Questions & Answers – General Topics
This section of the website is for frequently asked questions of various uncategorized topics regarding God and the bible.
-For frequently asked questions regarding animals in the bible and our divinely appointed responsibility of stewardship over the earth and its inhabitants, click here.
-For frequently asked questions regarding gender-related topics in the bible (including patriarchy, sexuality, and gender roles), click here.
For frequently asked questions about everything else related to God and the bible, scroll through the questions below!
Table of Contents
(Questions are numbered for ease of reference)
- What is salvation?
- What is the gospel message?
- What is sin?
- Is Jesus God?
- Is the holy spirit God?
- Is the Bible inspired by God?
- What is required to get into the kingdom of heaven?
- Does God want us to be childless or to bear children?
- How can I ever be forgiven for something horrible I did in my past?
- Isn’t it unrealistic to believe that the whole world will ever be at peace? Shouldn’t we just continue with our lives until Jesus returns to fix everything?
- Why should the number of times something is mentioned in the Bible matter? If it’s in the Bible at all, isn’t it truth?
- Is it acceptable to practice yoga or meditation?
- Can humans become gods?
- What does Paul mean when he says we are saved by grace through faith?
- What political party would Jesus be part of today?
- Why the name Swords to Plowshares?
- How do I know if someone is a true teacher or a false teacher?
- Given all the horrible things God does in the Bible, how can we say God is love?
- Does God ever test us?
- Did Jesus come for the sole purpose of saving my soul from eternal damnation?
- Is Americanized Christianity today true Christianity?
- Is it enough to offer thoughts and prayers in response to a hardship or tragedy?
- What does scripture say about using cannabis?
- What actually happened at the fall? Why is it significant?
Questions & Answers – General Topics
1. What is salvation?
In Matthew 1:21 Jesus is named and his purpose is “to save his people from their sins”. Paul said that salvation comes by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8) and James added that our faith is made evident by our works (James 2:18). Jesus also says of salvation that it is not complete until after one has “endured to the end” (Matthew 24:13).
A common reading of the Bible is that the salvation Jesus provides is from punishment for our sins rather than from sin itself, but that is not my understanding. Instead I believe it is salvation from the sway that sin has over our lives. This is why Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery, “go and sin no more” (John 8:11) instead of merely comforting her that there will be no consequences for her continuation in sin. Like many misunderstood concepts from the New Testament, if we try to understand them apart from the scriptural context of Genesis and other Old Testament concepts, we will fail to grasp the full meaning. When considering the significance of salvation from sin (as opposed to from punishment for sin), consider what God says to Cain in the garden just before he kills his brother Abel. God says to Cain, “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7).
This concept of “ruling over” is a recurring theme throughout Genesis, especially its early chapters. God tells us to “rule over” the earth and over all the animals (Genesis 1:26-28). The kind of “ruling over” God seems to have in mind regarding sin when speaking to Cain is a kind of self-control, which not coincidentally is also the final fruit of the spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23. Considering the desires of the flesh are what caused Adam and Even to fall into sin in the first place (Genesis 3:6), it seems fairly clear to me that salvation from the sway of these tendencies is the kind of salvation that is necessary to restore ourselves to God’s image. As I see it, salvation from the sway that sin has over our lives is therefore the kind of salvation Jesus came to show us.
Jesus proved it is possible to rule over sin, represented by Satan, in his three temptations on the mountain at the culmination of his forty day fast just before the advent of his ministry (Matthew 4:10-11). We are then told to follow his example (John 13:15, 1 Corinthians 11:1) and that his way (of ruling over sin rather than being ruled by it) is the only way to God (John 14:6). Jesus even says you cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24), and that we must exclusively follow God’s will rather than our own will (John 4:34, Luke 22:42). To divorce the concept of salvation from this idea of self-control is to overlook a central element of the gospel message.
