manna?

Sunday September 19,2004

Posted by Ed and Lois

Manna meets @ 10:42 AM at The Park Theatre

248 South River Avenue
Holland, Mi. 49423-3201

We’ll be continuing our study of Acts. 

Elementary Bible School Tests (Thanks R.T.)

Posted by Ed and Lois

Pay attention To the wording and spelling. If you know The Bible even a little bit, you’ll find this hilarious. It comes from a catholic elementary school test. Kids were asked questions about the old and new testaments. The following statements about the bible were written by children. They have not been retouched nor corrected. 

1.  IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GUINESSIS.  GOD GOT TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE! SABBATH OFF.

2.  ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE. NOAH’S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK.  NOAH BUILT AND ARK AND THE ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.

3.  LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY, BUT A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.

4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPLE AND THROUGHOUT HISTORY THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.

5.  SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF BE LED ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL LIKE DELILAH.

6.  SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AXE OF THE APOSTLES.!

7.  MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE UNLEAVENED BREAD WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY INGREDIENTS.

8, THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT CYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

9.  THE FIRST COMMANDMENTS WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.

10.  THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.

11.  MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.

12.  THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.

13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR.  HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

14. SOLOMON, ONE OF DAVIDS SONS, HAD 300 WIVES AND 700 PORCUPINES.

15 WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS, SHE SANG THE MAGNA CARTA.

16.  WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.

17. &n! bsp;JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION.

18.  ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.

19. JESUS ENUNCIATED THE GOLDEN RULE, WHICH SAYS TO DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU.  HE ALSO EXPLAINED A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.

20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONE OFF THE ENTRANCE.

21.  THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.

22.  THE EPISTELS WERE THE WIVES OF THE APOSTLES.

23 ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.

24.  ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY, HE PREACHED HOLY ACRIMONY WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.

25.  CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE.  THIS IS CALLED MONOTONY

Bible Study Blog: Gamaliel?

Posted by Mike Boyink

Acts 5: 17-41

Reading this, the event that really jumped out was this guy Gamaliel.  I don’t believe I’ve ever heard about him, but it sure seems like standing up to a group of his fellow Pharisees and recommending leniency for the Apostles was a pretty big deal.  I Googled him and came up with some interesting stuff.  This Site says:

The name designates in the New Testament a Pharisee and celebrated doctor of the Law. Gamaliel is represented in Acts, v, 34 sqq., as advising his fellow-members of the Sanhedrin not to put to death St. Peter and the Apostles, who, notwithstanding the prohibition of the Jewish authorities, had continued to preach to the people. His advice, however unwelcome, was acted upon, so great was his authority with his contemporaries. We learn from Acts, xxii, 3, that he was the teacher of St. Paul; but we are not told either the nature or the extent of the influence which he exercised upon the future apostle of the Gentiles. Gamaliel is rightly identified with an illustrious Jewish doctor of the Law, who bore the same name and died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem. In the Talmud, this Gamaliel bears, like his grandfather Hillel, the surname of “the Elder”, and is the first to whom the title “Rabban”, “our master”, was given. He appears therein, as in the book of the Acts, as a prominent member of the highest tribunal of the Jews. He is also treated as the originator of many legal ordinances; as the father of a son, whom he called Simeon, after his father’s name, and of a daughter who married the priest Simon ben Nathanael. The Jewish accounts make him die a Pharisee, and state that: “When he died, the honour of the Torah (the law) ceased, and purity and piety became extinct.” At an early date, ecclesiastical tradition has supposed that Gamaliel embraced the Christian Faith, and remained a member of the Sanhedrin for the purpose of helping secretly his fellow-Christians (cf. Recognitions of Clement, I, lxv, lxvi). According to Photius, he was baptized by St. Peter and St. John, together with his son and with Nicodemus. His body, miraculously discovered in the fifth century, is said to be preserved at Pisa, in Italy.

This site adds

The grace that Gamaliel showed to the Christians lasted among the Jews for some time after that, perhaps several years until the stoning of Stephen. In the meantime the Christians had multiplied rapidly in Jerusalem even winning over many of the priests. This moderation permitted the new Christians to organize into a church; the repression and persecution that followed scattered the church all over the world.

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Seems as if the modern Church owes a portion of it’s existence to the bravery of Gamaliel.

Blue Letter Bible - About the BLB

Posted by Mike Boyink

Our mission is to facilitate in-depth study of God’s Word through an on-line interactive reference library continuously updated from the teachings and commentaries of selected pastors and teachers who hold to the conservative, historical Christian faith.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/mission.html

I came across this looking for commentary on the Acts verse below.  It’s a pretty amazing site (and I’m not easily impressed..;).

Once you choose a verse, the site presents you with a list of commentary or audio/video of messages or teachings involving that verse.  In the case of the Acts verse below, there was at least a couple dozen options.

Manna Book Club

Posted by Greg

Who wants to start a book club?

For months I’ve talked about starting a book club and I’ve made a lot of lame excuses about it being summer, etc.  So now a few friends have called my bluff, and now I need to follow through and start it.

So, the idea is that we get together… somewhere IN PUBLIC in keeping with Manna’s values… and we talk about some book that we’re reading.  It’s about as complicated as that.  Now, I have three basic requirements:

1. We should meet somewhere cool, because I am basically a shallow person and don’t want to do this if we aren’t going to meet somewhere cool.  Coffee shop downtown?  Book store coffee shop like Barne’s and Noble?  Pub like New Holland or Curragh?  I think it should be somewhere that’s fun to be and makes us want to talk and laugh and makes us feel creative and happy.  Life’s too short otherwise.

2. We should read stuff that’s fun and interesting.  Maybe some fiction, maybe some non-fiction.  But the goal here is not to lay some heavy study group thing down, but to encourage each other to read and think and get new insights from each other and build some community together.  So we need to mix up the reading ideas.

3. It needs to be self-sustaining.  I travel for my work, and may be gone 1 or 2 meetings per month, so everyone needs to be in it together and want to do it.  If it’s like a leader-sheep deal that’ll get old real fast.  I want to help organize and facilitate and even “lead” with whatever insight my pastoral training and experience might give (not much, necessarily), but the group will need to keep itself going.

So, here’s the deal: reply to this thread if you’re interested and answer three questions: 1) what night of the week can you meet (and time)? 2) idea for where to meet? 3) any ideas on what to start reading?

Let’s get a thread going here and come to a consensus....

Greg