| Book | Difficulties in the Bible: 7. Jehovah's Command to Abraham to Offer Up Isaac as a Burnt Offering
One of the most frequent objections is that the Bible says that God commanded Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering. It is claimed that this story justifies the horrible practice of human sacrifice. Some years ago when an insane man actually did kill his son as a sacrifice to God, infidels proclaimed far and wide that the Bible in its story ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 8. God Hardening Pharaoh's Heart
The various statements that are made in the Scriptures in regard to God hardening Pharaoh's heart have also perplexed a great many young Christians and have frequently been made use of by unbelievers in their attacks upon the Bible. It is said that if God hardened Pharaoh's heart and, in consequence of this hardening, Pharaoh rebelled against God, ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 9. The Slaughter of the Canaanites by God's Command
There are few things in the Bible over which more intelligent readers have stumbled, and over which infidels have more frequently gloated and gloried, than God's command that certain people should be utterly exterminated, sparing neither sex nor age. Men, women and children were to be killed. Thus, for example, we read in Deuteronomy 20:16-17 this ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 10. Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still
One of the greatest difficulties in the Bible to many a student is found in the story contained in Joshua 10:12-14: "Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the s ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 11. Deborah's Praise of Jael, the "Murderess"
It is frequently argued against the divine origin of the Bible that it defends and glorifies the treacherous murder of Sisera by Jael, and that any book that defends so violent and cruel and deceitful an action as this cannot have God for its author.
The very simple answer to this objection is that the Bible does not defend or glorify the action ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 12. The Sacrifice of Jephtha's Daughter
The story of Jephthah's daughter as recorded in the Bible has presented a great difficulty to many superficial students of the Bible, as well as to many critics of it. How can we possibly justify Jephthah's burning of his daughter as a sacrifice to Jehovah?
In the first place, we are nowhere told that Jephthah did burn his daughter. We are told ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 13. "Impure" Bible Stories
An old and favorite objection to the Bible on the part of unbelievers is that there are in it "chapters that reek with obscenity from beginning to end."
That there are chapters in the Bible which describe scenes that cannot be wisely dealt with in a mixed audience we have no desire to deny; but these chapters are not obscene. To speak in the pla ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 14. David's Sin
In 2 Samuel 11 we read the story of one of the saddest downfalls of a man of God recorded anywhere in history, and at the same time we read the record of one of the most contemptible and outrageous sins that any man ever perpetrated against a faithful friend. We read how David committed against his faithful warrior Uriah one of the most contemptibl ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 15. The Imprecatory Psalms
A frequent objection urged against the Bible is founded upon some of the utterances in the so-called imprecatory psalms. Many of these utterances have greatly perplexed earnest-minded Christians who have carefully studied the New Testament teaching regarding the forgiveness of enemies.
Three passages in the Psalms are especially cited as showing ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 16. Does the God of Truth and Love Send Lying Spirits and Evil Spirits to Men?
One of the most puzzling passages in the Bible is found in 1 Kings 22, and in the parallel account in 2 Chronicles 18. In these passages the Prophet Micaiah is reported as saying, "Therefore hear thou the word of the LORD" (v. 19, RV). Then he goes on: "I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right ha ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 17. Jonah and the Whale
The story of Jonah and "the whale" has for many years been a butt of ridicule with unbelievers, and the cause of not a little perplexity with those who are "unlearned and unstable." The story is quite generally discredited by the destructive critics as being unhistorical. They attempt to explain it as allegory or parable. Those who desire to discre ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 18. Some Important "Contradictions" in the Bible
I am constantly meeting men who say that the Bible is full of contradictions. When I ask them to show me one, they reply, "It is full of them." When I press them to point out one, usually they have no more to say. But now and then I meet an infidel who does know enough about his Bible to point out some apparent contradictions. In this chapter we sh ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 19. "Mistakes" in the Bible
The Bible is said not only to be full of contradictions, but also to contain mistakes.
One of the "mistakes" most constantly referred to by critics is found in Matthew 27:9-10 (RV): "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom certain ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 20. The Two Genealogies of Jesus, the Christ
A favorite point of attack on the Bible for those who deny its divine origin and inerrancy is the two varying genealogies of Jesus Christ. Not only is this a favorite point of attack by unbelievers, but it is also a point that often puzzles earnest students of the Bible. It is perfectly clear that the two genealogies differ widely from one another, ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 21. Was Jesus Really Three Days and Three Nights in the Heart of the Earth?
Matthew reports Jesus as saying, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale ("sea monster," RV marg.), so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (12:40). According to the commonly accepted tradition of the church Jesus was crucified on Friday, dying at 3:00 p.m., or somewhere between ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 22. How Could Jesus Commend the Action of the Unrighteous Steward?
A very puzzling passage in the Bible to many is the story of the unrighteous steward recorded in Luke 16:1-14. Once when this passage was assigned by the International Sunday School Committee, a lady told me that she had made up her mind not to teach it. She said, "The three points of difficulty are first, that Jesus should hold this dishonest scou ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 23. Were Jesus and Paul Mistaken as to the Time of Our Lord's Return?
It is constantly taught not only by unbelievers but even in many Christian pulpits and in some of our theological seminaries that Jesus and Paul were mistaken as to the time of our Lord's return. In an interesting little pamphlet published by the American Unitarian Association, five ministers, once preaching in orthodox churches but now Unitarians, ...read |
| Difficulties in the Bible: 24. Did Jesus Go into the Abode of the Dead and Preach to the Spirits in Prison? Is There Another Probation After Death?
What does 1 Peter 3:18-20 mean when it says that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in prison?
A very simple answer to this question is that it means exactly what it says. But let us notice carefully what it does say: "Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to d ...read |
| Sermon | Every Man's Need Of A Refuge
"And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place; as the shadow of a great rock in a way land. Isaiah xxxii. 2.
I have a very precious old testament text to-night. I love the Old Testament, it is full of Christ-Isaiah xxxii. 2: "And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wi ...read |
| Sermon | Excuses
"And they all with one consent began to make excuses."Luke xiv. 18.
In these words our Lord Jesus Christ sets forth the manner in which God's invitation of love and grace and mercy would be received, and that is precisely the way in which God's invitation of mercy is being received by the people of London to-night. When you come to men and exten ...read |
Reuben Archer Torrey