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The Bible was originally written in ancient Hebrew and Greek. So unless you can read and comprehend the original languages, you will do well to find a solid and faithful translation in your language.

In English, the King James Version (KJV) is a widely trusted translation. The KJV is an older translation, so its language feels antiquated and possibly confusing for the modern English reader. The New International Version (NIV), English Standard Version (ESV) or Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) are faithful translations of the original language and easier to read. Translations like The Message (MSG) are modern summaries of the Bible that seek to make the thoughts of the author clear in modern language but don’t rigidly follow the grammar and syntax of the original language.

In general, a good translation is both faithful to the original language and understandable to the modern reader.

Here are a few thoughts if you cannot understand what you’re reading in the Bible.

First, pray to God for guidance!

Second, try reading the passage again and think about it in light of what you have already read in the Bible. Read twenty verses before the passage in question and twenty verses after it. By reading the passage in context you’ll get a better idea about what is being said.

Finally, ask a friend who has read the Bible more than you. Here at TELL we have pastors and Bible learners who are dedicated to helping you find answers from the Bible. Send them a message with your question. Perhaps the next time the meaning will be clearer, because you’ll have learned more.

Want to learn how to read the Bible better? Visit www.tellnetwork.org. After taking several self-learning Bible classes you can be enrolled in a live-instructor Bible class. There you will continue learning with a trained instructor, asking more questions and growing in faith!

The Bible is a big book. Maybe you’re like many people who want to read the Bible but don’t know where to start. We’re glad to help you get started!

First, we’ll talk about the Bible’s outline. Then we’ll share a practical way to get started. As you start reading the Bible its life-changing message will fill you with hope and peace. Truth brings peace!

In reality, the Bible isn’t just one book; it’s a collection of 66 books. The Bible is divided into an Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament contains books which were written before Jesus’ time and the New Testament contains books written after Jesus’ time.

When you’re reading Old Testament books (like Genesis, the Psalms, Isaiah, etc.) you’re reading about events which happened before Jesus came. In those books God is telling us about his plan of salvation, how he brought Jesus the Savior to the world, about our need for the Savior, and prophecies about the Savior, so we could recognize Jesus when he came. Some of the books of the Old Testament are straight-forward history (like Genesis). Other books have many details about the worship life of the Old Testament Israelites (like Leviticus), and others address very specific time periods in the Israelite history (like Amos and Hosea); those can be a bit more challenging to read and understand.

The New Testament books were written after the birth of Jesus. The first four books, the “Gospels” – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – give us the account of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. The book of Acts records the history of the early New Testament church and the spread of the gospel message. The majority of the books of the New Testament are letters, written either to churches or individuals, in which God gives us further insights into the truths he expects us to believe.

How can you get started? We suggest starting with reading one of the Gospels - an account of Jesus’ life. After all, his life and work are the most critical part of the Bible. Then, check out books from the Old Testament where you’ll learn the incredible back-story.

Here’s a suggested list of books of the Bible to start you off:

1. Luke
2. Mark
3. Genesis and Exodus
4. Matthew
5. Romans
6. 1 & 2 Samuel or John or Acts or 1 Peter or some Psalms or Ephesians or Philippians – you decide! Or, re-read the first five suggested books again, and then go on.

In 1961 the Russians sent the first man into space. His name was Yuri Gagarin. The Russian premier at the time, Nikita Krushchev, said that when Gagarin went into space the cosmonaut discovered that there was no God there.

In response Christian author C.S. Lewis wrote an article called “The Seeing Eye.” Lewis said that if there is a God who created us, we could not discover him by going up into the air. God would not relate to human beings the way a man on the second floor relates to a man on the first floor. No, God would relate to us the way the author Shakespeare relates to his character Hamlet. Shakespeare is the creator of Hamlet’s world and of Hamlet himself. Hamlet can know about Shakespeare only if the author reveals information about himself in the play. So too, the only way we can know about God is if God reveals himself to us.

Billions of people around the world believe in God although they cannot prove he exists. Some believe in an impersonal force that holds our world together. Others believe in a feeling of enlightenment we need to search for and find. Even non-religious people hold firm beliefs or truth statements like “I believe that above all, people should be treated equally.” or “In the end, whether you believe in God or not, you should treat others with respect.” Both religious and non-religious people have more in common than they realize. They both make truth claims about what they know to be true themselves. Both do not have empirical (observable) evidence of their truth claims.

