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If there was no death, then there was no need for creatures to reproduce. Yet God not only created them with the ability to reproduce, but commanded them to do so. Without death, the earth would very quickly have been overpopulated.

We're not immortal by nature. If we live on without dying (as Adam would have done) or after physical death, it can only be as a result of God's input. "Eating the fruit of the tree of life" is a metaphor for that. Yes - that was why God had to banish them from Eden. They wouldn't have died if...

Adam and Eve were not immortal by nature because only God is (I Timothy 6:16). In order not to die, they had to draw on God's life by eating the fruit of the tree of life. As long as they were in Eden, they could do this, no problem. This is confirmed by God's words in Genesis 3:22 (already...

If you have more material then will comfortably fit onto a scroll... how do you decide what to put in and what to leave out? in the end, whatever choices you make, some people are bound to disagree with them. Consider also: Luke was a very careful historian - he may, for example, have decided...

It's not that the older methods never work, but that the returns are getting smaller. I remember when Alpha courses started a few decades ago. They were an innovation and a sensation - thousands of people attended and became Christians, all over the UK. But now, it's harder to get people along...

I guess we are very conservative when it comes to evangelism techniques. Whatever worked 50-100 years ago (tracts, big evangelistic rallies), we keep on doing - even though there has been an enormous cultural shift and they may no longer be appropriate.

A concordance isn't the place to go for the actual Greek text - especially if it's online. The online Greek dictionary that I use frequently repeats words in the verses that it quotes - up to three times in some cases! Here is the actual text: 26 καὶ πᾶς ὁ ζῶν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ μὴ...

Are these methods really "modern"? They were old when I became a Christian 50 years ago!

"You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you." (John 15:3)

Indeed so - in Hebrew. But not in Greek.

Well, the interpretation that God invented it sounds highly speculative to me. Just that something wasn't previously mentioned doesn't mean it didn't exist. Just because the Bible records something as a fact of history, doesn't mean that God approves! Joseph was also traded as a slave - by his...

https://deborahsbiblestudies.wordpress.com/indigestible-issues/slavery/slavery-in-the-bible/

The Muslim may have assumed that the Bible was created in the same way that they believe the Qur'an was - by direct dictation from God. If you believe that, then the exact wording becomes crucial because any deviation is a deviation from God's word. (Incidentally, they also believe that the...

Never heard that idea before, and it makes God the Creator of a sinful institution. Don't you think that those wicked humans would have invented slavery themselves, long before the Flood? Just as they invented murder and other sins?

Zoe is the noun - "life". Zao is the verb - "I live". The words aren't the same grammatically but the concept is. If you live, then you have life. Life is the act of living. This appears to be a circular argument. If you have previously decided that Jesus is talking about "life in the body"...

The Dead Sea Scrolls prove the point that older manuscripts can be discovered at any time and cause us to revise the text of our Bibles. But they only contain the Hebrew Scriptures - our Old Testament! So they have nothing to do with the arguments over the NT manuscripts.

I would argue (1) that the modern translations are more reliable because they are based on earlier manuscripts and (2) that actually nothing of importance has changed. What difference does John 5:4 actually make? It just adds some useful background information. The Muslims maintain that the...

Every edition of the NIV that I've ever owned has had the "missing" text in a footnote. And so I have read it - many times. I really don't see why there should be a problem over it. The "concerned student" needs to learn something about ancient manuscripts and why they don't always agree.

In the New Testament, the apostles didn't do "altar calls" - they did baptisms! Altar calls seem to be an American thing. In the UK, I've only ever come across them at evangelistic events. But often, at the end of a service, ministers will invite people to come up and speak to them afterwards...

I think it's typical of Christians in the UK. Can't speak for Americans. And the Christians you meet on forums are probably not typical of Christians anywhere offline.