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The Bible tells us that the Word of God is established eternally in heaven. However it is not the Christian claim that the Bible itself has existed eternally in heaven, or that the Bible will be needed once God’s people leave this world and go to heaven. This contrasts with the Muslim claim about their book the Quran. Muslims believe that, although it was only finally revealed on earth through Mohammed approximately 1300 years ago, the Quran is a transcript of a tablet preserved in heaven from before the beginning of time. The New Testament makes clear what is implicit in the Old Testament, namely that the Eternal Word is not a `thing’ (a book) but the very personal expression (Word) of the mind of God who sustains all creation and works out the plan of salvation for the world. In the New Testament the eternal and personal Mind or Word came among us clothed in our full humanity so that we might know Him face to face. The Bible is both the account of, and the result of, this very real and personal engagement of God’s eternal mind with the history of the world. Through this very personal self-disclosure by God the Bible was written. Unless we use the Bible to receive knowledge of the Eternal Word we will never really understand it. Here is a learned Hindu's view of the Bible: I can't understand why you missionaries present the Bible to us in India as a book of religion. It is not a book of religion - and anyway we have plenty of books of religion in India. We don't need any more! I find in your Bible a unique interpretation of universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the history of the human race. And therefore a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature of the world to put alongside it. (Quotation taken from Leslie Newbigin's `A Walk Through the Bible')The Bible is the account of the relationship of God with all creation. Although the Bible writings were all complete in the first century AD, its story, in both Old and New Testaments, looks ahead to the end of time. Its story begins at the beginning of creation and finishes in the future at the close of the present age. The Bible therefore encompasses the whole of reality and does not allow us the dualist way of thinking that would seek to break up knowledge into disconnected parts. It cannot be considered as if it were just a religious book completely divorced from such subjects as history or science. Go to full article.
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