Questions tagged [bible]
Questions about the history, composition and canon of the Bible. Don't use this tag for beliefs and practices in the Bible.
499
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1answer
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What's the biggest time gap between authorship of two books of the Bible?
What's the biggest time gap between authorship of two books of the Bible?
Honestly, I don't even know the order in which the books of the Bible were written, but I am quite interested in what the ...
23
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7answers
2k views
Why is the Bible a foundation of theological evidence?
Please excuse my ignorance I'm new to this.
I've been looking through the Q&A on the site and I've noticed scripture and especially passages from the Bible are cited as evidence for one argument ...
11
votes
3answers
901 views
Is there any correlation between national prosperity and percentage of Christians?
I have heard of anecdotal evidence suggesting that the proportion of Christians in a population directly (positively) impacts national prosperity. In other words, the more Christians in a nation, the ...
21
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6answers
5k views
Why is God asking questions or appearing uncertain in the Bible if He's omniscient?
Is God omniscient? lists all the passages were it is written that God is omniscient.
Reading other passages, I found a few things that seemingly contradict this:
In Genesis 3:8-13 God asks Adam and ...
4
votes
1answer
360 views
Just how accurate is the Bible? [closed]
Some people say that the Bible is just a book, others say that its 100% accurate. The statistics might lie, so what I want to know is how the Bible compares to other books. Books like the encyclopedia,...
8
votes
2answers
153 views
Determining literary types in the Bible
Much of the Bible is historical narrative. Other parts, such as many of Psalms, are poems - rife with figurative phrases (often surrounding a specific event or need or desire). Other parts are ...
12
votes
5answers
251 views
Is a moral society more open to the gospel than an immoral one? [closed]
One of the answers to Why do many Christians object to same-sex civil marriage? got me thinking. If we work to make the common morals of our society more in line with Biblical morality does that make ...
10
votes
4answers
8k views
What are the benefits of a red letter edition Bible?
Red letter edition Bibles seem to be popular in the US. The difference to a plain Bible is that words of Jesus are printed in red. The first red-letter Bible was published in 1900, and the practice ...
9
votes
12answers
2k views
Do 'Bible Christians' find paraphrasing the Bible distasteful?
This might be a meta question, but I really mean it in a scholarly way. Does paraphrasing the Bible for conversational use make Sola Scriptura folks cringe?
I'm not even sure what my Church thinks ...
11
votes
5answers
4k views
How should Christians act toward non-Christians? [closed]
How should Christians act toward non-Christians?
One example I have found is 2 Corinthians 6:14 [KJV].
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what
fellowship hath righteousness ...
0
votes
0answers
192 views
What level of intimacy is generally acceptable for unmarried couples from the standpoint of the Bible? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Sex outside of marriage is a sin. But what about "less than sex"?
Pre-marital sex is generally considered part of sexual immorality, [1] as such we should abstain ...
19
votes
6answers
9k views
What are the practical applications of “two will become one flesh”? [closed]
Mark 10:8 (NIV)
and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
What does this mean for a marriage? What are the practical applications of this? Obviously, this is ...
13
votes
1answer
371 views
Who is Immanuel?
In Isaiah 7:13-17
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will ...
7
votes
1answer
892 views
Biblical passages that relate to Christian unity versus doctrinal accuracy [closed]
Christianity is currently split into several denominations due to differences in doctrine. It seems that these denominations consider their doctrinal differences more important than Christian unity. ...
18
votes
3answers
2k views
Can we trust the Septuagint? [closed]
I've previously used the Apostolic Bible for digging deeper into the meanings of passages. However, I've found that some passages in the Old Testament make no sense compared to the modern ...
3
votes
1answer
271 views
Is “Bible In a Minute” accurate? [closed]
The Bible In a Minute video by Barats and Bereta has been enormously popular on YouTube, with 3.6 million viewers. The video quite literally goes through the Bible in less than a minute.
Obviously, ...
6
votes
3answers
859 views
What happens to people outside Earth on the second coming? [closed]
When Jesus returns, or the rapture,etc, and we having the events surrounding it, the bible says the whole earth will see it, day or night. Does the bible mention what happens to humans not on Earth, ...
4
votes
2answers
16k views
What is some relevent scripture regarding having something stolen? [closed]
I recently had some things stolen out of my car, and I vaguely remember reading somewhere in the New Testament that you shouldn't desire to get stolen items back. I've been searching for it, but I can'...
12
votes
1answer
18k views
What does the Bible say about the appearance of angels? [closed]
In Christian art, angels are often depicted as winged human-like creatures. However, I'm curious if there is any justification for this in the Bible? I've sometimes heard that there isn't, so that's ...
15
votes
2answers
480 views
Is it right for a church to be wealthy? [closed]
Jesus preached that the faithful should give up their wealth and worldly possessions and spend a humble existence in servitude of God. A church must have a certain amount of wealth in order to ...
23
votes
4answers
341 views
Hand Picked Bible Applications [closed]
I understand that my question pokes at a sensitive area, but being a nonreligious person in a largely Christian region, I find it extremely dissatisfying to leave such a core aspect of my neighbor's ...
19
votes
4answers
441 views
Does the Bible itself give us clues about which parts to interpret literally and which figuratively? [closed]
I know that the question may seem a little bit self-referential but I ask it anyway:
There is often great controversy among Christians what parts of the Bible are to be interpreted literally and what ...
14
votes
4answers
255 views
Does the Bible give any reason as to why its content is sometimes difficult to interpret? [closed]
As evidenced by this site, and the divisions between various Christian denominations, there seems to be a lot of different ways some passages in the bible can be interpreted.
One example is ...
