This question refers to two verses: For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment. (2 Peter 2:4) And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, […]
Who are the devil’s angels? (Mat.25:41; Rev 12:9)
Jesus has already used similar language in saying that the Pharisees are children of their father the devil (John 8:44) Matt.25:41 is partly just apocalyptic language (no different from Rev.12:9) but there may be a literal edge to it as well, and the “angels” in this case are the same as the “goats”. Of course […]
Was Jesus previously in heaven, but made lower than the angels for a short period?
This question refers to Hebrews 2:7: You made him [Jesus] for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 1. PREEXISTENCE? The main question here is the question about whether Jesus existed before his conception as a being in heaven. This idea is based on misreading a […]
Who are the “us” in “let us make” Genesis 1:26 and “let us go down” Genesis 11:7?
See Who is God speaking to in Genesis 1:26? – That answer deals more simply with these two verses: Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the […]
What does “coming forth from ancient days” mean? (Micah 5:2)
Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. The verse is one of the few verses in the Old Testament […]
Should we obey God even when it causes evil?
The full question was: Many Christians have told me that the 10 Commandments are utterly absolute to the point that they must be obeyed no matter what the consequences — even if obeying one or more of them leads to unbelievable evil. This does not seem right to me in the light of the Hebrew […]
Is there any early non-Christian evidence that Jesus existed?
Yes, there is. Some of the evidence is mentioned below. The Jewish historian Josephus mentions Jesus at least once in his Antiquities of the Jews (book 20, chapter 9; c. 93 AD): …Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he [Ananus] assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them […]
Should we pay income tax?
To start with, at the time of Jesus, taxes were universally reviled. Tax collectors and prostitutes had the same regard in society. Collection of taxes was corrupt, and the taxes went to either the corrupt and hated priests, or the corrupt and hated Romans. And particularly in the latter case, there was no question concerning […]
What does the Bible say about Nehi, Nephi and other people in the book of Mormon?
Nehi, Nephi, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, Mormon, Moroni, Ether, and many other characters from the Book of Mormon are not mentioned in the Bible. In fact, there is a lot in the Book of Mormon that isn’t mentioned in the Bible and often things in the Book of Mormon contradict the Bible — for more on […]
What are the keys to hell and death? (Revelation 1:18)
The ‘keys of death and hades’ (Rev. 1:18 (ESV); ‘keys of hell and death’ (KJV)) are a metaphor for authority over death and the grave. Sometimes in the Bible ‘keys’ represent authority. For example, in Isaiah 22:22 God says the following about Eliakim: …I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of […]