The Holy Bible - Part 1
Judge a Book By Its Cover




How It Got Its Name
"Bible" come from the Greek word for papyrus plant that the Egyptians used to make paper. The Greeks called the plant biblos, eventually writing products derived from the plant, such as scrolls, also became known as biblos.

Facts ~ Just so you know ... anyone up for Bible Trivia?


Test For Including Books in the Bible
First of all, it had to have been written by apostle or in close relationship for the New Testament. Secondly, the writing had to have shown evidence for divine inspiration. Thirdly, the writing had to be universally accepted by the church. And lastly, it must be in harmony with the rest of the Bible.

Intertestamental Period
The intertestamental period lasted about 400 years between the writing of the New and Old Testament. The books written during the period were deleted because they were not comparalbe. Their content contradicted Biblical ideas. For example, Tobit (one of these books) permitted communication with the dead.

Dividing the Bible
Originally, the Bible had no chapter or verse divisions. The Old Testament, that was written in Hebrew had a dot or space between words. The New Testament was written in Greek had no break between words, which causes difficulties. Scholars divided the books of the Bible into chapters and verses to make references easier to find. (Stephen Langton, archbishop of Canterbury, England). The chapters, verses, and punctuation were not inspired. Could this lead to some misunderstandings in translation? Possibly. For example : 
GODISNOWHERE - "God is nowhere" or "God is now here"


Dead Sea Scrolls
So how is it that the Bible has been preserved so well? Modern versions of Bibles today are from 10th and 11th centuries manuscripts - copies of copies of copies ... you get the idea. Surely there must be mistakes. Doubt can creep into people's minds. Man is error prone. How can we rely on human documents? Maybe they fell asleep while they were wrting? What if they spilled or dropped food on the manuscripts?
In 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found with books of the Bible. They were dated to times earlier than the oldest manuscripts our Bible came from. They confirmed the Bible and its history. If a manuscript can be accurate during 1000 years, than how much more accurate was it when the writers and authors were alive? Something beyond the natural must have helped preserve the Bible -- GOD!!

Evidence of the Bible's Inspiration
2 Peter 1:21 - Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost
2 Timothy 3:16 - all Scripture is inspired by God


Unique to the Bible
The Bible tells us we are hopeless to save ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9) for we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3:23).
"Apart from Me, you can do nothing." John 15:5
But John 11:25 gives us hope. He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

Moving on
The Bible is universal. Some of the best known chapters of the Bible (even if you're not Christian) 
	LOVE ........................... 1 Corinthians 13
	FAITH .......................... Hebrews 11
	23RD PSALM .............. Psalm 23
	HEAVEN ...................... Revelations 21
Did you know ...
The name of Jesus Christ appears in the first and last verses of the New Testament?


Famous Sayings ~ He is everywhere
The inscription of the Liberty Bell came from Leviticus 25:10, "Proclain libery throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
And I'm sure you're heard of "Money is the root of all evil." which comes from 1 Timothy 6:10