The Book of Revelation is without doubt the most complicated, controversial, and esoteric of the entire Bible! Some even doubt that it should even be in the Bible at all, and assert that its place in the Bible Canon was controversial from the start. This is false. Why? The early acceptance of Revelation by the Christian Church is proof that the book is divinely inspired.
First of all, when people ask this they are using a different definition of “faith” than the the Bible does. The average person thinks “faith” means: “blind faith”, or belief without any evidence, zero, zippo, nada. That is not Biblical “faith”. So let’s clarify what we mean Biblically by faith. “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 NAB). Biblical faith has evidence in support of it, in fact, lots of it! For example: “Since the creation the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, been understood from what has been made” (Romans 1:20 NIV). We can see from the earth and the universe that there must be a designer and Creator. However, it is impossible to see Almighty God literally. “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20 CSB). This is why faith is required. In some ways it’s no different from things we think, and do, everyday, but without giving it much thought. Would you work for a company, or organization that you didn’t think was going to pay you on payday? No, you have faith, for good reasons, that you will get paid. You wouldn’t buy a car, or an appliance, if you didn’t at least have some faith, or reasonable expectation, that it would work. Your wouldn’t hire someone to do a job for you without some faith they could do it, would you? Logical reasoning tells us what Hebrews 3;4 says: “For every house is built by someone, but he that created all things is God” (Jubilee Bible). You didn’t see a certain house being designed or built, but you logically know that someone had to design and construct it. Why would we use different reasoning standard about the immeasurably more complex universe, and its designer and builder? Therefore, the Bible says: “Only fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God'” (Psalm 14:1 NLT). While it is true that “not all people have faith” (2 Thess 3:2), faith is required, and is available to all people!
The Bible says God cannot die. Yet Trinitarians assert that Jesus must be God himself in order to die for the sins of mankind stands in stark contradiction to all scriptural evidence. It was Jesus, not God, who died for sins.
“LORD [Yahweh], are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die” (Habakkuk 1:12 NIV)
From this scripture, we can see that it is impossible that Jesus could be the God who would die for the sins of mankind, since the prophecy of Habakkuk was written over 600 years prior to Jesus and clearly states that God will never die.
The doctrines of Purgatory and Hellfire are taught and believed by many. But are they in the Bible?
“The dead no longer know anything”—Ecclesiastes 9:5 NAB
“Those who contend with you shall be as nothing and will perish . . . Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent”—Isaiah 41:11,12 NASB
The Bible teaches that death is non-existence. Purgatory is a Catholic doctrine which teaches there is an intermediate state after physical death in which some of those ultimately destined for heaven must first undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven, holding that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come. But what does the Bible teach? Let’s compare some Catholic claims about the doctrine of Purgatory to the Scriptures.
Revised October 12, 2022
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s) have historically been best known for their public and door-to-door witnessing, distributing literature such as The Watchtower and Awake! magazines. But how could Jehovah’s Witnesses be reasoned with about Biblical beliefs?
First, you will not be able to prove JW’s wrong on such things as:
JW’s are taught that these are some primary reasons they’re the only true Christians. JW’s are very well trained on these subjects and armed with scriptures. The scriptures actually do support their positions on the above issues, except for birthdays.
The Old Testament was full of commandments to which the Israelites were obligated to be obedient. But what about the New Testament? Must Christians completely obey? Let’s find out what the Scriptures have to say.
“Give yourselves completely to God… use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.” (Romans 6:13 NLT)
“We will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.” (2 Corinthians 10:6 NIV)
“After you have become fully obedient.” (NLT)
The huge ancient city of Corinth was full of idols and idol temples. There was much readily available there to entice and tempt people into various forms of idolatry. The apostle Paul warned Christians: “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.” (1 Corinthians 10:14 NIV) He didn’t just say to “avoid” idolatry – he said to run from it!
In most places in the western world today, idolatry does not seem so apparent or visible. Nevertheless, the warning is just as important. In the Old Testament (OT) Israel was warned to keep the laws of the Old Covenant, or they would lose God’s favor. The first two of the ten commandments involve having no other gods but Yahweh alone, and not honoring any idol or image. (Exodus 20:2-5) Israel broke this covenant because “they worshipped other gods” and “they worshipped idols.” (2 Kings 17:7, 12 NIV) This idolatry led to numerous other gross sins against Yahweh. The result was that the covenant was finally terminated by God.
What is the source of the Apocrypha?
“I shall bring my work to an end here too. If it is well composed and to the point, that is just what I wanted. If it is worthless and mediocre, that is all I could manage”—2 Maccabees 15:37,38 NJB
The writer of the Apocryphal book 2 Maccabees, in effect, admits that he is not inspired by God.
The Apocrypha is accepted as being genuine by some people and some large religious organizations, such as the Roman Catholic Church, today, but rejected by many others. Some of it is included in various versions of the Bible, but is absent in most. The Apocryphal books accepted as canonical and part of the Old Testament (OT), by the Roman Catholic Church are: Tobit, Judith, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus (or Sirach, or Ben Sira), Baruch, and several additions to Esther and Daniel.
The official title: The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ, speaks volumes. Does the Bible reference The Book of Mormon? Mormons, or Latter Day Saints (LDS), as they prefer to be called), proudly proclaim that it does. The main scripture they use to support this claim is Ezekiel 37:15-19, which reads:
“The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, take a stick and write on it, ‘Judah and those Israelites loyal to him.’ Take another stick and write on it, ‘Joseph (Ephraim’s wood) and all the House of Israel loyal to him.’ ‘Join one to the other to make a single piece of wood, a single stick in your hand. And when the members of your nation say, ‘Will you not tell us what you mean?’ say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says this: I am taking the stick of Joseph (now in Ephraim’s hand) and those tribes of Israel loyal to him and shall join them to the stick of Judah. I shall make one stick out of the two, a single stick in my hand'” (NJB).
Much is made in the United States about the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Many Christians know this is about firearms or guns. But how many Christians know what the first and second of the Ten Commandments are about? Further, how many Christians know how the principles embodied in the first and second commandments are applied in the New Testament for Christians in daily matters, such as whether or not nationalistic music is something that should be honored by Christians? Let’s consider these important Bible principles now.