Problem: Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15 to refer to the death of the babies in Bethlehem. But Jeremiah was writing (in context) about the children killed during the Babylonian exile 600 years earlier. Was Matthew quoting this out of context?
Continue reading →
Problem: If God never changes, then how can He change His mind?
Continue reading →
Problem: Jeremiah predicted a 70 year exile for the Jewish people. Was this literally fulfilled?
Continue reading →
Problem: God cursed the descendants of King Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah) saying, “Write this man down childless, a man who will not prosper in his days; for no man of his descendants will prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah” (Jer. 22:30). Yet, Matthew writes that Jesus was a descendant of Jehoiachin. Critics argue that this disqualifies Jesus from the Messianic line.
Continue reading →
Problem: Matthew places Jeconiah in the genealogy of Jesus, but Jeremiah seems to say that Coniah (aka, Jeconiah) would be childless. So, which is it? Did Coniah have descendants or not?
Continue reading →
Problem: Is the Lord good or bad to people? Psalm 145:9; Lamentations 3:38 and Isaiah 45:7; Jeremiah 18:11; Ezekiel 20:25, 26
Continue reading →
Problem: Isaiah writes that God is the one who “[causes] well-being and creating calamity” (Isa. 45:7). Older translations render this Hebrew ra’ as “evil” (ASV). Is God the author of evil?
Continue reading →
Problem: Critics often accuse Paul of taking OT passages out of context. Is this the case?
Continue reading →
Problem: How could God, who knows all things (1 John 3:20), never have thought of something? It makes no sense. Jeremiah 7:31 is where God says, “They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.”
Continue reading →
Problem: It is alleged that Jeremiah 7:221 contradicts Exodus 3:18, 5:3, and 10:25, where there are mentions of sacrifice just before the time of the Exodus. These passages are then alleged to be a foreshadowing of the coming post-Sinai and Levitical sacrifices. But whenever there is an apparent Bible contradiction, it is helpful to look at the surrounding context of the passages, as well as to pay close attention to what the passages are actually saying.
Continue reading →