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Never. That's probably because I live in the UK, and we are far less hung up on the details of the End Times here.

It's not difficult to reconcile these two. Remember that Acts was almost certainly written before Matthew's Gospel, and that Luke is reporting what was said by Christians right at the beginning. Christian baptism had to be distinguished from John's baptism (which was still fresh in everyone's...

Faith and obedience are inseparable. As Bonhoeffer put it, “Only the one who believes is obedient, and only the one who is obedient believes.” (Bonhoeffer: Discipleship) This is because faith (in the Biblical sense) isn’t an abstract concept but a concrete one: it does not exist unless put into...

The Apocrypha is a collection of books that were widely read by Jews around the time of Christ. Just as we read lots of contemporary books as well as the Bible. Because it's a collection, they are a very mixed bunch! The first two books of the Maccabees are historical records of the Jewish...

in all the many passages on money and giving in the New Testament, tithing is never even suggested, let alone commanded. When Paul writes to the Corinthians about giving, he carefully avoids prescribing either a set amount or a fixed proportion. “Each of you should give what you have decided in...

What makes five of the virgins wise, and why are the other five foolish for not being prepared? There are 'five wise virgins' in the Old Testament as well - the five (unmarried) daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27:1-11) They are remarkable not only for their initiative (in asking to inherit...

I am! It's definitely my favourite version - sufficiently accurate to be used for study (I go to the original languages if I want to find the 'literal' sense), but readable enough for everyone to be able to read and understand. I've been using it for nearly 40 years, and haven't felt the need to...

Mark 3:28,29 “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” The scope of God’s mercy is truly amazing. He is able to forgive any and every sin...

Justification is a legal term: a declaration of innocence, enabling the person who is ‘declared righteous’ to go free. The stunning message of the Gospel is that “God justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5), and that He does so not on the basis of anything deserving that we might have done, but...

The Jews at risk of annihilation were all the Jews living in the Persian Empire. Not just the Jews in Babylon and Susa, but the Jews who had returned to Judea as well (Judea was a province within the Persian Empire). If Haman had succeeded, the Jewish nation would have been completely wiped out...

Of course we all receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved. But very few of us receive all our spiritual gifts at that same time - whether tongues, prophecy, wisdom or anything else. They may be given to us at any stage in our Christian walk. Speaking in tongues after being a Christian for 20...

I haven't voted in either of your polls. You haven't yet created a poll category that I can say 'yes' to. There are people who speak in tongues (privately and/or publicly) without having been instructed or had hands laid on them in a meeting (with or without falling down), who consider it a gift...

That's because the study didn't actually show that "man and all the animals sprang to life spontaneously no more than 200,000 years ago." What it showed is that the last common female ancestor of each species lived about 200,000 years ago. Which isn't the same thing at all. (Think about it from...

I may join you. I became a Christian while reading the Bible, and I haven't been able to stop reading it ever since - over 40 years ago now! I've never made the effort to memorise verses, yet because I've read them so often they are embedded in my memory.

Sorry, but this is simply not true... very few of these denominations (a mere handful - and they're mainly the ones most of us would call 'cults') claim that they alone are the true church and that everyone else teaches false doctrine. So the article is perpetuating at least one myth, and...

Hi Alison. Sanctification (the process of becoming holy, like Christ) is a slow process. No-one is expected to achieve instant perfection. We all have persistent tendencies towards sin, but we won't be 'sent to Hell' because of them. "If anybody does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father -...

What about this, though: "The LORD said to Moses, 'Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute?Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?'" (Exodus 4:11) It seems that God doesn't make us all perfect. And it's homosexual behaviour that is sin, not...

Actually, this logic is faulty. Paul preached Christ crucified and risen without the help of any cross or crucifix (these did not become Christian symbols until much later). Catholic spirituality may well focus on the sacrifice of Christ (represented by the crucifix) but you can only conclude...

I would feel uncomfortable wearing a crucifix (a cross with a figure of Christ on it); I believe this is against the spirit of the second commandment against making images of God (however well-intentioned). But I have no problem with an empty cross - the same symbol, but without the image.

It's actually the other way round... the apostolic creed is about two centuries older than the Nicene creed. The Nicene creed is an expansion of it, explaining exactly what 'son of God' means.