I believe that the Bible is underrated in many ways and for various reasons.
First of all, I think this by looking at its content. Over time, society has evolved enormously in all respects. The beauty and complexity of the Bible lies in the fact that it is as relevant now as it was 1000-2000 years ago. The power of the content of the Bible comes precisely from this uninterrupted applicability that the basic principles presented in the Bible have had and still have regardless of historical periods, socio-political changes, economic changes and so on.
If we think practically, there are only a few social, legal, medical rules, etc. that people applied 1000 years ago and that are still valid in our society or with which today’s man would completely agree.
In this context comes the Bible that puts before us a set of rules that were valid then and that are valid today. A pertinent and current example can be this 14-day quarantine imposed by the authorities during this pandemic, as this type of quarantine applied long before the time of the Bible’s writing in cases of plagues, viruses, leprosy etc. and it is still valid today.
Secondly, I believe that this under-appreciation of the Bible comes from the fact that people have attributed to it all sorts of untrue appearances, have given it all sorts of interpretations meant to give it the ability to integrate it into different parts of society created by people. Consequently, people prefer to judge these different facets that are attributed to the Bible by other people and not to see and evaluate accordingly their own opinion of it. Basically, I consider the Bible to be the only book that many people choose not to give any chances from the beginning and prefer to judge it by the cover – the cover being what the people heard from others, what it is said by people through the society of which they are part, what is transmitted through different customs and traditions as so on. For this reason, I believe that the Bible is not valued at its true value because people do not know it and do not want to know it or anything about it.
Another reason why I think the Bible is underrated is that people confuse its content with religion. But I think the two have nothing in common. The content of the Bible is about faith, about our soul, about personal relationship with God. The content of the Bible is also about personal development, about how one can have peace in his soul, about the principle of life, the principle of relationship in the family, in society, in the community, in the relationship with the state and with the authorities. The content of the Bible is also about the development of the mind, about wisdom, about intellectual development, about the physical care that one must have for their own body.
On the other hand, religion is about something completely different: it is about a form of organization that is more or less compatible with society, with the state, with the authority of the state. Religion has nothing to do with the soul, the body, or the mind, although religious leaders constantly try their best to leave this impression.
Moreover, I believe that the old language of the Bible makes people consider it a book irrelevant to today’s society or world. I think this is proof of the superficial way in which people treat so many things. It is also an example of the fact that we can lose valuable content because of the packaging that we consider little or no attractive at all.
So I think the Bible deserves at least a chance. I think people should try to read at least a few passages from it, let it sink in, let it go through their own filters and only then draw conclusions. I think that in this way, people would have the opportunity to form their own opinion about this book and, implicitly, to know that what they think belongs to them 100%.