Reading Time: 6 minutesQuestion 4182. Almost every Christian I have ever pastored has had at least one sin that seems to cling closer than the rest, and the longing to overcome a besetting sin is one of the most painful and persistent struggles of the believing life. It may be a temper that flares before you can stop…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11088 For many things in Christian life, this question has a straightforward answer: Scripture names them, and that settles it. But there is a genuine and growing category of situations, particularly in contemporary life, where the specific action is not mentioned in the Bible and where Christians may hold quite different views. How do…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 06059 The statement in Matthew 5:29–30 has unsettled readers since it was first spoken, which is probably part of the point. “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 12023 Pornography is one of the most pervasive and destructive forces operating in contemporary culture, and the church is not immune. The scale of the problem is staggering: internet pornography has made what was once difficult to access freely available on every smartphone, and its consumption cuts across every demographic, including professing Christians. This…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 10056 Hell is perhaps the most uncomfortable doctrine in Christianity, and many today prefer to ignore it or redefine it away. Yet Jesus spoke more about hell than about heaven, and the Bible is clear and consistent in its teaching. Hell is the place of eternal punishment for those who reject God. Understanding this…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 09055 Church discipline is one of the most neglected functions of the modern church. Many congregations have never practised it. Many pastors have never been trained in it. And many believers would be horrified at the suggestion that a church has the right and the responsibility to confront sin in its members and, if…
Reading Time: 5 minutesQuestion 08050 Paul warns Timothy that a church leader must be “well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:7). The same phrase appears in 2 Timothy 2:26, where Paul expresses hope that those who oppose the truth may “come to their…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 08067 Paul’s instruction to “give no place to the devil” in Ephesians 4:27 is one of the most practically important statements about spiritual warfare in the New Testament. It is also one of the most misunderstood, frequently cited as a general warning about demonic activity while its specific context is overlooked. What Paul actually…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 08064 Every believer knows what it is to be tempted, but not every believer can distinguish where a particular temptation is coming from. Scripture identifies multiple sources of temptation, and understanding the difference between satanic temptation and the pull of our own fallen nature is not merely an academic exercise. It has direct implications…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 08083 One of the most puzzling details in the Bible’s eschatological narrative is the release of Satan after the Millennium. If he has been bound for a thousand years and the reign of Christ has been established on earth, why would God let him loose again? It seems counterintuitive, even troubling, that a period…