I view the Holy Bible as the journey of a human being growing into maturity.
There are many opinions as to the number of stages a person goes through. The number of stages of human development range from 5 to 12 stages. The stages I will use include:
1) Living in the womb:
I compare living in the womb to living in the Garden of Eden. While the child is in the womb he/she does not have to work for food. The food is provided by the mother through the umbilical cord. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve did not need to work for their food, it was provided by God through the fruit.
While in the womb the child grows to a point when there is no more room for him/her, and the child is forced to leave in order to continue growing. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve continue to grow as individuals until they have to leave it.
When a child leaves the warm comfort of the womb it experiences the harsh reality of a cold world, needing help to breath and survive. In the same way, when Adam and Eve leave the Garden of Eden they experience a world that is foreign to them, cold and hard. They need to work for their food. And, just like a good parent God continues to be with them as they learn to live in this harsh world.
2) Childhood to end of teenage years
Through this stage, which has many sub-stages, a person will experience many successes and many failures. How she/he deals with these experiences will mainly depend on the parents, though, not entirely, as seen in the case of Cain and Abel. They were the first born of Adam and Eve, and because of their relationship with God I would consider to be good parents. Unfortunately, it seems that Cain grew up with a chip on his shoulder, and though he was warned by God to deal with that chip, he ended up killing Abel instead. The second recorded instance of someone not listening to God.
The history of Israel is full of such experiences, in which they at one point love God, and at other times don’t want to have anything to do with him (I use the accepted male gender for God, but as Jesus said there are no genders in heaven). And just like a normal teenager, Israel is full of rebellion, against God, themselves, and the world. As the Israelites continue to grow in rebellion they pull further and further away from God, until they can no longer hear Him. It is then that they fall into disarray, and for approximately 400 years they do not have it in their heart to hear God.
3) Adult Years
The adult years is when a person learns to make his/her mark on the world around them. Hopefully maturity has set in, and will continue to grow in the person’s life. This is how I view Jesus, because he represents the maturity of the Israelites religion. He turns their view of God totally upside down. Through his ministry he teaches from the heart to the heart. Anyone who is willing to listen from the heart will grow in love and peace. Anyone who listens from the mind only will not be able to understand Jesus’s message. I believe the adult years is mainly about incorporating the heart with the mind. This is shown throughout the New Testament, not only through the words and actions of Jesus, but also through the words and actions of his followers.
This is a very simplistic view of the process that we as individuals go through, but then again I am a very simple man. This way of viewing the bible has helped me to relate to it. It is my intention to revisit this view and add more information as I grow in my understanding of God, Jesus, and the Bible.
God, love, life 