Christmas is around the corner. The festivities of Christmas have painted the world in rainbow colors. The cord that binds the large sea of the population of Christians in one religious thread is The Bible. The reason the Bible is such an amazingly all -time popular book is that it takes the whole humanity in its comforting embrace. There is something for everybody. Nearly all the christians recognize the New Testament as canonical scripture, coming straight from God. Their belief in the Bible rests on this firm base of truth.
Unlike any other book The Bible is a compilation of writings written by different writers in different times in different places that cover a span of 1400 years. The accounts preserved in The Old Testament written down and communicated orally includes about forty writers. It is a collection of texts sacred in Judaism and Christianity. Many regard Moses to be the author of the first five books known as Torah. The Bible reaches out to one third of the estimated world population. Every second, the world conducts more than 40,000 Google searches. Even the younger generation shows amazing interest in the sacred book. With millions of copies of The Bible coming out from the publishing houses of the world every year, new ways to satisfy the youngsters have surfaced. One example is YouVersion’s Bible App. In the app, “three bookmarks are created, four verses are shared, and 18 verses are highlighted, more than 50 Bible chapters are listened to, and 342 chapters are read.” Undoubtedly The Bible holds an octopus grip on the minds and hearts of generations because its truth and beauty penetrates into the every day life of people. In no erudite way it dispels all confusions and fears . If we have lost the Paradise it comforts them by making them believe that Paradise lost can be Regained. The Main argument around which the Bible revolves is “Of Mans First Disobedience” and its dire consequence that “Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden”(Milton). First line of Milton’s magnum opus brings the word ‘disobedience’ which opens the Pandora’s box of all the evils. We disobey when we have lost our faith in the word of our Father. FAITH and FORGIVENESS are the gemstones of The Holy book: “ Trust in the Lord with all your heart”. The Lord is not only “a strong hold in the day of trouble” but “shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Jesus Christ who “Died for us” and “hath borne our grief” is the main protagonist.
The Bible comforts us in a magical way. All the fears are laid to rest and with a renewed hope and energy we march forward with the faith that our “Shepherd” is with us —“So do not fear; for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God, I will strengthen you and help you: I will uphold you.” This assurance goads us to be on the right path and gives us a future so that we can enjoy the riches of the earth—“Lord how beautiful are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.” And also a word of precaution —“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Each phrase of the Bible is capable of stirring our heart and stimulating our mind in one way or the other—“To everything there is a season”, “Set thine house in order”, “Unto the pure all things are pure”.
From the Hebrew scriptures and Greek texts of the New Testament various versions of the Bible had been popular all through Europe and Middle East for more than 2000 years. During the16th century Scottish King James VI constituted an enormous translation committee of 54 scholars with diverse opinions from Puritans to the highest Churchmen to translate each a different section of the Bible. This new work known as King James translation was true to the original scriptures, accessible to the common man and embodies the majesty of God. In the preface, translators made their intentions clear, “We desire that the Scripture… may be understood even by the very vulgar.” This quality of the translation strengthens its bond with the reader and results in a penetrating intimacy. Spiritual benefits apart, King James translation also enriched English language and made some of its phrases very popular. In a study Google searched 2.4 million of its digitized English language books with its Ngram Viewer. The larger each phrase appears on these pages, the more popular it has been (National Geographic). Some of these phrases are familiar to all of us —“A man after his own heart”, “pour out your heart”, “no small stir”, “turned the world upside down”, “fell flat on his face”. In the survey “From time to time” emerges the leader appearing 4.6 million times.
Let this Holy Book guide all of us on our worldly path -“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans:12:2. Amen!!!
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