Question:,Do you think that from the Bible one can infer some Church governance patters with hierarchy, roles, tasks? What should be the model of church governance? ,Answer:,I believe that one can infer a broad and general pattern for church leadership and organization in the New Testament. However, this is only a broad and general pattern. […]

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Question/Comment: I have a question about the word pharmakea which appears in the sin list in Galatians 5:19-21. Probably because of the problems I see personally with people taking pharmaceuticals. Especially psychological (which are mind altering) drugs. I don’t know of anyone who does well spiritually who take these medicines. I also believe that God […]

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Question: Are playing certain video games not fit for a disciple of Christ? I am specifically talking about violent video games that involve elements of murder, magic, good vs. evil, etc, all in a fictional fantasy story. Are there any biblical principles that one should consider before involving themselves in these fantasy type video games? […]

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Question: I noticed something interesting while contrasting the gospels of Mark and Luke the other day. The passages specifically were Mark 16:5-7 and Luke 24:4-7. On the surface these two passages appear to conflict in their stories. Mark tells that when they entered the sepulcher they saw a young man sitting inside clothed in white. […]

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Question; Is the quality of the lives of believers sufficient evidence of the truth of Christianity? Answer: I do not know what you mean by “sufficient evidence.” Sufficient to whom? I know from experience that for some people, seeing the life of Jesus Christ lived out in individual followers of Jesus is sufficient to convince […]

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Question; Why did the Christian Church begin to use a single pastor, elder, or leader in the second century, as opposed to the original leadership model used by the first church where several leaders, pastors, or elders governed each church? Was this switch a prelude to the clerical system? It appears likely. My search for […]

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I’m studying bible with a friend but my friend is adventist. Please send me the real message about the “sabbath” and the day to worship God, because my friend is convicted that the day is sunday.what can i do? Answer: My advice is that you avoid a big debate over the Sunday issue. Bottom line, […]

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Question: You have spoken about the 2nd law of theromdynamics and entropy. I understand this specifically applies to chemical reactions, but the principal that things move from a more ordered to a less ordered state seems to be the overriding nature of everything in the post-fallen world. Governments, societies, our bodys, everything we put our […]

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Question: Has there been any scientific analysis on the Book of Enoch that will prove it is unbiblical? Answer: I am not an expert on the book of Enoch. I doubt science will have anything to offer on the book of Enoch. Science generally has little if anything to offer in analyzing literature. However, scholars […]

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Question: Has there been any scientific analysis on the Book of Enoch that will prove it is unbiblical? Answer: I am not an expert on the book of Enoch. I doubt science will have anything to offer on the book of Enoch. Science generally has little if anything to offer in analyzing literature. However, scholars […]

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Question: I recently discovered that the Greek word “pharmakeia” was used in Galatians 5:19, the main definition of which is “the use or the administering of drugs”. And yet the NIV translated it as “witchcraft”. What do you think could be the reason for that? Also, which Bible translation do you find to be the […]

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Question: There are two questions that have been troubling me. 1) The Ark – how could such a modest sized boat keep so many creatures alive for so long? 2) Why is the book of Enoch not part of the Bible. Surely if the apostles could quote from it it should carry some weight? Answer: […]

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Question: I am curious about the Biblical explanation of homosexuals and omnisexuals as advanced by Paul in Romans chapter 1. Paul claims that homosexuality is a punishment for idolatry. However, homosexual behavior is exhibited in over 1500 species of animals with roughly the same percentages as human beings across the globe. If it caused by […]

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Question: Many theologians and teachers say that the Leviathan is a mythical sea creature yet you state within your book that the Bible never resorts to myth. I know that there is much picture language in the book of Job, but this has often troubled me. I would really love to hear your thoughts. Answer: […]

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Question I think this a perfectly rational question, so please don’t think that I’m trying to be insincere. What are the afterlife experiences like of aborted fetuses, children who die very young or at childbirth, or people who die with mental retardation? I’ve discussed this with friends, and we cannot rationalize how these “people” would […]

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Question: My pastor preached a sermon suggesting that we should not believe that the Bible is without error. I happen to disagree with his assertion however, he said that the numbers in the book of Numbers do not add up and used this as proof of his belief. He did not go into detail on […]

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Question: I am interested in your perspective that you considerus part of the Church of Christ, not the ICOC. I wonder if they agree. I am personally confused about church relations especially with Kip McKean?s new movement and establishment of churches. Response:I am, by nature, but also by biblical conviction, a believer in unity wherever […]

