Hey Gang!
Do you all remember the questions I had you write down on paper a few weeks ago during Youth Group? Well, I've been thinking about what to do with them.
Then an idea came to mind, and guess what!? Ms.Becky....just tonight....expressed her thoughts about them.....and they were the exact same thoughts I had!
Soooooo, what I'm going to do is start answering them on the blog one by one. Now, what I hope you will do is either make comments about the question or answer, or perhaps ask more questions about the original question or the answer.
Okay???
Ok, here we go. (Oh, there will be no particular order. I'll be just pulling them off my "stack" one by one.)
First Question: "How many books are there in the Bible?"
66.............. 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament.
The Old Testament was written over a period of about 1,000 years (@ 1400-430 BC)...or perhaps longer, and there are over 30 different writers.
Although the first 5 books of the O.T. (Genesis-Deuteronomy) were written by Moses, and describe the beginnings of the world, the oldest book of the O.T. very well could be Job. There are "clues" within the book of Job that tell us of the culture and history in which Job lived, that would tell us that it may have been sometime between the tower of Babel and Abraham.
The New Testament was written over a period of about 60 years (@ 33-95 AD), by 10 writers - most of which had a direct relationship with Jesus Christ while He was on earth.
What I find interesting about all of this, is that the Bible was written over a period of 1,100+ years by over 40 different writers. Many writers did not even know each other, and were in totally different time periods of history. Yet, what each writer wrote in "their" books, ALL cooperate in the SAME MESSAGE. They don't contradict each other, nor do they speak of different ways to God, nor do they reveal God as changing. He is absolute, and therefore His Truth remains forever.
"The words of the LORD are pure words - like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall keep them, oh LORD, You shall preserve them from this generation forever!"
Psalm12:6-7
Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts to add!
Mr. G
I actually had a question... When they first found books of the bible they found them on scrolls, right? Did't the people who found the the original scrolls of the bible, also find a bunch of other scrolls in with those too? My question is, how did they know they did not miss any of the bible? Did the other scrolls just not line up with the the scrolls (books) we have now?
ReplyDeleteGREAT question!!
ReplyDeleteIf you want the short answer...
Yes, many writings have been discovered, and thought to be a part of the Bible. However, yes, the writings of the O.T. and N.T. were compared with not only other copies of the Old and New Testament writings for accuracy, but also other manuscripts to examine translation, and also by the Scripture itself.
If you want a little longer, and a little more detailed answer.....
The Old Testament scriptures began to be written at the time of Moses, in which we see plainly in Ex., Lev., Num., and Deut.. All throughout these 4 books, it is commmanded by God to keep these words and obey them.
Later, passages such as I Sam.10:25; I Chron.29:29; and Jeremiah 30:2 speak of continuing to write in the "book". Jesus Himself quoted MANY O.T. passages during His ministry and life, and in the N.T., various passages of the O.T. are quoted almost 300 times. Therefore, Scripture proves Scripture to be true and without error.
As far as it's total acceptance of the O.T., yes, there have been other books found and compared to Scripture. However, many Jewish men have examined these writings, and have agreed that these other writings were not Divinely inspired. Neither Jesus, nor any other part of the N.T. Scriptures, even refer to any of these other writings. Therefore, the O.T. Scriptures are complete.
These additional writings were only accepted by the Roman Catholics in 1546 at the Council of Trent. However, one must remember that this council was created to be a threat to the teachings of any Protestant Christians. So then, the only place you will find these additional books is in a Catholic Bible.
As for the N.T. writings, even though they were completed by the end of the first century (100 AD), they were discussed and examined continually until the end of the fourth century (300's AD). (@ 200 years)
The Dead Sea Scrolls were discoverd in the late 1940's to early 1950's and were used to verify the O.T. Scriptures. They proved to be a big help in verifying the writings of the O.T..
