#6 Read the Entire Bible

Another rainy day and a day off work…so I will work on resolution #6: Read the entire bible. I have read about 25 of the books completely and I have bounced around the bible during church, Sunday school and on my own since I was 8 years old and got my first bible. But I figured I should start fresh and read it cover to cover….I mean really read it, analyze it and truly understand it. But before I begin Genesis, I would like to start with some questions that I had about the actual document of the bible itself.

1. Where did the Bible come from? I casually entered this question into a search engine about 2 hours ago and was bombarded with tons of historical, and archeological evidence as to the authenticity of the bible and of its original manuscripts. It would be impossible to paraphrase all of my findings so I will give you some of the most helpful links I found, so that you can read them if you need proof that the bible is true. http://www.allabouttruth.org/origin-of-the-bible.htm http://www.allabouttruth.org/bible-manuscripts-faq.htm http://www.allabouttruth.org/biblical-manuscripts-faq.htm http://www.allaboutthejourney.org/history-of-the-bible.htm

2. Who wrote the Bible? Simply put, God. But instead of freaking us all out by bringing his giant hand down from the heavens and writing the bible in his own handwriting, he spoke to mere humans and told them what to write. The human authors of the bible include everyone from prophets to a tentmaker. They were all men and I am assuming that was because women during these time periods were not taught to read or write. Not to mention the fact that they were too busy drawing water from wells, making meals and clothing from scratch, and giving birth to prophets, disciples, and the messiah, to stop and put pen to paper. Here is a list of the books, the authors, and the approximate dates they were written.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy = Moses - 1400 B.C.
Joshua = Joshua - 1350 B.C.
Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel = Samuel/Nathan/Gad - 1000 - 900 B.C.
1 Kings, 2 Kings = Jeremiah - 600 B.C.
1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah = Ezra - 450 B.C.
Esther = Mordecai - 400 B.C.
Job = Moses - 1400 B.C.
Psalms = several different authors, mostly David - 1000 - 400 B.C.
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon = Solomon - 900 B.C.
Isaiah = Isaiah - 700 B.C.
Jeremiah, Lamentations = Jeremiah - 600 B.C.
Ezekiel = Ezekiel - 550 B.C.
Daniel = Daniel - 550 B.C.
Hosea = Hosea - 750 B.C.
Joel = Joel - 850 B.C.
Amos = Amos - 750 B.C.
Obadiah = Obadiah - 600 B.C.
Jonah = Jonah - 700 B.C.
Micah = Micah - 700 B.C.
Nahum = Nahum - 650 B.C.
Habakkuk = Habakkuk - 600 B.C.
Zephaniah = Zephaniah - 650 B.C.
Haggai = Haggai - 520 B.C.
Zechariah = Zechariah - 500 B.C.
Malachi = Malachi - 430 B.C.
Matthew = Matthew - A.D. 55
Mark = John Mark - A.D. 50
Luke = Luke - A.D. 60
John = John - A.D. 90
Acts = Luke - A.D. 65
Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon = Paul - A.D. 50-70
Hebrews = unknown, mostly likely Paul, Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos - A.D. 65
James = James - A.D. 45
1 Peter, 2 Peter = Peter - A.D. 60
1 John, 2 John, 3 John = John - A.D. 90
Jude = Jude - A.D. 60
Revelation = John - A.D. 90

3. How, when and who, put the modern day Bible in the order that it is in? Again, another question that I found tons of information about that I am to lazy to re-word. These websites can give you all the information you need to know: http://www.gotquestions.org/canon-Bible.html http://www.gotquestions.org/divided-Bible-chapters-verses.html