Skill 4 U: The Bible

It's actually very easy once you understand it.  Some of it is really, really, really hard to read.  And the names!!!  Can you believe Nebuchadnezzar or Bathsheba?  Makes you glad you're named after Crazy Aunt Beth or Wacky Cousin Garrett or others!

Let's do some short history.  No groaning or running away or saying you need to help Mom with the dishes.  Put on your big kid pants and pay attention.

The Bible is has two parts:  The Old Testament and the New Testament.  There are 73 books total in the Catholic Bible.  This makes it bigger than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

The Old Testament is our faith and history before Jesus was born.  It has 46 books in it--Books like Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs and more.  All the books predict the coming of the Messiah which is a fancy name for Jesus.  There are more stories:

• Adam and Eve and their kids.  If you and your sister or brother can't get along read up on Cain and Able.  Talk about bickering.
• Noah and the ark.  Why did they have to save bugs?  Ick

• Moses and the Ten Commandments.  Look at the 4th Commandment:)
• Dave and Goliath.  It's one of the earliest stories of bullying.

The New Testament is like Jesus' biography.  There are 27 books from the Gospels to the Letters of St. Paul and others to that kind of weird book--Revelations.  Jesus' words that actually came out of his mouth are printed in red. 

• Jesus' birth in a manger surrounded by animals and His mom, Mary and His foster father, Joseph.  And you complain about giving up your bed to your visiting grandmother.

• Jesus gathering his posse--the 12 Apostles and more like Mary Magdalene and Martha.  Lots of chicks named Mary back then.
• Jesus doing miracles like raising the dead (and again, they are not zombies) and changing water into wine.  No mention of the miracle of cleaning your room in 3 minutes.
• Jesus carrying the cross and dying :(

• Jesus rising from the dead :)

• The Apostles visiting different places and writing letters.  And they wrote some llloooonnnnggg letters and they didn't have computers or even ink pens or paper.  They wrote on vellum which is dried animal skin.

Now go grab your family's Bible to see if you can find the New and Old Testaments.  Ask your parents if they have a favorite Bible story or saying.  Extra points if you look up the 4th Commandment!!

Next post:  How to find stuff in the Bible.