What the Bible Means to Me.

Several years ago I was asked to give a talk on the topic, “What the Bible means to me.”  It was National Bible Week, 1992. There were nine other speakers besides myself…….. a  city alderman; a doctor; a priest; a scientist; a reporter from the paper; a professor from the University; a minister; a retired army general; and a store owner.   I was both honored and  intimidated to be a speaking along with these most formable people.  Of course none of us knew what the others were going to say.  However, we all had one thing in common.  We believed that the Bible was God’s word to humankind.

For this blog I thought perhaps you would like to read what I said in my talk. I have omitted several portions because it would be too long for a single blog.  However, as I read through my writing, I felt my words said then, at that point in my life, are still meaningful to me today.  I do hope they might be the same for you.

   What the Bible Means to Me…. Barbara Hyland, 1992

It must be rather puzzling to those who are atheists or agnostics, to think that our faith seems to be tied to a book or a collection of books called the Holy Bible. Why would intelligent people believe in a book written centuries ago by various authors, be of any interest to the 20^th century mind?   Science has given us all we need to make us happy and improve our well-belling.  Why worry about the past or the future? Most of us are just concerned about how we live today.  I believe the Bible answers that question as well.

The simple answer to the questions posed by unbelievers is that Christianity, like Judaism is an historical religion. We base our faith on historical events that were recorded with great care and accuracy.  For Christians, the greatest happening in the world was the appearance of Jesus.  Our faith depends on who He was, what He said, what He did, and what happened to Him.

This book we call the Bible is a book of unity. Its sixty six books, written over more than a thousand years against a wide variety of cultural backgrounds by people who for the most part worked independently of each other and show no awareness  that their book/story would come  together in a collection we call the Holy Scriptures!  The books themselves are of all kinds: prose, poetry, hymns, history, sermons, letters and even a love song.

These books written centuries apart seem to have been designed for the express purpose of supplementing and illuminating each other. There is one leading character….God the Creator; one historical perspective….world redemption; one focal figure……Jesus of Nazareth, who is both the Son of God and Savior of the world.  Truly the inner unity of the Bible is miraculous; a sign that goes beyond human understanding and challenges the unbelief of our skeptical age.

“The Greatest Story Ever Told” is a title that has been used for the Bible and with good reason.  The Bible is the world’s greatest storybook, not just because it is full of wonderful stories but because it tells one great story……the story of Jesus.  All the stories point to Him.

The story is God’s story. It describes His work to rescue rebellious humans from their guilt and shows humankind its failings. This is a rescue operation, and God always take the initiative.

Only God’s revelation could maintain a drama that stretches over thousands of years as though they were just a short length of time. Only God’s revelation can build a story where the end is anticipated from the beginning and where the guiding principle is not chance or fate but a promise. Only God can shape history to fill the needs of human beings and to bring about His will for mankind.  Human authors may build fiction around a plot they have devised, but only God can shape history to a real and ultimate purpose.

What has come home to me as I prepared this talk is not only how much I owe to the Bible at the different stages of my life, but how much still lies there for me to discover.  I could well use Paul’s words…”I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14)

This book, the Bible, is a call….a call to each of us. In this book we can find the answers to why we are here, a purpose for our life, our calling to be needed, and the fulfillment of all we could wish or hope. It is a book of discovery, of excitement, of drama and of adventure.

                       And it’s all found in the Bible!!!