Christian Questions Bible Podcast

Everyone experiences loss in their lives in one way or another. How we attempt to cope with those losses depends upon several things. First, the kind of loss we are facing can dictate whether our response to it is mild, strong or severe. Second, our cultural environment offers up expectations as to how our mild strong or severe responses are to be displayed. In biblical days, grieving over difficu...

Every serious Christian knows about God’s holy spirit. We not only know about it, but we also often talk about what we believe to be its effects upon our lives. Christians speak of being provoked, directed, protected and guided by the spirit. Some of us claim the spirit speaks to us, or perhaps to our pastor, for the purpose of giving us not only instruction, but prophetic utterances regarding our...

We don’t know much about the spiritual world, especially before the creation of humanity. What we do know is that it was an entirely harmonious world with loyalty and obedience to God at its center. God foreknew that when pride crept into Satan’s heart and was exposed, it would lead to a massive shift in the way things would run. In heaven, it would no longer be business as usual, for now the less...

Jesus is the Savior of the world. We all know how he left his heavenly glory with the Father and was reduced to the human condition so he could be the ransom – the corresponding price – for Adam and his fall from obedience and grace. By so doing, Jesus gave the whole human race an opportunity for everlasting life. So, when we look at Jesus, we see him as Savior, Redeemer, the Lamb of G...

Honor and respect. These seem like simple enough words but try and find them actively functioning in everyday life and you will find that they are surprisingly rare. As we speculate about why this is, we may conclude that we as a social order simply don’t perceive a need for them. The further we go down the road of each of us primarily answering to only ourselves, the less important honor for othe...

Our society is in trouble. In many ways, it seems that we have lost our way, and we no longer have a general sense of societal respect. Maybe it’s just me, but when I was a kid, I was clearly shown the importance of valuing others. We were taught to respect those in charge, and respect those who enforced the law and kept order. We were taught to have high esteem for parents and educators. We were...

It would seem that most entering into marriage do so with high expectations of a life of happiness, fulfillment and companionship. Unfortunately for far too many, these expectations are foreign to their reality. Excluding marriages that end in divorce, how many are truly happy and fulfilled, and how many are simply going along to get along? These are hard things to look at. In order to do so in a...

Jesus was at odds with the scribes and Pharisees. They stood for traditions that had been built upon the foundation of the Jewish Law but were not part of the already complex rules and guidelines God had commanded through Moses so many generations before them. No, these traditions were fabrications, and were likely in place to separate the ruling class from the people. Meanwhile, Jesus stood for t...

Jesus was a wise, loving and compassionate man. His whole reason for becoming a man was to give his life as a ransom for every single human being who ever lived, and you can’t be more selfless and giving than that. Yet, with all of his compassion, Jesus was also one to not mince words when a hard message was needed. This becomes extremely evident when we examine the seven “woes” he pro...

Let’s face it. We all know that each and every one of us can be better. We can be better human beings, better friends, co-workers, spouses, cousins and certainly better Christians. The challenge here is obvious. Being “better” requires change. Significant change. To be better in whatever area we are focusing on requires a different mindset, which brings different words and actions. This all transl...

In Part I , we laid a foundation for understanding and managing harmful biases. One primary lesson we learned was that we ALL – no matter who we are and what our background is – are biased. While this is an uncomfortable truth, it is a necessary realization, for a true Christian is to strive to overcome any and all fleshly inclinations. We also learned this overcoming is no easy task....

I was recently summoned for jury duty. As I sat in the room at the beginning of the day, the court and its representatives showed some really informative introductory videos on what to expect and look out for when serving on a jury. The main topic they focused on was bias. Their premise was that we ALL have biases and we ALL can be in danger of following them rather than following the simple facts...

We all have heard of the biblical account of Jonah and the whale. Because it is so unique and dramatic, it has been an often-repeated story with many lessons – and rightfully so. What many don’t realize is the magnitude of the events and teachings surrounding this amazing circumstance. First, one point of clarification: it wasn’t a whale, it was a “great fish.” When we examine how and why Jo...

