Christian Beliefs: The Holy Bible

Most religious followers are guided by beliefs that have been passed down through the generations, either verbally or in written form. Buddhists follow the teachings of the Buddha as was passed down verbally then composed in the Pali Canon; Sikhs follow the Gurū Granth Sāhib and the Ādi Granth, which contain the writings of six of the ten Sikh Gurus and several saints; Muslims follow the Quran, which is believed to contain the written word of god as was passed down verbally from god to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel; and Christians follow the Holy Bible.

The Holy Bible is the most sacred text of Christianity, and is not one book, but a compilation of sixty six books written by different people during various times in history. Todays Christian Bible is composed of two main parts, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is considered the record of the sacred covenant between God and the people through Abraham and Moses, and the New Testament is considered the record of the new Christian covenant through Jesus Christ.

The origins of the Bible are quite complex and not everyone agrees on who wrote what, or when each part was written, particularly the different Christian faiths. During each books conception the contents changed many times; some new books were added and old ones were discarded, so the Bible, as it is known today, is the product of a long process of writing, editing, and selecting literature based on Jewish religious ideas.

Because of the complex history of the bible, and the differences in agreement between the separate Christian faiths, this blog will attempt to be as neutral as possible, and only deal with what is generally considered to be true by all Christian faiths.

In upcoming posts we will be discussing the history and content of the Old and New Testaments in more detail.

The Trinity

Though Christianity is thoroughly a monotheistic religion, it believes that one God exists as a unity of three distinct persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - known as the Holy Trinity. The word Trinity comes from a Latin origin trinitas, meaning “three are one”. The doctrine of the Christian Trinity is as follows:

Each of the three persons are separate from each other, yet each are absolute and identical in essence or Godness. Deuteronomy 6:4 says “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!”

To better understand the concept of Trinity, Dr. Harold Willmington shares this analogy: a book has length, width, and depth. The length is not the book’s width, the width is not the book’s depth. These three dimensions can be described separately, yet they are connected together. If you remove one dimension, you are no longer describing a book (or in our case, God).

God is presented to humanity as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit because each persons have different functions, where:

• God the Father is the Creator

• God the Son is the Savior (Jesus) who is both human and divine

• God the Holy Spirit (aka: the Spirit of Truth) is one who continues to guide, comfort, and encourage Christians

The Triquetra symbol represents the Trinity.

The word “Trinity” is absent from the bible; however, there are many references to God’s three distinct natures. This absence has resulted in some Christian denominations rejecting the concept of Trinity stating that it does not make philosophical sense. Other denominations consider it as Christianity’s central concept stating the Trinity helps Christians understand the God they meet in the Bible, therefore, enhancing their ability to worship him.

For further explanation behind the concept of the Holy Trinity, watch this short video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQkFlzFJ3kA

The Ichthus Fish

Often I’ve noticed the Christian symbol of a fish on the back of automobiles and wondered what the symbol represented. After doing some research, I’ve found that the word fish derives from the Greek word Ichthus. Moreover, Ichthus is a Christian acronym for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior”:

I (Iota in Greek) is the first letter of Iesous (Greek for Jesus)

Ch (Chi in Greek) is the first letter of Christos (Greek for Christ)

Th (Theta in Greek) is the first letter of Theou (Greek for God)

U (Upsilon in Greek) is the first letter of Huios (Greek for Son)

S (Sigma in Greek) is the first letter of Soter (Greek for Savior)

It’s believed that in early times, during the first 3 centuries, Christians endured great persecution from the Roman Empire - before Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. At this time, Christians used the symbol of the fish to mark safe locations for Christians to meet and acknowledge or identify other fellow Christians. Historical stories mention that when one Christian met another in public, one would draw the top arc of the fish in the dirt and the other Christian would finish the fish by drawing the bottom arc, thereby symbolizing mutual faith in Christianity.

Here is a link to a short video that further explains the origin of the Christian fish symbol: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmQC5JqJ7FE.