Thank you!
Thank you for a wonderful year of teaching the great youth of your stake. There is not much in way of compensation. Your students may not be as interested or engaged as you would like, but you still show up with prepared hearts and minds strengthened by the knowledge that just even a single drop of oil they walk away with may be the difference in their battle with Satan that day. Only you know the blessing that have come to you. Time will tell how they have come to your students. But we have been assured that they will come. Thank you for loving and teaching them.
Looking Forward to the New Testament
Now, as we look forward to the New Testament, here are a few things to think about and ponder in the days ahead prior to the start of classes again in January. I have taught dozens of subjects over the past 26 years, but if I had to pick one that was my favorite--one that I spend most of my private time studying--it would be the New Testament! I love this Book!
But transitioning from the Old Testament to the New Testament has a different feel to it. Even to our students, there seems to be a vast difference in the tone, texture , and doctrine of the Old and New testament. After closing the book on Malachi and opening Matthew's gospel, there seems to be more than time that has passed between these two books. There is also a pretty substantial cultural gap.
One example of this difference we encounter between the Old and New Testament appears in the names. In the Old Testament, our students became familiar with the names Jacob, Joshua, Miriam, Hannah, and Elijah. In the New Testament, we read about James, Jesus, Mary, Anna, and Elias. In all actuality, the new testament names are the Greek equivalents of the same names found in the Hebrew Old Testament (Yes, to the Hebrew speaking people of Jesus' day he would have been called Joshua).
That said, the major differences between the Old and New Testament do not lie simply in language. The Old Testament came down to us in Hebrew--mostly--the New Testament comes to us in Greek. The central difference between the people who lived at the end of the Old Testament and those who lived at the beginning of the New Testament was the passage of time that brought crippling crises, cautious adaptations, and painful transitions. In short--the influence of Greek culture (Hellenism).
Origin of the Jewish Sects
The origin of the different Jewish sects (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zadokites, Zealots, etc...) is traceable to Greek influence on the life and culture of the people you will study in the New Testament . To help you understand these groups, I have attached a list and brief rundown of each group so that you can help your students navigate the differences as they study this coming year(Please pardon my typos).
Thank you again for all you do! Have a very marry Christmas and happy New Year!
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