As Christians, when we think about Jesus and his reason for being born as a man, we’re always inspired by the selflessness of his sacrifice to redeem Adam and all of humanity from sin and death. This gift is truly beyond anything we deserve. When we think of the Messiah, we instinctively think of Jesus. In our last episode, we explored a Jewish perspective regarding their expectations of Messiah....

Christians differ on a lot of things, and sometimes these differences can be troublesome. The basics we all agree on are centered on Jesus. We believe he died for our sins, and we believe he came to give his truest followers the opportunity to be in heaven with him. We also believe he is the Messiah. As a matter of fact, we look at the Old Testament prophecies and have a hard time comprehending wh...

God gave us the ability to understand and appreciate His plan of the ages by revealing that plan within the pages of the Bible. This plan is focused on the necessary steps to bring ALL of His creation – both heavenly and earthly – to an existence that will completely and forever live in harmony with one another under His mighty hand and will. In Parts I and II of this series , we looke...

In Part I of our series, we focused on how the New Testament describes “perfection.” We found that Jesus, though perfect, had to be further “perfected” – further completed – by his personal experiences and sufferings in order to fully pay the ransom price for Adam. Similarly, but on a much smaller scale, Jesus’ disciples have a perfect beginning as well. They ar...

God has an amazing plan that includes every human being who has ever lived. Rather than torturing billions for eternity in a fiery hell, this plan will give all of humanity a legitimate opportunity to be taught how to live in a godly and righteous way. We’re saying God’s plan gives EVERYONE an opportunity to become perfect in His sight. Now, if you look around at the condition of our world, it’s r...

The world around us moves so fast that it’s easy to forget to pause and consider just how profoundly God has blessed us. In the United States, somewhere tucked in between the massive Halloween parties and the exhilaration of Christmas, Santa Claus, presents and fun, is a holiday called Thanksgiving. While we won’t take the time to discuss how it came to be, we do want to remember why. Thanksgiving...

Way back in the 1980’s Bobby McFerrin recorded and released his very popular song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” It’s a simple and upbeat perspective on living. When you think about it, the title is a profound instruction for life. Don’t worry; instead, be happy! About 100 years before this catchy song, Hannah Whitall Smith wrote an ageless book called The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. In i...

Arise and be baptized! This and many other similar scriptural statements have in many ways defined Christianity. Unfortunately, because Christianity is so splintered it applies these very important words and instructions in a wide variety of ways. Some say baptism changes you, others say it is a symbol, and others say it is necessary for heaven. Some baptize infants, others baptize children and ot...

We live in a diverse world, and that can be a really wonderful thing! To observe and embrace the positive differences in our cultures, our backgrounds and our characters is worthy of celebration. Appreciating the immense differences we see in nature due to geographic locations is a fascinating journey through God’s creation. But here is a problem. Diversity, just like most anything else we as impe...

As Christians, we all are encouraged by the scriptural principle that God’s angels are watching over us. What better hands could we be in than those who were sent by God himself to care for our very lives! As encouraging as this scriptural principle is, we need to be careful to avoid turning this reverent truth into some kind of human imagination that skews and corrupts its purity. The Bible is ve...

In our last episode, we talked about doubt as a permanent fixture in our present world and experiences and how this can be both a positive thing as well as a negative thing. There are many ways the seeds of doubt are planted. It might be as a result of misinformation or misunderstanding. Or when we have a limited perception of our circumstances. We can doubt when we are in a difficult situation or...

Everybody doubts. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is a resounding yes! Doubt can be a godly tool of necessary and righteous caution just as easily as it can be an ungodly tool of imperfect human judgment and destruction. Appropriate doubt that is fact- and integrity-based is an early warning system that can keep us focused on and engaged in the most important things. This kind...