Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 6004 Scripture uses several different words to describe our moral failure before God, and each one sheds light on a different aspect of what we have done wrong. When David confessed his sin after his adultery with Bathsheba, he used all three major terms: “Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1092 The word “meditation” can make some Christians nervous. In our culture, it’s often associated with Eastern religions—emptying the mind, achieving altered states of consciousness, or connecting with some impersonal spiritual force. But biblical meditation is something entirely different. Far from emptying the mind, it involves filling the mind with God’s Word and chewing…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1093 Artificial intelligence has rapidly become part of everyday life, and Christians are increasingly asking whether these tools have a place in Bible study. Can ChatGPT help me understand a difficult passage? Should I use AI to prepare a Sunday school lesson? Is there something spiritually problematic about asking a computer to help me…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1094 Walk into any church today and you’ll see a mixture: some people holding leather-bound Bibles, others scrolling on their phones. This has sparked considerable debate among Christians. Is there something lost when we read Scripture on a screen? Does it matter whether our Bible has pages or pixels? While Scripture doesn’t directly address…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1095 The rise of audiobooks has reached the Bible, with professionally produced audio Bibles now readily available through apps, websites, and streaming services. Many Christians have embraced them enthusiastically, listening during commutes, workouts, or household tasks. But questions arise: Is listening to Scripture as spiritually beneficial as reading it? Does audio engagement with the…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 1103 When we say every word of Scripture is inspired, does that include the chapter and verse numbers? Were they part of the original text, or were they added later? This is a practical question that affects how we read and study the Bible. The Short Answer No, chapter and verse divisions are not…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1037 How should we read the Bible? This question lies at the heart of everything we do as Christians. Get interpretation wrong and everything else goes wrong with it. One of the most important principles in biblical interpretation is what we call “literal interpretation,” but this term is often misunderstood. Some think it means…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1038 Throughout church history, Christians have debated how to read the Bible. One approach that has attracted both devoted followers and sharp critics is allegorical interpretation. What exactly is this method? Where did it come from? And should we be using it today when we open our Bibles? These are important questions, because how…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1040 Open your Bible to any page and you will find yourself reading a particular kind of literature. The book of Psalms does not read like the book of Romans. Revelation is quite different from Ruth. Proverbs communicates differently than Philemon. These differences are not accidental. God chose to communicate His Word through a…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1043 Have you ever heard someone quote a Bible verse to support an idea that seemed completely unrelated to its original context? Perhaps you have seen a preacher build an entire sermon on a phrase pulled out of its setting, or encountered a teaching that required considerable mental gymnastics to connect to the text…