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)
Problem: Solomon says, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath” (1 Kings 8:23). Critical scholars note that this passage seems to support henotheism: the notion that there is one infinite-personal God who is in control of other gods. This is sort of a mix between monotheism and polytheism. Is this the case?
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Problem: Solomon says, “I have surely built You [God] a lofty house, a place for Your dwelling forever” (1 Kings 8:13). Does this mean that God was confined to a space? Does it mean that he really isn’t omnipresent?
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Problem: How many baths, 2,000 or 3,000 in 1 Kings 7 and 2 Chronicles 4?
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Problem: Solomon’s worker, Hiram, made a sea of bronze for the Temple. 1 Kings 7:23 states, “[Hiram] made the sea of cast metal ten cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was five cubits, and thirty cubits in circumference.” This would make pi as a 3 to 1 ratio, when we know that pi is actually 3.14. Isn’t this an example of a clear error in the Bible?
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Problem: Scholars vigorously debate the date of the Exodus. Most are split between two different views: the late date and the early date. Hoffmeier notes, “Most biblical scholars and archaeologists accept one of these two dates.”[1]
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Problem: How many supervisors were there? 3,300 or 3,600? 1 Kings 5:16 and 2 Chronicles 2:2
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Problem: How many stalls of horses did Solomon have, 4,000 or 40,000? 1 Kings 4:26 and 2 Chronicles 9:25 have different amounts. Which is true?
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Problem: 1 Kings 4:26 states that Solomon had 40,000 stalls. However, 2 Chronicles 9:25 states that he had 4,000. Which is true?
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Problem: God told Solomon, “I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you” (1 Kings 3:12). Does this mean that Solomon was even wiser than Jesus? How is this possible?
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