DID YOU KNOW ?
- Did you know that the Bible is actually not just one book, but a library of sixty six books? Take a moment and look at the table of contents in your Bible. You will see that there are thirty nine books in the Old Testament and twenty seven in the New Testament, making a total of sixty six. There were some forty different authors involved in the writing of the Bible. They wrote in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). These writers lived in different places over a time span of 1,500 years and yet every book of the Bible is in perfect harmony with every other book of the Bible. This is powerful evidence that the Bible, though written by men, was inspired by the Spirit of God.
- Did you know that the most reliable description of Jesus Christ is found in the Bible? Yet for some reason, a lot of people would rather listen to a modern scholar tells us what he thinks about Jesus, rather than read for themselves what the people who knew Jesus have written. Why not read the original sources for yourself. The best way to learn about Jesus is to read the testimony of those who actually knew Him. Take for instance, the apostle John who was Jesus best friend. John lived with Jesus, heard Him, touched Him, leaned back on Him at the last supper and worshiped Him after he rose again. He was most probably the person that Jesus asked to take care of his Mother, after his death. (John 19:25-27)
You can read His biography of the Christ in a little over an hour. It is the fourth book of the New Testament entitled, “The Gospel According To John.”
- Did you know that the Bible predicted, in detail, the life of Jesus, centuries before His birth? Even though most of the Bible was written centuries before Jesus was born, the entire Bible points to Him. Very early in the pages of Genesis (the first book of the Bible) when sin and death came into the world a promise was made that someone born of a woman, would deliver the world from the curse of sin and death (Gen 3:15). From that point forward the hope of a redeemer who would reconcile mankind to God and defeat the powers of darkness was a major theme in the scriptures. They foretold the place of his birth (Micah 5:2) that he would be born of a virgin (Isa 7:14). That he would suffer and die for our sins (Psalm 22:1-18;
Isa 53:4-12). Countless other prophecies fill the pages of the Old Testament. This is a powerful evidence that the Bible is inspired by God, who alone knows the future.
- Did you know that the word Baptize is lifted directly from the Greek New Testament text, the word baptizo (bap-tid'-zo); to immerse, submerge, to overwhelm (i.e. fully wet) as in dyeing a garment ? In the New Testament the word is most commonly used to describe the ritual of immersing, in water, a person who has professed faith in Jesus Christ and wishes to identify himself with Christ. It is described in Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome as a burial into the death and resurrection of Jesus (Rom 6:3,4). The unscriptural act of sprinkling (Gk - rhantizo) or pouring (Gk- ekcheo) water on a person as the act of baptism was not introduced until centuries after the death of Christ.
- Did you know that denominationalism was not taught in the Bible? There was one Faith (Eph 4:2-5). Jesus prayed that all of His disciples would be united as one (John 17:20-21). Denomination implies a necessity to identiy due to differences. The differences are not from God or Christ, but from the doctrines of men.
When the church in the city of Corinth was splintering into factions, the apostle Paul sought to correct this by urging them not to divide (1 Cor 1:10). Instead he urged them to make love their priority and to strive to be of the same mind (2 Cor 13:11). We should stand in the faith as one man in Jesus Christ (Eph 4:15-16). Sectarianism and denominationalism create confusion and division, not unity as Jesus prayed. (1 Cor 1:20-25)
