The Old Testament. Is it a rule book something else? Do we align our lives around it or simply know it? What is it? Simply put, the Old Testament is the backstory to THE Story. It chronicles God’s redemptive history. It’s a fabulous, gritty, epic history of the Hebrew people. One that presents the history of God preparing the world for a Savior.

“In the beginning…” can be a loaded phrase – one that forces us into debate and doubt. But maybe we’re missing the point of Genesis 1:1- a point Moses made to a world where the violence and injustice of the gods justified and legitimized the violence and injustice of human rulers. Many civilizations had creation stories that supported the idea that the human race was an afterthought. Consequently, throughout history, individuals had no rights, hope, intrinsic value… until Moses introduced a radically different, unparalleled, and untested worldview.

Most of us are familiar with some stories in the Bible, but many of us are unfamiliar with how we got the Bible in the first place. As the purpose of the Bible is for our transformation, grasping the reason we even have this “Good Book” is key to understanding the stories written in it.

The Bible is probably the most misunderstood book in history, yet it has powerfully shaped human history for the past 2,000+ years. For many, the reality is that our approach to this “Good Book” is influenced by our past experiences and issues with the Bible. So, if all of our individual issues are different, how can we know its primary purpose?