As a Christian I have explored many aspects of my faith and its history. I have found many interesting facts about the Bible while investigating the stories and travels of those who contributed works to this massive volume in the early years of Christianity. The Bible is in itself a small library of volumes and letters written across a large scope of time. In its pages the reader will find stirring tales of war, love, poetry, heartbreak, and finally hope. Over the millennium since it was first assembled no other book has come close to to replicating its numbers in volumes printed or sold. It is arguably the most prevalent book on this planet. This one book can be both the source of intense debate and a well spring of comfort and solace to the believer. It is a book like no other.

Truths About The Gospels

The first thing about The Gospels I found were that of the four only two were actually written by apostles. The Gospels of Luke, and Mark were written by later disciples and students of Peter, and Paul respectively. However they do contain eyewitness accounts and widely accepted beliefs about Christ's teaching and deeds. Mark is actually the same person spurned by Paul for turning back during one of his missionary trips. He later refused to work with the young man again and thus Mark accompanied Barnabas from that point on.

John was the only Apostle to be present at the crucifixion. I should point out the only male apostle. Depending on your beliefs Mary might also be considered an apostle, as she was certainly a close follower. That however is again a debate for another day. John is considered by some to have been the closest to Jesus. He certainly was the longest lived of all the apostles. It is also from John that we get the close connection between God and love. John was also very visual in his approach to narrative often favoring the imagery of Darkness and Light.

From Matthew the other original apostle of Christ we are introduced to Jesus. This first book in the new testament is somewhat of an introduction to Christianity and to The Messiah. Matthew places much importance on first Christ's miracles but also his great teaching. It is in Matthew that we receive the blessing of The Sermon on the Mount. In this first Gospel the character of this loving teacher and savior is introduced for all to see and embrace.

The Letters of Paul

Paul authored more of the New Testament then any other source. Much of what we as Christians practice and believe today was in fact laid down by this one man.Paul was the chosen sent out to preach the miraculous story of Christ to the Gentiles and people of the western world. Remember at this time Christianity was in all truth a Jewish sub-sect. There was much debate among the early church fathers concerning the gentiles. Had it not been for Saul's experience along the Damascus road, Christianity may have unfolded very differently. At this moment though God chose the path that was to follow.

It is a little publicized fact that the letters of Paul were published many years before even the first Gospels. John is believed to have released the first eye-witness account of Christ's life and death near the end of his life almost 40 years after the fact. In the mean time Paul had completed both Journeys to Rome and had been martyred. His letters were read and published all throughout Asia and the Roman empire. Much of what we know about Christ's deity was established long before the first Gospel was printed. In fact by the time of Stephen and James deaths only a few years after Christ it was well established and accepted that The man Jesus was in fact God in human form. Even Roman chroniclers refer to a man crucified by Pilate as "The Messiah" of the Jewish people. It is important to remember at this time in history there was no Bible.Even the Hebrews had only begun to collect their various scriptures scrolls, and teachings into one volume.

Jesus was a Jew

Yes I said it. The fact remains that Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew and followed many of the traditions and teachings of that faith. He came as a messiah for the Jews, God's chosen people. In his life he never worked to found a new religion but to bring attention to the corruption of his own and their turning from his father's word and love. Jesus preached a message of Faith first, led by love and acceptance. Man seeks to found religion and institutions. I find it ironic that Christianity began from the Message that all now had direct access to God. Over the centuries and even today it lives on the message that "You need me to talk to God for you". My how far we have fallen. I'm not trying to degrade my faith I know many great Christians that live in love and peace always doing what they can to help and further their fellow man. Sadly though these actions are neither exciting or news worthy. So we here about the disgraced preachers and hypocrites instead.

The Book of Job

The oldest book in the Bible and maybe the most mis-understood. Many will read Job and think it is a story about God testing man's faith. It is also here that we first hear of this creature the Devil.A note here, devil is not a name but a title given to many people describing more a way of acting or action. In Hebrew it means accuser, or advocate. In the earliest traditions A Devil was a being working under God's authority to point out man's mistakes and sins.A devil had no power over men or their lives. In Job the Devil in this story is working under God's authority to test Job. If however you focus only on Job's tribulations you miss the whole point. It was not about what Job lost but we he was given in the end. The trial of Job chronologically lasted a mere 9 months and he would live for another 100 years or more in which time he would build a fortune roughly twice the already substantial fortune he had to begin with. The other points made here are that first God is teaching us all that it is not the physical that build faith but the inner. Second at the end of the story God makes the point himself that all of Jobs sufferings were to in fact demonstrate just how little man knew and understood about their God.

This story is very similar to early legends and morals from the Sumerians, and Assyrians. It should also be pointed out here that Abraham was in fact a migrant from this same area in what is now Iraq. He no doubt brought many beliefs and histories with him that were passed down through the ages to all his descendants. Stories like the great flood and Noah were well known long before they were put down in any Hebrew text. I do not say this to discount or marginalize these stories but to merely illustrate how universal and fundamental these stories are to many cultures.

The Book of Isaiah, Lucifer, and Hell

In the book of Isaiah we are given a name: Lucifer, or The Morning Star. We know from history that this individual named was in reference to a Babylonian King who Isaiah had some knowledge of if not personally. It was an allusion to his rise and fall from power and the eventual triumph of the Jewish people and their return to Jerusalem. Many prophets describe fiery pictures of battle and war that may be nothing more then observation of actual world events during this volatile time in history. Remember friends, the time span covered by the prophets is also the same point in history that The Persians and Greeks were fighting for dominance of the Mediterranean. It is also the time of Alexander The Great and his conquest of the known world. Finally we see the last rise of Egypt and the Beginnings of Roman Domination at this time also. War was a constant for the Jewish people for hundreds of years as one empire after another fought over and laid waste to their homeland.

There were many devils to these oppressed people. Everywhere they turned was danger death and destruction and it is reflected in their writings.More then that though is their all consuming belief though that their God would see them through and deliver them in the end.Read Isiah and beyond the warnings to the mighty and wayward is also a message of hope and promise. When we focus on the negatives in the Bible we reduce the good.

Hell and the devil are not mentioned often in Bible scripture and for good reason. The first being that ancient people's had a different view on hell as we did, believing in a place called Hades where all would go after death including the good and bad. It was kind of a holding place for souls. Much of what we believe today as modern Christians is heavily influenced by the medieval writings of Dante and Milton.So entrenched in our faith are the images of these two writers that most of our belief on hell, damnation, and punishment was authored by these two men not scripture or the church.

A Question of Belief

My point in this article was not to degrade or disprove any aspects or books of the Bible, but to merely point out that as in any story there is more then meets the eye. The Bible is a collection of books, and a library in its own right. As with any compilation drawing on works contributed by many authors, it would benefit the reader to examine the history and origins of those works. Many parts of the Bible were written in times we today do not fully understand, likewise there are many things about the Bible that can be confusing. I believe however that taken in light of what was transpiring at the time of authorship, that if we as readers can put ourselves in the shoes of those authors back then and attempt to understand the world they were experiencing it would make it much easier to grasp what they were trying to say.