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Question: Should Christians allow themselves to watch movies that have sinful activities such as sex scenes, cursing, violence, etc? Answer: There is no simple answer to this question. We need to look at Bible passages which give principles to answer such quesions. One helpful passage in in Psalms 102:3; “I will set before my eyes […]

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Comment: 1) The Medes became Zoroastrian before the Persians 2)Daniel 6;9 has King Darius signing a decree that no prayer should be directed to anyone except the king. This would be unthinkable for a Zoroastrian and therefore the account cannot be historical. 3) The word for king is totally separate from the word for governor […]

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Question: What are Leviathan and Behemoth? I have books that say they are the hippo and crocodile, I have books that say they are dinosaurs and I have books that say they are mythical creatures. Answer: Leviathan and Behemoth are certainly not dinosaurs and they probably are not a hippo or a crocodile either. In […]

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Question: The NLT of Genesis 7:20 says the water was “standing more than 22ft above the highest peaks” What may I ask is ambiguous about that? You cannot be “agnostic” about the Word of God. It is perfectly clear in what sense it covered the mountains. The depth of the water matters as much as […]

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Question: Are you aware of the Church “Iglesia ni Cristo” or the Church of Christ? This Church believes that Jesus Christ is just a “mere man” with extraordinary power given to him by God the Father and that Felix Manalo the founder of this Church is the fulfillment in Rev.7:2. What can you say about […]

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Comment: I notice that you do not include deutero-Isaiah in the list of books that were completed after the Persian conquest. In this, you differ from modern scholars of the Old Testament and I would be interested to know your reasons for so doing. I am currently in the process of reading through the old […]

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Question: Why the change from “God incited” to “Satan incited” in 2 Sam 24 and in 1 Chronicles 21? Ponder also on the theological change from “ha-satan” a helper of God who sometimes asked people hard questions to test their faith such as Job, into “the Prince of this World” and an adversary of God, […]

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Question: Ezekiel 26;14 says that Tyre will never be rebuilt but it is there to this day and HAS been rebuilt. Can you explain this? Answer: Yes, but not on the original site. The original site is still basically a bare rock, even today. It has been excavated. The rock Tyre stood on lies just […]

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Comments: What is interesting about the Gospel writers is the way in which they fit the details of the story to match the “prophetic” passages which are pre-existent to the story and are already selected as “must be” parts of the story. How for example do you know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem? The […]

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Question: What are the churches from which the four text types of the Greek New Testament (Alexandrine, Western, Caesarean and Byzantine) circulated? Answer: The Western text type will have circulated in the West. Generally, the Western churches are taken to mean North Africa, Spain, Gaul and Italy. The North African churches were very strongly influenced […]

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Comment: One of the benefits of reading Essene interpretations of Scripture written 100/200 years before the Gospels, is that it enables one to see how religious Jews of the period would happily wrest any passage of Scripture from its clear ancient context and apply it allegorically either to the present or the future. The evangelists […]

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Question: My question is can you tell me where specifically did the four text types originate and when they originated and by whom or what local group are most likely to have done so? I understand by Bruce Metzger that using the fathers to locate a certain family of text or reading is also a […]

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Question: Please explain to me the differences between the Septuagint and Masoretic text in relation to your belief in the faithful transmission of Scripture. How also does it impinge on your belief in the prophetic element in the OT ? Answer: I have found in my study that the transmission of the original has been […]

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Question: (note, this is a long series of questions, followed by a general response to all the question) (1) Should the sacred texts of a religion be understandable to anybody that reads it (ex. Buddhist texts are fairly hard to understand in Chinese…even to those that know Chinese)? (2) Should there be a presence of […]

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Question: What text type or types do the most early church fathers use? If the Byz. type goes no further than the 4th cent. why then do kjv. only people say that church fathers from the 2nd cent usedthis type? My second question is what are the text types for the earliest versions of the […]

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Question: Please explain to me the discrepancies, both theological and numerical, between 2 Samuel 24 and 1Chronicles 21. Answer: If you read my book Reasons for Belief on the reliability of the biblical texts, you will find the comment that we have a NT which is a virtually perfect copy of the original. With the […]

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Question: I detect an anachronism in the burial practice described in 2 Chron 16:14. To the best of my knowledge there is no Jewish custom recorded elsewhere regarding this clearly ongoing practice. What therefore is its explanation? Answer We do not know all the cultural practices of the Philistines. If the Bible were to mention […]

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Question: I would be interested to see any paper trail that takes us back to 1300BC as far as archaeological evidence that supports the Bible. Response: Paper? Paper was invented by the Chinese some time in the early centuries AD. (just teasing… forgive me) Have you read me book, Reasons for Belief? I make the […]

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