The N.T. manuscripts have been studied and examined time and time again. Yes, there are slight variations between them, but nothing of significant meaning. Things such as spelling errors, or an occasional inverted phrase, where one manuscript may say, "Jesus Christ our Lord" and another one would say, "Our Lord Jesus Christ". Same meaning and intention, but worded slightly different. Of all the people who have examined and studied these differences, all agree that all the manuscripts are 99.5% identical. (That 1/2% is due to the spelling errors and inverted phrases that hold no doctrinal importance.)
So....there you have it....the longer answer for those who haven't fallen asleep by now! :)
I find it interesting that the five books - 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus all begin with the letter "T" and are in alphabetical order!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book of the bible is probably James, because of the many interesting points.
A helpful tip in memorizing the books of the bible is that many books rhyme,for example, Ezekiel and Daniel.
Thnaks, Mr. G!
ReplyDeleteNathan, I never noticed that those 5 were in alphabetical order-cool! This might sound silly, but I learned to memorize the books of the bible singing it to a toon. Now when I am flipping through my bible, I always sing "The Books of The Bible" song, in me head. LOL :)
Cool observation Nathan! Do you know the shortest and longest verses of the Bible??? :)
ReplyDeleteLearning the books fo the Bible by a song would be alot more fun...and easier to remember! Great idea!
I went to a Christian school and I had to memorize them and take a test. Major nail-biter! But, thank the LORD that is "stuck" to this day, and I am thankful that I still remember them!
Believe it or not, when I was in 4th grade, I had to memorize Hebrews 11. Yes...the WHOLE chapter! YIKES!
Oh, Carey.....are you saying that you would be willing to teach the song to the Youth group to sing on Wednesdays?? :)
I know the Shortest verse... "Jesus Wept." It is in John, I forget the exact reference though. I think the longest verse is in Psalms, but I am not sure. I know Psalm is the Longest book!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think I'll pass on teaching the youth the song... They can look it up on youtube if they really want to sing it. I'm sure it's on there. ;)
Shortest verse: John 11:35 Jesus wept
ReplyDeleteShortest chapter: Psalm 117
Longest chapter:Psalm 119
Longest book: Psalm
Shortest book: 3 John
I'm not sure about the longest verse though, I'll get back to you on that one!
To further break down the books of the bible:
ReplyDeletethe old testament has 4 divisions:
Law or Pentateuch (try pronouncing that one!)it has 5 books - Genesis-Deuteronomy
History - it has 12 books - Joshua-Esther
Poetry - it has 6 books - Job - Lamentations
Prophecy - it contains the last 16 books of old testament - Isaiah-Malachi
The new testament also has 4 divisions:
The Gospels - has the first 4 books - Matthew-John
History - has only 1 book - Acts
Letters - has 21 books - Romans-Jude (13 of these were written by Paul
Prophecy - contains the last book of the bible - Revelations
(4 years of church classes about finding your way through the bible will do this to you!)
Great info Nathan! Think you can fill in for me sometime when I'm not able to teach???
ReplyDeleteGood answers to you both!
I'm a little bummed about not being able to learn the song though.
The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9. It is one loooonnnnnngggggg sentence! :)
If you read the NIV version of the bible, the shortest verse of the bible is actually Job 3:2 which is: "He said:"
ReplyDeleteI never knew that until yesterday when I tried to look up the longest verse
In most versions, though, such as the NKJV, it says something like: "And Job said" which makes it longer than "Jesus wept"
Nathan, I Look Job 3:2 up and you're right! Well, you knew that... LOL. I was not saying you were now, just had too look ;)
ReplyDeleteMr. G, This is NOT the tune I learned, but I looked up a song just for you :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKtSx0fd2I8
Now you can sing your books of the bible to a song :D
Just looked at the youtube link for the books of the Bible song. Pretty catchy! Ms.Becky and I were be-boppin' to it! :D
ReplyDeleteIt would only be fun if we can do the "wooo's" and clappin' parts too! What fun!
The part where they sing...."Laamennnntatioooooons" is pretty funny!
Lol. I know. :D
ReplyDelete