HUMOR: From the mouths of babes...

Not mine.  From here.

  A teacher was testing the children in her Sunday school class to see if they understood the concept of getting to heaven.
      She asked them, "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the church, would that get me into Heaven?"
      "NO!" the children answered.
      "If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?"
      Again, the answer was, "NO!"
      Now she was smiling. Hey, they're getting it, she thought! "Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven?" she asked.
      Again, they all answered, "NO!"
      She was just bursting with pride for them. "Well," she continued, "then how can I get into Heaven?"
      A five-year-old boy shouted out, "YOU GOTTA BE DEAD."

GETTING READY: Study Schedule is ready!

We still have some time before our first practice (Wednesday, September 10 at 6:00 PM) but the study schedule is ready for your viewing and download.  Remember, there are a lot of chapters in Acts (28!) so we won't have many review weeks.  This means you need to make the best of every single week of studying to keep up!  Click here, on the image below, or on the link in the sidebar.

WEEKLY COMIC: Puns Under the Sea

GETTING READY: Reference list is ready!

The list of Reference Questions for 2014-2015 is ready!  Click here, on the image below, or on the link in the sidebar for the whole list.

The FTV list link has also been updated to be the full list including jump-words and spelled-out verses.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Districts 2014

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Risen

QUIZ CHALLENGE: Bible Hangman

This week's Bible Quiz Challenge is a friendly game of hangman.  Can you guess the 15 men of the Old Testament?

HUMOR: Just asking

Not mine.  From here.

Atheist: "Do you honestly believe that Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish?"
Preacher: "I don't know, sir, but when I get to heaven, I'll ask him."
Atheist: "But suppose he isn't in heaven?"
Preacher: "Then you ask him."

GETTING READY: Bible Quiz Meets

While much of the schedule is still hazy, fuzzy, or otherwise wavy, we do have the first two Bible Quiz Meets of the year on the calendar.  Please mark your personal planner, so you don't miss them!

• Saturday, October 4 - Acts 1-4 in Monroe, CT
• Saturday, November 1 - Acts 1-8 in Trumbull, CT

WEEKLY COMIC: Jurassic Boat

GETTING READY: Keywords are ready!

The list of keywords - also known as "once used words" - is ready for your viewing.  Keywords are words that appear in only one verse in the entire book of Acts.  They can be key for identifying where you are in the book when answering a question.  Click here or on the image below or on the link in the sidebar for the whole list.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Pleasure Reading

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: More of You

QUIZ CHALLENGE: Guide the Light

This week isn't exactly a "Bible Challenge" as in challenging your knowledge of the Bible.  But it is a Bible-themed challenge.  Guide the light from one end of the grid to the other, and be rewarded with a Bible verse.

HUMOR: Be careful what you pray for!

Not mine.  From here.

  A country preacher decided to skip services one Sunday to spend the day hiking in the wilderness. Rounding a sharp bend in the trail, he collided with a bear and was sent tumbling down a steep grade. He landed on a rock and broke both legs.
      With the ferocious bear charging at him from a distance, the preacher prayed, "O Lord, I'm so sorry for skipping services today. Please forgive me and grant me just one wish—make a Christian out of that bear that's coming at me!"
      At that very instant, the bear skidded to a halt, fell to his knees, clasped his paws together, and began to pray aloud at the preacher's feet: "Dear God, please bless this food I am about to receive."

GETTING READY: Schedule Details

- THIS IS IMPORTANT.  PLEASE PAY CLOSE ATTENTION -

First, practices will begin on Wednesday, September 10.  We will be quizzing on Acts 1, please come prepared to quiz.

Second, there is a time change for practices for this upcoming year.  We will be meeting from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM.  If you show up at the old time, it will already be too late.  And please be prompt as we will only have the hour.

Finally, please keep an eye on this blog for other important announcements over the course of the next few weeks.  Materials for the upcoming season will be coming soon, as will an updated calendar with the quiz meets and the Christmas party.

WEEKLY COMIC: 10% the Hard Way

GETTING READY: FTV list is ready!

