|
Viewpoint from Rev John Kinchin-Smith 24/06/2022
Rev John Kinchin-Smith
Assistant Minister, St Andrew’s Church, Gorleston
When I hold a Bible in my hand, I know that I'm holding the most precious thing in the world. In school we learn all sorts of facts about the way things work and skills to help us to live in today's world
But when it comes to the most important questions in life, we're flummoxed. "Why am I here? What's the purpose of life? Why is there evil in the world? Is there a God? Is there life after death? Why do innocent people so often suffer? Is there right and wrong?"
 The Bible is not like any other book because it gives us the answer to these and many other questions about the meaning and purpose of life. But many people are daunted by the Bible. It's a big book. It has stories from hundreds of years ago when the world was a very different place. Hasn't science proved that the Bible isn't true? And, if I read the Bible, do I start at the beginning? (If you try doing that, you'll soon find yourself very bogged down!)
If you are willing to give it a go, where do you start? The first thing is to get hold of a version of the Bible in modern English. Most bookshops sell Bibles. You can borrow one from the Library. You can probably borrow one from your nearest church. I suggest the Good News Bible (Today's English Version), The New International Version, or the New Revised Standard Version. The best place to begin is the story of Jesus in the books written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
The Bible teaches us about right and wrong, about God and Jesus. And, most important, the Bible teaches us about the true purpose of life and how we can find this for ourselves. "But" you may be asking, "How can we know that we can trust what the Bible says? Lots of people and other religions claim to know the answers to these questions"
Well, the Bible says of itself that every part of it has been breathed into (inspired) by God himself, that when we read the Bible it is God himself talking to us through the people who wrote its pages. I hope you might give it a try — and then, like me, discover that it's more true and trustworthy than anything else in the world
The views carried here are those of the author, not necessarily of Network Yarmouth, and are intended to stimulate constructive and good-natured debate between website users
These views are personal ones and are intended to stimulate constructive debate amongst website users. We welcome your thoughts and comments, posted at the bottom of the relevant article. We would ask you to abide by our forum rules and may delete any comments which do not
We welcome your thoughts and comments, posted below, upon the ideas expressed here
Click here to read our forum and comment posting guidelines
|
|
|
|
