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My understanding, which must be overly simplified, is that the founders of Christianity held that even though the pre-gospel books of the bible (the Hebrew bible or what Christians call the old tes...
The Roman Catholic church, in the Council of Trent, forbade polygamy: If any one saith, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is not prohibited b...
When Michelangelo sculpted Moses, he carved the statue with two small horns on the top of Moses's head because in one of the translations at the time there was a verse that was mistranslated as "Mo...
The Westminster Larger Catechism (1648) Question 142 lists usury among the sins against the 8th commandment (highlight mine): Q. 142. What are the sins forbidden in the eighth commandment? A. T...
I know the Bible talks about some people being drunk (Noah etc.), but are there any references to people using other drugs?
There are two major frameworks of Biblical Theology in Protestant Christianity: Dispensationaliam and Covenant Theology. Simplistically, Dispensationaliam says there is a big discontinuity between ...
I grew up thinking that the practice of capitalizing pronouns referring to deity was pretty normal. Here's an example of it, from Matthew 4:11–12 (New American Standard), where "He" and "Him" refe...
This question about a polygamist who converts made me wonder about a different question. According to the Roman Catholic church, what happens if a marriage entered into in good faith later turns o...
The general explanation I've heard (if I can try to summarize it) for "the problem of evil", of why a good God allows evil things to happen in the world, is that God doesn't want "robots" as he wan...
Around 2010-2011 I was reading about the Family Integrated Church, a movement that basically said almost any family seperation during church services like Sunday School was wrong and families shoul...
The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they obviously draw upon common source material. John, in contrast, is less similar to any of them than they are to ea...
The doctrine of Sola Scriptura is generally defined as the belief that, while tradition, reason, and experience may be sources of spiritual knowledge for the Christian, the scriptures are the only ...
The Council of Chalcedon of 451 gave a clear definition of the Hypostatic Union, the doctrine that in the incarnation, the Son of God took on a full human nature, so that in this one person are uni...
For most of its history, the Holy Roman Empire had laws against heresy. The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 recognized only Catholicism and Lutheranism, with each state picking one or the other. Everyone...
In Galatians 5:20 Paul uses the word pharmakeia (Strong's Greek 5331). This word has been translated to "witchcraft" or "sorcery" in most English versions. For example: (19) Now the works of the...
Recently I stumbled across an article by Catholic writer Matthew Walther, entitled The Conservative Case for Teen Pregnancy. With a title like that from a Catholic, I was expecting to see an argum...
The Wikipedia article for George Liele, a freed slave and the first American missionary, indicates that as part of his missionary work in Jamaica, he founded the "Ethiopian Baptist Church of Jamaic...
2 Peter has an interesting history. Apparently some in the early church doubted that Peter actually wrote it (as per Origen and Eusebius), but it eventually made it into the canon for most Christi...
I remember having a discussion with someone in my church about the book of Genesis and re-reading about Cain and Abel made me scratch my head. When Cain murdered Abel, God put a mark on Cain as pun...
Genesis 24:1-9 (CSB): Abraham was now old, getting on in years, and the Lord had blessed him in everything. 2 Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Pl...
In a lecture on the historical background to the Westminster Standards, around minutes 12–13, Sinclair Ferguson mentions that John Knox was offered the bishopric of Rochester, "whether to give him ...
The Nephilim are named only in two verses in the Bible, in Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33. Numbers 13:33 says that the Anakim come from the Nephilim, but different translations render this in a vari...
The doctrine that the Christian Bible is literally true in every respect is not as old as Christianity. If nothing else, there wasn't a settled Biblical canon until late in the 4th century. Through...
In the history of the English Bible, the work of William Tyndale is impressive for a number of reasons, one of which is how closely subsequent translators followed his language. Tyndale translated...
I often hear an argument defending the doctrine of the Trinity that says that God is by nature loving and relational (see, for example, 1 John 4:7–8), and that he exists independent of his creation...