The list of Finish the Verse questions for 2014-2015 is ready!  The book of Acts is chock full of useful information, so it is not surprising that it's going to be a long list.  Click on the image below, here, or on the sidebar to see the list.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Midwinter Mosaic

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: Broken Vessels

QUIZ CHALLENGE: The Gift of the Holy Spirit

This week's Bible Quiz Challenge is on the Gift of the Holy Spirit.  How well do you know the third person of the Trinity?

HUMOR: Denominations

Not mine.  From here.

  An old dollar bill and an even older $20 arrive at a Federal Reserve Bank to be retired.
      "I've had a pretty good life," the $20 says. "I've been to Vegas, the finest restaurants in New York, and even on a Caribbean cruise."
      "You did have an exciting life!" the dollar says.
      "Where have you been?" the $20 asks.
      "Oh, I've been to the Methodist church, the Baptist church, spent some time with the Lutherans..."
      "Wait," the $20 interrupts. "What's a church?"

GETTING READY: Studying the Book of Acts in 2014-2015

For the 2014-2015 season, we're going to be study and competing on the Book of Acts.  More correctly called "The Acts of the Apostles", this book was written by Luke (a doctor and traveling companion of Paul) as a sequel to the gospel he wrote.

Luke focussed his gospel on communicating that God was offering the Good News to all peoples - Jews, Gentiles, rich, poor, Roman, barbarian, sinner, "righteous", etc.  So, it makes sense that in his second book he traces the way that the apostles learned that Christianity was not merely for the Jews in Jerusalem, but rather for all peoples everywhere.

As you read this book, be on the lookout for all the different ways that God guided His people as Christianity grew from a tiny sect of Judaism into a religion all its own that embraced everyone.

WEEKLY COMIC: Young Life Challenges

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Polyglot Bible

Bible polyglot, each double-page spread having eight columns containing the text of the Psalms in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Chaldean, along with columns for a Latin translation of the Hebrew, a Latin translation of the Chaldean, and a column for notes.

DID YOU KNOW: The Feast of the Transfiguration

"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.

I heard today is the "Feast of the Transfiguration".  What is that?

More liturgical Christian traditions than ours put events onto the calendar to remember both heroes of the faith and the major events of Jesus's life.  The "Feast of the Transfiguration" on August 6 (for most denominations, not all) is set aside to remember the events of the transfiguration recorded in the synoptic gospels.

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.  And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.  As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.Luke 9:28-36 ESV

This feast is unusual in not focussing on a single character (in this case Jesus), but is seen as a time to reflect on the mystery of the Trinity where God is one being in three persons.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all worshipped, celebrated, and remembered in this feast.

MUSICAL INTERLUDE: I Am

QUIZ CHALLENGE: Word Search

This week's Bible Quiz Challenge is a Word Search on the Cross.  Can you find all of the words hidden in the matrix?

HUMOR: Little Ones

Not mine.  From here.

  A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt."
      His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"

BIBLE NEWS: Jewish Artists Inspired by the Bible

The Bible has inspired great art for thousands of years, and a new book traces the impact of the Bible on Jewish artists in particular.  Both faithful followers of Judaism and secular decedents of Abraham use the scriptures as a lens thru which to express themselves and interpret life.

Baskind notes that even artists noted for irony and satire, such as Jack Levine and Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg), produced ardent visual interpretations of the Tanakh. The former artist set out to paint a tribute to his late father in “Planning Solomon’s Temple,” depicting his father as Shlomo and himself as Hiram, both labeled with Hebrew inscriptions above their figures. Unlike Levine’s usual oozingly curvaceous figure drawing, a style suited to his oft-decadent subject matter, the two figures are depicted on a single plane, in an archaic visual statement echoing Christian-inspired works by the fauvist painter Georges Rouault. Whereas Levine’s Hiram is generally seen as the royal architect and king of Tyre, who sent building materials and laborers to construct the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, Baskind plausibly argues that Levine may have painted himself as a different biblical Hiram, an artist who was the son of a Tyrian who cast bronze and made decorations for Solomon’s Temple.

WEEKLY COMIC: Doctrinally Unsound