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The Bible

The Bible is filled with all different kinds of adventures from battles to fierce lions to the ultimate action of true love. There is always something exciting to read about in the Bible. But we need to remember that the Bible isn’t a fairy-tale - The stories aren’t made up. What we read in the Bible are true stories with real events that happened, which tell us all about God’s plan for us and the whole world. 

 

The Bible isn't really a book, it is more a collection of different books with different stories. It was written by many different people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write. The Bible can have different names; It can be referred to as the Word of God, Scripture or the Holy Bible. The Bible is very important in the Catholic Church. Along with Sacred Tradition, the Bible is the highest source of Catholic teachings and belief. The Bible is read and proclaimed all throughout the Catholic Mass.

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The Bible can be read anywhere at any time. Many Catholics read the Bible at home and in schools, and many people use it to help them pray. Sometimes Christians meet together to read the Bible and reflect on it; these meetings are called Bible studies. Throughout the Bible, God reveals to us who He is, and His plan for humankind, which is salvation for all people. God invites us through the Scriptures to take part in this very special plan by saying yes to His Will.

 

There are many different translations of the Bible. Some are called the King James Version, The Good News Translation or the New Revised Standard Version. There are even ones that are made for children and young people. The Bible has also been written in all different languages from around the world, but each of them has the same importance. 

 

There are two parts of the Bible; the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both the Old and New Testaments are split up into “Books”. Some names of the biblical books may sound familiar to us; there are, Genesis, Psalms, Romans, etc.

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You have known the Holy Scriptures since you were a child. The Scriptures are able to make you wise. And that wisdom leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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2 Timothy 3:15

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The Bible has all kinds of different writing, like poetry, historical narrative, parables and so on. Sometimes the Bible uses symbolic language, so we shouldn't take everything in the Bible as it is written literally.

 

The Old Testament was said to be written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was first written in Greek, then all translated into Hebrew in the first few centuries. Throughout history the Bible has been used to spread the Word of God and help people become more like Jesus in word and action. 

 

The Christian and the Jewish faith share the same Old Testament, this is because when Jesus was on earth, His followers were Jews. Even Jesus was a Jew; however the Jewish faith doesn't believe that Jesus rose from the dead, so that is why the Jews don't have the New Testament.

 

All Christian Churches have a Bible; however, the difference between a Catholic Bible and a "Protestant" Bible is that the Catholic Bible has seven more books in the Bible. These seven books are called the deuterocanonical books. 

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The reason why the Catholic Church has the deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament is because, around 100 years before Jesus was born, Alexander the Great wanted the whole world to be Greek. He conquered different places like Egypt and West Asia and brought the Greek culture and lifestyle with him. The Old Testament writings were rewritten into Greek, so in the end, there were two versions of the Old Testament: the Greek version and the Hebrew version. The Greek version had the extra seven deuterocanonical books because some of the books were written in Greek, to begin with. The Catholic Church accepted the Greek version of the Bible, whereas, when Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation, he accepted the Hebrew Bible without the seven books. 

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These are extra books usually in the Old Testament.

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In total, there are 73 books in the Catholic Bible and 66 books in all the other Bibles.

3 John 1:4

Nothing makes me happier than to hear that my children live in the truth.

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The Old Testament

In the first section of the Bible, we have the Old Testament. Sometimes it can be called the Hebrew Bible because it was written in Hebrew. Although the Old Testament didn't begin as a book, it started as a collection of writings. 

The Old Testament starts with God creating the world in Genesis and finishes just before Jesus was born. The first 5 books of the Old Testament have a special name - they are called the Pentateuch, or the five books of Moses. There are also historical books in the Old Testament, that have stories about the life and history of Israel. There are also, wisdom writings and writings from different prophets. 

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The Old Testament was written by all different people who lived around that time, and was written over a time of 1,000 years. As time went on, people began learning and understanding these Old Testament writings as the Word of God. Many teachers of the faith used these writings to teach people about God; even Jesus himself taught other people through the Old Testament writings when He was on earth. 

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The Old Testament foreshadowed (pointed to) events that would be fulfilled when Jesus came to earth. So by the time when Christ came into the world, the Jews knew that a messiah would be coming and that He would restore God's kingdom. 

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The main story of the Old Testament is God speaking to people and His relationship between Himself and the people of Israel. 

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The Old Testament is very interesting as it has many different important people and some amazing events. The beginning of the whole Bible starts with the creation story; the story of how God created the world and how He made humans. God loves us so very much and He was very happy when He created us. He created humans in His own image and likeness, so we can be close to Him always. 

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The most familiar stories in the Old Testament are Noah and the Ark, Abraham and Isaac, Moses and King David. If you have a Children's Bible at your house or school you might like to read some of these stories. 

Isaiah 54:23

I myself will teach your people and give them prosperity and peace

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The New Testament

After the Old Testament, we arrive at the New Testament. The New Testament completes the Christian Bible and fulfils all the promises and signs that we read in the Old Testament. This part of the Bible is all about Jesus; what he did on earth and how His disciples shared the faith after Jesus had died and risen from the dead. 

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The books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are called the Gospels, and these are at the beginning of the New Testament. These are the major books of the New Testament because they talk directly about Jesus and His ministry. The writers of the Gospels usually repeat the same story in their own way, so it's normal to re-read something in the different Gospels. 

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The New Testament starts with the Gospel of Matthew, and a list of the ancestors of Jesus. This can sometimes come across as boring, as the names can be hard to read and we don't know who it's talking about. But it's very important to understand that Jesus came from the family line of David, and his ancestors include Abraham and Isaac. If we know the Old Testament, God had promised Abraham that his ancestors would be blessed. All of this shows that Jesus did come from the family line of Abraham and that through Jesus, future generations would be blessed. 

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After the list of names, we read about the birth of Jesus. It was a very special birth because God sent the angel Gabriel to a young woman named Mary who was going to be married to a man named Joseph. The angel Gabriel told Mary that God was very happy with her and that she was going to have a Son, who was the Lord Jesus. It was very special because Mary was still a virgin when she had Jesus. It was a miracle from God, and when Jesus was born, It was the first time that anyone had seen the face of God. 

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The Gospels talk about Jesus gathering 12 disciples and how he modelled a true Christian faith by serving the people in need. At the end of each Gospel, each author speaks about the death and resurrection of Jesus and His ascension into Heaven. The other books of the New Testament talk about how to be a faithful Christian and the hope and joy of knowing Christ.

Psalm 56:4

I praise God for his word.

I trust God. So I am not afraid.

What can human beings do to me?

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How to Read the Bible

check this little video out below to help you understand how to read the Bible 

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