Tag: Questions

Biblical inspiration may be defined as God's superintending of the human authors so that, using their own individual personalities (and even their writing styles), they composed and recorded without error His revelation to man in the words of the original manuscripts. Inspiration means that the Holy...

In the Church, the day begins at sunset, so Easter Day really begins at sunset on what we call Saturday evening. The ancient Church held its main Easter service on Saturday evening, and some Orthodox churches have continued this tradition to the present day. The Easter Vigil service begins somberly ...

It is customary to cross oneself when invoking the Trinity, before and after prayer, and at other times, which you can learn by observing other people in your church. You can also cross yourself when you need to pray but you are at a loss for words. If you are a Protestant, don’t get all huffy and s...

Many New Agers say that Jesus went to India as a child to learn from Hindu gurus. He allegedly later went to Israel and performed miracles learned from these gurus, and taught doctrines He derived from them. Such an idea is preposterous. To begin with, Jesus' teaching about God was not pantheistic (...

This sounds like some kind of contradiction at first glance, but in fact there is no contradiction. An examination of Scripture reveals that the phrase "Son of Man" carries broad significance. First of all, even if the phrase "Son of Man" is a reference to Jesus' humanity, it is not a denial of His ...

There has been a great deal of debate over the construction design of the Ark. Some critics say the ship would have torn itself apart on the high seas due to the torque generated by the currents, wind and waves. Others point out the ratio of length to width to height of the Ark is very comparable to...

Second Peter 1:21 tells us that "prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." The phrase "carried along" in this verse literally means to be "forcefully borne along." Even though human beings were used in the process of writ...

In Luke 7:20 we read that John the Baptist, now in prison, sent some messengers to Jesus to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Jesus replied to them: "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who hav...

The Revised Common Lectionary is an ecumenical list of scripture readings for use in Sunday worship. There are many, many advantages to using the lectionary. You don’t get stuck in a rut of your favorite passages.Your congregation gets a balanced exposure to the entire Bible over a three-year cycle....

In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus said to the disciple Peter: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." As a backdrop to understanding this passage, wheat in ancient times was s...

Cedars of LebanonThe common thought is Noah alone, or with the help of his sons built the Ark. A ship of this size being built by one man, or even by four or five men seems quite impossible. To begin this discussion we should first determine just how large the Ark actually was? In Genesis 6:15 we ar...

If you are a lay person, use this page only to satisfy your curiosity. The instructions on this page are for clergy who have an occasion to baptize by immersion, but don’t customarily do it that way. Special Cautions You can cause serious problems if you attempt to immerse infants or people who are ...