Why Christians Should Not Worry About The Plain Reading

It can be tempting for Christians to defer to the plain meaning of a verse in the Bible. That concept emerges in blogposts, small groups and internet discussions about various doctrines. The idea of a plain meaning is basically to say that if you read a text, you should be able to understand it immediately without additional interpretation or jumping through exegetical loops. Casual readers can just glance a passage over and immediately infer what the author is trying to communicate, sort of like having a conversation with another person.…

Why The Biblical Flat Earth Model Doesn’t Flatten Christian Theology

There is a concept among travelers known as culture shock. If a thoroughly westernized tourist visits a third-world country, they sometimes feel completely disconnected from this new world. The architecture, customs and people are genuinely disorienting. It would not surprise us if literature coming out of this culture were difficult to understand. That is essentially why the biblical flat earth model doesn’t flatten Christian theology. While modern technology can deliver satellite imagery of the spherical earth, the ancients had no such luxury. This biblical flat earth model does not come…

Assessing A Few Really Lame Alleged Bible Contradictions

I typically do not write about alleged Bible contradictions because there are more interesting things to talk about. There is also the fact that on many atheist blogs, anything that could pass as a contradiction at first glance will make the big list, and to try to respond to all of them would a herculean task. However, I am afraid it is largely a wasted effort, because there are other models of biblical inspiration that are perfectly compatible with Christianity. Some evangelical, orthodox Christians think that there are or could…

Does The Bible Portray An Unscientific View of The World?

Modern man is regarded as thoughtful and rational when he actively tries to think of the world in scientific terms. He who lays superstition aside and recognizes that the world is compromised of natural causes and effects is the one who has ascended to a staggering intellectual height that would have been unknown to many of our ancestors. Mankind needs explanations. We are philosophical creatures and enjoy asking why things happen. Mysteries are insufficient and leave us unsatisfied. Even if there are no answers, we will feel inclined to just…

Does The Old Testament Portray God As Evil?

Throughout their poetry, the psalmists would contemplate the character of God. They would marvel about his wisdom, strength, glory, and his righteousness. Even in times of turmoil, they would write what we find in Psalm 145:17. “The LORD is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds.” Psalm 89:14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.” God is constantly contrasted against wicked men. While men will deceive us, betray our trust, persecute us without cause, the psalmists believed…

How Do You Know That The Bible Is God’s Word?

There are certain aspects of the Christian worldview that many people find objectionable. The man with the unregenerate heart will not enjoy hearing that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. The individual who aspires for moral autonomy will posit a form of relativism, suggesting that you cannot impose your morals upon them. The doctrine of Hell, the depravity of man and the need for forgiveness repel us. This has led the people of this generation to challenge the foundation for all of it. If you can compromise the…

How Many Authors Wrote Isaiah?

As biblical scholarship unveils mysteries within biblical history, many find themselves opposed, or discomforted by these revelations, for they contrast their traditional interpretations or seem to remove the divine from the Bible. When Christians encounter a development that explains what we previously regarded as a miracle with natural phenomenon, we tend to view this as pure anti-supernatural bias. We view it as liberal scholarship. We view it as men who do not think that God can work miracles. In this way, we repudiate these developments. While I view this movement…

Is The NIV Bible Corrupt?

The ceremony of book burning has prevailed as one of the great tactics meant to silence those with whom certain groups disagree. It has prevailed as the tactic of the coward, lest their enemies have a voice to refute them. Of course, in the event of burning religious text, the motivation is a bit different. Angry religious people burn texts held as sacred by other religious groups purely as a testimony against that particular faith group. We see radical Christian parishioners dedicating the Qur’an to destruction, setting it aflame, as…

Is The Gospel of John Reliable?

Christians who indulge in liberal scholarship will hear the testimony that the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are somewhat reliable, while the Gospel of John is not reliable as a historical document. It will be testified that the Gospel of John contains embellished and later details of the Lord Jesus, or that it was written too late to be reliable, or that it was not written by eye-witnesses. The Gospel of John was a theological narrative, of theological reflection, not a historical narrative (so the argument goes). In this…

Is The Da Vinci Code Right About The Bible?

In his tale The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown mounted heavy charges against the biblical narratives, cutting at the core of the Christian faith. His characters, who were scholars from Oxford and Harvard, criticized the early Christians for manufacturing the deity of Christ, changing the Scripture, removing the prevalence of Mary Magdalene, all for their own power and claim in the marketplace of religious ideas. Yet, in Brown’s tall tale, throughout the history of the church, there have been those who remained true to the real story of Christ, protecting…

Why Isn’t The Gospel Of Thomas In The Bible?

People love uncovering new artifacts that seem to contradict everything that we thought we knew, especially with regard to the common religious belief. That is why Reza Aslan’s book proclaiming that Jesus was a violent revolutionary was such a hit. Authors are given airtime on major networks because they proclaim that the body of Jesus was found. People love hearing that the Romans claimed that they invented Jesus. They love hearing that there are books out there, which were recently discovered, that have just as much historical credibility as the…

Is The Bible Full Of Contradictions?

The doctrine of inerrancy is almost universally agreed upon among evangelical Christians, throughout local churches. However there are a number of different stances among biblical scholars. Some theologians think that the Bible is inerrant only insofar as it speaks to theological issues. Others think that it is inerrant only in some areas, but we do not know what they are. Other think that the Bible ought to be interpreted or even changed, in light of the discoveries of the modern world. But the majority of Christians and conservative biblical scholars…

Is The Bible Relevant Today?

Those who do not read the Bible are often under the impression that it is just not relevant today, that its’ messages are just too archaic to apply to our modern society. Written thousands of years ago, or perhaps even tens of thousands of years ago when referring to the early patriarchs, it can be difficult to see how it could apply to our era, for God said things such as, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” The…