Bible Study Lessons
Updated November 2023 Divine violence in the Bible is a huge challenge. Here’s the problem in a nutshell. Christ—the perfect revelation of God—taught and practiced nonviolence, even to the point of allowing himself to be mocked, beaten, and killed. We don’t have a single example of Christ causing physical harm to another human being. And … Read more
Slavery is evil. It is wrong for one person to own another person. While people argue in favor of various moral issues, no one is arguing in favor of slavery. The issue is clear-cut: slavery is wrong. That brings up a problem for readers of the New Testament. Why is slavery mentioned in several places … Read more
There’s a lot of ways to summarize the Old Testament. Here’s one of my OT summaries: Divine Creation (Gen. 1-2) Human Rebellion (Gen. 3-11) Divine Judgment/Curse (Gen. 3-11) The Universal Blessing Begins: God’s Promise to Abraham (Gen. 12-25) The Universal Blessing Continues: The Story of Abraham’s Descendants (rest of OT) a. Israel’s Slavery, Freedom, and … Read more
What is the most unique and mysterious doctrine of the Christian faith? For many the answer is the Trinity—one God who eternally exists in three Persons. (Of course, the word “Person” does not mean exactly the same thing as human persons.) How can you understand that concept? And if you can’t understand it, how can … Read more
Have you ever felt like you entered the rabbit hole of no return? If you start reading the literature on Genesis 1, you will. Nearly every line in Genesis 1 is the subject of intense debate. In this post I will focus on two interrelated debates among Christians regarding Genesis 1: the proper interpretation of … Read more