She has done this in the past and is able to do it again and again.

Some might say that only God can change the world in this way. How can you say that just a book can do this?

This is really amazing. That is why the Bible is indisputably central to the Christian faith and to the lives of believers as an essential element of the Bible. You can't do without it, despite the fact that many Christians have forgotten what exactly to do with it. It seems that God has delegated at least some of His plans in the world to this book. This is not quite like a will to heirs, but something close to it. Or as if a composer wrote scores for musicians to perform his music. Or as if a playwright wrote a play to be played by artists. Or you can put it this way: this is an unfinished novel, part of the novel that God continues to write – this is perhaps the most accurate analogy, but still not quite true. The Bible is somewhat similar to, but superior to, all of these examples.

That is why there are so many battles around this book. In fact, there are as many battles around the Bible today as there are on its pages. And even the reasons for both battles sometimes coincide. It is jealousy between brothers, from Cain and Abel to the two nameless brothers in Jesus' parable, and now it is the debate between the various traditions and forms of Christianity in a world where each insists on a different approach to reading the Bible. Moreover, each of the representatives of different traditions finds nourishment and support in this book. And everyone, it should be thought, strives to put into practice the lessons learned.

Are these disputes important to us?

Yes, they are. Unfortunately, in the history of Christianity we see many examples of such a reading of the Bible, which actually deprives it of its power. For example, the computer I sit at is capable of doing thousands of things, but I use it only as a typewriter and for accessing the Internet and texting. In the same way, many Christians, entire generations, and sometimes entire denominations, possess a book that can do a thousand things, not only in themselves and for them, but also, through them, for the whole world. However, they use it to support the three or four things they are already doing. For them, the Bible is like wallpaper: it creates a pleasant background, but you forget about it after you live in the room for a few weeks. It doesn't matter that I use only a tiny fraction of the computer's capabilities. But being a Christian and not allowing the Bible to do the best it can through you and in you is like playing the piano with mittens on.

What is the Bible and how should we use it?

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Let's start with simple facts. Someone already knows all this, and he will not be interested in reading this section, but for those who do not know, it is important to imagine this picture.

The Bible consists of two parts, which Christians call the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is much more voluminous, it can take about a thousand pages in ordinary font, while the New Testament will take about three hundred. The Old Testament took more than a millennium to create, while the New Testament took less than a hundred years to create.

The word "covenant" in the Bible is very important. Christians believe that through the events of Jesus' life and death, God the Creator, the God of Israel, fulfilled ancient prophecies, renewed the covenant and thus saved our world. Many of the early Christian writers drew on the Old Testament, quoted it, or referred to it to emphasize this point in order to show that they were the people of the renewed covenant, hence the phrase "New Testament." Thus, these interrelated but different titles of the two sections of the Bible express a theological statement and pose the same question. They represent the assertion that the Hebrew Bible remains an important part of the Christian scriptures, and raise the question of how it should be understood and put into practice by people who believe that their "covenant" has been renewed by Jesus.

The books that Jews call the Bible and Christians call the Old Testament can be divided into three groups. The first five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) have always been seen as special and fundamental. They were called the Torah ("Law") and their creation was traditionally attributed to Moses. The second section, entitled "The Prophets," contains books that are sometimes referred to as historical (the four books of Kings), as well as the books of the three great prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel) and the so-called "minor" prophets (Hosea and others). The third section is simply called "The Scriptures." This includes both very ancient books and texts, such as the Book of Daniel, which took shape and entered the canon during the last two centuries B.C.E. And even in the time of Jesus, there were disputes about the status of some of the "Scriptures" (in particular, the book of Esther and the Song of Songs). Most recognized them as part of the Bible, and so they stayed here.