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EVIDENCE-FIRST BIBLE RESEARCH
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Start with the text. Then compare translations, original-language words, surrounding context, historical reference works and major interpretive views. The research tools do not hide disagreement behind a one-line answer.
19 In-Depth Bible Question Dossiers
These are built from the biblical text, five English translations, original-language data where relevant, historical context, and the major Christian interpretations.
Are Christians required to keep the Sabbath?
The Sabbath command is central to Israel’s covenant life, and Jesus honors its purpose while challenging distorted applications. The New Testament also contains texts in which particular days are treated with liberty. Christians d…
Open evidence dossier →Are Christians required to tithe ten percent?
Tithing is explicitly commanded within Israel’s covenant economy and appears before Sinai in narratives about Abraham and Jacob. The New Testament teaches generous, willing, proportionate giving but never gives the church a simple…
Open evidence dossier →Can women preach or be pastors according to the Bible?
The New Testament contains both prominent women serving, teaching, prophesying and laboring in ministry and passages that restrict women’s teaching or authority in particular church settings. Christians disagree about whether thos…
Open evidence dossier →Does Genesis require six 24-hour creation days?
Genesis 1 uses the Hebrew word yom (“day”), a word that can denote an ordinary day but also has a broader range in Hebrew. The repeated “evening and morning” pattern is significant. Christians agree that God is Creator but disagre…
Open evidence dossier →Does the Bible endorse slavery?
The Bible contains laws and instructions regulating forms of slavery and servitude rather than a simple modern abolition statute. It also contains texts that limit abuse, condemn kidnapping, stress shared status in Christ, and eve…
Open evidence dossier →Does the Bible forbid drinking alcohol?
The Bible does not universally prohibit all consumption of wine, but it repeatedly condemns drunkenness, loss of self-control and alcohol-related harm. Some people and offices are given stricter abstinence commands in particular c…
Open evidence dossier →Does the Bible forbid tattoos?
Leviticus 19:28 prohibits certain cuttings and an “imprint/mark” on the body in an ancient Israelite context connected with mourning for the dead. Whether that command directly prohibits all modern tattoos for Christians is debate…
Open evidence dossier →Does the Bible mention abortion?
The Bible does not use a modern term equivalent to elective abortion or give a direct procedure-specific command about it. It does speak extensively about life in the womb, God’s knowledge/calling of persons before birth, pregnanc…
Open evidence dossier →Is being gay mentioned in the Bible?
Not in the modern identity-language sense. The Bible contains several passages about same-sex sexual acts or desire, but the Hebrew and Greek texts do not use a modern identity category exactly equivalent to the English word “gay.…
Open evidence dossier →Is the Trinity actually in the Bible?
The word “Trinity” is not found in the Bible, but the doctrine is a later theological summary of several biblical claims held together: there is one God; the Father is God; the Son is treated as divine; the Holy Spirit is treated …
Open evidence dossier →Predestination or free will—what does the Bible actually say?
The Bible contains strong language about God choosing, calling and predestining, and also repeatedly commands people to repent, believe and choose obedience while holding them responsible. Christian systems differ over how those t…
Open evidence dossier →What are “tongues” in the Bible, and are they for today?
The Greek word glōssa means “tongue” and can refer to languages/speech. Acts 2 clearly describes recognizable languages; 1 Corinthians 12–14 discusses a congregational gift that requires interpretation when others cannot understan…
Open evidence dossier →What does baptism do, and who should be baptized?
The New Testament closely joins baptism with repentance, faith, discipleship, union with Christ and entry into the visible Christian community. Christians disagree over whether baptism itself is an instrument of saving grace, a co…
Open evidence dossier →What does the Bible mean by “hell”?
English “hell” can translate several different Hebrew and Greek terms. Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and Tartarus are not interchangeable words, and the New Testament also uses images such as fire, destruction, exclusion, judgment and “th…
Open evidence dossier →What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage?
Jesus strongly opposes casual divorce and roots marriage in God’s creation intent. Matthew includes an exception involving porneia; Paul addresses abandonment by an unbelieving spouse. Christians differ over exactly when remarriag…
Open evidence dossier →What does the Bible say about suicide?
The Bible records several suicides but gives no verse saying that suicide is an unforgivable sin. Christian teaching has normally treated intentional self-killing as a grave wrong while also recognizing that salvation is grounded …
Open evidence dossier →What does “born again” mean in Greek?
In John 3, the Greek phrase uses γεννάω (to beget/give birth) with ἄνωθεν, a word that can mean “again” or “from above.” John appears to exploit that double meaning in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus.
Open evidence dossier →What does “repent” really mean in Hebrew and Greek?
Repentance in Scripture is bigger than feeling sorry. Greek metanoeō/metanoia describe a changed mind or orientation, while Hebrew shuv commonly describes turning or returning. Biblical repentance includes a changed direction expr…
Open evidence dossier →What happens at the end? The horsemen, tribulation, return of Christ, judgment, and new creation
Revelation presents seals and horsemen, escalating judgments, conflict with the beastly powers, the return and victory of Christ, final judgment, and finally a new heaven and new earth. Christians agree on those major themes but d…
Open evidence dossier →Why are some verses missing from modern Bible translations?
Modern translations have not simply “deleted” verses at random. The New Testament survives in thousands of manuscripts with variants. Some familiar passages are absent from the earliest or strongest manuscript witnesses, so modern…
Open evidence dossier →How this is different from a quick answer
Compare translations
Differences often reveal where translators had to make a judgment.
Inspect Hebrew or Greek
Lemma, morphology and semantic range matter more than an English slogan about the “literal meaning.”
Separate evidence from interpretation
Responsible study says when Christians and scholars reach different conclusions from the same evidence.