56 BIBLE, The literary style of the, Harold Hunt Taken purely for its literary style, the Bible is different than any other book that has ever been written. Especially in its historical portions, the Bible allows its characters to simply stand forth and speak for themselves. It records what they said, what they did, and what were the consequences. It puts the reader in a position as if he were standing off to the side observing and listening to what was going on. That is the next best thing to being there. The characters are so true to life; their strengths and weaknesses are so common to all of us; and their experiences are so believable, so very similar to our own, that we feel to be acquainted with them. Their speeches sound as if they were coming from our own heart rather from words in a book.