Topic: What part of the Bible applies to us today?

[Ro]

BTW... Tim, can you edit the title of the thread?  The word bible should be capitalized.  When we speak about the Holy Bible even by the single word Bible, it should be capitalized.

That's my 2 cents worth.

 

[Tim Russ]

Why does the word bible need to be capitalized?

[Tony]

Len, Tim, Ro and others have made some good comments here. I agree that 'All scripture is God-breathed and useful...
... It is of great value to have a good understanding of all scripture.

 That being said, Your questions are very important. I believe ALMOST ALL doctrinal differences and denominational splits are caused by one major misunderstanding:

There have been several major 'plot twists' in the Bible, as God has been illustrating spiritual truth thru human history. The one that confuses people most is that until the 'dispensation of grace' given to the world thru Paul,
the world was under the law, or the 'circumcision dispensation', which would include the scriptures of the
Old Testament, the Gospels, Hebrews, and the epistles of Peter, James, John and Jude.

While there are good teachings throughout the Bible, where the confusion comes in, is trying to mix these teachings together that are directed at 2 different groups.
Trying to mix 'Law & Grace' is a recipe for disaster! (Many a believer has 'shipwrecked their faith' this way.)
Due to a lack of understanding many today try to put Believers under the law, or unbelievers under grace,
adding to the confusion.

It is in the epistles of Paul and the 'transitional' book of Acts that God repealed the law of circumcision for
the Body of Christ. So they should be considered not more important, but more relevant for day-to-day living for members of the Body of Christ, in my opinion.

I'm sorry for all these questions.  I just don't know these things.

There's the old testament and the new testament.  Jews and Greeks.  Circumcision and uncircumcision.  Law and grace.  Old covenants and new covenants.  It's all so confusing.

It seems that different parts of the bible apply to different people at different times.

What part of the bible am I suppose to be following today?  I mean, what part of the bible is still relevant to living life in our modern society? 

Dee, I don't believe I've seen you post here, since I have been, so I don't know if you will see this, but I believe I have answered your question. All scripture is important to understand, but you are right that it applies to different groups at different times. God wants us to see the 'big picture, & the entire plot,' as it teaches us a great deal.

As far as your last question about relevancy today: Read The Pauline Epistles.
But don't forget what the others said about other parts of scripture.
I love to read: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Psalms, Proverbs, John, Acts, Romans, and all the Pauline epistles.
I always love to read the words of Jesus as well, you just have to keep in mind, in general, He was speaking to Israel,
(those under the law) that should help you avoid confusion, even though the general principles are relevant and so much can be gleaned from the parables.  

[Tony]

Why does the word bible need to be capitalized?

 

Tim, knowing you, and how you want everything 'backed up', I suspect this is why you asked this question.
I don't wish to speak for Ro, but I know she is with family at this time, so I will throw in my '2 cents worth' as she would say.

Off the top of my head & simply put: The word Bible should be capitalized because it deserves to be.
It is a sign of respect for one thing, if nothing else. If no other book title was capitalized, I would still capitalize the word of God out of respect for the One Who wrote it!

 Consider these points: (The first from John 1)

1) WHO IS THE WORD?... 'In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...'

2) As a specific book it becomes a proper noun. Hence, Bible should be capitalized.

3) However, this might not be appropriate in an extended meaning; for instance if we're talking about prose,
    you might say:

    Strunk & Whites book, 'Elements of Style' is my writing bible;
    I would more likely say, 'Bob Knight's book is the coaching bible.'
    Or, Tony Dungys' book is the bible of team sports, Christianity & leadership.
    Or, 'Alan Synder wrote the bible on 'Noah Webster.'
   
I don't usually speak this way, since there is only 1 Bible, but you get the point.

[Tim Russ]

Well that's an excellent support for your viewpoint.

The problem is that there isn't only one bible.

The Jehovah's Witnesses have their own bible.  Other religions have bibles.  Here in the USA we are Christian more than anything else so the bible becomes the only bible available to us.  Yet, we accept that there are different versions of the bible.  There are Greek bibles.  There are bibles translated into most languages around the world. 

So in that sense bible becomes a general reference.  However, within the Christian context it is a proper noun.  So I went and did a little searching and found that this is apparently a big controversy going clear down into the publication editing level.

Here are a few references I found on the subject.

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/commonnoun.htm
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/propernoun.htm
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50566
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bible

In this case, since it's within the context of Christianity it might be capitalized but to be honest with you I'm not certain it's supposed to be.

[Ro]

Wow, I didn't know this was a controversal topic. 

I learned about capitalizing the word Bible and the word Scripture in the Ames Bible online course that I took.  The indication is that the word bible is always capitalized when it refers to the Holy Bible.  That is how we determine that we are all speaking of the Holy Bible.  There was no indication that there was an issue with different translations of the Bible.  Also, the word Scripture is capitalized when it refers to the Word of God.

