By MARGARET BROWN
WHETHER REARED from infancy to believe in God by way of the Old Testament, with its prophecies of the Messiah to come and to accept the Gospels as cast in stone: or to search for a deeper meaning behind what was written by the scribes with its parables and apocalyptic forecasts, we are left in no doubt that Christ’s mission on earth was to bring peace to the world.
His message that salvation was for everybody, and not just for the chosen few, if they followed his Commandments, repented of their sins and loved their neighbours as themselves, is as relevant today as it ever was.
The Bible has been transcribed many times over the centuries, and yet, remains a closed book, even to some, who consider themselves to be Christians. To teach only the barebones of Christ’s three year mission on earth, his suffering upon the cross burdened by the sins of the whole world and his resurrection is to ignore the greatest “How To …” book in print.
As the original Mrs Beeton’s cookery book was to household management, so the complete Bible is to the art of living in a troubled and embattled society, at all times with the spirit of a living God to hand.
Western society’s desire for instant gratification in a live now, pay later culture, is poor training for the inevitable bad times that we all experience. Although much of the poetic grace of the King James’s Bible has been lost through translation into modern languages, the Book has lost none of its power to comfort and help those in trouble, or to set a standard for living.
1″>news
