Whether lying about raiding the biscuit tin or denying they broke a toy, all children try to mislead their parents at some time. Yet it now appears that babies learn to deceive from a far younger age than anyone previously suspected. Behavioural experts have found that infants begin to lie from as young as six months. Simple fibs help to train them for more complex deceptions in later life. Until now, psychologists had thought the developing brains were not capable of the difficult art of lying until four years old. Following studies of more than 50 children and interviews with parents, Dr Vasudevi Reddy, of the University of Portsmouth’s psychology department, says she has identified seven categories of deception used between six months and three-years-old. Infants quickly learned that using tactics such as fake crying and pretend laughing could win them attention. By eight months, more difficult deceptions became apparent, such as concealing forbidden activities or trying to distract parents” attention. By the age of two, toddlers could use far more devious techniques, such as bluffing when threatened with a punishment. Dr Reddy said: "Fake crying is one of the earliest forms of deception to emerge, and infants use it to get attention even though nothing is wrong. You can tell, as they will then pause while they wait to hear if their mother is responding, before crying again. "It demonstrates they’re clearly able to distinguish that what they are doing will have an effect. This is essentially all adults do when they tell lies, except in adults it becomes more morally loaded." [show less]

You are reading at this moment. Did you ever think of what actually happens when you read? One person thought about it and said: “The eye follows black letters on a white paper from left to right, again and again. And beings, nature or thoughts, that another man has thought, just now or thousands of years ago, step forward in our imagination. It is a miracle greater than when a grain from the tombs of the Pharaohs is made to sprout. And it happens every moment.’2 Reading is a powerful experience. Words on paper can create a different reality from your own. As long as you keep reading you ‘live’ in the world of the text. It lets you grasp another person’s inner mind in a way that doesn’t happen with ordinary people, or maybe even people you know well. There are books about good books,3 books on how to read books,4 and on the history of reading books.5 We all read for different reasons – information, learning, experience. But is that all? In June 1857, the French author Flaubert wrote in a letter: ‘We read to live’. I like this idea, personally. And for me, reading to live means starting with the Holy Bible. why the bible? From 1456, when Johannes Gutenberg completed the first printed Bible (in Latin) until today, countless Bibles have been printed and distributed. The Bible or some part of it now exists in 2,370 languages! This means it is accessible to more than 90% of the world’s population. So why are all these people reading the Bible? It’s simple, really. Bible readers have discovered the power of scripture to maintain a spiritual reality which provides rest, strength and security. An non-Christian observer once noted that ‘As long as you hold on to the [bible] text you find rest. The text is firm, unchangeable, rests in its innocence and purity, and allows for examination and study. I understand the power Christian people find in the Bible. The Book becomes their unshakeable rock. The god that is outside the book is uncertain and unreachable.’6 I’ve found that reading the Bible not only awakens a longing for God but also satisfies that longing. It is both the menu and the food. It does something with you. It leads you into the world and mind of God. If you wonder about God but feel that He is absent or silent, then try reading a Bible or talking to someone who knows God. It brings me more in touch with Him. what is the bible? It is a collection of 66 books, all written before 100 A.D. The Hebrew collection (39 books, also known as the Old Testament) was defined no later than around 100 A.D. (following the Jewish author Josephus). The Greek collection (27 books, also called the New Testament) was established around 200 A.D. (as evidenced by Canon Muratori), but a few New Testament books were discussed until around 400 A.D., when they were included in the collection. The oldest parts of the Bible were written more than 1,500 years before that. The process of collecting these sacred books went on for nearly 2,000 years. Each book in the Bible is very different from the others. So it’s good to choose an easy translation, as well as an appropriate book in the Bible to start. Some are harder to tackle than others, but you’re free to choose. If you are a beginner, you may want to start reading the love poetry in the Song of Songs, or the philosophy in Ecclesiastes, or the wise sayings in Proverbs. You might even have a go at the treatise on human suffering in the book of Job. Whether or not you are exactly religious, you will find something to connect with in these books. If you’re looking for God, prayers and hymns of the Psalms may be a good start, or the story of Jesus according to the gospel of John. Elsewhere in the Bible you will find historical books starting from