From what I have learned this is a standard in proper captialization. 

When we refer to our Excel bible it is not capitalized.  However, if we refer to the title of the book, Excel Bible then it is capitalized.  Not trying to be nitpicky just accurate.

(Ref: Ames Bible Course, OT Survey, page 3)

[Tony]

Tim,
 Those were interesting and informative links, I intend to go back and read more later. Like Ro, I never dreamed capitalising the word 'Bible' would ever even be an issue. But America these days isn't what it used to be. God is being denigrated and more removed from our society everyday. I guess this shouldn't surprise me either. Here is a brief conversation from a link you provided. BTW, what do you think about using shortcuts like (BTW); and how about capitalising 'Cross' when referring to the Cross of Christ?

Ro,
I don't know if I always capitalise 'Scripture' or not, but I will from now on. Thanks.

Originally Posted by veinglory
I would say that it is sometimes capitalised and sometimes not. Religious publications may capitalise all sorts of things including Cross. Atheist writers/publications may or may not extend this courtesy--people outside a given faith typically don't give capitals even to gods. My few passing references to the good book were not capitalised by me or my editor. As a general rule much less capitalising is done these days.

Another writers response: (I didn't get his name)
 
You need a new editor. The Bible is always capitalized, and anyone who doesn't use a cap is simply wrong, these days or not. And it sure isn't going to make any reader, anywhere, trust you or your editor.

And "gods" should not be capitalized. "God," however, should be. One's faith has nothing to do with grammar or usage. Proper usage is not a courtesy, it's a matter of respect, and often of pure ignorance

Tony speaking again:
 I think in this 'computer age' some of the rules may be changing, or should I say, being ignored. (paragraphs for instance) It seems it's perfectly okay these days to disrespect God. I'm not one to be teaching anybody about these things, because I'm not very good at it. I want the people here such as Tim and Ro to let me know when I make a writing mistake, so I can learn quicker. As far as capitalising 'Bible' when referring to the Holy Bible, to me, that's just common sense. I may not have much respect for a Jehovah's Witness Bible, or a Koran, but I would assume it's proper to capitalise them, using traditional rules of English, even if I'm writing an expose on them. Correct?

I was just now reading the Indianapolis Star (newspaper) and I noticed on the front page an article about a new movie.
There is a nun holding a Cross. 'Cross' isn't capitalised, but I think 'Christian' and 'Church' were. Here's the link.

http://www.indystar.com/

[Tim Russ]

I've changed the thread titles to reflect Bible instead of bible.

Er, just so everyone knows... every time you reply to a message the subject box is displayed in your posting editor.  You can change the subject any time you like.  I did notice that although everyone felt bible should be Bible none of those posters considered actually changing it in THEIR post.

It took a while because I had to modify EVERY post in the thread to capitalize the word bible.

[Tim Russ]

Wow, I didn't know this was a controversal topic. 

I learned about capitalizing the word Bible and the word Scripture in the Ames Bible online course that I took.  The indication is that the word bible is always capitalized when it refers to the Holy Bible.  That is how we determine that we are all speaking of the Holy Bible.  There was no indication that there was an issue with different translations of the Bible.  Also, the word Scripture is capitalized when it refers to the Word of God.

From what I have learned this is a standard in proper captialization. 

When we refer to our Excel bible it is not capitalized.  However, if we refer to the title of the book, Excel Bible then it is capitalized.  Not trying to be nitpicky just accurate.

(Ref: Ames Bible Course, OT Survey, page 3)

Yup.  The Bible is always controversial...except when Christians whine, "Can't we all just get along?".

[Tim Russ]

Tim,
 Those were interesting and informative links, I intend to go back and read more later. Like Ro, I never dreamed capitalising the word 'Bible' would ever even be an issue. But America these days isn't what it used to be. God is being denigrated and more removed from our society everyday. I guess this shouldn't surprise me either. Here is a brief conversation from a link you provided. BTW, what do you think about using shortcuts like (BTW); and how about capitalising 'Cross' when referring to the Cross of Christ?

Ro,
I don't know if I always capitalise 'Scripture' or not, but I will from now on. Thanks.

Thanks Tony.  I don't think the capitalization of the word bible is an antichristian thing.  I think it's more of a shifting grammatical rules thing.  I think if you capitalize bible then scripture should be capitalized as well.  Cross could follow the same rule.  I doubt that the focus should be on the size of the first letter but the value of the word being used.

BTW, I think using shortcuts like BTW are useful but if over used they become annoying like any other word that's used too frequently.

[Tony]

Ladies & Gentlemen, a big round of applause for our noble leader! Hip, hip, Hoorah! Hip, Hip, Hoorah!   

[Ro]

Hip hip hoorah!  or HHH

BTW Just to add some humor... I wanted to say how r u do'n?  I know abrev or acrons c b annoying. That is Y I d/n do them much.   

 

(Good thing I said Hip Hip Hoorah for da boss!)