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John's gospel was written approximately 20-30 years after the other three. Christians were already familiar with the other gospels, and John evidently didn't feel the need to copy what they had already written - unless it helped him to make a theological point. John doesn't actually record...

Generations of human beings have drunk cows milk and come to no harm. How could an "enzyme" in the milk possibly hurt us? (1) It would be inactivated by the pasteurisation process and (2) it would be quickly destroyed as soon as it entered our stomachs.

The Bible "ignores this" because it isn't true. We don't improve over time; we get worse.

How is this relevant to a discussion on the Old Testament?

Most people feel inhibited about having sex if parents or parents-in-law are within earshot. And most couples have differing sex drives that they have to learn to reconcile. The answer to the first question is practical. Pick the moment (when your parents are not in the house). Lock the door to...

Gematria won't work for any translation (except by pure serendipity) - only for the original Hebrew/Greek

"Does anyone believe in God before they 'need' him?" I did. I was 17, and I had grown up in a religiously apathetic/atheistic family. My only Bible knowledge was what I had gleaned from school RE lessons (which wasn't very helpful). I had no personal interest in religion, but I had a modern...

This is irrelevant to the copying of the New Testament books and letters, which was done almost entirely by Gentile scribes. But in any case, how do you know if the disputed words have been added, or if they've been taken away? By going back to the oldest available manuscripts! Which is what...

And here lies the problem. Scripture was never originally "chopped up" into verses. Verses should never be read or quoted in isolation. As has been pointed out already, this is not true. It's there in the preceding verse, as large as life! It's not necessary to repeat it in verse 3, and...

To modern thinking, "myth" = "made up". But it wasn't like that in the ancient world. A myth then was a story that had been told in a certain way - a way that brought out its essence - in order to teach us how the world works. It might be entirely fictional, but it could also be based on a real...

No, it doesn't. As Blessed Peace said, you have to read it in context. Look on to the next sentence (verses should never be read or quoted in isolation). Those who won't be allowed in are those who leave it too late - those who "put off" committing themselves to Jesus. The door of opportunity...

The early chapters of Genesis deal with the beginnings of the human race and explain, in a series of powerful and unforgettable stories, why we are as we are. God created a good world, but it was spoiled by our sin, and the whole of human society is hopelessly corrupt as a result. As a...

Why should God react so harshly to such a ‘minor’ breach of protocol – especially when Uzzah had only acted with the best of intentions? Like David, modern readers feel angry and bewildered; how can we reconcile this kind of thing with what we know of God’s love? In fact, Uzzah is not the only...

That's as may be, but we were discussing Acts 2:38,39, and there's no justification for infant (as opposed to child) baptism there.

In Jewish thought, "children" meant descendants (including grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on ad infinitum). Of course children (in age) can become Christians, be forgiven, and receive the Holy Spirit. But I don't think this verse is referring to infant baptism, because Peter says...

It means that the gift of the Holy Spirit wasn't just for that generation, or just for the Jews, but for all Christians.

1) The "firmament" is translated by other versions as "expanse" or "vault". It's referring to the sky (which, let's face it, looks like a dome). In ancient cosmology, rainwater came "through" the firmament from above. But with modern scientific knowledge, all this becomes poetic 'picture...

Back in the first century, scrolls were very expensive and few people owned their own copy of any book of the Bible. But the synagogues had copies, and people learned the Scriptures by heart through hearing them read. So when Matthew (and the other NT writers) wrote down the gospels and letters...

And who says it's a lie?

It's not "safe" if you then use Paul's definition of love to deny other aspects of God's nature. Paul himself says that "we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." (II...