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Hi Cam,

You say, "I found this study very interesting. . . With all the recent talk about how far the USA has strayed from the Word. . . Oddly enough we LOVE THE WORD! What do you all think?"

The First Continental Congress believed so strongly in the good influence the Bible has on people, that they authorized funds to purchase 20,000 Bibles from Europe, to be distributed throughout the original Thirteen Colonies. They went further and had a printing shop established in Philadelphia for the purpose of printing Bibles in America.

All the early colleges and universities -- Yale, Princeton, Harvard, etc. -- were all founded as Christian schools, for the purpose of raising up pastors and other Godly people; to the betterment of the society of that day. The Bible was a text book for these schools and for all other lower schools, down to the elementary level.

Was the Bible influential in early America? The excerpts below are from the web site Heritage of the Founding Fathers: http://www.heritageofthefoundingfathers.com/index.html

"Today, not everyone knows the heritage of America's Founding Fathers. Their intentions are, in some cases, misread or misinterpreted and at times their beliefs are portrayed falsely. Who were the Founding Founders and what did they stand for?"
"15,000 quotes of the founders in newspapers, articles, etc. were evaluated. It was found that 34% of the quotes the founders made were from the Bible; other main sources were Locke, Montesquieu, Blackstone, etc. who themselves took 60% of their quotes from the Bible."

America's founding fathers looked to the Bible for guidance, and for its influence upon the people of this new country. Those same founding fathers would laugh in the face of the Liberals of today who work so hard to sell today's biggest Liberal lie: Separation of Church and State.

Yes, the Bible is the all time best seller of all books -- in America and around the world. God's Word will always speak loud and clear to all who want to hear Him. To others it is a confusing book which does not make sense. Many will falsely claim that the Bible is a book of myths, fables, and fairy tales. Why does the believer gain such insight and knowledge from reading the Bible -- and the non-believer only finds it confusing?

Jesus explains this: when we become a believer, He sends His Helper, the Holy Spirit, who will be with us and in us (John 14:15-17) -- guiding us (John 16:13) -- teaching us (John 14:26) -- and convicting us when we sin through disobedience to God (John 16:8).

The believer is a spiritual person (1 Corinthians 2:10-13) and has spiritual discernment in matters of the Bible and what God is teaching us there.

The non-believer is a natural person and we are told in 1 Corinthians 2:14, "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised."

Yes, Cam, America does still love and revere the Bible, the Written Word of God. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill Gray
billdory@pacbell.net

Alabama bred,
California fed,
Blessed by God to be a Christian American!

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quote:
Originally posted by Howard Roark:
Best book for reading -- the Complete Works of Shakespeare. Best book for studying -- the Bible!


Hi Howard,

For pleasure reading, I am more into historical novels. A great way to learn history and be entertained at the same time. For life guidance, it is still the Bible.

If one would like a change of pace -- I highly recommend any of Frank Peretti's books. He is a Christian writer with a vivid imagination; especially his books on spiritual warfare -- This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. Although this is fiction; Peretti paints a vivid portrait of the spiritual warfare going on around us all the time -- as the angelic hosts of heaven battle the demonic angels who followed Satan -- a battle for souls -- being played out in another dimension; but with eternal ramifications.

I just finished his book The Oath -- a nail biter from start to finish. Now I am reading Piercing the Darkness. And, his book, Tilly, the story of an aborted child is a classic.

Reading is one of the greatest pleasures given us by God; and it makes me sad when I have someone tell me, "Oh, I don't really like to read." My oldest granddaughter is now thirteen and my gifts to her for many years have always been books. Encouraging a child to read is opening the world to him/her. Especially when we encourage them to read the Bible.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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Far too many,in my opinion, don't do their own reading but instead rely far too much on what they are told by someone else, either a teacher or minister, from the pulpit.  They don't research out for themselves to verify if what they are being told is true to the source/'Word.  

Then you have a vast diversity of people that argue and debate about just which Bible is true and accurate.  It's not as much as it has been in the past but there is a large group of people that will not accept anything unless it's from the King James Version and any other translation is considered blasphemy.  Then there is even a smaller group of believers that won't accept anything as being scripture unless it's from the 1611 King James Version.  

At least today there are many different translations that are (again my own opinion) very good and informative.  It should be remembered though that with regards to the many "Study Bibles" there is the content of the Bible itself, the verses, and then in Study Bibles, there is commentary, usually located at the bottom of the pages.  These commentary sections just like Paraphrase Bibles are where people interpret for the reader what the section/passage/verse means and then elaborate on it.  It is the translator's opinion.  

Here is a link to a comparison of Translations, Compared to each other.

Another Bible Translation Comparison Chart Link

The Bible may be the America's favorite Book but I'm afraid that far too many people go around quoting, not what they have read themselves but rather, what they have heard preached to them and taught to them from some position of Spiritual leadership without researching themselves to verify, and reassure themselves of, what they believe.  Then again that's my own opinion.  

I, personally, believe that the Bible contains many diverse things including but not limited to historical record, of Israel and the Jewish people, of Christ and His ministry and teachings and of the disciples and their teaching and instructions to the churches as well as Prophecy, Morality, and with regard to Israel instructions on early Governmental rule and regulations and dealing with the people of Israel.    Information on how to relate to our fellow man/woman as well as relating to God, the Creator and how God relates unto mankind and God's instructions unto mankind as for how to please and worship Him.  I believe that the Bible is, and has, many diverse things including God's message and ministry unto mankind and that it becomes more personal and intimate with each individual believer/person through the, intimate, personal ministry of God's Holy Spirit whom I believe God gives to each true believer and as a help/ministry unto that person.  I believe it's that same Holy Spirit that confirms, teaches, and applies various scripture content unto each individual's life and lives.  Enough though of my own opinions, for it should be taken just as that alone, my own opinion and actually deviates from the topic at hand.  I do though believe that each person that seeks to find God and God's message unto them has only to look into the Scriptures for I do believe that God speaks unto mankind though those words and through this book.  

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