Problem: Naaman worries that he will need to return to Aram and worship his pagan gods (v.18). Some evangelicals believe that this justifies Muslim Background Believers participating in worship services to Allah—for the sake of the gospel.
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Problem: The northern and southern kingdoms of Israel came to attack Moab. Right as they were going to capture Moab, we read that the king of Moab sacrificed his own son on the city wall! As a result of this, we read, “There came great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own land” (2 Kings 3:27). Patterson and Austel write, “The mention of great ‘fury’ against Israel is difficult.”[1] What do we do with this difficult passage?
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Problem: Why would God allow two bears to kill 42 young lads simply for saying Elisha was bald? Cultural context is critical to understanding this issue. Let’s take a look.
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Problem: The text states, “Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, ‘Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!’ 24 When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number” (2 Kings 2:23-24).
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Problem: Did anyone ascend into heaven before Jesus or not? Several biblical passages mention people who were caught up into heaven. Yet, Jesus argues in John three that no one had ascended into heaven. So which is it? Did anyone ascend into heaven before Jesus?
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Problem: God, who cannot lie, sent a deceiving spirit that people would believe a lie. Why would he do this? Actually, the demonic force would do what it naturally does in God by giving it permission to go and live. Ultimately, it was used in God’s sovereign plan to accomplish what he desired.
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Problem: In his book The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins excoriates the notion of capital punishment in the OT law, when he writes,
The following offenses merit the death penalty… cursing your parents; committing adultery; making love to your stepmother or your daughter-in-law; homosexuality; marrying a woman and her daughter; bestiality (and, to add injury to insult, the unfortunate beast is to be killed too). You also get executed, of course, for working on the Sabbath: the point is made again and again through the Old Testament.[1]
Are these laws a little bit of overkill? (pun intended) Why did the OT law prescribe this?
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Problem: David says, “For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not acted wickedly against my God. 23 For all His ordinances were before me, and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. 24 I was also blameless toward Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity” (2 Sam. 22:22-24). How can this be the case, when he was found guilty of murder and adultery (2 Sam. 11)?
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Problem: There are roughly 30 references to polygamy in the OT. Lamech (Gen. 4:19ff), Abraham (Gen. 16:3), Jacob (Gen. 35:22; 37:2), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:3-6) are just a few examples. The NT authors speak against polygamy (1 Cor. 7:2; 1 Tim. 3:2, 12), but what about the OT? Did the OT writers promote polygamy or prohibit it?
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I had a study about 2 weeks that touched on 2 Tim 2:15 and I wanted to compare some translations to have a better understand of this verse. I pulled up KJV, NIV, NKJV and ESV. This is what I saw (I use KJV when studying most of the time)
KJV – Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
NIV – Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
NKJV – Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
ESV – Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved,[a] a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
ESV Foot Note – 2 Timothy 2:15 That is, one approved after being tested
At 1st I was shocked when I saw NIV, ESV) all said Do your best to present yourself to God. I saw this like in doing this as a work and I know that when I became born again I am approved unto God through the blood of Jesus. So I had to dig further.
I learned that 2 Timothy was one of the last books (If not the last book) Paul wrote while in Jail just before his death. It was written to Timothy who was a pastor at this time, tell him to work and study hard so that he could lead his people who the true gospel and not into the many errors that started to come into the church at this time.
I also went looked up what was in the Greek to get a better understanding
Hasten, yourself, approved, to present, to God, a workman, not ashamed.
(This is what I saw in inter-translation of the Greek)
Then I saw the word diligent in the NKJV and I looked that up in a dictionary and this is what it means
Have or showing care in ones work or duty, attentive, persistent in doing anything.
I began to think about about how education has changed over the 200 years or so and how we have lost the ability to think and learn deeply. Years ago when you study something you became an expert in what you were learning. (an example is when the Jewish boys went to learn at a young age that had to memorize the old testament).
Today we have so much knowledge we get lost in it and social media is filling the gap with our time.
I know social media is good in many areas yet we get lost in it and time flies away.
I came across one more version that I think clears this all up and speaks volumes to me.
Amplified version – Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.
So the word study is very narrow and it does not show how important it is for us to be eager when we study (give all we got) when we study the word of God.
(KJV-King James),(NIV-New International Version),(ESV – English Standered Vesrsion)