Letting the Bible be what it is, not what we would like it to be
Believing the Bible is what it appears to be rather than what we may want it to be solves a lot of problems.
Category: Bible
Book review: Disarming Scripture
Disarming Scripture by Derek Flood The Old Testament world was a violent place. For a christian, the most troubling violence is surely that said to be commanded by God, whether it be Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his son and heir Isaac, Joshua commanded to exterminate Canaanites who are unfortunate enough to be living in […]
Did the exodus really happen?
The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their travel to the Promised Land is one of the key events in Jewish religious history, and, therefore, in christian belief as well. But did it actually happen? Did something like 2 million people cross the Red Sea and through the Sinai, aided and guided by miraculous […]
Self-giving love and the New Testament
As a young christian I was told that the love God has for us, and the love he wants us to have for others, is a self-giving love, for which the New Testament writers used the Greek word agape. This understanding was reinforced by reading the CS Lewis book, The Four Loves, which spoke about […]
It was kind of amusing and revealing at the same time
The church I attend is part of a denomination which, based on the teachings of Paul, doesn’t allow women to be the senior minister in a congregation or to preach to a mixed gender audience. A few weeks back a young woman, bare-headed and wearing casual clothes, led the prayers in the Saturday evening service […]
Joshua & the conquest of Canaan: what's history, what's legend, what's unknown?
I don’t know about you, but when I read the Old Testament accounts of Joshua and the Israelites invading Canaan, I don’t have any picture of the geography or where the cities were located. The matter is complicated by the fact that many people feel a lot is at stake. Believers generally want to find […]
Does archaeology show the Bible is true? Seven facts
I’m sure you will have read, and heard it said, that archaeology confirms the accuracy of the Bible. But you may also have heard from sceptics that the Bible isn’t historically accurate. So which is true? This is a complex matter with a wide variety of conclusions among the experts. I have tried to investigate […]
Should christians accept everything in the Old Testament as truly from God?
I was intending getting onto some more positive topics, but I decided I needed to have one more look at this matter. My previous post, Did God command killings in the Old Testament or was that a misunderstanding?, examined an incident where Jehu became king of Israel by killing the former king, Joram. In discussion […]
Did God command killings in the Old Testament or was that a misunderstanding?
Arguments rage about the Bible and how we should interpret it, especially about the Old Testament. Conservative christians are often critical of those who take a “liberal” view, which conservatives see as destructive and unfaithful, while sceptics tend to see the conservatives as not following the evidence. Is there any way to break through on […]
Five ways inerrancy is killing christianity
I don’t believe the Bible is necessarily without error (i.e. inerrant). It doesn’t specifically claim to be, and I don’t think any of the arguments for inerrancy stand up to scrutiny. But I’m not going to argue about that here. Rather, I want to suggest ways that this doctrine, which I believe is not Biblical, […]