2. What is the gospel message?
The gospel (meaning “good news”) message is to repent and turn back to God (Matthew 4:17) because God is all merciful and ready to forgive (Daniel 9:9, Ephesians 2:4-5) and ready for the kingdom to be restored “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). It is also a warning of disastrous consequences for those who refuse to repent (Matthew 11:20, 23:13).
3. What is sin?
Sin doesn’t have a clear definition in the bible, but if we piece together what is said about sin, we can get a general idea of what it is. First and foremost, it encompasses anything not from faith (Romans 14:23). It is also identified in 1 John 3:4 as “lawlessness”. And given that love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10), lawlessness would be acting without love. Thus, roughly speaking, to sin is to act without love. In most contexts within the bible though, it specifically refers to breaking a law.
4. Is Jesus God?
Jesus is who he says he is.
5. Is the holy spirit God?
The holy spirit is not some entity distinct from God. God’s holy spirit serves various functions throughout the bible, including: animating us with life, teaching us God’s ways, drawing us closer to God, and revealing God’s character. For a more detailed explanation, see my blog post entitled, “God is Love.”
6. Is the Bible inspired by God?
Yes, the bible is inspired by God and I have no reason to believe it contains any errors, even in its present form. The danger comes with interpretation. People quite often take scripture out of context, highlight one passage while ignoring others, and use the bible to justify all kinds of oppression that run contrary to the will of God and to the gospel message. The bible is a complicated series of books that are not easy to understand in every detail, but the underlying message is clear to those who are willing to listen with an open mind and an open heart. Love is the lens by which scripture is illuminated.
7. What is required to get into the kingdom of heaven?
Some passages suggest a very high requirement for admission into the kingdom while others suggest a very low requirement. It comes down to which interpretation is correct and which is misguided. For instance, some passages suggest you must give up everything you have and serve God fully (Luke 14:33) or that we must be perfect, just as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). And there is potentially a very big cost to downplaying the importance of these passages, as Jesus says, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:22-23).
On the other hand, there are passages that suggest a low requirement. For instance, in Acts 16:31 it says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.” Similarly in Romans 10:9 when it says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Or as Jesus says in Matthew 10:32, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” Many interpret these passages to mean all it takes is a simple belief and acknowledgement of the tongue and you get a free ticket into the promise land. So which is it?
Well, to “believe” may not be as straightforward as many make it out to be. A belief may not simply be an emotionally reinforced convincing of yourself of the truth of something. Only God knows our hearts, so how can we know our own heart and whether we actually believe or are merely deceiving ourselves into thinking we truly believe when in fact we do not? Fortunately the scripture gives us a few indicators to let us know if we truly believe. It says in Matthew 7:20 that we know a tree by its fruits, and in James 2:18 that our faith is made evident by our works. So if our life does not reflect true belief, there is a danger that we may not truly believe in the sense described in the passages that say all that is required is belief. We may still be in need of repentance and at risk of being told by Jesus, “I never knew you!” Similarly, to “acknowledge” Jesus may not merely be acknowledgment in word; it may also mean acknowledgement of his authority over us by living according to the love he instructs us to live by.
Whenever I’m unsure about which interpretation of scripture is correct, I find it helpful to examine the logical possibilities and corresponding consequences of each interpretation. This tends to give me a better idea of what is at stake with each reading. In this case there are exactly four possibilities:
- The requirement is low but I live my life as if the requirement were high. In this case I gave more than was required, which is what Jesus calls us to do in Matthew 5:41 anyway. In this scenario, we would make it into the kingdom alongside everyone who only did the minimum, much like in the story of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20.
- The requirement is low and I lived my life as if the requirement were low. In this case we get into the kingdom alongside all the saints and martyrs and everyone else who gave much more than we gave, but we still get in all the same. In this case we are not punished and we are fortunate that we were not misinterpreting what it means to believe in and acknowledge Jesus.
- The requirement is high and I live my life as if the requirement were high. In this case we give God our all and we forsake everything in life to follow him wholeheartedly. And as it turns out, all that we did was required to enter the kingdom. The path ended up being narrow and few found it, just as Jesus said would happen (Matthew 7:13). In this case it was a good thing we didn’t rely on our understanding of the low requirement and deceive ourselves into thinking belief was a small and effortless thing.
- The requirement is high but I live my life as if the requirement were low. This is essentially the nightmare scenario. We don’t give God our all because we lean on our interpretation of the requirement being low. Jesus tells us to depart from him and that he never knew us, despite us being “a good Christian” in the eyes of everyone around us and despite our doing many great things in his name.
Given the logical possibilities and their corresponding consequences, I find the cost to be far too high that I may be misunderstanding what it takes to enter the kingdom. I would much rather give more of myself to God than is required as opposed to not giving enough. By assuming the low requirement, we run the risk of being wrong and the consequences are disastrous. The only logical way to for sure avoid the nightmare scenario is to assume the high requirement and to live accordingly, i.e. to give your best to God, always striving to give more, and never holding anything back.
8. Does God want us to be childless or to bear children?
On the one hand, Paul and Jesus suggest it is better not to be married, which entails not procreating since procreation in a biblical sense is a function of marriage. In 1 Corinthians 7:8 Paul says, “Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.” Jesus also suggested in Matthew 19:10-12 that it is good not to marry “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” On the other hand, the divine command in the beginning was “to be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:28). Based on these passages, my reading is that God finds it acceptable to have children or to not have children as long as whichever you do, you do it for God. Adoption can also be a way to glorify God (James 1:27).
Some vegans would suggest it is ecologically better not to have children in this present age, but in my opinion the data is misleading. If you raise your children to suck up all the earth’s resources and to destroy the planet, then yes, their ecological impact is a net negative. But if instead you raise them to live minimally and to plant trees and responsibly “cultivate and take care of” the earth the way God instructed us to do from the beginning (Genesis 2:15), then your children could have a net positive ecological impact. Both paths can be ecologically beneficial and both paths can glorify God.
9. How can I ever be forgiven for something horrible I did in my past?
“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).
All God wants is for you to return to him and his ways (Isaiah 43:25). He is patient and merciful and he buries your past on the bottom of the ocean, far away from you (Micah 7:19). Each moment, you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). God will provide you the strength to overcome any temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13). Forgive yourself for yesterday as he already has, and trust in him today with all your heart (Proverbs 3:5).
10. Isn’t it unrealistic to believe that the whole world will ever be at peace? Shouldn’t we just continue with our lives until Jesus returns to fix everything?
Nothing in the bible suggests we should continue in error (Romans 6:1), doubting the power of God (James 1:6), nor sitting on our hands looking into the sky for Christ’s return (Acts 1:11). We are told to live by our faith (Hebrews 10:38) and Christ will come and make his home in us (John 14:23). We are told to make ourselves ready by doing his will (Luke 12:47). God promises the kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven (Micah 4:1-3) and Jesus prayed for it (Matthew 6:10). It will happen.
11. Why should the number of times something is mentioned in the Bible matter? If it’s in the Bible at all, isn’t it truth?
The Bible is infallible and always true, but our understanding of it isn’t (Proverbs 3:5). So if an idea is only mentioned once or a handful of times in scripture, it is more likely to be misunderstood than if it were mentioned many times in many different contexts throughout the Bible. For instance, if we have hundreds of passages telling us to live by love (1 Corinthians 16:14) and to withhold our love from no one (Matthew 5:43-48) and a handful that we interpret as God telling us to do the opposite (Genesis 9:3), it’s more likely we are misunderstanding the significance of those handful of passages rather than the hundreds that are very clear.
12. Is it acceptable to practice yoga or meditation?
Yoga simply means “union,” which is not only acceptable but advisable since that is something Jesus prayed would happen in everyone who believes in him (John 17:21). One thing to be careful of, however, is if the yoga poses, meditations, or chants involve direct or indirect worship of another deity. In such cases, you want to be careful that it does not cause you to stumble from the first and greatest commandment (to love only God and no other gods, Luke 4:8). And you also want to be careful that it doesn’t cause someone else to stumble (Romans 14:13). So while there is nothing wrong with yoga in itself, some of the things that are often attached to or associated with yoga can be harmful if you are not careful.
One way to practice yoga in a beneficial way is to meditate on scripture in prayer, as we are called to do (Psalm 1:2). Here would be an example, for ease of reference we’ll call it the Ruach prayer:
Set aside some time to devote yourself entirely to prayer. Then start by praying to God that he draws you close to him (James 4:8). Stay in prayer but without words or thoughts, just breathing and focusing on God’s presence with you in this space of prayer. With each breath, be aware that it is the breath of life God breathed into you from the beginning (Genesis 2:7) and that he breathes into all creatures (Genesis 1:30). Focus on your body and how it is a temple for the holy spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). Feel God’s presence all around you and inside you. Know that the all powerful creator of the universe protects you and fills you and is with you at all times (Psalm 139:7-10). He is perfect love and casts out all fear, all worry, all shame (1 John 4:18). Cast all your burdens on God (1 Peter 5:7, Psalm 55:22) and just be still and know that he is God (Psalm 46:10).
Stay in prayer for as long as you feel drawn to remain in prayer. If you feel pain or tension in a part of your body, know that God is able to heal all wounds and he does heal all who call out to him, just as Jesus healed all who came to him in faith (Luke 17:19, Mark 5:34). Allow the holy spirit to heal you by following its guidance, whether by stretching, massaging, breathing, or whatever else. Above all, stay focused on God and his nearness to you and your nearness to him. Fasting with an empty stomach could also help while praying in this way (Acts 13:3). Be aware of your hunger for spiritual food just as your stomach is hungry for physical food (Matthew 4:4). Be fully aware that God’s grace is all you need to be satisfied (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Setting aside time to pray in this way can be faith building and can deepen your relationship with God, as long it it does not become ritualized and thereby lose its meaning. God isn’t just a character in the bible to be intellectually believed in; he is real and all around you and inside you at every moment (Acts 17:28). Focusing on these truths (all taken from the bible) as you approach God in prayer can be a way to stay connected to the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Setting aside time to pray in this way may also help you to carry that divine peace with you for the rest of your day, keeping you equipped to do every good work in patience and love (2 Timothy 3:17, Hebrew 13:21).
13. Can humans become gods?
God created humans in his image to take care of the whole earth as rulers over it (Genesis 1:27-28). We are to love the earth and all its creatures the way God does (John 15:12). That is our role. We should humble ourselves before God and give all glory to God (Colossians 3:17). We should not aspire to be gods or anything other than what God created us to be (Genesis 3:5). It’s our perfect place in his good creation (Genesis 1:31).
14. What does Paul mean when he says we are saved by grace through faith?
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).
God’s grace is his extraordinary kindness. He is impartial in who he gives it to, extending it to everyone (Matthew 5:45). If we put our faith in God and in his extraordinary kindness, we will likewise exhibit extraordinary kindness toward everyone around us. We cannot earn God’s grace by any effort of our own. Rather, it is a free gift he gives to all. Only through trusting in God and his way of impartial and extraordinary kindness can we be saved from the sway sin has over us. Sin is the temptation to withhold kindness, whether born of fear or desire. Anything not from faith is sin (Romans 14:23), and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
15. What political party would Jesus be part of today?
This is easy – none. “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself” (John 6:15). Jesus did not endorse any form of government or political affiliation and refused to participate in it. His teaching was about following God as individuals and prioritizing love above wealth or notoriety. When every individual is motivated by love and follows God, there is no need for laws, enforcers of laws, or political institutions.
