WolfHawke

WolfHawke.com is a collection of stories and musings on faith, Christianity, philosophy, and life. When the Books of the Bible Were Written: Two Tables Over the years Ive often needed to quickly find out when and by whom a Bible book was written, so I prepared these two tables for myself. After not finding any other resource quite like this, I've d... ecided to provide them so you can also get a quick chronological overview of when the books were written. Grab the 3-page PDF file and print it off to keep the list in your Bible or bookmark the page so you can quickly access it on your phone or elsewhere; and tell others about it! Our church has been going through a sermon series on the Jesus Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5-7). As a part of this, I had the privilege of preaching on Matthew 5:13-16 in which Jesus uses two word pictures to describe his followers: salt and light. As I prepared the sermon, it was the former that struck me this time, as it describes an aspect of the nature of the Church, which I had not formerly considered. Jesus says, You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? Its no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men (Mt. 5:13 HCSB). There are some very interesting things packed into this verse that come out, if we look at what the people in Jesus day thought about salt. First, salt was very valuable, so much so even that it was prized above gold! Second, salt was one of the most powerful preservatives of the day. It prevented decay and allowed food to be transported over long distances without refrigeration. It also was used as a flavoring agent, as it is today. Salt did its job invisibly, in the background, but very tangibly. In the same way, the Church of Jesus Christ salts the societies it exists in, usually invisibly and silently, but tangibly. My mother has frequently said that by simply being in a society Christians make a difference. Their very presence alters things, prevents the moral decay of society from ...Read More