Examining the doctrine of Scripture—its inspiration, inerrancy, authority, canon, and interpretation.
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1134 We live in a religiously diverse world. Many religions claim to possess sacred scriptures: Islam has the Quran, Hinduism has the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism has the Pali Canon, Mormonism has the Book of Mormon. What makes the Bible different? Is it simply our book as Christians, no more objectively authoritative than…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1136 Critics of Scripture have long claimed it contains contradictions, errors, and inconsistencies. Lists circulate online cataloguing hundreds of alleged problems. How should believers respond? Are these objections fatal to biblical authority, or do they dissolve under careful examination? This question matters because our confidence in Scripture’s reliability shapes our entire approach to the…
Reading Time: 7 minutesQuestion 1131 We live in strange times. “Post-truth” was named the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year back in 2016, and things have not improved since then. It describes a culture where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. In such an environment, how do…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1132 Critics of Bible-believing Christianity sometimes accuse us of “wooden literalism,” suggesting we interpret every passage without any recognition of figures of speech, literary genre, or context. This is a caricature, but it raises an important question: What is the difference between proper biblical literalism and the wooden literalism that critics rightly reject? Understanding…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1130 A common misconception about dispensationalism is that it supposedly uses different interpretive rules depending on which biblical era is being studied. Critics sometimes claim that dispensationalists read Old Testament prophecies one way and New Testament passages another, picking and choosing methods to suit predetermined conclusions. This question deserves careful examination because it touches…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 1125 Let’s be honest: when you hit one of those long lists of names in the Bible, “And so-and-so begat so-and-so, who begat so-and-so,” your eyes may start to glaze over. Some of those genealogies go on for pages. Is it okay to skip them? Won’t God be disappointed if you don’t read every…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1129 This question gets at something important: when we say we take the Bible literally, does that commit us to a particular view of science? And when scientists speak of observing the “literal” facts of nature, are they using the word the same way? The relationship between biblical literalism and scientific investigation is more…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1120 This is a question that comes up regularly, and it’s worth thinking through carefully. If we say we believe in a literal interpretation of Scripture, does that commit us to believing the earth is young, perhaps six to ten thousand years old? Or can someone hold to a literal hermeneutic and still accept…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1124 You’re reading your Bible and you hit a passage that makes no sense. You read it twice, maybe three times, and you’re still confused. What do you do? Give up? Skip it? Pretend you understood it? This is a common experience, and it shouldn’t discourage you. The Bible is a deep book, written…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 10020 Understanding the difference between conditional and unconditional covenants is essential for grasping God’s purposes throughout Scripture. This distinction affects how we read the Old Testament promises, how we understand Israel’s future, and how we apply God’s Word to our lives today. Getting this right isn’t academic theology—it shapes our whole understanding of God’s…