Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
June 28th, 2008—June 29th, 2009 was declared by the Catholic Church to be "The Year of Paul." You know you're a pretty big deal when people have to set aside a whole year to celebrate your awesomeness.
14 books of the Bible are attributed to Paul, even though scholars think he only actually for sure wrote 7 of those: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. As for the others? 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews were almost definitely not written by Paul. Sorry, guys. The status of Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians are in dispute, but these three don't usually get tacked into the Paul column either. (Source.)
Actress Kinga Philipps didn't always have such a cool name. She changed her Polish last name—Szpakiewicz—to Philipps in honor of her favorite Bible verse, Philippians 4:13. (Source.)
NBA player J.R. Giddens has 16 tattoos, one of which is Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Now we just need to know what the other fifteen say. (Source.)
He needed a little inspiration out there on the field, so New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, had "Phil 4:13" stitched into his pitching glove. (Source.)
The expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul" gets its origin in our two favorite apostles. In England before the Reformation, folks had to pay church taxes to both St. Paul's Cathedral in London and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. If a Christian found they were short on cash, it was common to skimp on the Peter tax in order to pay the Paul one. You win this round, Paul! (Source.)