There are varying translations of Romans 5:12. For example: Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (KJV...
I downloaded an application that provides daily bible texts. Within the app, it is possible to switch between different calendars: Roman ordinary calendar Maronite calendar Extraordinary calen...
Union with Christ is a central doctrine in Reformed Theology, and concerns the mystical union of the believer with Christ, by faith and by the Holy Spirit. In faith the Spirit unites us to Christ, ...
Which translation is most accurate and literal?
I have read elsewhere (e.g. here and here) that the Torah (Pentateuch) may have been written in the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet (also called Ketav Ivri) and therefore the Ten Commandments as well. It is ...
Why is ABEn different from other translations that use the Hebrew Scriptures? I know it uses the Greek translation. But is ABEn or the Greek translation less accurate? In Proverbs 29:1 NASB: (NAS...
There are different translations of "dream(ers)" in Jude 8. For example: ESV: Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme th...
According to a 2003 book entitled Back to Jerusalem: Three Chinese House Church Leaders Share Their Vision to Complete the Great Commission, several prominent Chinese Christians contended that Chin...
Recently when studying Joshua 10 and the "long day," I encountered an explanation of the event that posits that in the morning Joshua actually asked that the darkness be extended so that his soldie...
In Numbers 33 Moses gives an exhaustive and detailed list of every place the tribe of Israel stopped, from the moment they left Egypt on the morning after passover until parked right outside of th...
If according to Genesis 7:2-3 God commanded Noah to take seven pairs of the clean animals and only one pair of the unclean, does that mean that 14 giraffes went into the ark? Let me explain. 2 Y...
Why do Eastern Orthodox Christians reject the Protestant Calvinist position of total depravity (i.e., part of the five points of Calvinism / TULIP model)?
In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes "There is no one righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10), paraphrasings Psalms 14 and 53. Paul goes on in his letter to build an idea that a perfect life, ...
I think I came across this idea through the Bible Project, but I could be wrong. It's worth noting that there doesn't seem to be any explicit mention in the Bible of God caring for and governing t...
Hello. Yesterday I came upon a Hebrew translation of Nicholas de Lyra's commentary on Ruth. I found it to be intriguing for a number of reasons. One reason was that he based much of his commentary...
I don't understand the exact objection in bowing down to the King, which is a universal practise in line with the Bible (Rom 13) and does not seem to violate monotheism, as it is not a worship of h...
Note: I have already posted this on Biblical Hermeneutics SE Some time ago I read a book where the author was doubting the divine inspiration nature of the Bible by using the following reasoning: ...
I heard about this sect on the news, but can't remember the term. Anyone know what I mean? Aniconism isn't the answer — because I know this noun already — but also because this faction allows th...
Yesterday, I overheard a church goer tell me, "I don't like Christian movies. They're just not any good." This isn't the first time I've heard those words. What makes Christian storytelling chall...
What books or other resources introduce the different genres recognised in the Bible from a literary view? It would be helpful if the recommended resources address how scholars differentiate betwee...
This use of 'clothe' feels kooky and unnatural to me. In 2022 Modern English, clothes usually refer to the body, not the neck. Can someone please make this natural and intuitive? Then again, Engl...
Were there historians of Christianity that claimed a similar claim to that there were actually two reformations instead just one? One is the reformation initiated by the "proto protestants" and ...
Undeniably, the heart can't physically cause the sins quoted below, as in the Matthew 15:18-20. Crimes against the person (manslaughter) are committed usually with the limbs and hands. False pret...
In Joshua 15:16-19, it is related a short episode of Caleb, Othniel and Achsah. In Judges 1:12-15, it is related the same story (almost copy paste). Why do you think this story was considered sign...
Why did worshippers believe that blood "make 'sacred' or 'holy'"? Why did religionists believe that consecrating something with blood "render a thing inviolable from profane use of men and...
