"Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ or Messiah predicted in Jewish scriptures. The Christian Bible therefore incorporates as its first part the Jewish scriptures - the Old Testament. The second part, or New Testament, relates the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the history of the early church.
"The first books of the New Testament are the Four Gospels traditionally attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They are followed by the Acts of the Apostles, describing the experiences of the followers of Jesus after his death, including the pivotal event of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon them. This moment is often regarded as the beginning of the Christian church. Almost all the other 22 books comprise the Epistles (letters) written by Paul and other Apostles to early Christian communities. The final book is an apocalyptic vision, called Revelation.
“The New Testament canon (that is, the 'official list') comprises the writings recognized by the early Christian church as divinely inspired. No Christian texts are known to have been written during Jesus's lifetime on earth. The first were probably not the Four Gospels, but the Letters of Paul and other Apostles. By 100 CE all of the New Testament books had been written, as well as other texts including more Gospels. These reflected the variety of spoken traditions and recollections of Jesus which circulated after his death. By the fourth century the process of canonization was more or less complete. Some books, including many Gospels, were excluded.
“It is thought that all of these texts were originally written in Greek. As the Christian world expanded, translations of the New Testament into various regional languages were sanctioned. The most important of these included Syriac, the first translations to be made, Coptic, dating from the second century, and Latin, most famously the Vulgate version of St Jerome, made in the fourth century.” 1
The Holy Bible, for Christians, was written by men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. (The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Holy Trinity. We will discuss the Trinity shortly). Even though the Holy Bible should be treated with respect, the book is not, in and of itself, a holy book. The God-inspired messages revealed in the Bible are the holy parts. The book itself is only so much paper, glue, and ink. Christians do not believe that paper, glue, and ink are worthy of worship much less murder. Muslims murder those who “desecrate” their Qur’an, a book made from paper, glue, and ink, even though Islam is said to be a religion of love and forgiveness!
The shame is that nobody delivered this message to the godless savages who rape and murder Christian women and young girls! There is no sense of conscience in a Godless world. This lack of moral courage is easy to understand. Godless people disavow that God is their heavenly father, and they are mistaken. Their heavenly Father is the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the same Almighty God of all Creation, Jehovah, Yahweh, El Shaddai, Yashua.
1 British Library, Online Gallery: Sacred Texts, © The British Library Board, Accessed
