Bible

Thousands of books vie for that title. Nearly every religious movement in history has claimed that its texts are the one true guide to life. Most of those books have faded from memory along with the groups that wrote them—but one religious book is different. When it comes to the Bible, people have loved it and hated it, but one thing they have never done is ignore it.


For thousands of years, probably no religious book has been the source of more controversy and devotion than the Bible. It's been banned, translated into countless languages, burned, smuggled, mocked, defended, and consulted for answers to everything from prophecy to politics to morality. People have committed horrible acts while citing the Bible as their justification... and they've done beautiful acts of goodness while claiming the Bible as their inspiration. What is this volatile book, and why is it still on bookshelves around the world thousands of years after it was written? If you've ever picked up the Bible and read parts of it at random, you may have felt more confused than enlightened. What's in the Bible that causes so many extreme reactions, and that makes it so important to people today?

The question of what the Bible says is relatively easy to answer. The Bible, in a nutshell, is a collection of several dozen short texts (called "books of the Bible") written by various authors who lived in the Middle East over a period of time stretching from the Bronze Age to the Roman era. Together, the books of the Bible tell an epic story about God's interactions with the ancient nation of Israel and with mankind in general. The final section of the Bible describes the life and death of a man named Jesus, and depicts the actions of his followers—men and women who called themselves "Christians." (The full text of the Bible is available online if you want to search or peruse it yourself.)

But obviously, if the Bible were just a book containing some interesting historical tidbits, it wouldn't be so important to people today. The fact is, the Bible makes some pretty serious claims about itself and about the events it describes. Today, Christians consider the Bible to be a foundation of their faith. Here's what Christians believe about the Bible:

1. The Bible was written not just by humans, but by God himself. God inspired the various Biblical authors to write what they did.

2. Since the Bible was written by God, it's perfect—the teachings and ideas it contains are God's own, and are completely trustworthy.

3. The Bible's purpose is to show us how we, personally, can find God. The entire Bible—from the "boring" history parts to the amazing eyewitness accounts of Jesus' life—tells the story of God's love for us, and how we can come to know God personally through Jesus.

The Bible is made up of hundreds and hundreds of pages and countless different tales, but all those stories fit together to tell a single story: God loves us and wants to know us personally. That core story is sometimes called "the Gospel," and Christians consider it the most important story ever told.

What does the word sin mean to you?

                  The word has strong negative connotations. Maybe you associate sin with especially heinous crimes like rape. Maybe it calls to mind memories of a televangelist ranting about damnation. Or maybe you think the whole idea of sin is irrelevant. Which perspective is true?


Whatever your take, our modern understanding of sin comes from the Bible. The Bible describes sin as any thought or activity that goes against God's will. That covers obvious, awful crimes like murder—but it also covers the little ways that we hurt others in our everyday lives. Even the holiest person you can think of messes up from time to time.

But there's more to sin than good old-fashioned bad behavior. The Bible teaches us that sin is so ingrained in the human experience that it marks even our most beautiful accomplishments.

And that's bad news, because sin keeps us from connecting with God. He's so perfect that sin simply can't come near him. That means that people who have sinned—people like us—can't get close to him either. It doesn't matter if your sin was big or little—just like even a little pinch of the wrong ingredient spoils the entire recipe, even just a tiny little sin makes you too sinful to meet with God. Fortunately, that's not where the story ends.

God loves you, despite your mistakes. He wants to be in a relationship with you. But for that to happen, the sin has to go away. You can't make that happen on your own. You can't scrub away your past sins by yourself. And no matter how hard you try, you just can't live a life that's free of sin's taint.

This is what has been called "the problem of sin," and spiritually speaking, it's the greatest hurdle any of us will ever face. It's also the central question around which all of Christianity is concentrated. Is there a solution to the problem of sin?

Well, there's a reason that the message of Jesus Christ is called the "good news." Christians say that a Jewish man who lived in 1st-century Palestine holds the answer to our sin problem. Read more about Jesus and his incredible claims.

What happens when we die?

                        If there's one constant throughout almost every human culture and religion that's ever existed, it's a sense that there's more to human existence than what we do and experience during the everyday humdrum of our lives. A suspicion that death isn't the end, but just a step towards... something else.

So what is that something else? Is it a paradisical heaven filled with fluffy white clouds and a bearded God on his throne? Is it a higher level of consciousness and wisdom? A state of infinite happiness and peace? A ghostly world from which the dead occasionally speak to their loved ones?

And what about those... gloomier ideas about the afterlife? The ones involving pitchforks, grinning red devils, and bonfires?

It's impossible to get an exact picture of what the afterlife is like. But one religious source—the Bible—provides lots of consistent clues and ideas about what lies in store for us after we pass on. According to the Bible, there are two places we can wind up: Heaven and (you guessed it) Hell. What does the Bible say about these places? Do they match up to the stereotypes we mentioned above?

1. Heaven is described as a place of perfect peace and joy—a state of being in which we're perfectly in tune with God. The Bible uses different illustrations to describe heaven—it's described as a city of gold, as a place where fear, sickness, and pain are nonexistent. Whether heaven is literally a city of gold, or whether that's just a metaphor trying to describe something indescribably beautiful, we don't know. But the Bible teaches that this heaven awaits everyone who has accepted the Good News and who has come to know Jesus.

2. Hell is a place for those who have rejected God. Jesus spoke about hell, often using the image of fire and torment to describe it. Most of the goofy-sounding stereotypes you've heard of hell—pointy-eared devils, pitchforks, etc.—were invented by others hundreds of years later. Many Christians today believe that Jesus' words are not literal descriptions of hell, but rather metaphors trying to describe the awfulness of an eternity spent separated from God's love. Whether hell is a place of fire and brimstone or not, it's a place to avoid. Steering clear of hell is a simple matter of accepting the Good News and believing in Jesus.

Heaven and hell are powerful visions, inspiring and frightening in turn. But there's a problem that crops up when we spend too much time fretting and guessing about the afterlife. Have you ever heard the phrase "she was so heavenly minded, she was no earthly good"? It refers to a person so focused on getting into heaven that she's forgotten to live life to the fullest while she's still alive. If we're spending our lives looking forward to, or dreading, the afterlife, we run the risk of forgetting to live in the here and now.

Kingdom of Heaven is near

Matthew 4:16-18 (New International Version)

The people living in darkness have seen a great light;on those living in the land of the shadow of death

a light has dawned."[a]. From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."


Matthew 10:6-8 (New International Version)


Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy,[a]drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Matthew 3:1-3 (New International Version)


In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

"A voice of one calling in the desert,

'Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.' "[a]