Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1066 This is perhaps the most fundamental question anyone can ask about Christianity. If the Bible is not truly God’s Word, then our faith rests on nothing more than human opinion and religious tradition. But if it is what it claims to be—the very words of the living God—then everything changes. Our lives, our…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 1067 Claiming that the Bible is God’s Word is one thing; demonstrating that it speaks truth is another. In an age of scepticism, many ask: “How can you trust a book written thousands of years ago? How do you know it hasn’t been corrupted? What evidence supports its claims?” These are fair questions, and…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1082 For centuries, sceptics dismissed much of the Bible as myth and legend. They claimed that people groups mentioned in Scripture never existed, that cities described were fictional, and that events recorded were invented. Then the archaeologists got to work. Time and again, the spade has confirmed what Scripture recorded, silencing critics and strengthening…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1083 Critics often claim the Bible contains scientific errors—that it reflects the primitive understanding of ancient peoples and cannot be trusted as God’s Word. They point to passages about the sun standing still, a solid dome over the earth, or the earth resting on pillars. How should we respond? Are there genuine scientific errors…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1102 If Scripture is the Word of God, how can it also be the work of human authors? Does the human element compromise its divine authority? Or does the divine element override the human contribution? This question parallels one of the great mysteries of our faith – how Jesus could be fully God and…
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: 3 minutesQuestion 1104 When New Testament writers quote the Old Testament, the wording sometimes differs from what we find in our Old Testament. Does this mean there are errors in Scripture? If the Bible is inerrant, should we not expect quotations to match exactly? The Nature of the Question Anyone who reads Scripture carefully notices that…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 1106 If God inspired the Scriptures, did He also promise to preserve them perfectly? Can we be confident that what we have today accurately represents what the original authors wrote? What exactly did God promise about preservation, and what can we realistically expect? The Doctrine of Preservation The doctrine of preservation holds that God…
Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 1036 Walk into almost any church and you will find some statement of faith, whether ancient creeds recited in liturgy or modern doctrinal statements printed in the back of a hymnal. Christians have been summarising their beliefs since the earliest days of the faith. But where do these creeds and confessions fit alongside Scripture…
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…