Reading the Bible, Part 1
Posted by Matt Postiff August 26, 2013 on Matt Postiff's Blog under Bible TextsÂ
One thing you can do to develop your spiritual awareness is to read the Bible on your own.
The Bible is the most printed and purchased book in the history of the world. It behooves you to know what it says so you can be a well-rounded person. This is true, despite the opposition you might fear in reading it because many people do not want you to be exposed to what it says. In addition, there are a lot of other good reasons to read it. I will share some of them in the a series of posts, starting with this one.
The first reason you should read the Bible is that its central figure is a man named Jesus of Nazareth, who made claims that are extraordinary. One claim he made was that he would die and rise again from the dead. Now anyone can make that claim, but this man did it. This is obviously unprecedented.
How do we know his resurrection really happened? Like with many other things that we hold to be true, we believe them because of the testimony of witnesses and evidence. In a courtroom, the clear and agreeing testimony of several witnesses suffices to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an event occurred. With the resurrection of Jesus, we have many witnesses. Consider this passage written by a famous Christian named Paul.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas [Peter], then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep [died]. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also... (1 Corinthians 15:3-8 NKJV)
In a courtroom, 500 witnesses would certainly suffice to prove the truth of a claim. The resurrection is not merely a legend. It was the subject if eyewitness testimony, even of skeptics (Paul himself). This is why you should read the Bible.
You can start in the section called "The Gospel According to John." You will learn some interesting things. More on that later.