Here’s an interesting question I was recently asked to address: how do we know that the serpent in Eden (Genesis 3:1) was actually the devil? A distinct, but closely related question that I’ve been asked at other times is this: is the serpent in Genesis 3 literal or symbolic? The first question is rather easily…
We all know the old adage: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. But what about when the thing that looks too good to be true comes from someone we have every reason to trust explicitly, like Jesus? In John 14:13-14, it is reported that Jesus said this: “Whatever you ask…
In the past few years, interest in the Book of Enoch (also called Enoch and 1 Enoch) has experienced something of a revival. It is referenced in numerous popular fiction works that make use of the Nephilim and is even quoted in what appears to be an authoritative way by some supposedly Christian teachers like…
Note: Shepherd Project does not endorse the worldview or assumptions present in the following resources. They are presented here because the evidence they refer to supports the historical reliability of the Genesis account of the Flood. The fact that these predominantly secular – and in some cases even anti-Christian – organizations acknowledge this evidence is…
If you haven’t already heard, you probably will soon: a recent archaeological find in Israel has sparked a new round of attacks on the historical reliability of the Bible. In short, Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef and Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen, of Tel Aviv University have recently released the findings of their study of the Aravah Valley (on…
Apologetics Biblical Studies Bible Tools of the Devil? or, What’s the Best Bible Translation? by Craig A. Smith, Ph.D. I remember a campus minister friend of mine who once had a family offer to support his ministry entirely, meaning that he could forget the time-consuming task of raising support and keeping in regular touch with…
So, how do we know when to read the Bible literally vs. reading it figuratively? Well, again, as we’re going to see over and over again: we make that decision the same way that we do it in normal conversation. And basically, the way we do it in normal human conversation is that we assume…
One of the things that sometimes divides what we might call “conservative” Christianity from “liberal” Christianity has to do with whether or not someone claims to believe in the “literal” meaning of the Bible. This is an incredibly misleading concept and we all need to stop getting hung-up on it. The real question is not…
In the last installment of Bible Basics, we made the point that a passage means only what its A(a)uthor[1] intended it to mean. A right interpretation is one that matches up with what the A(a)uthor of the passage meant when H(h)e wrote it. However, while there is typically only one meaning of a biblical passage…
The goal of biblical interpretation is simple: to understand what God meant by each thing He said in the Bible. Here’s one of the most important things to keep in mind when interpreting the Bible: God is the one who decides what a passage means. He’s the ultimate author of the Bible, so God…and the…