the creation of the world, legal material from ancient Israel, books on religious instruction in prophecy and wisdom, four versions of the life of Jesus, stories about the foundation of the Christian church, letters of instruction to new congregations, and the apocalyptic vision of the book of Revelation. When you read the Bible, your approach may be focused along five avenues:7 Basic beliefs (theology) Information (history) Being together (community, worship) Life guidelines (moral and practical instruction) Expressions of your relationship to God (prayer) Through its variety and mixture of forms, the Bible challenges you to read it as the word of God for you. Try it and don’t give up too quickly! Your own experience is important. The experience of your friends is important too. Reading the Bible with others in a group that meets regularly is a good way to start. What you like and understand can then help others, while they in turn may help you with the questions the Bible raises in you. ‘if you have you will be given’ When you start reading the Bible, the most important preparation is to be somewhat aware of what the Bible claims to be and do for you. It sounds a bit strange, but you can’t really understand what you read without some pre-understanding. In fact, scholars of textual interpretation know that the more appropriate and developed your pre-understanding is, the more likely it is that your study will be a fruitful one.8 As a Bible-reader, you need some understanding of the context of the Bible to understand its message. So why not read the Bible on its own terms? Any good author seeks to build-in certain instructions to help the reader discover how the text should be read. Being fair to a book starts with seeking to understand what it wants to say. You wouldn’t read tonight’s TV program as if it were poetry or a love letter, would you? So, give the Bible a chance to be what it claims to be! By opening yourself to the Bible, you give it a chance to be understood. When you understand it, you will be able to decide what to believe about it. Your primary need as a reader is a reasonable biblical view of the Bible. For the beginner, try starting in Paul’s second letter to Timothy, chapter 3, verses 15-17. This is an important passage that concerns the nature and function of the Bible. The intended reader of this passage is Timothy, a young leader of the church in Ephesus – its’ beautiful remains can still be seen in modern Turkey near Izmir - and Paul’s two letters to this young man give instructions on good community leadership. In the second letter, Paul writes from a Roman prison urging Timothy to visit before the winter (4:21), and bring his cloak and his books (4:13). We don’t know if Timothy got there before Paul died, but this letter is sometimes considered to be the ‘last will and testament’ of the apostle Paul. ‘You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.’ The ‘sacred writings’ in Paul’s day were the Old Testament writings, the first 39 books of the Bible also sacred to Jewish believers. We know he wrote this letter before the Bible as a whole had been collected into one volume. But it indicates certain basic elements of his view of the Bible. inspired writing and reading ‘All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching…’9 This translation fits the context and Paul’s intention to defeat false teachings. It means that, not only some parts of scripture (not just any ‘scripture’ claiming sacred status) are useful for building up life and faith in God, but the whole of the (recognised) scripture is ‘inspired by God’, and therefore it is useful for teaching. The Greek word theopneustos, ‘inspired by God’, was commonly understood among Jews and early Christians in those days to mean that the Bible originated with God, not humankind. The same idea is very strongly expressed in Peter’s second letter, chapter 1, verses 20-21: ‘Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.’ This indicates that the texts of the Bible were inspired by God but expressed in human writings (the Greek word for ‘prophecy’ means both ‘forth-telling’ and ‘fore-telling’ and may refer to an inspired saying and/or a prediction). So there is a blending of both human and divine in the Bible. You may read it at the human level and it will make some sense to you. But only when you read it as both human and divine will you be reading it on its own terms. Only then you can claim to be reading it in its fullness. Paul’s passage to Timothy places an emphasis on the function of the Bible. Because it is inspired by God, it is (consequently) useful for teaching, reproof, correction and training. Its authority as God’s inspired word makes it a useful and effective book to read-for-life. The Bible also teaches that God reveals His ‘secret wisdom’ by His Spirit, who ‘searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets’. It says that ‘no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit’.10 In fact, the Bible teaches that God’s Spirit and His Word have a specific revelatory function: the Spirit is the bearer of the divine Word and reveals God’s secret wisdom through the Word. Not only the Old Testament writings, therefore, but also the speeches and writings of the early Christian leaders are ‘inspired by God’. Paul speaks to this in his first letter