Bible

J. Michael Shannon

The oldest surviving Irish manuscript is a fragmentary copy of the Book of Psalms. Before they went into battle, Celtic armies carried it around their troops three times to ensure victory. While we would not endorse such a magical view of the Bible, surely reading it does make us ready for spiritual warfare and eventual victory.

There is also an ancient manuscript of the four gospels called The Book of Darrow. When monasteries were dissolved, the book was kept by a farmer named MacGeoghan who believed it would cure his sick cattle, so he poured water over it and made the cows drink the water. Again, we would quibble with his application; but we know the Word of God is like living water to those who consume it.

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Bible

Have you seen these answers to test questions from teachers in Christian schools?

• Adam and eve were created from an apple tree. Noah’s wife was Joan of ark. Noah built an ark and the animals came on in pears.
• Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night.
• Samson slayed the philistines with the axe of the apostles.
• Moses led the Jews to the red sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients.
• The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.
• David was a Hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in biblical times.
• The people who followed the lord were called the 12 decibels.
• The epistles were the wives of the apostles.
• St. Paul cavorted to Christianity; he preached holy acrimony which is another name for marriage.
• Christians have only one spouse. This is called monotony

Looks like we have a lot of work to do.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

Earlier this year, on Capitol Hill, the entire Bible was read aloud. It was the 17th annual Bible Reading Marathon, and was held on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. It went on for 90 hours straight. Those who read included volunteers from all walks of life, including children, ministers, and members of Congress. Reading the Bible in the nation’s capitol is a great symbolic gesture, but we need more. We need to read, understand and act on what we have read.

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J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

The
Waldensians suffered much persecution in Europe. When they feared their Bibles
would all be destroyed, they began to memorize them. Different family members
would take different sections of scripture so that a family member would memorize
an entire book of the Bible. An Inquisitor in 1260 said, “I have heard unlettered
countrymen who used to recite Job word for word. And many others who knew the
whole New Testament perfectly.” If all the Bible you had was that portion
you could quote, would you have any Bible at all?

_______________

J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

Donald
Jackson has decided to produce a Bible the old fashioned way, using calfskin
vellum and quills. Jackson is about half way through a project of handwriting
and illustrating the Bible. The prospects have raised worldwide interest. There
will be a BBC documentary and hundreds of people and groups have donated money
to the cause. It is an eight year process that will cost around four million
dollars. Different parts of the Bible will go on tour. The entire project is
expected to be completed in 2008. We surely applaud Jackson for his devoted
commitment to this cause. We also hope that people will see that the Bible is
not just an object of art, but is something to be read, obeyed and applied.

_______________
J.
Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati,
OH.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

Here are some real answers on student tests in religion and Bible classes:

1. Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies and they all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.

2. The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first book of the Bible, Guinessis, Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. One of their children, Cain, asked, “Am I my brother’s son?”

3. Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.

4. Eventually, the Romans conquered the Greeks. History calls people Romans because they never stayed in one place for very long.

5. Nero was a cruel tyranny who would torture his subjects by playing the fiddle to them.

We may chuckle or even shed a tear over these misconceptions, but do any of us spend as much time in the Scriptures as we ought.

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J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

Hans
Christian Andersen wrote of a mirror that made every good and pretty
thing look bad. Don’t many of us have just such a distorted view of
life? Good looks bad; and bad looks good. We must come instead to the
true mirror of God’s Word and see things as He sees them. Then we
shall see them as they truly are.

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J. Michael Shannon is professor of preaching at Cincinnati Bible College in Cincinnati, OH.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

According to the Associated Press, prisoners of the Jackson County Jail in
Oregon have found a new use for the Bibles that have been given them. This
won’t please the Gideons, but the inmates are so desperate to smoke that they
tear out the pages of the Bibles and roll their cigarettes in them. While that
disturbs us, it is not that much worse than having a Bible and never reading
it. Many have it on a bookcase or a coffee table and never try to understand it
or live by its precepts.

___________________________

Illustration by J. Michael Shannon, Professor of Preaching, Cincinnati Bible
College & Seminary, Cincinnati, OH.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

The Book of Kells is one of the most beautiful and revered illustrated
manuscripts of the Scriptures. A beautiful book with text by Ben MackworthPraud
tells its remarkable story. The copyists displayed their love for the
scriptures by their beautiful artwork and ornamentation. It is quite remarkable
that the book has survived. It was stolen seven times before 1006.

