Problem: In this text, we read that “the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them.” Yet, earlier the tabernacle (with its ark) are said to be “in the middle of the camps” (Num. 2:17).
09
Mar
2019
petra1000
I am a born again christian who loves the Lord and I am taking bible classes online
I am a born again christian who loves the Lord and I am taking bible classes online
09
Mar
2019
Numbers 10:31—If God lead Israel by a cloud then why was Hobab needed as a guide?
Problem: Exodus 13:21–22 affirms that God supernaturally lead Israel through the wilderness by a cloud that was illuminated by night. However, Moses asked his father-in-law, Hobab, to come with them “inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes” (Num. 10:31). But why did they need a human guide when they had divine guidance?
09
Mar
2019
Numbers 6:5—Does the vow of the Nazarite contradict Paul’s prohibition against long hair?
Problem: Paul affirmed that it is against “nature” for men to have long hair (1 Cor. 11:14). But the vow of the Nazarite demanded that one not cut his hair.
06
Mar
2019
Archeology
Archaeology Supports the Old Testament.
Creation. The recent discoveries of creation accounts at Ebla add evidence of this. This library of sixteen thousand clay tablets predates the Babylonian account by about 600 years. The creation tablet is strikingly close to Genesis, speaking of one being who created the heavens, moon, stars, and earth. The people at Ebla believed in creation from nothing. The Bible contains the ancient, less embellished version of the story and transmits the facts without the corruption of the mythological renderings.
04
Mar
2019
Numbers 5:13–22—Doesn’t the Bible condone a superstition here?
Problem: Paul condemns “old wives’ fables” (1 Tim. 4:7). But, Moses here commands the practice of a superstition that has no basis in science. The accused wife was found guilty after drinking bitter water only if her stomach swelled. But, both the innocent and guilty wives drank the same bitter water, thus showing that there was no chemical or biological basis for one swelling and the other not.
04
Mar
2019
Numbers 4:6—Were the staves to remain in the Ark or to be removed?
Problem: According to Exodus 25:15, “The poles shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.” But, in the Numbers passage it says that when the ark was moved by the Levites “they shall insert its poles.” This seems to be conflicting instructions.
04
Mar
2019
Numbers 4:3—How can the age for Levitical service be 30, when Numbers 8:24 says 25, and Ezra 3:8 says 20?
Problem: According to Numbers 4:3, at 30 years of age a Levite would “enter the service to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting.” However, Numbers 8:24 states, “this is what pertains to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and above one may enter to perform service in the work of the tabernacle of meeting,” and Ezra 3:8 says that Levites “from twenty years old and above” were appointed to oversee the work of rebuilding the house of the Lord. Is there a contradiction between these passages?
27
Feb
2019
Numbers 1:46—Was this census made here or earlier?
Problem: According to Exodus 40:2, Moses took the census of the people of Israel the “first day of the first month.” But in Numbers, the same census, yielding the same number of 603,550, was taken on “the first day of the second month” (Num. 1:1).
27
Feb
2019
Numbers 3:12—If God commanded that firstborn sons from all the tribes be given Him, why was the tribe of Levi given instead?
27
Feb
2019
Numbers 1:1–4:49—How accurate is this census of the tribes of Israel?
Problem: According to the census taken in chapters 1–4 of Numbers, the newly formed nation of Israel must have numbered about 2 million people. According to Numbers 1:1, this census was taken while the people were in the wilderness of Sinai at the beginning of their 40 years of wandering. However, the dry and desolate conditions of the Sinai desert would have made it impossible for such a large group to survive. So, is the census inaccurate?
27
Feb
2019
Numbers 1:1—How could Moses have written Numbers when critics claim it was written centuries after his death?
27
Feb
2019
Annihilationism
Annihilationism is the doctrine that the souls of the wicked will be snuffed out of existence rather than be sent to an everlasting, conscious hell. The existence of the unrepentant will be extinguished, while the righteous will enter into everlasting bliss.
24
Feb
2019
Animals
Do animals have rights, too?
For many decades the theory of evolution has been taught as fact in most secular (and religious) schools. The result has been predictable. If man is merely an animal, and there is no eternal reality, life is robbed of its meaning and sanctity. Survival of the fittest. We are no better than a mouse or a monkey! This has resulted in a dramatic increase in crime, immorality, depression, hopelessness, and suicide. Morality is meaningless to an animal.
24
Feb
2019
Alcohol
Is drinking alcohol “safe”? Are you one of those who only drinks in ‘moderation’? Does the Bible allow Christians the liberty to drink alcohol just as long as they don’t get drunk? Is abstinance the best policy? Is abstinance the Bible’s policy?
24
Feb
2019
Agnosticism
(The following are excerpts from an article entitled ‘What is Agnosticism?’ by Robin Schumacher of CARM.org)
Agnosticism comes from two Greek words (a, “no”; gnosis, “knowledge”). It literally means “no-knowledge,” the opposite of a Gnostic. Thus, an agnostic is someone who claims not to know. As applied to knowledge of God, there are two basic kinds of agnostics, those who claim that the existence and nature of God are not known, and those who hold God to be unknowable. Since the first type does not eliminate all religious knowledge, attention here will center on the second. Over 100 years before Huxley (1825-1895), the writings of David Hume (1711-1776) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) laid down the philosophical basis of agnosticism. Much of modern philosophy takes for granted the general validity of the types of arguments they set forth. [Huxley, Hume, and Kant were famous philosophers that popularized ‘agnosticism’.] (Norman Geisler)