#FiveMinuteFriday seems to roll around so quickly. Hope you all enjoy your weekend. I am heading south to Murfreesboro, Tennessee today to be with my daughter-in-law at our BABY SHOWER on Saturday! She has made it to 36 weeks and we couldn’t be more thrilled to meet Miss Norah Jayne. God is in the miracle working business and if you haven’t read about Kyle and Rachel’s miracle, go ahead and do that here. It will open in a new tab and then you can come right back! (Grab the tissues.) What are your plans for the weekend?
We might actually learn something today and that is a good thing.
Did you know that some believe that the word news is an acronym for the four cardinal directions, North, East, West and South? It isn’t true, it is definitely a myth.
The word news goes all the way back to late Middle English, right around the 14th century. It was a plural for the adjective new or new thing. For grammar and English buffs, you would understand that it is rare for an English adjective to become a noun when made plural. Possibly it derives from the Old French nouveau, meaning new, and its plural becomes nouvelles which means…wait for it…news!
Even more interesting is the tidbit that before the 14th century those that spoke the English language used the word tidings, kind of like an announcement of something that was to take place.
Today, the news has changed. I would not call what we see on the evening news a new thing and I wouldn’t call it tidings, definitely not glad tidings! It has become a pre-cursor to Saturday Night Live and we can see it every night of the week, not just one.
We long for entertainment, no matter how raunchy. And may I say, this presidential race is flat out raunchy. I am embarrassed for them! I just want to hear what you are going to do to fix our economy, defeat terrorism and provide jobs for the unemployed. And don’t forget the health insurance thing; it’s kind of big. I don’t care how much a candidate sweats, how much water he does or doesn’t drink or what brand of suit he is wearing.
Newsflash: We don’t care!
For as bad as the news is, it isn’t a new thing. News has been spreading long before they knew what to call it. According to Bible.org, “The term gospel is found ninety-nine times in the New American Standard Bible and ninety-two times in the NET Bible. In the Greek New Testament, gospel is the translation of the Greek noun euangelion (occurring 76 times) “good news,” and the verb euangelizo„ (occurring 54 times), meaning “to bring or announce good news.” Both words are derived from the nounangelos, “messenger.”
In classical Greek, an euangelos was one who brought a message of victory or other political or personal news that caused joy. In addition, euangelizomai (the middle voice form of the verb) meant “to speak as a messenger of gladness, to proclaim good news.” Further, the noun euangelion became a technical term for the message of victory, though it was also used for a political or private message that brought joy.”
The Apostle Paul seems to convey it best in his letter to the Corinthians. “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.
Paul is adamant that the death, burial and, most importantly, resurrection of Jesus Christ was an actual event. He is so convinced that he is putting his life at risk, over and over again, to spread this Good News. This is a glad tiding!
When you hear some good news, you want to share it, right? That’s how the Gospel has been spreading for a couple thousand years and it won’t stop until every nation has heard that Jesus died for all of us and eternal life is freely available, but only through Him.
What kind of news are you spreading today? What are you focused and consumed with? The presidential race here in the United States is definitely important, no doubt, but the enemy would love to distract us from the best news we could share, the Good News that Jesus saves, delivers, satisfies and makes all things new.
Start spreading the news…
Interesting post! Thanks for your sharing. Keep it up!
I almost posted ‘ole Blue Eyes singing the song, thought that might be a little much and do just what you said, keep it in our heads all day! Ha. Thank you so much for visiting, on my way to your corner of the blogging sphere. ♥
Hi Amy! Thanks so much for stopping by. I read your great post as well. So funny we had the same title for #FMF, maybe there were more? I had actually never seen the acronym myself but found it interesting. Thank you so much for your comment and visit. Blessings. ♥
Though I later learned it was a myth, I was actually taught that news acronym in elementary school. How funny!
Hope you enjoy the baby shower!
Great post- lots of interesting facts, and it’s so true that the world needs the Good News when there is so much bad news out there.
I just have to see a song lyric to get the tune stuck in my head so I’ll probably be humming “New York, New York” and thinking of your post for the rest of the day now!
Hope you have a great time at the baby shower.