21
votes
7answers
107k views
What is the significance of Jesus seeing Nathanael under the fig tree?
In John 1:46-50, Nathanael is introduced to Jesus for the first time.
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son ...
13
votes
2answers
1k views
What does it mean to comment on scripture with scripture?
What does it mean to "comment on a verse with a verse" or "only scripture can explain scripture"? I see these kinds of comments popping up in comment threads that discuss the meaning of a verse.
What ...
4
votes
1answer
340 views
How do we know the events described in the bible are true? [closed]
Many Christians will quote passages from the bible as proof or evidence when needed. However, given that it is a story written, translated, interpreted, re-written, re-translated and re-interpreted by ...
6
votes
6answers
10k views
How does the Bible explain the existence of fossils that are millions of years old? [closed]
People have been finding fossils for many years. Millions of fossils fill museums and storage vaults around the world, and we've yet to find a single one of a human. This suggests that the animals and ...
4
votes
0answers
74 views
Is there a point when “be fruitful and multiply” should no longer apply? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is the commandment to multiply, and replenish the earth in effect today?
Well mainly I'm talking about the multiply bit...there are 7 billion people on the planet, is there ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
What is the biblical justification for allowing only male pastors? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the biblical justification for permitting female pastors?
What is the biblical justification for allowing only male pastors?
How do churches excluding women from ...
18
votes
3answers
23k views
How long did it take to form the Biblical canon?
How long did it take to collect all of the writings that eventually formed the first version of the Bible? In other words, starting with when the first writing was created (I'll say when it was ...
26
votes
3answers
5k views
What does the bible say about interracial marriages? [closed]
This has been a popular topic of debate, at least where I live. As Armenians, we like to...discourage marriages with spouses of a different ethnicity or nationality, simply in order to carry the ...
3
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8answers
281 views
Are the Bible and God the same… thing/being? [closed]
Or why do people here always ask "What does the Bible say?"... why not ask the proper "What does God say?".
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6answers
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A “version” of the bible with sentence structure written in English but retaining most of the original untranslated “nouns/verbs/adjectives”?
Is there a "version" of the bible that has it's sentence structure written in English, yet retaining most of the original untranslated "nouns/verbs/adjectives" ?
Ok this is quite hard to explain, I'm ...
11
votes
4answers
4k views
How does entertainment glorify God at all? [closed]
In the modern context, we have many things to keep ourselves entertained and motivated to do work - music, videos, movies, games, magazines etc.
According to 1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV
Whether ...
12
votes
4answers
597 views
Profanity in entertainment? [closed]
Many comedians nowadays rely on the use of profanity to enhance their comedy. This is also present in movies and television (although limited).
I know the bible says not to let "unwholesome talk" ...
15
votes
7answers
7k views
How ambitious should a Christian be? [closed]
According to Luke 16:13 (ESV):
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and ...
29
votes
6answers
281k views
What are the different names of God in the Bible and what do they mean? [closed]
I see that our current-day Bibles only refer to God as LORD. Can you explain to me what the different names of God are and what they mean?
10
votes
2answers
349 views
If you are forgiven through the Grace of God, why do you need an Indulgence?
Ephesians 2:8,9 (NIV)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
And from Wikipedia's ...
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3answers
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Are these Bible verses referencing UFOs? [closed]
Ezekiel 1:16:
This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel.
Exodus 13:22:
...
16
votes
1answer
4k views
The voice of God vs the voice of Satan [closed]
I listen to heavy music and I have had people tell me on numerous occasions the vocals sound like the voice of Satan, even when the band is clearly Christian (see For Today if you are curious). Movies ...
7
votes
3answers
406 views
Why has God created us? [closed]
Why has God created us? The Almighty Lord does not need anyone; he does not need the angels, the heaven, or the earth. Are there any written words in the Bible that tell the reason?
17
votes
4answers
25k views
What does the Bible say about Science? [closed]
It's a debate that atheists seem to thrive on. Fact vs. Faith.
Personally, I believe in a co-existence of the two, but I'm interested in what the Bible has to say about us learning about our ...
16
votes
4answers
7k views
Should a Protestant read the apocryphal books of the Bible? [closed]
The Protestant Bible has 66 books. Should we read apocryphal books (e.g. 1&2 Maccabees and Gospel of Thomas)?
19
votes
3answers
30k views
The symbolic use of “horn”
It has proved difficult to find an answer to this question
A quick concordance search of "horn" and you will find many different uses for the word. My center-column notes say "strength." But why? ...
32
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6answers
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What does the bible say about homosexuality?
I was recently listening to a podcast and the preacher said that he has looked through the entire bible and could not find anywhere where it says that homosexuality was a sin.
Where does the bible ...
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3answers
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Should Genesis 1:2 be translated “And the earth became without form…”? [closed]
The Gap theory seems to be based largely on translating Genesis 1:2 differently from the usual translations, eg. KJV:
1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
1:2 And the ...
17
votes
4answers
695 views
Where does the Bible stand on vegetarianism? [closed]
The subject of vegetarianism (or dietary recommendations in general) appears to me to be a bit ambivalent in the Bible.
For example, Genesis 1:29 , Romans 14:21 and Isaiah 65:21-25 appear to endorse ...
24
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5answers
1k views
Does being a Christian mean being a Bible literalist? [closed]
Where are the lines for Bible literalism in the Christian faith? Are all aspects of the Bible treated with the same level of literal belief (as actual history), or are some parts considered to be ...
18
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6answers
5k views
In what order should the books of the (Protestant) Bible be read? [closed]
The Bible is probably one of the most historically significant books for the Western civilization, so it should be a worthwhile read for many a literature geek.
In which order should it be read, then?...
