PHOTOS OF THE WEEK: Over 25 Years of Bible Quizzing

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Jesus in My Place

DID YOU KNOW: How was the Bible put together?

"DID YOU KNOW?" will be a summer series where we review issues of the Bible and the Christian faith of special interest. If you have a suggestion/question that you'd like addressed in a "DID YOU KNOW?" segment, please e-mail the coaches.

How was the Bible put together? How did history decide which books were in and which ones were out?

The current list of books in the Bible - known as the "canon" - was put together in different ways for the Old Testament and New Testament. But despite what some fiction authors might like to claim, the process was not secretive or mysterious.

...there was very little controversy over the canon of the Old Testament. Hebrew believers recognized God’s messengers and accepted their writings as inspired of God. While there was undeniably some debate in regards to the Old Testament canon, by A.D. 250 there was nearly universal agreement on the canon of Hebrew Scripture...

For the New Testament, the process of the recognition and collection began in the first centuries of the Christian church. Very early on, some of the New Testament books were being recognized. Paul considered Luke’s writings to be as authoritative as the Old Testament (1 Timothy 5:18; see also Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7). Peter recognized Paul’s writings as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). Some of the books of the New Testament were being circulated among the churches (Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27). Clement of Rome mentioned at least eight New Testament books (A.D. 95). Ignatius of Antioch acknowledged about seven books (A.D. 115). Polycarp, a disciple of John the apostle, acknowledged 15 books (A.D. 108). Later, Irenaeus mentioned 21 books (A.D. 185). Hippolytus recognized 22 books (A.D. 170-235). The New Testament books receiving the most controversy were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, and 3 John...

The councils followed something similar to the following principles to determine whether a New Testament book was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit: 1) Was the author an apostle or have a close connection with an apostle? 2) Is the book being accepted by the body of Christ at large? 3) Did the book contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching? 4) Did the book bear evidence of high moral and spiritual values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit?

HUMOR: Heavenly Accomodations.

Not mine.  From here.

One Easter a priest and a taxi driver both died and went to heaven. St. Peter was at the Pearly gates waiting for them.

'Come with me,' said St. Peter to the taxi driver.

The taxi driver did as he was told and followed St Peter to a mansion. It had everything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic size pool.

'Oh my word, thank you,' said the taxi driver.

Next, St. Peter led the priest to a rough old shack with a bunk bed and a little old television set.

'Wait, I think you are a little mixed up,' said the priest. 'Shouldn't I be the one who gets the mansion? After all I was a priest, went to church every day, and preached God's word.'

'Yes, that's true.' St Peter rejoined, 'But during your Easter sermons people slept.  When the taxi driver drove, everyone prayed.'

HOLY WEEK LEFTOVERS: Where do the symbols of Easter come from?

Holy Week raises lots of questions worth answering, which we don't always get around to discussing during Holy Week.  We'll take a few days this week to look at those questions.

QUESTION 4:  Easter has a lot of traditions/symbols.  From where do we get the egg, bunny, etc.?

Tradition is always a tricky thing to talk about, because each culture and even sub-culture can have their own traditions.  But traditions almost always go back to a real core of truth, somewhere in their past. Let's go over a few of the most common Easter traditions:

• Rabbits (The Easter Bunny):  Easter is all about life, and rabbits have long been symbols of life due to their large families.  But there is more to it when it comes to the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The rabbit coming out of her hole is a symbol reminding us of Jesus emerging from his tomb.
• Eggs (Easter Egg Hunts/Rolls):  Eggs are also symbols of life. And a chick emerging from what previously looked like a lifeless stone is a symbol reminding us (again) of Jesus emerging from the tomb.  The coloring of eggs comes from old traditions which forbade the eating of eggs during Lent (as a symbol of denying oneself) but encouraged their eating at Easter as a celebration.  The rolling of Easter Eggs is symbolic of the stone being rolled away from the opening of the tomb.
• Candy:  There is nothing subtle about this.  Candy is a sign of celebration and a symbol of the sweetness of life.  Candy makers have, of course, embraced this as a chance to sell every kind of sugary snack imaginable which cover the other symbols of Easter.
• Parades:  While modern Easter parades don't look much different from Christmas or New Years (or NCAA champion) parades, ancient Easter parades were quite different.  They were made up of new converts to Christianity and people who were newly baptized, wearing white to proclaim to the world that they had been forgiven of their sins.
• Lilies:  Easter lilies are always purest white, reminding us of the purity of our new life as forgiven people, saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.
• Sunrise Services:  Well, this one is no mystery.  The women went to the tomb in the early morning, and that is when they discovered - to their great confusion and soon to their great joy - that his corpse was not there.  Jesus was alive!
• New Clothes for Easter:  The buying and wearing of new clothes at Easter is not just about "looking your best for God".  It is also a symbol of the new life Christ brought us with his death and resurrection, clothing us in his own righteousness.

WEEKLY COMIC: Well, that's one way to do it!

HOLY WEEK LEFTOVERS: Why do we call Resurrection Sunday by the name "Easter"?

Holy Week raises lots of questions worth answering, which we don't always get around to discussing during Holy Week.  We'll take a few days this week to look at those questions.

QUESTION 3:  Where does the name "Easter" come from?

This is a big question and hard to answer, because language changes so much over time.  There are two primary theories for the origin of the word "Easter".

Pagan Origins:  Eastre (or Eostre) was a goddess of the Saxon peoples of Northern Europe, associated with Springtime and especially rabbits.  (It is believed this is where the idea of the Easter Bunny may have come from, although the fact that rabbits emerge from a hole in the ground also makes them a natural symbol for Jesus emerging from the tomb.)  This theory is that a feast to Eastre was held in the Springtime. Christian missionaries did not want to deny their converts a chance to celebrate, so instead of banning the old celebration they replaced the former significance with a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The practice of "redeeming" pagan holidays with new Christian significance was quite common in the old Roman Empire.

German Origins:  The german word for "resurrection" is "auferstehung"(say it fast, you can get a sense of how it could have morphed into "easter" over centuries of time).  Under this theory, the word was first used by early German Christians to refer to the time of Passover, reflecting the fact that Resurrection Sunday would historically be the Sunday after Passover.  Over time, the word's use was expanded and expanded as people began to not only note the day on their calendars, but make a celebration out of it.  Finally, the word "Easter" eclipsed Passover in the mind of Christian Europe (much of which had never known a Jewish person or read a Bible, so the significance of the old Hebrew holiday was lost).  This theory is supported by the fact that Easter first appears as a word in German writings, rather than Saxon ones.