by Fran Mascioli

Created on: March 15, 2010   Last Updated: March 28, 2010

There is one central theme of the Bible: Atonement. It’s the beginning, middle and end of the story. The consistent purpose of the Testaments is clearly described throughout those covenant records. The Old Testament was written to give instructions, directions, explanations and advice. There is continuous mention of the coming Messiah needed for restoration, renewal and the redemption of mankind. The Hebrew authors described this person and the Jews await his arrival.

The New Testament saints were given sound advice and a logical approach to seek and find that same atonement. The purpose of the new covenant was to clarify that the Messiah had come, and to look back at the cross for the true understanding of the scriptures. Both testaments are based on a creative master reaching out with love to his creation.

Yet God's most precious gift to us is Free Will. We can accept the words of these covenants or reject them. We can find the scriptures full of love, guidance and acceptance, or we can exercise our God given right to our own opinion of how this world works.

If we open the Bible to Genesis Chapter One, Verses One and Two, we can see so much about God and His plan. It’s written to be understood by the reader. No interpretation is required. It is to be taken literally, and is not symbolic. The King James Version is an excellent translation. If we question anything we hear spoken by preachers or fellow believers, we have the opportunity to read the scriptures for ourselves. No one can force us to believe, and no one can raise us to believe in any one opinion.

However, the Old Testament was translated FROM Hebrew, a language with far more words used for descriptions than the English language. Therefore, in order to grasp the original meaning of each and every word, we should sincerely attempt to use a concordance to translate word by word. A good source would be Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with Hebrew, Chaldee and Greek dictionaries.

The very first verse (Genesis 1:1) of the Bible tells us that in the beginning God creates the heaven and earth from no pre-existing materials (as explained in the original Hebrew text). This is the dateless past. This does not dispute science, because we are not given a timetable for this creation. The earth may very well be millions of years old.

Although the Old Testament Hebrew version uses many words to describe God, the word "God" in this verse is the Hebrew word "Elohiym" (El being Almighty,

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