Southside Oracle Archive

Vol. 49, No 50               SOUTHSIDE ORACLE               February 16, 2007

The Bulletin Board

            Baptized - Two young men were baptized prior to our evening service last Sunday. They are Zachery Watson and Drew Clare. Contact us for their address. We wish them God's blessings as they begin their Christian lives.

            Men's breakfast - Our annual area-wide men's breakfast will be at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, March 24th. Men and boys who plan to attend should sign up on the bulletin board.

            Camp Auction - The annual dinner/silent auction for the Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp will be this Saturday at 6:00 p.m. New or craft items are needed for the auction if you have something to contribute: Be sure to sign up on the bulletin board if you plan to attend so we can know how many to plan for. The auction annually raises several thousand dollars for the camp.

            Christian Workers' Meeting - Our monthly meeting will be Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. Following the theme of this year's meetings on "The Kingdom of God," Tim Thompson of Elgin, IL will speak on "Kingdom Parables," and Monroe Hawley will address "The Pre-eminence of Christ." Everyone is invited. Attendees come from a number of area congregations.

            Sunday Speakers - Wayne Alexander will preach Sunday morning. In the evening we will have a guest speaker, Mike Sublett of Pampa, TX, who is a friend of Daryl Miller.

ATTENDANCE RECORD

(*) first service, 121: second service, 76

            Address change - Mike and Aline Sturomski, contact us for details.

            College Gift Boxes - We send gift boxes to our college students who are away from home. This month's recipients will be Tim Williams and Bethany Stanger, both students at York College. To contribute see the list of items on the table in the foyer and choose something to leave in the boxes provided. Suzanne Roberts is heading up this program.

            The Sick - Terry Saunders, brother of Dennis Saunders, is doing well following his open-heart surgery last week .... Suzanne Roberts is scheduled to have a cochlear implant on February 28th.

            Mark your calendar for the Hearts and Minds Seminar on Saturday, March 31st from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to be conducted by John Alan Turner on the theme of "Raising Your Child With a Christian View of the World:" Invite your friends to share with us in this study of parenting.

Calendar of Events

February 17 - Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp dinner/auction, 6:00 p.m.

February 24 - Christian Workers' Meeting, 9:00 a.m.

February 24 - Southside area-wide men's breakfast, 9:00 a.m.

March 11 - Praise and Palate, 6:00 p.m.

March 16, 17 - Southside youth rally

March 31 - Hearts and Minds Seminar, 9:30 - 3:00 p.m.

The Writing of the Old Testament

(Second in a Series)

            Writing books in ancient times was quite different from today. Word processors and computers were unknown. Since the printing press had not yet been invented, handwritten copies were rare. Animal skins (parchment) and a paper made from the papyrus plant were likely what the Old Testament books were written on.

            The first five books of the Old Testament are ascribed to Moses and are called the Pentateuch or the Torah (Law), though the recording of Moses' death must be attributed to another.       The authorship of the twelve historical books that follow is uncertain. Some of them, such as 1 and 2 Chronicles, are edited from ancient records. Possibly Samuel and Ezra had a part in some of these writings.

            Of the next five books of poetry and wisdom, three are attributed to Solomon. Several people wrote the Psalms with David authoring perhaps half of them. The Old Testament closes with seventeen prophetic writings, most written by the men whose names they bear. The first five, being longer, are called major prophets while the last twelve minor prophets were later incorporated in a single book: Several others books have been divided into two by our English translators.

            Ezra, who lived about 400 years before Jesus, is credited with bringing these 39 Hebrew writings together in a single collection. By the time of Christ it appears that the books we called the Old Testament were recognized by Jesus and his fellow Jews as being God's revelation to his people through the pens of inspired authors.

            The Jewish people today accept the Old Testament, as we call it, as their Bible. They do not accept the New Testament as coming from God. Christians accept both testaments as inspired by God, but believe that the things that pertain to our lives are primarily drawn from the New. However, the New Testament cannot be fully understood without some knowledge of the Old that contains many things of value for us as Christians.

Monroe E. Hawley

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