The Bible says that all people, religious and non-religious, recognize something deeper about the human experience. People can discover God or his ideas in a general way by observing the world around us: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1) Both hold ideas about morality that are ingrained in them by God, whether they believe in God or not: “(Non-religious people) show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.” (Romans 2:15)

Still, none of this proves there’s a God. And if there is a God, neither our conscience or nature tell us a whole lot about God. But what if God wrote himself into the human story? What if all of these deeply held, widely accepted beliefs like “justice” and “love” were perfectly demonstrated right in front of our eyes? What if instead of explaining away God, we explored his interactions with humankind? The Bible invites seekers to begin their search by opening its pages.

It is often fear that lies behind that question. As if death wasn’t terrifying enough without imagining some state of unrest or unconscious oblivion while we wait and wait and wait for Jesus to return to take us to heaven. To answer quickly up front, when you have faith in Jesus your soul goes to heaven immediately when you die. On the Last Day when Jesus returns our bodies will be raised to either live forever with God in heaven or, in the case of unbeliever, will live forever without God.

Jesus often talked about life going on into eternity.  He didn’t just mean that our loved ones who have died would live on in our memories.  He literally meant they would live on forever.   Look closely at this conversation between Jesus and Martha, the sister of Lazarus who had just died.  “’Your brother will rise again.’  Martha answered, ‘I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die’” (John 11:23-26).  Martha believed that her brother would rise on the last day of the earth’s existence, which the Bible refers to as Judgment Day.  Jesus further comforts her by pointing out that Lazarus would not have to wait that long to experience the joys of eternal life.  “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”  Our soul goes to be with Christ immediately when we die. In that sense, we will never die, even though our body remains here until Judgment Day.

God’s missionary Paul was in constant danger because of his bold confession about Jesus.  He spent a lot of time in court and in prison. He found comfort in knowing that if he had to die for believing in Jesus, it would be a blessing. “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far” (Philippians 1:23). To “depart” and to “be with Christ” were simultaneous events. There is no allusion to a long period of time in between.  Ecclesiastes 12:7 speaks the same way. “And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit (or soul) returns to God who gave it.”

The clearest statement comes when Jesus is on the cross next to another dying man. “Then he (the criminal) said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise’” (Luke 23:43). Jesus puts a time stamp on the soul’s trip to heaven with the word “today.” When Jesus gave his life on that very day, he paid for every sin and paved the path to heaven for everyone who puts their trust in Him. When he rose from the dead three days later, he secured the promise he just made to that dying man and to all of us. Jesus turned death from a curse into a blessing—a blessing that starts the moment we close our eyes for the last time.

Most people think they know what hell is like. Ask them on a blast furnace August day how hot it feels. Search Google for graphics featuring hell and flaming infernos will fill your screen. The terrors of war are compared to hell. As is terminal disease, divorce, and a dysfunctional workplace.

The Bible uses similar pictures to describe hell. Jesus predicts how on Judgment Day his angels will throw those who have rejected him “into the fiery furnace.” He goes on to say that those in that furnace will weep and gnash their teeth. (Matthew 13:50) Hell, then, is a place of abject sorrow and staggering grief. It is a place where people’s fate is horrific and unstoppable. That’s why they gnash (grind) their teeth to display their frustration, rebellion, and anger.

There are additional ways the Bible helps us relate to hell. In Jesus’ story about a rich man suffering there, he has the man describe the place as a torture chamber. (Luke 16:24) Hell is pictured as a place of blackest darkness. (Matthew 8:12, Jude 13) The Old Testament prophet Isaiah uses a metaphor Steven King would enjoy. He says the people in hell are perpetually consumed by worms. (Isaiah 66:24)

The essence of hell is separation from God and his kindness, love, generosity, and care. It was from the depths of that separation that the sin-suffering Jesus screamed from the cross, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” Paul promises such separation awaits those who reject God’s grace. “They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord.” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

Gruesome pictures. Distasteful descriptions. But even worse is being there. Words are inadequate to capture hell’s excruciation, its anguish, its dread. Little wonder that Jesus urges us to avoid hell’s torture, torment, and terror at all costs: “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Matthew 5:29-30)

Hell is what anyone deserves who has ever done anything wrong. “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” (Galatians 3:10) Hell is the destination for all who believe they don’t need forgiveness or that they can earn their own forgiveness. That’s the price a lack of perfection exacts in the holy God’s court of justice.

How wonderful that God provides us a way to escape. He gives us a place to live for an eternity that is the polar opposite of hell. That is what Jesus is all about. The Bible assures us, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation….God made him who had no sin [that’s Jesus] to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17,21) With Jesus’ righteousness, heaven is ours.

“Trinity” means “three-in-one.”  It’s true, the word “Trinity” is not in the Bible.  But the concept is.

