| CANNABILISM |
| Q: |
Is Cannibalism forbidden in the Bible? |
| A: |
The Bible does not explicitly address the issue, although many ABSURD, biased and frankly silly opponents of the Bible try to use verses about "mothers will eat their children" and the Lord's Supper being the body of Christ... and try to put those passages forth as the God condoning and in fact, commanding, Christians to practice cannibalism. (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53-57; Jeremiah 19:9; ... | Read entire answer |
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| HARD VERSES |
| Q: |
Can you explain Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved-you and your household"? |
| A: |
First, we know that it does NOT mean that one person is saved because of another person’s belief. Scripturally is overwhelmingly clear on that point, which is the primary reason that infant baptism is a futile practice. So we know that simply having a parent, or the head of household, respond to the Gospel, is not sufficient for the salvation of any other individual, family or not.
That leaves us... | Read entire answer |
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| CHURCH ORGANIZATION |
| Q: |
How are churches supposed to be organized? What about overseeing organizations like the Southern Baptists or Presbyterians? |
| A: |
The Bible is very plain and straightforward about church structure, and yet Christians for the most part do their own thing, what "seems right in their own eyes".
Jesus Christ is the only Head and Ruler of all churches - Eph 1:23; Col 1:24
The Bible is the sole and complete authority for doctrine - 1Pet 1:3; 2Tim 3:16-17;
The Bible never gives example of anything but churches that are loca... | Read entire answer |
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| HEAVEN |
| Q: |
Why do we have to give an account to God when we die? Doesn't He already know everything about us even before we are born? |
| A: |
We can only speculate about the "why" because the Bible simply doesn't say. Unless you say the "why" is because because "God said so".
"Because I said so" was good enough for my Dad, so I assume its good enough for God too. :)
Since God already knows everything and nothing can improve Him, or make Him more complete, then "giving an account" MUST be for our benefit. It MUST be... it'... | Read entire answer |
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| CHURCH |
| Q: |
People are trying to reinvent church today. The reason why I know my Church is right is because we seek to model ourselves after the first century church. I don't think all these modern approaches are Godly, do you? |
| A: |
Yes, I think there is much to be concerned about many modern fads and movements in the Church today. However, I would like to more specifically address your comment about "the first century church".
I often hear phrases like "restoring first century Christianity" or "modeled after the first century Church" or "the first century Church is our example". I've often heard arguments such as "wel... | Read entire answer |
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| AUTHORITY |
| Q: |
I often hear that we "are silent where the Bible is silent, and speak only where the Bible speaks"; and also "we do nothing that we don't have Bible authority for". We shouldn't practice anything without a "thus saith the Lord". Thoughts? |
| A: |
My thoughts? Hogwash.
This SOUNDS great, and is a useful (but hypocritical) weapon against those who do something we disagree with.
For those who claim "Scriptural authority" for EVERYTHING they do (and do NOTHING without it) I have a request...
For the sake of consistency and spiritual integrity, could we publish the Scriptural reference list of “thus saith’s” and Biblical authority for large,... | Read entire answer |
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| ROLES |
| Q: |
I am a woman whose soul "sings" when I hear/read the truth taught - I am passionate about it. However, I believe it is not
Biblical for me to take any pastoral/elder roles.
My situation is this: My husband and I lead a Bible study group of couples and some single women in our home - as a ministry of our church. But I am the main "teacher" of our group. And I feel torn about that. The men in our group are not teachers, and some are not leaders at all. Sometimes I just "take the bull by the horns" and teach.
Other times I step back and ask one of the men to do a series (but then I often regret it, because there is no obvious gift of teaching among any of them at this point). The other (less obvious) issue in this, is that I sometimes sense that my husband feels demeaned because I take that role
(which also bothers me a great deal).
Can a woman teach a man? If I should not, please tell me how to resolve this situation that feels so impossible to me.
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| A: |
There are two very distinct ways this question could be interpreted. I took it one way, but one of my readers, "Bill", pointed out another valid interpretation. With his permission, I'm putting his response after mine.
We have no way of knowing the original motivation and heart of the reader who asked the question. She'll have to decide that for herself. The point of including both respo... | Read entire answer |
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| TEACHING |
| Q: |
I’m amazed at how many casual, poor and Biblically uneducated Christian teachers there are today. It seems to be more about popularity and self fulfillment than teaching. What are your thoughts about this? |
| A: |
It amazes me too.. it’s not so much that every person has to be some great dynamic teacher, but the responsibility seems to be taken so casually despite the Scriptural warning “let not many of you be teachers”…. The reason? God holds us accountable to teach TRUTH, and be accurate with his Word (rightly handle). It’s not about personality or charisma… it’s about taking the responsibility of be... | Read entire answer |
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| SELF ESTEEM |
| Q: |
I am new to preparing devotionals and sermonettes. I wanted to know if you could give me some verses that have to do with self worth and how to value one self? |
| A: |
I’m not sure about “preparing devotionals and sermonettes”. I do practice or promote techniques or systematized ways to prepare teaching (not saying it’s wrong; I just don’t do it myself), and I’m not sure I even know what a “sermonette” is.
Regardless, you ask me about verses about “self worth” and how to “value one’s self”. In today’s world that would mean a bunch of psychobabble ... | Read entire answer |
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| GOD |
| Q: |
Do Christians and Jews worship the same God? Can you explain the reason for your answer? I have heard both yes and no answers to this question. And is this the same as "Allah"? The following is an answer I read from Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and I wanted to get your opinion of his answer: http://www.baptiststandard.com/2001/11_5/pages/mohler.html |
| A: |
The short answer is YES, Christians and Jews believe in the same God, but NO, "Allah" of Islam is NOT that God. We hear a lot today that "Allah" is just another word for God, but even Muslims themselves say that God is not a "Trinity" and does not have a Son. So by the very words of Muslims, the God of Christianity and Judaism is not the god of Islam.
While the claim today is made by I... | Read entire answer |
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Question - Bible Question and Answers by Brent Riggs