Does Your Belief System Include These Facts About “The Bible”?

Participants in BHC Bible studies and discussion groups agree to follow this guideline:

My Belief System will be large enough to include all of the facts, open enough to be examined and questioned, and flexible enough to change if errors or new facts are discovered.

An important skill participants learn is how to make accurate distinctions between fact-based statements, institutional beliefs, individual beliefs and random opinions. Now let’s learn about some facts about the Bible.

The first fact about “the Bible” is that “the Bible” is an Identity Meme used by Christians to refer to “Christian Scriptures.” “Scriptures” in this context refers to “canonized writings by an institution with authority.”

When Jesus referred to “Scriptures” he was referring writings called the Torah, Prophets and Psalms. In addition he quoted from other books that are in the Tanakh (Jewish Scriptures today). The books of the Tanakh are found in “Christian Scripture” where they are called “the Old Testament.”

It is important to understand that Jesus’s Scriptures were not written in “one book.” They were written on individual scrolls -- the Torah was written on one scroll, major prophets, like Isaiah, were written on one scroll, too. Other texts were combined and written on a single scroll.

No one carried “all of the Jewish Scriptures” around with them, because trying to carry all of those scrolls at the same time would have been a very difficult challenge. No one had “the Jewish Scriptures” sitting on their desk or coffee table. Non one could simply flip back and forth between different books in Bible studies. And there were no chapter and verse markers in the scrolls – what would your Bible study be like without chapter and verse breakes? And, by the way, most people could not read during the first century CE.

Scrolls were all hand-copied and that made them very expensive. Most people could not afford to buy one, much less all of them. The closest Jesus, and probably most of his followers, ever came to those scrolls was on Shabbat when they gathered at their synagogues. Readers were chosen handed a scroll to read from. The most popular and well-known scroll was – and still is in Judaism -- the Torah scroll.

The Scriptures of Jesus did not have a New Testament. None of the books found in modern New Testaments had been written at that time. Even after they were written, none of our Christian institutions existed to “canonize” and make them “Scripture.” The first group of “New Testament” books to be treated like “Scripture” was created in Rome by Marcion in 140 CE. The first reference to a “New Testament” was made by Tertullian in the 3^rd century, hundreds of years after Jesus.

As I said above, members of our study and discussion groups learn is how to make accurate distinctions between fact-based statements, institutional beliefs, individual beliefs and random opinions. Some facts about the Bible are these -- “There are many books called ‘The Bible’ but they have significant differences, beginning with different books and in books they share, there are different words.”

Different Christian Canons (click here to see a few).

Different English translations (click here to see a list).

When new people show up at a meeting, they always say something like this – “The Bible says . . . .” Someone will then ask the new person this question – “Which Christian canon or English translation are quoting?” Someone else will probably ask – “Have you checked out other Christian canons, English translation or the Jewish Scriptures?”

BHC study group participants consider themselves “explorers of their biblical heritages” – not defenders of institutional beliefs and authority. Being questioned about one’s beliefs is the norm, expected and requested. Saying “I don’t know” is a very badge of honor -- and it’s an honest answer. We value transparency!

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Shalom & Thank You!

Jim Myers