Reading the Bible I ...

Tuesday, January 127, 2012. Do you know the bible? Do you read the bible? I think nearly everyone in the western world has read some parts of the bible, either in school or in literature. We know some facts about Jesus. But we usually do not know many other things and we have never read the complete book …

A fascinating book! …

It is quite fascinating to read the bible. It is a phenomenal book, reaching back to the old cultures in the middle east, when Abraham lived, when Isaak and Jacob travelled through Palestine.

The bible intensively reports the life story of Jesus. We can accompany him when he preaches and when he travels to Jerusalem. We are taken into the tensions and into the discussions. We can take part in the healings as well. We stand with him before Pilate and we stand there next to the cross where he is crucified.

The bible has influenced western culture, and it is influencing most world cultures today. It is read in communist china as well as in most parts of Africa. It is spreading in Japan and Russia. There are so many reasons why we should read and understand the bible.

What to learn from it? …

How do we read the bible? What do we learn from it? Do we fully understand it? It is a book which wants to give life - new life. This challenge cannot be taken away, it will be a challenge for all its readers. We are asked to find life in it. But that can be difficult for us as well!

Let us take up the challenge! Let us approach the bible and read it and understand it. This is a task for everyone individually. But it is also a task for the community. It is a task for churches, but also for small groups, for institutions, for various layers of society, and for us in the Jesus Network.

We want to work with the bible. We want to read it, to discuss it. We want to raise questions and collect answers. We want to be moderators and listeners. We want to be there, close to Jesus. We want to be open for you to join and ask and find what need to be found! Let us read the bible together … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts