The words of the LORD are pure words. —Psalm 12:6a

Reviving the Church

The Book That Nobody Trusted

One of the two primary manuscripts claimed by textual critics to be "oldest and best" is the Codex Sinaiticus. Much evidence clearly points to this "ancient" book actually being a modern fraud. But that story is for another time. In this article, we're instead going to look at the textual critics' version of the story.…

We Have But One Weapon

In Ephesians 6, Paul describes "the whole armour of God." Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,…

“No Major Doctrines Affected”?

People often say that "no major doctrines are affected" by the differences between the received text and the Alexandrian manuscripts. Of course, these are weasel words, since it is impossible to pin down a definition of exactly what "major doctrines" are or what "affecting" them would be. But the fact is that there is one doctrine that is always overlooked: the doctrine…

Circular Reasoning?

Are we employing circular reasoning when we use the teaching of extant scripture to argue that the Bible was preserved? After all, if the Bible wasn't preserved perfectly, then we can't trust fully what it says. In that case, even though the Bible teaches preservation now, that doesn't mean that it did so originally. Thus, when we point to verses that say…

U.S. Church Confused and Ineffective

In March of this year, the American Culture and Faith Institute conducted a survey to find out how Americans, and particularly born-again Christians, perceive our culture’s effect on children. As I happened to be one of the people selected to participate in this survey, I was especially interested in the results. The survey asks questions to both determine whether a respondent is…

Genuine Preservation

The other day I was reading an article by some people whose work I greatly respect, which was encouraging Christians that we can trust that the Bible is the word of God, due to its remarkable preservation. (I’m not going to give the exact reference, because it isn’t really important.) While this might surprise you, I disagreed with most of what the…