The true religion has always stated that there is only one Divine Essence who is called “God.”  From the beginning of time God has revealed himself as the LORD God (Genesis 2:4) and there is no other but him (Isaiah 44:6).  Monotheism set the Hebrews apart from other nations (Deuteronomy 6:4), and Christianity follows the same truth.

God the Father is God.  Jesus spoke of him as “the only true God” (John 17:1,3).  The apostle Paul spoke of God the Father as the creator God and the source of life (1 Corinthians 8:6).

God the Son is God.  Hebrews chapter one emphasizes that fact, explicitly saying “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (1:3).  We believe as the Bible teaches that “in Christ all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).  And we believe that “he is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).  Besides, the Bible attributes to Jesus all the characteristics of God (Matthew 28:18).  Jesus is also to be worshiped as true God (Matthew 28:17; Hebrews 1:6).  The New Testament shows that Jesus is the redeemer of the world from sin and the power of Satan.

God the Holy Spirit is God.  “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17).  He is distinguished from the Father and Son when Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, the Spirit of truth, to be with you forever” (John 14:16-17).  The Holy Spirit is more than an impersonal power of God.  He grieves (Ephesians 4:30), and is the person of the Trinity who works faith in our hearts.  Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3).  Some people “speak against the Holy Spirit” to their damnation (Matthew 12:32).

There are many places in Scripture that mention all three Persons of the Triune God (Matthew 4:16-17).  God has always presented himself in plural terms (Genesis 1:26).

There are three Persons, each one the complete God, and yet there is no more than one single God.  “We worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God” (from the Athanasian Creed of the Christian church).

The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. And they are one God.

Good question! As of time of this writing the outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic is impossible to predict. Not even the world’s top scientists and doctors know. Although some claim to have an idea about how it could be stopped.

Starting in December 2019, in the region of Wuhan, China, a new (“novel”) coronavirus began appearing in human beings. It has been named “COVID-19” (“COronaVIrus Disease of 2019.” Due to its newness – experts were unsure how it spread and whether or not people can build immunity to COVID-19. To our knowledge, no one had COVID-19 until 2019.

Although COVID-19 is new, it is not the first pandemic. HIV/AIDS, influenza, cholera and the Black Death each saw anywhere between 1 to 100 million people or more die during their peak.

As a person of faith we need to find answers to the questions that really matter. The questions we do have answers to. Below is a key question and facts from the Bible. Hold onto them as you wait this pandemic out:

How does a person of faith face a pandemic like COVID-19?

1. Admit we are less in-control than we thought.

We humans like to think we have a lot of this world figured out. And to be honest, it’s not surprising we think that way. We’ve put astronauts on the moon. We’ve discovered vaccines. We’ve figured out complex problems of science, society and nature.

But consider this: we still know very little about how to protect ourselves from new viruses. When we figure this one out, there will be another. When we establish peace after war, we’ll find another way to start fighting.

What causes our world to be out-of-control? The Bible explains that our out-of-control world is a result of sin. After the first man and woman rebelled against God, God said that there would be consequences:

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17-19)

The Apostle Paul explains the consequence of sin simply: “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23a)

The Bible explains that our out-of-control world is a result of sin.

2. Trust God your Creator & Sustainer

After admitting we’re not in control and that the cause of death (of any sort) starts with a broken relationship with God, the next question is who is in control?

God once spoke to a man named Job who was going through a life-changing crisis that you and I may never endure. God reminded him that He was in control:

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7)

Apply God’s word to our current situation. When all things seem out-of-control remember that God was there long before COVID-19. He created our world. He knows it inside and out like a master house-builder knows a home. God knows your body and organs - even the virus - better than any doctor or expert. He is your Creator.

God is not the sort of Creator who builds something and leaves it alone. He continues to sustain us. Jesus taught us not to worry so much about the future. That includes the fear of the unknown like we’re going through today.

God knows your body and organs - even the virus - better than any doctor or expert. He is your Creator.

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?...33 But seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:26-7, 33-34)

Jesus teaches us to trust God to sustain us. Trust him to give us our daily food, drink and necessary items for everyday life. Trust him with your health. Pray to him to meet your needs spiritually and physically. (If you want an example of how to pray see how Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:9-13).

3. Put your hope in God your Savior

Still we have the problem of suffering, pandemics, sickness, natural disasters and death. Can’t God control these? Or does he not care? The answer to this question is found in the work and person of Jesus.

After we rebelled against God, God was right and just to make a consequence for sin. The earth was cursed because of our rebellion. It would no longer be the utopia God intended for us to live in community with him.

But instead of wiping us off the face of the earth forever, God made a way. From the very first day of our rebellion, God promised to send a Savior (Genesis 3:15). Over the years God made it clearer and clearer that this Savior would be sent by him, would heal the nations, bring hope to people and die for the sins of the world. (See Isaiah 53).

