Every now and then, I do a live Q&A session at the end of each worship gathering. This post is the place for me to record questions that deserve an article, and the links to the articles as I write them.
SCIENCE
Questions addressed by Is the Bible Compatible with Science?
- How do dinosaurs fit in to God’s story?
- How do we reconcile scientific evidence such as dinosaur fossils, with the biblical story of creation?
- Do you think old earth creationism or theistic evolution are acceptable positions for a Christian to hold? Can these positions be reconciled with Scripture?
- Are there UFOs? If so, how does that fit with the Bible?
More questions:
- How do you prove to an unbeliever that the earth is only a few thousand years old and not billions?
- How would you address the common Christian myth that the earth is only 6000 years old?
- Since God spoke to create the universe and all the laws that govern it, can science, or studying physics, be thought of as studying the echo of God’s voice?
MORALS
Will be answered in Is God a Meanie?
- If God considers all life sacred, why is it acceptable to slaughter animals for food?
- If God commands not to kill, how should we as Christians view abortion and capital punishment?
- How do I deal with God being a meanie in the OT?
- How do we work out in our hearts the way Joshua and his men killed so many people as they worked their way into Israel?
- How do we reconcile the past sins of the church (eg. murders in the process of conversion) with the process of evangelism in the modern church?
More Questions
- How far can we take the concept of cultural relativity?
- How does God’s covenant discussed in Deuteronomy apply to the modern day Israeli Palestinian Conflict? Are things different now because of Jesus?
- Is Dungeons and Dragons an example of divination, sorcery, spells, omens, etc?
- Can man break man law if it doesn’t go with God law?
- What’s your take on “bad” words?
- Do you have the authority to claim that God meant “all refugees” when he was talking about not sending escaped slaves back to their master?
RELATIONSHIPS
- How should a person honor a parent who is abusive (physically, mentally, etc.)?
- How do divorced people cope with “anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery”?
- If a woman is divorced, by choice of the husband, should she remain single or is she allowed to marry again? Is the new husband still considered an adulterer?
- How do you know if you found your soulmate?
THE BIBLE
- When seeking answers in the Bible, how do I make sure I am not pulling it out of context to make it fit my needs at the time?
- Is it a good idea to use different Bibles to do any studying? Which ones?
- Why did we combine all the books of the Bible instead of leaving them separate?
- Where? should we start reading the Bible, from beginning?
- Should we disregard ancient writings, sick as the Book of Enoch or the Gospel According to Mary Magdalene, just as the Catholic Church has done?
- Don’t other ancient myths contain heroes like Jesus? How can we tell that our stories of Jesus aren’t just made up to match the myths of other cultures?
- Noah brought 7 of every clean animal on the ark. Then much later in Leviticus and Numbers God tells which animals are clean. How did Noah know?
HARDSHIP
- Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always; how should we follow this during difficult times?
- Through the red text in the chapter of Mathew I learned to not worry, but I still worry. How does God help me with not worrying about what is happening in my daily life?
DOCTRINE
- Doesn’t the Bible make a strong case for annihilationism, where a hell-bound soul is entirely extinguished, instead of being sent for eternal punishment?
- Why did God allow these hard issues/topics to be in the Bible?
- Why did God allow so many controversial issues that drive Christians apart?
- Should we live in fear/expectation of the consequences of choosing to honor ourselves over God in the past?
- Why have so many different religions formed from the Bible—Christians, Catholics, Jews?
- Why are there different types of Bibles if God wrote it?
- Christians often say God has led them to move, or to a new job. How can we be sure God is leading us and that we’re not just doing what we want?
- Do you think that someone like Jordan Peterson, who is not a true believer despite studying the Bible as much as many theologians, can still have profound insights about the Bible and the depth of truth which it represents?
SILLINESS
- What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?
- Why doesn’t Pastor Jeff use a flannel graph to do his illustrations?
Answers…
Of course, I’m going to address the silly questions right here because they are the easiest:
What is the airspeed of an unladen swallow?
African or European swallow?
Why doesn’t Pastor Jeff use a flannel graph to do his illustrations?
‘Cause I don’t have one.