Recently, I received the following list of trivial items by e-mail. I cannot necessarily account for the validity of many of these things. But I enjoyed reading them nonetheless. Perhaps you will as well.
It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times. (Of course, I don’t know how anyone has actually measured either of these things!)
Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years.
Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.
If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases.
Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals.
Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.
The song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year.
Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent.
Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450F.
The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.
Nine out of every ten living things live in the ocean.
The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.
Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.
The University of Alaska spans four time zones.
The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.
In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.
Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
A comet's tail always points away from the sun.
The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent.
Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers. That is why it is found in some medicines.
The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.
If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.
When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight.
In ancient times, strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed.
Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the
outside.
Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams.
The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year.
The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust.
Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters.
Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy.
Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down.
Everything weighs one percent less at the equator.
For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at lift-off.
The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements.*
Wow! I didn't know most any of this. And yet, it strikes me that, in the world in which we live, we are bombarded with so much information that no one person could reasonably be expected to be read up on everything. And what is more, most of the information that does come our way is quite useless. Indeed, only a few things are vitally important to know.
Which leads me to my point: most all of the above trivia falls into the former category. It is interesting, to say the least. But critical? Hardly. While I love trivia, I could probably live out most of my remaining life and never really need to know or else benefit by any of this information.
By contrast, God’s Word gives us several key truths that are essential for everyone to know and understand. These are found in Pauls' Letter to the Romans in the New Testament of the Bible, and are often collectively referred to as the "Roman Road to Salvation". Here they are:
“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’”
Romans 3:10-12
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Romans 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death…”
Romans 6:23a
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23b
“…for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved.’”
Romans 10:13
“If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Romans 10:9-10
Not only should these truths be known; they should also be embraced and acted upon. I hope you will read them again. And as you do, I hope you will seriously consider their relevance for you and your life. Embrace them. Take them to heart. Act upon them. For more than any other truths, these really are worth knowing!
*A WORD ABOUT SOURCES: I attempted to find the source of this piece of trivia. It is posted on the web at various sites. See http://www.husky-owners.com/forum/topic/54352-triv
ia/. Obviously, individual pieces of the trivia, such as the ones involving scientific or historical information, are posted on more authoritative sites which are devoted to given fields of knowledge.
It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times. (Of course, I don’t know how anyone has actually measured either of these things!)
Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years.
Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.
If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. When a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.
Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases.
Zero is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman numerals.
Kites were used in the American Civil War to deliver letters and newspapers.
The song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year.
Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent.
Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450F.
The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.
Nine out of every ten living things live in the ocean.
The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.
Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.
The University of Alaska spans four time zones.
The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal itself.
In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.
Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
A comet's tail always points away from the sun.
The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent.
Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers. That is why it is found in some medicines.
The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.
If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.
When a person dies, hearing is the last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight.
In ancient times, strangers shook hands to show that they were unarmed.
Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the
outside.
Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams.
The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year.
The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust.
Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 meters.
Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy.
Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down.
Everything weighs one percent less at the equator.
For every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess fuel are needed at lift-off.
The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of the elements.*
Wow! I didn't know most any of this. And yet, it strikes me that, in the world in which we live, we are bombarded with so much information that no one person could reasonably be expected to be read up on everything. And what is more, most of the information that does come our way is quite useless. Indeed, only a few things are vitally important to know.
Which leads me to my point: most all of the above trivia falls into the former category. It is interesting, to say the least. But critical? Hardly. While I love trivia, I could probably live out most of my remaining life and never really need to know or else benefit by any of this information.
By contrast, God’s Word gives us several key truths that are essential for everyone to know and understand. These are found in Pauls' Letter to the Romans in the New Testament of the Bible, and are often collectively referred to as the "Roman Road to Salvation". Here they are:
“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.’”
Romans 3:10-12
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Romans 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death…”
Romans 6:23a
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23b
“…for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved.’”
Romans 10:13
“If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Romans 10:9-10
Not only should these truths be known; they should also be embraced and acted upon. I hope you will read them again. And as you do, I hope you will seriously consider their relevance for you and your life. Embrace them. Take them to heart. Act upon them. For more than any other truths, these really are worth knowing!
*A WORD ABOUT SOURCES: I attempted to find the source of this piece of trivia. It is posted on the web at various sites. See http://www.husky-owners.com/forum/topic/54352-triv
ia/. Obviously, individual pieces of the trivia, such as the ones involving scientific or historical information, are posted on more authoritative sites which are devoted to given fields of knowledge.