What is the Bible? Probably the simplest answer to that question is: it's the first book, written by people. That fact lets us to draw several important conclusions. Because it's the first book, we have almost no other books from those times and therefore have no information about those times and people. As a result we don't know for sure who had written it, what for and how we can use it.

In other words: we cannot state with certainty, what is the Bible. But without that understanding people may easily misuse it and cause serious, sometimes fatal harm. And in fact throughout history it is happening again and again. Wrong usage of a medicine makes it a poison, though some poisons become a medicine when applied correctly.

What is a purpose of the Bible? As any other book the Bible is a source of information. And the most interesting theory suggests that the Bible itself is a compilation of ancient texts. As such it contains the most valuable information we may have because the older information is the more important it is.

People changed a lot since the time when Bible was written. Now people write many books every day. It's really hard to estimate how many books were written since that time. But none of those written or now electronic books ever got close in popularity with the Bible. It brings us to another important conclusion and a question. If people cannot write same books like Bible then can they really understand Bible at all?

What is the Bible? It is possible that we just are not able to grasp the essence of that mysterious book. At the same time Bible contains a lot of information which can help us in our everyday life. And most people understand it, but everyone understands it his or her own way.