Hi everyone! My name is Grace Butler and I’m from Muncie, Indiana. I am a freshman studying Accounting. I chose to take this course obviously as a fulfillment for my TI requirement, however, I chose this class specifically to become more educated on the Bible. I went to a Catholic elementary school, which was really where my religious journey started. Despite that, I have never read the Bible. I hope that this class will expand my knowledge on the Bible academically and religiously.
To me, the Bible is a collection of stories, lessons, and rules that help guide the way God wants people to live. There are many different ways to interpret the passages in the Bible, but overall, it is the sacred book that binds all Christians together. Whether people look at it as simply a historical book, or something more, it has meaning and is worth learning about.
Many people wrote the Bible with God as the overarching author. He obviously didn’t physically write the Bible, but his influence and guidance was what brought the writings of the Bible together. I really wish I knew more about how the Bible was actually written, so hopefully I will learn more about that in this class.
When I searched on Google, “What is the Bible?” a few different things came up. There was information from Wikipedia and Britannica, which seem like honest, reliable, and unbiased sources. However, we know that anyone can edit things on Wikipedia (I am not sure if that is the case for Britannica) and that automatically makes that source questionable. After Wikipedia, which was the first website that came up, a result came up as “Faith 101: What is the Bible?” This page comes from an Evangelistic Association, which automatically has bias. The information may be factually true, but it’s still a theological study of the Bible (they’re assuming religious truth), instead of an academic study. It was interesting that this page was at the top of the search page.