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Introduction to the Spiritual Science Bible Studies Program (1 of 7)

1. THE IMPORTANCE AND INFLUENCE OF THE BIBLE

Without question the Bible is the most influential document of Western Civilization. It can be found almost anywhere in the civilized world, having been translated into more than 2000 different languages and dialects. It is also the world's most popular book with more copies being sold than any other publication. It is quoted endlessly. The Bible is also one of the world's oldest books. The word "Bible" itself means "The Book". Much of the contents of the Old Testament was passed down orally. The time at which the books were actually written is a matter of conjecture although it is known that great activity in this respect took place during and after the Babylonian captivity. With the exception of a small part of the Book of Daniel and several other small passages, the original scripts were in Hebrew, a language which has no vowels in its alphabet. Hence, to the reader, a word might have several meanings, any of which might be valid. There is also no certainty as to the authors. The first five books of the Old Testament are ascribed to Moses, yet he can hardly have described his own death. A book may bear the name of a particular prophet but that is no guarantee that he wrote it. It may contain a third person's account. Some books appear to have had more than one author. Furthermore, the mentality and customs of the writers were very different from those of today.

We, in the English version, have translations from translations and it would take a bold man, or a foolish one, to assert that every word, as written, is divinely inspired. Divine inspiration may well apply to the original Hebrew. Translators may also be inspired but in time translations become less reliable. Of the forty-seven translators who worked on the King James version of the Bible, which is in common use in the English-speaking, only three were Hebrew scholars and two of them died before the work was finished. Moreover, they were instructed that the new translation should not basically contradict any belief then held. Luther, the father of Protestantism in Germany, translated from a Latin text.

Taking the Bible stories as they are, there are obvious discrepancies and events which would strain the mind of the most credulous. In the story of creation the light is created on the first day but sun, moon and stars only on the fourth. Obviously, statements are not quite what they seem. Are we to believe such a fantastic story as that of Samson killing three thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass?

Considering all of the above facts, how do we impart authority to the Bible that it so richly deserves? The first step is to realize that we have to be able to overcome our prejudices in our thought patterns so that we can develop our abilities to be more intuitive, imaginative and inspired.

For example, our sense of time must be greatly enhanced for us to appreciate the first chapters of Genesis. The stories are undoubtedly true, but not in our materialistic, time and space bound preconceptions. When we come across stories like Noah and the Flood, we are on more familiar territory, but we have to add soul and spiritual dimensions to the physical events to have a more complete picture of the truth expressed.