Sacred books 1

Sikhs believe that the Guru Granth Sahib is the supreme spiritual authority and head of the Sikh religion, rather than any living person. The original version was complied by Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth sikh guru, in 1604. He collected the compositions of previous gurus over a number of years. The text includes almost 6000 hymns and poems composed at different times and in different languages, which makes it very difficult to translate. It also includes Hindu and Muslim writings, reflecting the religions tolerance of the gurus. The Christian sacred book is called the Bible. It is made up of two parts – the Old Testament describes the history of the Israelites and contains books of history, law, poetry and wisdom. It was written by different people, probably between 1100 and 200 BC. The New Testament describes the story of Jesus’ life and his importance of Christians. It was probably written between AD 50 and 150. Passages from the Bible are read at Christian church services, and Christian also see the Bible as containing a code to live by and guidance in following their faith.