to the church in Corinth.11 He claims that ‘we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths’ (verse 13). He also claims that in order to receive and understand the words of God’s Spirit, ‘we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us’ (verse 12). Besides the sacred writings of the Old Testament, which were being recognised and defined during the first century of the common era, the Christians passed on a tradition, sometimes called paratheke, or ‘deposit of received teaching’.12 Studies show that it was based on the story of Christ and his teachings, to which were added various practical applications in the course of the development of the early Christian church.13 This is how the writings of the New Testament also became considered sacred and as given by the Spirit of God. This view of the Bible implies that it is the word of God by inspiration. It also implies that the process of inspiration is not limited only to writing but also includes reading – the intimate communication between author, text and reader. In other words, not only were the Bible authors inspired, but readers need inspiration from the same source as the authors in order to understand God’s word. The Bible becomes God’s word for you personally through the influence of God’s Holy Spirit in your mind. The Bible’s general view of itself is that God is its ultimate source.14 The Christian writers of the 27 books of the New Testament constantly appeal to the Old Testament writings to confirm the truth of what they say. They also assume that their own writings had an authoritative character from God Himself.15 This is not easy to grasp all at once. But be patient. Let the process begin. Seek and you will find. God has put into the Bible the capacity to explain itself, and the more I read the more things become clear. This growth and expansion of your mind is going to be a thrilling experience and will educate you factually, morally and aesthetically. You will discover that the Bible is a wonderful source of truth, goodness and beauty. Isn’t that what you are looking for? instructive – salvation, faith, life ‘The sacred writings…are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus’.16 One central function of the Bible is its ability to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. This is the primary spiritual function of the Bible. So, while we recognize that truth exists that is not found in the Bible, the Bible claims to be unique in providing the full truth needed for finding God and walking with God through Jesus Christ. This implies both a promise and a condition. When we read the Bible in search of Christ, the Spirit of God will provide a spiritual understanding of the text. So our spiritual communion with God becomes the central topic of the Bible. We read to live in Him. how shall i read? The biblical view of the Bible is that it is: Given by God and is His inspired word that reveals His secret wisdom; Makes you wise for salvation by faith in Jesus Christ; Teaches, trains and equips for a good life. If you feel that the Bible is like a foreign country, then reading it for yourself is the best way to journey there. Firstly, make sure you are the traveller. While there are many good guides, no second-hand knowledge about the Bible can replace your own personal experience of reading it. Secondly, reading the Bible is different from any other reading experience. It demands more time to pause and examine yourself and where you are. Thirdly, read the Bible in order to meet God and hear what He says to you. In that way, the reading becomes a part of your life – you read to live. The Bible shows you where God was found by other human beings, how they were changed by meeting Him, and how they tried to find ways to live with others in relationship to the God they had discovered. Reading invites you to imitate their experience. Fourthly, the real meaning of the Bible is something you find when you relate it to your life. When you make such a connection between word and life, you remember what you read and let it shape you. So, your Bible reading does not only inform but it transforms. Be prepared for surprises on your journey! The authority of the Bible is based on its own claims. It can only be tested and proved by reading. As you engage in this experience, you’ll discover the spiritual power and authority of God’s word for you. The church father Aurelius Augustinus (354 - 430 A.D.), who was converted to Christianity by reading the Bible, said in his Confessions: ‘Indeed the authority of Scripture seemed more to be revered and more worthy of devoted faith in that it was at once a book that all could read and read easily, and yet preserved the majesty of its mystery in the deepest part of its meaning: for it offers itself to all in the plainest words and the simplest expressions, yet demands the closest attention of the most serious minds.’ Countless men and women have made the same experience. It is in your hands to decide to become one of them. [show less]

How often do you read from the Bible? What do you know about it? What makes you interested in reading the Bible more now? Has something changed? What experience do you hope to achieve from studying this ancient book?

Is it possible that God is speaking to you through your new interest in the Holy Bible?