When Jesus of Nazareth came into our world he healed the sick, controlled nature and preached that the kingdom of God was here. Jesus claimed to be God and did the work of God.

But instead of wiping us off the face of the earth forever, God made a way.

God’s greatest work was to not stop all immediate suffering, but to stop suffering forever. How? By taking on the worst suffering of all: taking the judgment that humans deserved on himself. He lived a perfect life and died an innocent death in our place.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

That’s great news! When we go through suffering it’s not because God doesn’t love us. Rather, it’s because God redeemed us for a better life. Jesus doesn’t want us to languish away forever in a sinful world. He died to take away our sins and rose again so when we die we will live with him forever. Regardless of the pandemic, sickness and suffering we endure in this world.

God’s greatest work was to not stop suffering immediately, but to stop suffering forever.

Once when Jesus’ disciple John was enduring great suffering and persecution, God sent him a vision of eternal life in heaven. You and I believers will do well to keep our eyes on this scene as we go through COVID-19 or any other suffering:

“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4)

Do you see the end of COVID-19? Maybe not clearly right now. But God your Creator, Sustainer and Savior does. Be vigilant in prayer Be a responsible neighbor and good steward of your own health. But most importantly trust that God has made clear to you the final plan for your life: life forever with him in heaven.

Want to learn more about God’s promises for you during a pandemic? Visit www.tellnetwork.org. After taking several self-learning Bible classes you can be enrolled in a live-instructor Bible class. There you will continue learning with a trained instructor, asking more questions and growing in faith!

Picture this: the CEO of the company is dictating a letter to the secretary. As the CEO speaks, the secretary takes down every word. When the CEO is done, it’s clearly the CEO’s letter.

At the same time, the secretary’s abilities, skills, etc. are sure to show through. For example, if the secretary has poor eyesight, the letter will probably be typed in a larger font. Yet the letter remains the CEO’s.

Although simplistic, that basically illustrates how we got the Bible. God is the “CEO,” and various human writers are the “secretaries.” God gave the writers the exact words which He wanted them to use. The Bible describes it this way: “All Scripture is God-breathed…” (2 Timothy 3:16). Similarly, “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Often in the Old Testament (written about 1400 – 400 B.C.) you’ll hear God say something like, “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you … ” (Jeremiah 36:2) These words are God’s Words.

Does Jesus agree? Yes! One time Jesus quoted a passage from the book of Psalms. After He did, He made a parenthetical, yet important, remark: “–and the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). He was saying, “These words are God’s words.”

The New Testament makes the same claim. One example is found in 1 Thessalonians: “… when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God . . .” (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Again, these words are God’s words.

And yet God in mercy chose to work through human writers, more than 35 of them. God used people like Moses, Isaiah, Luke, John, and Paul to write down His words, to be His “secretaries,” and indeed their personality/talents shine through. For example, Luke was a physician. In his books, we see lots of details, as you might expect from a physician. Paul was a learned man, so the books he wrote are often quite deep, even a bit more difficult to understand.

To summarize, God gave the Bible through human writers; we can learn a few things about them by reading their books. Yet they remained merely the “secretaries.” The words, finally, are God’s.

In this world, why do bad things happen at all? One would have to agree that bad things do happen to all people. War, poverty, disease, sickness, accidents, pain, sorrow, death occur everyday to people around the globe. The rich, the poor, the intellectual, the illiterate, the strong, the weak, the old, the young can all be stricken and afflicted by that which we might define as bad.

This is not how God envisioned the world he created. When he was done creating the world, God looked over his creation and we read his evaluation in Genesis 1, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” What happened to this world that was very good? The answer again is found in the Bible, just a few short pages away from Genesis chapter 1. Adam and Eve, the first humans created by God, listened to the temptation of the devil, chose to go against God’s command and so sinned. Sin entered this perfect world. The effect of this sin was felt not only by Adam and Eve, but by all of creation. God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.”

About 4000 years after Creation, the Bible gives us an evaluation of the status of the world with these words: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” All of creation is tainted by evil. The ultimate evil that sin brought into the world is death, which awaits all living things on earth.

What good is there in this world that is so steeped in evil? On this side of eternity, the bad things keep happening. Evil will continue to happen until the end of time. God has not left us without hope. God in his love sent his one and only son, Jesus, into this world to live as our brother and to suffer the sorrows of this life, including a horrible death in our place. In exchange he guarantees us a place where we might enjoy goodness and mercy forever. There will be no more sorrow, or crying or pain. As believers in Jesus, the bad things of this life will pass away and we will be able to experience paradise in heaven.