Gematria uses a combination of letters and numbers to communicate. If we assign number values to letters, then combine letters into words, those words can have a total mathematical value. For example: if we assign 1-2-3 values to A-B-C (and so on, through the whole English alphabet), the word HOME has a value of 8+15+13+5, or 41.

First, what is a cult? The word simply suggests a specific set of beliefs that spring from another set of beliefs. In that sense, Christianity is historically and technically a cult of Judaism. The word is neutral, even though most of us use it in a negative sense.

A reader asks: What exactly does spiritual warfare look like? What about deliverance ministries? I’m not clear on what I believe about it.

In the words of Rich Mullins, Jacob got two women and a whole house full of kids. Jacob, renamed Israel, had twelve sons by four different women: two wives and two concubines. Those twelve sons had their own families... twelve different tribes of Israel.

For the record, the question was more like 'should Christians just accept the Bible as a whole, or should we be skeptical of different parts of it?'. I'm going with accepting it as a single, trustworthy set of documents.

While a lot of people believe that Melchizedek was an appearance of the pre-existent Son, that can't be established in Scripture. They may be right, but they may not be aware of the other possibilities. Here are some reasons why Melchizedek might not have been Jesus:

In John 6, Jesus tells the crowd to eat His flesh and drink His blood. That's weird, and objectively disgusting... but is that how we should view communion, or the Eucharist?

Adrian or, more famously, Hadrian was the emperor of Rome from 117 to 138. This letter, apparently written to Roman senator Gaius Minicius Fundanus, expresses Hadrian's view on legal proceedings involving Christians. We know of the letter only because it was preserved by Justin Martyr.

When some random internet dude tries to tell you there's no evidence that Jesus even existed, you need to be prepared with at least some knowledge of the facts. Not only did Jesus actually exist - as atheist scholar Bart Ehrman points out - but skeptical scholars go even further.

Apologetics is, simply, making the case for something. Christian apologists make the case that Christianity is true and good and compelling. I appreciate the work of many apologists over the past 40+ years, and present some of them for you in this list.

In Matthew 7:1 Jesus said, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Most people assume He was teaching that Christians should never judge anyone. Is that true?

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages