This website exists for everyone who has questions about the Christian religion, whether they have a personal faith or not, and provides answers presenting different theological points of view.

Please ask your question using the comment form on this post – your comment will not be published, but it’s the easiest way for you to submit a question.

New answers to questions will appear below this section (scroll down the page). (more…)

Question 173, from Christel, Germany

When Jesus cried out ‘Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani’ as he was being crucified, why did the crowd think he was calling to Elijah? [This text is found in Matthew chapter 27, verses 46-47]

There are a number of reasons why “some of the crowd” witnessing Jesus’ crucifixion may have said this. CH Spurgeon, for example, believed it to be a continuation of the mocking jeers of the crowd (chapter 26, verses 39-44)[1].

However, the most likely reason is that they misunderstood his words because he was speaking in Aramaic, the common language of Galilee and Judea, which was not spoken widely elsewhere. The text says only some of the crowd were confused, and it may be they were primarily Greek speakers, who would have heard ‘Eloi’ and thought of the famous Jewish prophet, Elijah. (more…)

Question 172, from Cheryl B

I am reading through a bible in a year bible – at present it is Leviticus where you get little nuggets of detail that just intrigue me with which things are mentioned. “Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.” WHY so precise and SO random?

Blood is significant in the Old Testament because it was thought to contain the ‘life’ of the person or animal killed (see Leviticus chapter 17, verse 11). This is why there are taboos against eating animal blood Leviticus chapter 17, verses 12-14), or shedding human blood (see 1 Chronicles chapter 22, verse 8).

When animals were sacrificed to make atonement for the sins of people, it was believed that “it is the blood that makes atonement” (again see Leviticus chapter 17, verse 11). The ‘sprinkling’ of the blood of sacrificed animals on those present at the sacrifice was thought to carry atoning power – a metaphor that was carried into Christianity (see 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 2 7 Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19-22), where the ‘Blood of Christ’ is regarded as having the same atoning effect.
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Question 171, from Simon B

I’m reading Luke chapter 8. Why did Jesus tell the Gerasene to tell everyone that he had been healed of his demon possession and Jairus to tell no one about the resurrection of his daughter?

These two stories in Luke chapter 8, along with the stories of the calming of the storm (verses 22-25) and the healing of the woman with permanent bleeding (verses 43-48) are key to establishing the various claims made about Jesus by his followers.

In order, Jesus is shown to be in charge of the natural world by stilling the storm on the Lake of Galilee, master of the ‘spiritual world’ by freeing a man of demon possession (verses 26-39), having authority over the law through his interaction with the woman who was bleeding and therefore ‘unclean’ according to the Torah, and finally, having the power to reverse the effects of death (verses 40-42 & 49-56).

The gospel writer is effectively setting out some (more…)

Question 170, from Paul F

What does the Bible tell us about God’s relationship to time? I often hear people say that God is outside of time but am unsure of the grounding for such a claim.

One of the problems with Biblical translators using the word ‘eternal’ is that it implies a sense of timelessness. However, a better translation would be ‘endless duration’. The Biblical depiction of God is of a being who is not temporary, but in a sense is temporal, in that God acts within time and those actions and plans are time-bound.

Within the realms of religious philosophy there have been numerous attempts to resolve the paradox of a being that is unaffected by time, and yet interacts with a creation that is governed by time.

Some of the attempts to resolve the paradox can be summed up as: (more…)

Question 169, from Geraint T

What is the difference between Israel and Judah, not just in a historical sense, but in the way they are referred to and referenced in the Bible?

The terms ‘Israel’ and ‘Judah’ refer to several different things in the Old Testament. ‘Israel’ is the new name given to the Hebrew patriarch Jacob, grandson of Abraham, after his night spent wrestling with God (the story is in Genesis chapter 32). As the ‘children of Jacob/Israel’, the Hebrews were eventually referred to corporately as ‘Israel’.

Judah is one of Jacob’s sons, and a brother to Joseph and thus becomes a founding father of one of the Hebrew tribes. Initially an unimportant people group within Southern Israel, Judah rose in importance when (more…)

This is based on a Sunday talk given by Jon the freelance theologian at Glenwood Church, Cardiff, on 14 August 2011

The talk began by reading out 1 John chpater 2 in the New International Version of the Bible.

There’s always a danger when we read Scripture that we only see the bits that we want to see. I’m sure like me you’ve heard plenty of sermons when it seems the point the preacher is making bears little relation to the text.

So, what is John trying to tell us in the second chapter of this letter to his friends? It’s not always clear to see, so out of a sense of curiosity I ran the text through a website called Wordle to see what the key themes were – creating this image.

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Question 168, from Allan

What is your perspective about the Holy Spirit and Divine healing?

There are several perspectives on healing in contemporary Christian thought. A stereotypical protestant liberal view would be that healing, like any miracle, will have a scientific explanation behind it (or be a ‘myth’ with a secondary meaning to reveal a theological truth). In more conservative traditions, such as Roman Catholicism and many Protestant churches, the possibility of Divine healing is held, although such events are regarded as rare.

Evangelicals in a ‘dispensationalist’ tradition would hold a view that healings and other supernatural signs and wonders belong to a previous ‘dispensation’ (period of time / revelation), and would be sceptical of any contemporary accounts of Divine healing. Pentecostal Christians and those in the charismatic traditions that arose in the late 20th century (such as the Vineyard movement) would hold a view that expects miracles to occur as proof of their beliefs.
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The previous post on freelance theology caused a response in the comments about the identity of the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’, a cryptic reference that appears fairly regularly in the Gospel of John.

There have been many attempts to identify this ‘beloved disciple’ over the years, although their true identity will probably never be known. Here, though, is a short run-down of the main possible contenders for the title that have been suggested. (more…)

Question 167, from Debbie, United Kingdom
I would like to know the viewpoint of the 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) when we talk about the “call of the first disciples”. What are the likenesses and differences between the 4 readings and who’s the audience?

Although there is general agreement between the Gospels that Jesus began his ministry by selecting people to become ‘disciples’, there are differences between the accounts. The version of events usually thought of as the call of the first disciples is found in Mark chapter 1 and Matthew chapter 4, where Jesus tells fishermen on the shores of Lake Galilee to leave their nets and follow him.

In John’s gospel, however, one of those fishermen, Andrew, is already John the Baptist’s disciples, and is one of (more…)