It was once buried for three months, It passed into the hands of the family of
an abbot of the monastery that owned it and was sold several times. For a time
it was the possession of the army in Ireland. For many years it lay unprotected
in an open room in a castle. Finally it was presented to Trinity College in
Dublin, where it remains to this day. The survival of this particular copy of
God’s Word is indeed quite remarkable. Even more remarkable is the survival of
the Bible itself. It has been criticized and even ridiculed from generation to generation,
yet it remains and still leads the best seller list.

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Illustration by J. Michael Shannon, Professor of Preaching, Cincinnati Bible
College & Seminary, Cincinnati, OH.

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Bible

J. Michael Shannon

USA Today reported that a survey of a major Christian book retailing chain
showed a remarkable increase of 22% in Bible sales as a result of the September
11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC. Many churches reported a
full house the Sunday after the attacks. While there is certainly nothing wrong
with going to the Scriptures in a crisis, it should be our constant companion
in good and bad times.

___________________________

Illustration by J. Michael Shannon, Professor of Preaching, Cincinnati Bible
College & Seminary, Cincinnati, OH.

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Bible

Larry Witham

According to a report in The Washington Times, most Americans believe the Bible
is more factual than newspapers but find their daily newspapers far easier to
read. This suggests Americans are more willing to enter the complex Bible world
if they find it packaged palatably and easy to grasp, scholars and publishers
say.

More than eight in ten U.S. adults in a survey said that “the Bible’s
ancient stories speak to today — and can solve “most or all of life’s
problems.” The independent market survey of 1,000 representative U.S.
adults was commissioned by Zondervan, the world’s largest publisher of Bibles.
Most adults trust that the Bible got “its facts straight” more than
newspapers or even history books. But two-thirds find a supermarket tabloid
easier reading.
The survey also found:
– The hardest part of the Bible “to read and understand” is the
creation account in Genesis.
– Adults most often say the Bible’s great value is in teaching children right
and wrong, with David and Goliath the most memorable story and the Good
Samaritan the best for moral instruction.
– Eighty percent agree that Bible language can be “confusing,” and
welcome modern translation.
– Belief that the Bible is “literally true” has dropped from 65
percent of U.S. adults to 33 percent over 40 years, Gallup polls report. But
belief in its divine “inspiration and authority” stays more than 80
percent.

A third of respondents to the Zondervan poll say they “feel comfortable and
safe” when a Bible is around, and 20 percent see someone holding a Bible
as a “good person.”

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Bible

Robert C. Shannon

It has been centuries since the world saw a new illuminated Bible; that is, a
Bible copied by hand and decorated with pictures and colorful symbols. But
there is such a manuscript now in progress. It will be called The St. John’s
Bible, named for a University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Leading the effort is
Donald Jackson. He was once calligrapher to Queen Elizabeth using his pen to
write beautifully inscribed letters, awards and invitations. At a cost of four
million dollars, the Bible will be two feet tall and open to a width of three
feet. While many calligraphers will work on this monumental Bible, Jackson
himself began his part on March 8, 2000. He began with the opening words of the
gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.”

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Bible

Robert C. Shannon

It’s rare to find a mistake in the movies. They are well researched. But some
moviegoers have made a hobby of finding those mistakes. In Indiana Jones, the
leading character flies across the Atlantic in an airplane a year before planes
began carrying passengers across the Atlantic and starts back by airship a year
after the end of trans-atlantic airship service. And in the same movie, two men
are reading the same issue of a newspaper, but the date on both papers is
twenty years old.

Some people make a hobby of hunting for mistakes in the Bible. Most of those
“mistakes” are easily explained. When you consider the centuries of
copying by hand, the difficulties of translation, the Bible is remarkable for
its accuracy. Certainly, when it comes to finding and following God, no one is
ever led astray by anything written in the Bible.

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Bible

Robert C. Shannon

A man said he was an army sergeant stationed in Europe and his job was to help
get the chapel ready for services on Sunday. He himself never attended, but he
got everything ready for the chaplain.

One day he opened a box. It was full of books called Good News for Modern Man.
He said to himself, “I’m a modern man. I’ll read this.” As he read it
he kept thinking, “This sounds a lot like the Bible.” That was the
beginning of his conversion.

The Bible is truly a book for modern people. A young man said to his pastor:
“I live in the jet age. Those people in the Bible rode camels. What do a
bunch of camel drivers have to say to me?” It’s a legitimate question, but
it’s a question we can answer: the basic issues of life (sin, guilt, hope,
faith, grief, death) have not changed. Those camel drivers do have something to
say to us. That Book written so long ago does have good news for modern man.

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