine exactly what a sacred author is saying to be true and when an author is writing metaphorically using an image to help bring out the truth more clearly.
• The bible has a great authority as the message comes form God, impacting how they live their lives.
• All Christians should be guided by the teachings in the Bible

so to help us remember this let’s reorganise it into an acrostic:

TAILGAP

TASK – write this out and memorise what each letter stands for. Practice it over and over by writing the letters down one side of the page and seeing if you can remember each letter fully.

T – Think – Catholics must work and think to determine exactly what a sacred author is saying to be true and when an author is writing metaphorically using an image to help bring out the truth more clearly.

A – Accurate – not everything they wrote might have been historically or literally accurate – they may have made some guesses based on what they knew to be right at that time and place. This may now have changed

I – Inspired – the Bible is the inspired word of God.

L – Language – God made use of specific people who wrote down God’s inspiration in a human language.

G – Guided – All Christians should be guided by the teachings in the Bible

A – Authority – The bible has a great authority as the message comes form God, impacting how they live their lives.

P – Particular Time and Place – These people wrote at a particular time and place in history

The Old Testament

The laws (Torah)

The first five books of the Bible deal with how the Jewish people became God’s chosen race and how God taught them to live. These books tell of the creation and the lives of the patriarchs such as Abraham. They also teach about moses and the laws given to the people of Israel, including the Ten Commandments.

History

There are 12 historical books in the Bible. These books show how God guided his people even though they were not always ready to listen.

Wisdom (sometimes called Poetry)

Psalms is in the prayer book of the Jewish people. There are also books of religious and moral teaching, such as the Book of Proverbs, which contains sayings about many aspects of life.

Prophets

From time to time God sent inspiring figures to challenge the Jews to remain faithful to God

The New Testament

The New Testament is based on the life and teachings of Jesus and the apostles to whom Jesus taught God’s message. It was all written in Greek. It is divided into four parts

The Gospels

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – these are the most important books of the Bible for Christians, as they tell Jesus’ story. The word ‘gospel’ means ‘good news’ – the good news about Jesus.

The Acts of Apostles

This is the sequel to Luke’s Gospel. It tells the story of the Early Church, after Jesus’ resurrection.

The letters

These were written mainly by Paul, but also Peter, James, John and Jude. They were Christian leaders writing to Christians giving them advice on how to put Jesus’ teaching into practice and explaining what it means to be a Christian.

The Book of Revelation

This is the last book in the Bible, dealing with John’s vision of heaven and the defeat of evil.

ORIGINS OF THE BIBLE

It took 350 years for the books that we now know as the Bible to be accepted as authentic records of Christian beliefs.

THY SYNOD OF HIPPO in 393 CE decided which texts should be included in the Bible. For a book to be accepted into the New Testament it had to fit certain rules. They were:

• It had to be accepted by all Christians
• The work had to go back to the apostles
• It had to have an early date
• It had to agree with other presentations of Christian beliefs

The words of the Bible have been very carefully preserved over the centuries. The first Bibles were hand written and copies were made so other people could read them.

RED ZONE

Can You name each group of the Bible?

Explain why the Bible is a source of authority for Christians.

Explain how the Bible came into being.

‘The Bible should be literally followed as the actual word of God.’ How might a Christian respond to this statement?