Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 22

The 22nd installment of my "Notes On Koine Greek" is posted. This portion of my "Notes" focuses quite a bit on the Koine Greek 1st Declension Noun but I also supplement the Case-Number Suffix Morpheme Table that I started building in the 16th group of "Notes". To see the other "Notes" in this series, go to the bottom of this post and click the links. Enjoy!

+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 1"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 2"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 3"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 4"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 5"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 6"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 7"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 8"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 9"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 10"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 11"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 12"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 13"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 14"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 15"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 16"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 17"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 18"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 19"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 20"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 21"

Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 21

The 21st installation of my "Notes On Koine Greek" is up and ready for reading. This group of notes focuses on how to, morphologically speaking, break down (or, as I call it "attack") a Koine Greek sentence. Here, I offer 10 Tips for how to begin to successfully "attack" a Koine Greek sentence; I also provide an example from the Gospel of Mark. To see the other "Notes" in this series, go to the bottom of this post and click the links. Enjoy!

+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 1"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 2"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 3"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 4"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 5"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 6"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 7"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 8"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 9"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 10"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 11"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 12"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 13"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 14"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 15"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 16"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 17"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 18"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 19"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 20"

Christmas Challenge To Christians On Facebook

While it might seem Scrooge-ish to say anything at all during this holiday season, I just can't help myself. You see, I am irked. I am irked because there really here hasn't been a time in the last couple of days that I've gotten on Facebook without seeing someone post a pious status update that says something like the following:

"People might want to take Christ out of Christmas but they can't take Christ out of me. If you're proud to be a Christian and are not ashamed of Christ, then post this as your status for 1 day. Most people will be too ashamed or scared to do this."

Not only is it sad that the test or standard for being a Christian to some people comes down to a "holiday facebook status update" but it is just downright absurd and shallow. I mean, if we wanted to make this the measure of faith in good conscience, then why not make every status update all year round something like this? I mean, if this is the test, the challenge, the measure, is "1 day" really good enough people?

Besides, we are no longer fighting about or for the phrase "Merry Christmas"...that's over with. NEWSFLASH: It has been over with for quite a while! Trying to act like the government or other religions or whomever, are still trying to hijack Christmas is like what the Apostle Paul referred to as a boxer punching the air: it's pointless.

Lest you need to be reminded people, the phrase "Merry Christmas" isn't in the Bible. Nope, it's not even in the King James Version!!! If you really want to glorify God this Christmas, if you really want to exalt Jesus this Christmas, then let me issue you a challenge: serve the orphans and widows! Yes, yes, yes, this is what Scripture (James 1.27) calls "true" or "pure" or "undefiled" religion! In fact, as my good friend Xavier Pacheco has pointed out, the Greek word in Jas. 1.27 for "visit" (episkepsetai / επισκεψεται) the orphans and widows, in context, can actually be linked to Lk. 1.68 where the same word is used and has the sense of "visit and bring redemption to". In other words, "pure" and "undefiled" religion, Christianity, especially at Christmastime, should be a time where believers are bringing redemption to the orphans and widows! So, go do it. Get off of your rump and go do it! It's a little tougher than updating your Facebook status but it's definitely more pleasing to God and fulfilling! Heck, you can post pictures of it on Facebook for all I care but go and serve them!

You know what this whole stupid Facebook status thing reminds me of? It reminds me of the first ever (recorded in history) Christmas card, illustrated by J. C. Horsley. In that card, as you can see in the picture, there are wealthy people, perhaps Christians, having a "merry" time in Christ's name, while they have the destitute serving them. This is the OPPOSITE of true religion! But hey, it's what it has come to for most people in America who refer to themselves as Christians.

Perhaps we should take "Merry" out of the phrase "Merry Christmas" so that Christians here can remember what it is truly about: not being "merry" but being "followers of Christ" who strive for true and pure religion. But I don't foresee that ever happening because as long as we can keep "merry" attached, then Christians can convince themselves that it's all about having a good time and making themselves happy.

So, that's my challenge for you Christians on Facebook: Strive toward true and undefiled religion!

Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 20

The 20th section of my "Notes On Koine Greek" is up and ready for review. This group of notes includes all 15 of the tables we've looked at so far, including:

1) Koine Greek Present & Future Active Indicative Person-Number Suffix Morphemes
2) Koine Greek Movable νυ Table
3) Koine Greek Amalgamation Table
4) Koine Greek ειμι Table
5) Koine Greek Accent Rules Table
6) Koine Greek Verb Parsing Key Table
7) Koine Greek Verb Parsing Table
8) Koine Greek Case Names Table
9) Koine Greek Noun Parsing Key
10) Koine Greek Noun Parsing Table
11) Koine Greek Noun & Case Functions Table
12) Koine Greek 2nd Declension "ος" Table
13) Koine Greek 2nd Declension "ον" Table
14) Koine Greek 2nd Declension Suffix Morphemes Arranged Alphabetically by “Family”
14) Koine Greek Conjunctions Table

To see the other "Notes", go to the bottom of this post and click the links. Enjoy!

+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 1"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 2"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 3"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 4"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 5"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 6"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 7"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 8"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 9"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 10"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 11"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 12"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 13"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 14"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 15"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 16"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 17"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 18"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 19"

Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 19

The 19th section of my "Notes On Koine Greek" is up and ready for reading. This group of notes looks at Indefinite Article of Koine Greek as well as the Koine Greek Conjunction. To see the other "Notes", go to the bottom of this post and click the links. Enjoy!

+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 1"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 2"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 3"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 4"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 5"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 6"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 7"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 8"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 9"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 10"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 11"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 12"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 13"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 14"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 15"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 16"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 17"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 18"

Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 18

The 18th installation of my "Notes On Koine Greek" is up. This group of notes looks at Definite Article of Koine Greek. I've created a "Koine Greek Definite Article Song" which is accompanied by sheet music, lyrics and a pictoral mnemonic device. To hear the song, click the audio player below. To read section 18's notes, go just below that. To see the other "Notes", go to the bottom of this post and click the links. Enjoy!

+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 1"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 2"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 3"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 4"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 5"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 6"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 7"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 8"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 9"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 10"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 11"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 12"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 13"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 14"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 15"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 16"
+ Link: "Notes On Koine Greek, Pt. 17"