Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Fun Bible Facts to Teach Our Children

Here are some fun Bible facts for us to teach our children.  They may already know most of them, depending on their ages.  Some of them are just fun facts and not really anything that would help them live their spiritual lives.  Others are things every Christian can benefit from.  I've marked these beneficial facts in green.  

There's a whole slew of other facts.  These are just the ones I put together for my children.  

photo credit

The Bible:
There are 66 books in the Bible ~ Written by 40 different authors and yet they all agree and compliment each other.
  • 39 in the Old Testament
  • 27 in the New Testament
The Old Testament:
  • Every young person should be expected to learn the books of the Bible by heart as soon as possible.  There are plenty of songs to help with this.  
  • First book ~ Genesis
  • Last book ~ Malachi
  • 5 books of the "Law" were written by Moses {Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy}
  • Books of History were written by different authors {Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, I & II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, & Esther}
  • Books of Poetry ~ Songs and poems the Jews sang {Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, & Song of Solomon
  • Major Prophets ~ not any more important than the minor prophets, but larger in size {Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, & Daniel}
  • Minor Prophets ~ {Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, & Malachi}
The New Testament:
  • First book ~ Matthew
  • Last book ~ Revelation
  • 4 Gospels {Matthew, Mark, Luke & John}
  • Early Church History ~ Acts written by Luke
  • Paul's letters to the churches and other individuals {Romans, I &II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I & II Thessalonians, I & II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, & Hebrews}  We are not told who wrote the book of Hebrews.
  • Other Epistles {James, I &II Peter, I, II, & III John & Jude}
  • Book of prophecy {Revelation}
Other Fun Facts:
  • 1,189 Chapters
  • Longest Chapter - Psalm 119 has 176 verses!!
  • Shortest Chapter - Psalm 117 only has 2 verses.
  • The very center of the Bible is Psalm 118:8 -- It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.  "The Lord" is in the center of this verse, which would put "The Lord" in the very center of the entire Bible! 
  • The "Love Chapter" is I Corinthians 13
  • The "Faith Chapter" or "Hall of Faith" is Hebrews 11
  • Longest Verse - Esther 8:9
  • Shortest Verse - John 11:35 - "Jesus wept"
  • Chapter divisions were not added until 1227 AD  ~ This year may not be an important detail, but this fact is important when learning to study you Bible as you may need to go a little further to finish a thought, or, you may need to look into the last chapter for a little "background"
  • The Bible is NOT written in chronological order.
  • The longest man that ever lived - Methuselah who was the son of Enoch and the Grandfather of Noah.  He lived 969 years.
  • The first martyr - Steven was killed by Saul who later became the Apostle Paul - to clarify, Paul was responsible for the killing of Stephen {and the persecution of other Christians before his own conversion on the road to Damascus}.  He did not personally throw any stones, but he was there to be sure the deed was carried out and accomplished.  he held the coats of the men that did the stoning and therefore was guilty of the crime.  {Aren't you glad God is a God of forgiveness and second chances!?!} 
  • Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer are the three angels mentioned by name in the Bible.
  • There are 49 different foods mentioned in the Bible.
  • Almonds and pistachios are the only nuts mentioned in the Bible.
  • Cats are the only domestic animals NOT mentioned in the Bible.
  •  "God" occurs 4,370 times.
  • "Jehovah" occurs  6,855 times.
  • "Lord" occurs  7,736 times.
  • There are some 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith, but over 2000 verses on money and possessions.  Money is discussed up to 140 times.  "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil."  - I Timothy 6:10 
  • Heaven is mentioned 577 times.
  • Hell is mentioned 54 times.
  • A parable is a story that was told by Jesus.  They were earthly stories with Heavenly meanings. No names were ever mentioned in parables.  

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8 comments:

  1. You state that Paul wrote the book of Acts. This is incorrect. Luke wrote the book of Acts. In verse one of Acts, it is written: "In the first book, O Theophilus...". Luke is referring to his previous book, the gospel of Luke. Acts is actually a continuation of that book.

    One other thing. Paul/Saul did not kill Stephen. Instead, he was a witness to it, and he also approved of it, as stated in Acts 8:1, "And Saul approved of his execution."

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  2. You are absolutely right. Luke did write the book of Acts and I have to admit I'm a bit embarressed that I mispoke. I must have been in a hurry. Thank you and I will correct that right now.

    As far as Saul not killing Stephen, he was in charge and he was overseeing the stoning and therefore he was responsible for his death. I will check and see if it can be worded in a better way, but Paul/Saul WAS responsible for the death of Stephen...and the persecution of other Christians before his own conversion on the road to Damascus.

    Thank you for the comment!!

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  3. Just found your blog. Thank you for so much info on the Word the kids love facts. I loved them when learning the Word in 5th-6th grade but now I'm a Nonna (of three) Wife of a Pastor (oh! and a nurse) and was looking for incomplete facts that I only remembered bits and pieces of to teach Kingdom Kids this Sunday. It might have been a typo but noticed when checking out Psalms 118 that the shortest chapter of the Bible is Psalms 117 just the 2 verses. But in the listing here it is listed Psalms 112 which has 10 very enlightening verses of the Blessings of the Righteous. Which now you've helped me with something to share (along with your blog) with my women's group-it's ALL Good!!!
    Thank you!!! Keep on sharing. This is wonderful because He is so wonderful!!! His Word is Alive!!! Hebrews 4th chapter 12th verse His Word is so Precious to me (us) Praise the Lord!!!..Until He Comes, see you then!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment!! I think I fixed all the typos. Thank you for sharing my page, as I do hope to be a blessing to as many as possible! :)

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  4. Thank you was looking for fun facts for my kids......

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  5. Was looking for a few things for our youth group class on Sunday as I'm teaching about the Bible. Thanks for the good list as I cherry picked some to talk on.

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  6. Great job really

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  7. Another cool fact about the number of the books of Bible is:
    39 OT books so if you take 3X9 =27 So that gives you the number of NT books
    I think God plans these things to help us remember!!

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