Tag: Bible interpretation

Justifying God's behaviour
(April 4, 2013)

There are a number of things about our world, and about the christian faith, that seem hard to explain if God is loving – for example, the pain and suffering people experience, hell, the commands in the Old Testament to kill and even wipe out whole tribes and God’s disapproval of homosexuality. What should christians […]

The Bible: where the rubber hits the road
(March 26, 2013)

This will probably be the last in this series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. When it’s all said and done about the Bible, sometimes more is said than done. But the purpose of the Bible is not to simply read, but to lead us to action. What does the Bible […]

How should a christian read the Bible?
(March 20, 2013)

We are nearly at the end of this series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. Today: in the light of all I’ve concluded so far, how should we read the Bible and apply it?

A relationship with God?
(March 12, 2013)

In comments to my last post, Ryan has asked some good questions. They deserve a post of their own. (I have altered the order of some of the questions to group them.)

Believing the Bible: the Old Testament – 2
(March 10, 2013)

This is the twelfth in a series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. This post: the very difficult question of how a christian should view the Old Testament.

Believing the Bible: the Old Testament – 1
(March 3, 2013)

This is the eleventh in a series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. So far, the matters we have been discussing seem, to me at least, to be fairly clear and straightforward. They have been based on clear statements in the Bible (or lack of them) and the clear views of […]

Believing the Bible: the New Testament
(February 26, 2013)

This is the tenth in a series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. We have seen that the Bible claims to be an authoritative scripture which reveals God. We have also seen that it doesn’t seem to claim to be inerrant or the very words of God himself. So what can […]

Is the Bible inerrant – and does it matter?
(February 23, 2013)

This is the ninth in a series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. Christians generally believe the Bible, and believe in the Bible, but what should we believe about the Bible? Probably the strongest claim christians make about the Bible is that it is inerrant – it contains no errors. There […]

Word of God?
(February 18, 2013)

This is the eighth in a series of posts on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. We have looked at what Jesus, the Bible and the Bible authors say about the Bible and how they used their scriptures. Now it is time to see what we can conclude about the Bible, and whether some […]

Interpreting the Bible: the story so far
(February 11, 2013)

I have looked at six topics so far in this series on Understanding the Bible in the 21st century. Before I move on to draw some conclusions, I want to sum up what I have learnt so far.