SELF HELP 7 #1

“The Holy Bible is indeed the biggest selling book but the least read and understood books of all times” and I
concur to this. Even I, myself, as a Christian own a Bible, but I never really read much of it. And there is no really a
specific reason as to why I do not read it. And who knows, maybe in the future, I will be able to finish reading the book.

During my high school years, I’ve studied in a catholic school, and even up until now. Throughout these years
I’ve studied Christian Living and Religious Education subjects which talks about God, the Bible, etc. And upon watching
the video, I can recall the learnings I learned throughout these years since the video was about the general introduction
of the Bible.

The Bible, as we all know is a collection of not just one but 73 books. It is separated into two, the Old Testament
and the New Testament books. And I am proud to say, I can memorize almost all of it. The Bible was also written by
different authors and was written for a long period of time. When I was younger, I thought the “long period of time”
only took months but little did I know, it means hundreds or thousands of years. It is said that the Old Testament is an
agreement of God to the people of Israel, whereas the New Testament is an agreement of God to all the nations. I just
really find it fascinating how people from one generation to another generation was able to preserve and pass on the
stories and learnings to us today. And I hope in the future generations to come, the Bible would still be alive as much it is
today.
SELF HELP 7 #2

The Old Testament canons consist of 46 books and are divided into 4 parts: Pentateuch/Torah, Historical books,
Wisdom books, and Prophets.

Torah, as stated in the video, is a Hebrew word that means “instruction” and by this, I can already tell the content of
these books that includes the teachings, guidance, and the law of God to the people of Israel. On the other hand,
Pentateuch is a Greek word that means “the five scrolls of books” and we all know that these books are what we call in
the abbreviation “GELEND” which stands for Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. It is also called the
Law of Moses since he was said to be the author of these books. “The Creation” story is found on these books which is
one of my favorite Bible stories.  

Historical books contain 17 books. It may be called historical books but the way we understand the word “historical” is
not similar to how it is before because this book is about the Israelites entering into the Promised Land, etc. Here, the
tools of understanding the Bible comes in, and we need to consider these tools for us to fully understand the scriptures.
But these tools are not only applicable to these books but the whole Bible.

Wisdom books contain 8 books. The stories of these books are distinct from each other. From what I’ve learned, Job is
about a man’s question of suffering, Psalms are books about poems that are put into music, Proverbs is a collection of
short sayings, and so on. Each one has a unique story to tell and learnings to get from.

The last category, which is the Prophets contains 16 books. The prophet, as we all know is sometimes called a fortune
teller, but in the Bible, it does not mean that. A prophet means “mouthpiece” or “nabi” which delivers the message of
God to the people by words and deed. These books are named after the name of the authors but some weren’t. This
shows how God really is powerful that He was able to let the people of Israel know His words and teachings.

These books are all equally important for us today. Without these books and us just having the New Testament books
we may be left hanging. Without it, we may not know anything about Jesus, from who He is, why He was born, why He
died, and so on. I might not be the right person saying this, but people really need to start reading and understanding
the Bible, who knows, it might change the way you see life.

SELF HELP 7 #3
 The New Testament is the second division of the Bible and the canons consist of 27 books and has 6 categories:
Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles of Saint Paul, Letter to the Hebrews, Catholic Epistles, and Revelation. These
books are written mainly for us Christians. When we talk about New Testament, the thing that comes to my mind is the
fulfillment of prophecies of the Old Testament. Also, the people that I know who have read the Bible told me that
Revelation books are frightening, but I never believed in that; because for me all of the books in the Bible is what God
wanted us to learn and is never meant to scare us but rather enlighten us.
 
                In the video, the background of the authors and when were the books written were mentioned. But I like to
focus on some of the categories of the canons more. As I watched the video, I can’t help but be excited to know what
the stories behind those books are. I am eager to learn more as I continue to watch these video clips that talks about the
Bible.
               
As mentioned in the video Gospel means “good news”. And this “good news” is referred to as “victory” and is
attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is a victory of God and Christ between the forces of sin, sickness,
disruption, and death. These forces are really familiar to us especially the first one. At a young age, I was taught by my
parents to have fear in Lord and the word “sin”. Growing up, I have already put in my mind that the moment we are
born from this world, we are already sinners. And we can be cleansed as sinners when baptized as Christian. But as we
grow older we can’t help but commit sin every single day, and I am guilty of this, for I am not perfect. And the only way
for us to be free from sin is through confessing our wrongdoings. It might be hard, even for me, but it may lead us to our
own way of “victory”.
 
                Acts of the Apostles are key roles of the Christian life to women. And our Blessed Mother Mary is the role
model of Faithful discipleship. Mother Mary is also one of my role models, and to give proof, I am wearing a necklace
having 2 pendants of the Miraculous Medal for almost 5 years now. I am also used to wearing this necklace that taking it
off would make me feel empty and unsafe for I believe this necklace gives me strength, protection, and guidance
wherever I go.
               
                The letter of James is more of a sermon than a letter, said in the video. One of my favorite mottos in life is
located here which is the gospel verse of James 2:26 that indicates “Faith without works is dead”. This verse has been
one of my inspirations and I am holding onto this in times that I feel like giving up especially in academics. But as I
remember this verse, it makes me want to work harder because losing hope is not a choice when I reach for my dreams
and goals in life.
 
                In conclusion, these books give importance to how we should live as Christians since it by one means or another
fulfills our spiritual needs as individuals who believe in God. It instructs us what must be done and is the proof of our
Lord’s existence and our savior Jesus Christ.
SELF HELP 7 #4
 
 
                The last video presented to us was about interpreting the Bible. Doing this we have 3 terms: Exegesis, Eisegesis,
and Hermeneutics. Deciphering and understanding the scriptural content isn't as simple as we think. We may read and
understood what it says but we never truly understood completely what the writings truly mean. We may understand it
the way we need to, but deciphering the sacred writings requires more than fair understanding.
 
                Interpreting the Bible is not an easy task. Even we as Catholics are having a hard time interpreting the Bible. If
we would just understand everything literally, the whole message of what God is trying to tell us will be left out. So, for
us to interpret the message, we need first to understand why the author wrote it and consider some factors and not just
relying on how we understand the messages. Here, the different tools and technology of understanding the Bible comes
in. We have textual, philological, historical, form, source, redaction, structural, and rhetorical criticisms. And these tools
can help us really interpret and understand the Bible well.
 
                In the video, the creation story was made as an example of how we interpret the Bible. If we would try to
understand the creation story scientifically, we won’t be able to not understand it because it doesn’t make sense at all,
but if we theologically interpret the story, then that would make sense, especially because the creation story has a genre
of a creation myth and is not based on scientific study. And by this example, we can already comprehend how we should
accurately interpret the Bible