Articles about Christianity and the Bible

This is a topic that generates a LOT of heat. With strong opinions on all sides, my goal is to avoid replying with the traditions of men (and women), and to stick to Scripture. I'm proud of GodWords readers, because - when you disagree - you generally disagree with class.

Anonymous GodWords Reader asked: "Does the Bible refer to Peter's wife being martyred?"

Anonymous GodWords Reader asked: "Why couldn't [God] have created mankind with free will that also chose to love him and were righteous from the get-go?" An interesting question, to be sure. The answer is in the question itself: free will.

Is the Bible basically about you and me, and what we must do to have a right relationship with God? In Luke and Acts we see that Jesus, after His resurrection, spent even more time with His disciples. What was He doing? What did He say to them? The answer will change the way you see the Scriptures.

In response to a picture of Jesus I once posted, a GodWords reader said: "Brother, you said to contact you if we had any concerns. I really don't like the image at all based on the Second Commandment. I think the heart of the image is right, but I think it is important we worship God as He has told us to."

That's a complex question. Islam, Judaism, and Christianity come from the faith of Abraham. They're not the same, as much has been added to Abraham's faith for all three. From a historical point of view, Islam and Christianity and Judaism worship the same God. How they understand God, and how they live that faith, is a very different story.

Lent is about prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Certainly those are good things. The question is whether it's appropriate for Christians to set aside 40 days of the year to do these things in preparation for Easter.

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most contested of Christian doctrines. As you might imagine, any attempt to explain or describe God might be met with skepticism or disagreement or outright condemnation.

Some presume that He never got sick because He is God, but they forget or ignore that He is also fully human. He grew in wisdom and stature, got hungry, got tired, got frustrated, felt pain...so there's no reason to assume that He never got sick.

Anonymous GodWords Reader asked: "Was the book of Revelation written for 1st century Christians, or for Christians today?" That's a great question. A lot of books have been written in the past few decades that pretend to have all of the answers, but people are still confused.

An awful lot of GodWords readers ask me this question: do I have to be baptized to go to Heaven? They ask it in a thousand different ways, but it's still the same question.

Sometimes, the messages I receive are intensely personal. While I try to be sensitive to those involved, I think that many private questions deserve to be published. I would never divulge anyone's identity in a touchy situation, but: if one person asks, chances are good that others struggle over the same issue.