Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 10024 Nobody alive has ever seen the original manuscripts of the Bible — the actual papyrus or parchment on which Moses wrote, or Paul dictated his letters, or John recorded his vision on Patmos. Those originals, which scholars call the autographs, no longer exist. For some people that is a troubling realisation; they assumed…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 60088 The assumption that science and the Bible are locked in fundamental conflict is one of the most widely held in contemporary culture. It surfaces in popular journalism, in university lecture theatres, and in the private doubts of many Christians who feel caught between the faith they hold and the world the sciences appear…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 10030 Before assessing what the Bible is, it is worth listening to what it claims to be. This is not circular reasoning — it is the same approach you would take with any significant document. A witness’s self-testimony may ultimately be accepted or rejected, but it has to be heard before it can be…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 10027 By almost every external measure, the Bible should not hold together as a single coherent work. Sixty-six books. More than forty human authors. Three languages. A composition period spanning roughly fifteen centuries. Multiple literary genres — poetry, history, prophecy, law, wisdom literature, biography, letters, apocalyptic vision. Yet the Bible presents itself, and has…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 10025 The Bible is a large, complex, ancient document. It contains poetry, prophecy, law, history, biography, letters, and apocalyptic vision. It was written across fifteen hundred years in three languages, addressed to people in vastly different cultural and historical situations. Christians claim it is the word of God for all people in all ages….
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 01142 God has not left Himself without witness. From the intricacy of a living cell to the voice of conscience that will not be entirely silenced, something of God presses in on human awareness at every turn. Yet that universal witness does not, in itself, bring anyone to saving knowledge of God. Understanding why…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 60089 The claim that all truth is relative has moved from university philosophy departments into everyday conversation, social media, and church life. “That may be true for you but not for me” sounds tolerant and open-minded, but it carries significant implications for anyone who believes that Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead and…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 60090 The assumption that faith and reason are opposed to each other is deeply embedded in popular culture, and it has done significant damage to Christian witness. The image of the credulous believer who parks their brain at the church door, set against the sharp-minded rationalist who has outgrown any need for religion, is…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 01150 The claim that personal experience overrides biblical teaching is one of the most pastoral challenges the church faces today, precisely because it is often made by sincere believers who have genuinely experienced something real and who interpret Scripture’s silence or apparent tension as permission to place their experience in the driving seat. Understanding…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 01146 The claim that the Bible has been corrupted through centuries of copying and translation is perhaps one of the most commonly heard objections to biblical authority. It sounds plausible to people who know that ancient documents were copied by hand, that translations involve interpretive choices, and that errors can accumulate over time. A…