Many ask, "Why study the Bible?" It's true, the Bible is different from any other book. It comes from a land and culture different from our own: the Hebrews and from a time long ago. To understand the Bible, we have to decide just what it really is. Then we read, read it daily.

So, what is this book called the Bible? It is essentially a sharing of faith. It is a whole nation's belief in God. The people who wrote the Bible believed that God really did intervene in human history, and that He really does care about creation. The Bible is a collection of books of religious truth.

Our journey toward faith began the moment we became aware of God in our life. Whether a dynamic conversion or a gradual awakening to God's presence, it was the beginning of our relationship with God. Not so on God's Part. There has never been a time when we were outside of God's awareness  we were fashioned in God's thought and brought to life by God's love.

Thus, the Bible should not be read quickly. To do so is to treat it as an ordinary book, which it isnÒ´. It must be read slowly, prayerfully, and reflectively.

In the Old Testament, you will find a narrative of God's relationships with God's people, the awakening of their awareness, their flights from or their journeys toward God. In these stories, we may recognize our own story. To seek God and meaning in our life is as old as human kind.

Some biblical texts will seem strange to us until we get past the language to the ideas behind them. Sometimes, we get so distracted by unusual descriptions or details in the text that we might forget the religious message they were meant to convey. In reading the Holy Bible, we have to understand that we're not reading an historical narrative of ancient times. We are not looking for any historical or scientific truth Ö we are seeking the religious message. So, we should be reading it because the Bible is the word of God.

In many ways the era of the prophets parallels our own time Ö for many of the same evils still exist. The prophets tried to awaken the slumbering consciousness of their nation; much of what they said applies to us as well. Many of the evils the prophets in the Bible spoke against still remain in our culture and even in our individual lives. We should be aware of the message of these prophetic individuals, since they challenged their own people long ago and continue to challenge us as well.

For those who call themselves Christian, the Bible provides us with a good understanding of what it means to live out the gospel. To sum up, "...fear God, and keep His commandments, since this is the whole duty of man." (Eccl. 12:13)