Bible Stories

Types of writing

There is also much in the Bible other than history and its interpretation. For example:

• Prayer: ‘Out of the depths I cry to thee, 0 Lord! Lord, hear my voice!’
• Joyful praise: ‘Bless the Lord, 0 my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!’
• Practical maxims: `Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!’; ‘A cheerful heart has a continual feast’.
• Prophetic warnings: ‘Turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, 0 house of Israel?’; ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near.’
• Ethical teaching: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’; Read more

The Christian faith teaches that it is possible to know God through Jesus Christ. For Jesus is risen from the dead and is alive for evermore. Through the Holy Spirit, he is present in the lives of those who trust and follow him. And so it is perhaps initially surprising that this faith should attach supreme importance to a book, a book which is a collection of documents all written in the ancient world some 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. If we can know the living God today, why should we bother with ancient documents? Yet the fact is that Christians do attach, and always have attached, central importance to the Bible. Why is this so? Read more