Q&A: How can my mother and I forgive my father for being unfaithful and causing my parents to divorce?
My parents got divorced because my father was unfaithful to my mother. How can my mother—and I—truly forgive my father? Thank you for reaching out. I am ...
Q&A: Why were demon possession, gifts of healing, and gifts of tongues more prevalent in biblical times?
Why were things like demon possession, gifts of healing, and gifts of tongues more prevalent in biblical times than they are now? Let’s discuss demon possessi...
Bible study: Gifts of tongues and miraculous healing
The gift of speaking in tongues refers to the spiritual gift of either speaking another language such as the disciples at Pentecost did (Acts 2) or speaking a l...
Q&A: Is Christianity the only religion that gives the certainty of heaven?
Is Christianity the only religion that gives the certainty of heaven? I want to understand so I can better share the gospel with others. The parable of the blin...
Bible study: Jesus is everyone’s Savior
Justification is the doctrine by which the church stands or falls because the Christian faith is lost without it. We use four different adjectives to define the...
Q&A: If people go to hell, isn’t it their fault because God gave them free will and they rejected him?
If people go to hell, isn’t it their fault because God gave them free will and they rejected him? Free will a misnomer The use of free will is a misnomer in...
Q&A: Why are the 40 days between Jesus’ resurrection and his ascension important for the disciples and for us?
Jesus finished his work of paying for the sins of the whole world by dying on the cross. But how can we be sure our sins are paid for? On the third day, Jesus ...
Q&A: Can you explain Jesus’ words to the wailing women he met on his way to be crucified?
Jesus had just handed the crossbeam to Simon of Cyrene who would carry it the rest of the way to the site of crucifixion. Noticing the women who were wailing al...
Bible study: Love one another
For many, Valentine’s Day has become a Hallmark holiday filled with sappy sentiment and red hearts . . . everywhere! The exact details of the original St. Val...
Q&A: What if spouses don’t “love” each other anymore?
What does the Bible have to say about spouses who don’t “love” each other anymore? It seems fairly common nowadays that spouses talk about how they have...
Bible study: Above all things!
The First Commandment states: “You shall have no other gods.” Martin Luther’s explanation says, “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things...
Q&A: Is it wrong to have a cross with Jesus’ body on it?
Since God forbade “graven images” in the Old Testament, is it wrong to have a cross with Jesus’ body on it? God commanded Israel, “You shall not make fo...
Q&A: Is our time of grace really unchangeable?
Our “time of grace” refers to the time we are alive to come to know Jesus. Is that fixed date really unchangeable? Or do our actions impact it? The answer t...
Bible study: The comfort of God’s providence
God’s providence means that everything happens according to God’s design (even permitting evil to work for the good of his people). It also refers to wh...
Bible study: Precious grace
The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about “cheap grace.” By cheap grace, he meant that too many preach forgiveness without repentance and grace ...
Q&A: I know that we are saved by grace apart from works, but how can it be that easy?
I know that we are saved by grace apart from works, but that seems too easy. How can that be how it works? What is grace? Grace is God’s undeserved love. Ther...
Bible study: Rewards of grace
The parable of the talents appears in a section of Scripture where Jesus is describing the end times. Though an exact value of a talent is difficult to calculat...
Q&A: Are there degrees of glory in heaven as a reward for good works?
I’m struggling with the concept of degrees of glory in heaven as a reward for good works. Doesn’t this concept promote work-righteousness? The concept of de...
Q&A: Do Lutherans take the Bible literally and teach millennialism?
Someone told me that Lutherans don’t take the Bible literally, which is why we don’t teach millennialism, that is, Christ’s thousand-year reign with his b...
Bible study: What’s going to happen on the Last Day?
There are many forms of the false teaching called millennialism. Millennium is a Latin word meaning “one thousand years.” The basic teaching is that before ...
Q&A: Are there different interpretations of the Bible?
Every denomination believes they are teaching the right thing. Are there different interpretations of the Bible? The idea that there are many legitimate interpr...
Bible study: Interpretation practice
HERMENEUTICS COMES from a Greek word that means “to interpret.” Therefore, hermeneutics refers to the study of biblical interpretation, determining the mean...
Q&A: How can we be sure the Bible includes what God originally gave us?
I know the Bible is God’s Word. But what about the reliability of the Bible as ancient literature? How can we be sure we have what God originally gave us? Jes...
Bible study: The Bible’s attributes
In addition to being reliable, the Bible has many attributes or characteristics that bring us comfort as believers. It speaks with the authority of God (Luke 16...