Here are visual charts showing that religious activities have positive effects.
Jonathan Moreno-Medina assistant professor of applied microeconomics at University of Texas–San Antiono, discovered that church attendance correlated with a decline in drug and alcohol related crimes and white-collar crimes. He also determined that these correlations were stronger in more religious counties. His research also found that church attendance decreases the consumption of alcohol and drugs.
According to a Duke University study, when fewer people attended church, more people commit at least three crimes—buying drugs, committing forgery, and embezzling money.
~~ Pastor Andy
Genesis 7:19-20
The waters rose on the earth until all the high mountains under the entire sky were covered. The waters continued to rise until they covered the mountains by more than 20 feet.
The Bible clearly refers to global flood, not just local flood. If it was a local flood only, then God would have explained that clearly. Ponder these few quotes:
- “...the face of the earth (i.e. planet)” (Genesis 6:1)
- “...end of all flesh… the earth is filled with violence. I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:13)
- “I will destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven, and everything that is in the earth shall die.” (Genesis 6:17).
- “Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out.” (Genesis 7:23)
God made a special promise that a flood will never destroy the earth again. (Genesis 9:11) He refers to global flood because we have seen regional floods.
When you see a rainbow, remember that it is a sign of God’s promise, and praise Him for that promise. (Genesis 9:16-17)
I answered, “Yes, it does. The Bible says that murderers can’t go to heaven. It says that thieves can’t go to heaven. Liars can’t go to heaven. Adulterers can’t go to heaven. Gossips can’t go to heaven. Those who covet can’t go to heaven. Now, if you are on that list, welcome to the club. So am I. So I guess we are both stuck. But let me ask you something: Why did Jesus die on the cross?”
Every man answered that question with exactly the same words. “He died for the sins of the world.”
“Oh, I see,” I replied. “Jesus died for the sins of everyone in the world, but not yours. Is that right?”
“No!” each man answered. “He died for my sins, too!”
“And for how many of your sins did Jesus die?” I asked.
“All of them!” they said.
“Ok, I get it,” I said. “Jesus died for all of your sins except one. That’s one sin He will never forgive and so you are just stuck with it. Is that it?”
“NO!” they shouted back at me. “Jesus died for ALL my sins!”
“Yes! All! Christ Jesus has forgiven ALL of your sins! Do you want to know some famous murderers in the Bible? Moses. King David. The Apostle Paul. If God could forgive, restore, and use these men in His service, God still has a plan for your life, too.”
God’s love is so amazing! He has also forgiven ALL of your sins, and no matter how you have messed up, He still has a good in His service.
~~Pastor Ron
as if you were in prison with them.
Hebrews 13:3
But chiseling stone is no good for everyday writing. So what did they do? How did they write?
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/6/7/26675890/published/scroll.jpg?1719498712)
The Hebrew language is written right to left. They wrote in columns. When the ink was dry, they rolled up the parchment. That made a scroll.
And when they needed to add more columns, they sewed on another animal skin. That made the scroll longer. Parchment scrolls could be 10 – 30 feet long.
Animal skins are really wonderful for writing on, because they stay good thousands of years. Our oldest Bible scrolls that we have found, are written on animal skins. Those Old Testament Bible scrolls are called the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Today we use paper for writing. Back during Bible times, Egyptians made paper from tall grass that grew in water. That grass was called papyrus.
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/6/7/26675890/published/papirus-sheet.jpg?1719497964)
The prophets, poets, and historians of the Old Testament wrote on parchment. New Testament writers probably used both parchment and papyrus. Papyrus was cheap, but it quickly fell apart. Animal skin parchment remains good a long time.
Long ago, people did not have printing presses. They did not have copy machines. No Xerox machines. They did not have computers, email, or printers. All writing was done by hand.
When Paul wrote his letters in the New Testament, Paul did not write those letters himself. He spoke while a friend wrote for him. Then at the end of each letter, Paul wrote his own short personal greeting.
Bible copies vs. original manuscripts
When the Apostle John wrote his letters, John wrote on parchment or papyrus. Other people wanted to have their own copies of John’s letters, so they read it line by line, and as they read it, they wrote their own copy. Many churches had hand-written copies of John’s letters. Many more people wanted copies of John’s letters, so they made copies from earlier copies.
Every time someone makes a handwritten copy of someone else’s letter, the copyist could make a mistake – accidentally change a word or leave a word out. That could be a problem, because somehow, somewhere the letters that John wrote himself (the original manuscripts) were lost or destroyed. All we have left are thousands of handwritten copies of his letters.
So we must ask the question: Are those copies of John’s letters accurate? Do the say exactly what John wrote in the original manuscript?
We have so many copies that were made soon after John’s original writing, it is easy figure out what John wrote.
Scrolls vs Books
When you read the Bible, often you read the word “book.” The Greek word is biblios, and that word means book.
Today when we see that word “book,” we visualize a normal book with pages. Wrong. They did not have books in Bible times. They had scrolls. Books were not invented yet. So when you read the word “book” in the Bible, visualize a scroll, not a book.
When did scrolls change to books?
Remember that Hebrew scribes in the Old Testament wrote on animal skin scrolls. They wrote from right to left, and they arranged their columns from right to left. Greeks and Romans wrote from left to right, and they also arranged their text into columns. When they needed more columns, they sewed on more animal skin parchment.
If you wanted to bring your Bible to a meeting, you carried an armload of scrolls. If you wanted to find a specific chapter or verse, you must unroll the scroll, until you find the verse. Then when you wanted to find another verse, you must roll the scroll again. That wastes a lot of time.
Jewish people solved that problem by memorizing a lot of God’s Word. So they did not always need to look up verses. But that did not help Gentile Christians in Greece, Italy, and other countries. So the Romans invented a good trick.
![Picture](/uploads/2/6/6/7/26675890/published/codex.jpg?1719498629)
The formal name for “book” is “codex.”
- Who chose the books to include in the Bible?
- Getting the Bible in our own language.
- Evidence for the reliability of Scripture.