16. How do I know if someone is a true teacher or a false teacher?
Jesus said to test them by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-16). If they bear the fruits of the spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23, they are of God. If not, they are not. Anyone in the public eye will be torn to pieces and trampled underfoot by critics (Matthew 7:6), so be careful of disbelieving based on the things people say about someone. As Jesus warned, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). If we stick to the test Jesus gave us for discerning, then we will know the truth regardless of what good or bad things are said about someone.
17. Given all the horrible things God does in the Bible, how can we say God is love?
One of the most frequent ways in which the bible is misunderstood is by misreading God’s warnings as God’s desires. When God warns us of the consequences of following our own imaginations, it is because God loves us and wants us to turn away from our self-destructive ways. So many convoluted theories about God and distorted views of God’s character are rooted in this misreading of scripture. People want to say God destroys people when it is more fitting to say we destroy ourselves by failing to following God’s instructions on how to live.
A good rule of thumb to employ when reading accounts of bloodshed and violence in the Bible is to keep in mind the underlying message of repentance that runs throughout the whole Bible. Every horrible tragedy is the result of following our own evil imaginations instead of following God’s instructions that were given to us in the beginning. And at every turn, God’s message is the same: to return to God and to live by faith and God will save us from our own imaginations. God’s way is the way of life; every other way is the way of death. God gives us this choice, as it says in Deuteronomy 30:19, “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” God has always wanted us to repent and live and does not delight in anyone perishing (Ezekiel 18:23, 2 Peter 3:9), yet we must stop following our own imaginations and return to God’s instructions. God is love and God’s ways are love (1 John 3:8, 16).
18. Does God ever test us?
Yes, many times throughout the Bible God tests his servants in various ways. God said, “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10). Also in 2 Chronicles 32:31 where it says, “But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.” Again in Psalm 11:5 it says, “The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” God’s ways are and have always been love and mercy. As the passage from Psalm 11 states, God does not want us to be lovers of violence but lovers of mercy and peace. We should seek to glorify God in everything we do and in how we treat all of his creatures.
19. Why the name Swords to Plowshares?
“He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4)
The same passage is repeated nearly verbatim in Micah 4:3. The idea is that people stop making weapons and fighting each other and instead grow food and feed each other. The warriors become gardeners and all live at peace. It’s a vision of repentance and a return to God’s way of love, which is the purpose of this ministry.
20. Did Jesus come for the sole purpose of saving my soul from eternal damnation?
No, and this way of thinking prevents someone from seeing beyond the selfish ways of the flesh. Jesus would always tell those he healed “Go and sin no more,” yet so much focus of today’s church talk acts as if what he really meant is continue sinning all you want, you just won’t be punished for it now because of Jesus. The very start of his ministry began with the admonition to “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). All throughout the bible repentance is concerned with a change of behavior. It meant literally to turn around. Yet for whatever reason people now take it to just mean feeling a well of emotion inside you over Jesus letting you into heaven. The meaning of repentance has largely gotten lost due to this preoccupation with getting into heaven and avoiding hell. People ask, at least on a deep subconscious level, “How do I benefit from Jesus?” or “What’s the minimum I have to do to get into heaven?” This is backwards worldly thinking. The question should be “How does God want me to live my life?” It’s not about how the individual benefits, it’s about God’s will being done “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
21. Is Americanized Christianity today true Christianity?
There is such a wide range of beliefs and attitudes among professed Christians in America today that it would be impossible to generalize all forms of Christianity in America under one umbrella. With that said, I see some disheartening trends that run deep throughout several of the most popular forms of Christianity in America today. Perhaps the most egregious is that for many the core message of the gospel has been warped to be little more than the self-centered belief that “Jesus died so that I get into heaven.” Jesus said his message is to love one another (John 13:34), but so many of his professed followers hear only what’s in it for them (free tickets into heaven) and otherwise ignore the message. This is a very common attitude in America. For many, the cross is no longer a reminder of self-sacrifice and has instead become a political symbol signifying which forms of oppression are acceptable – or worse, which forms of oppression are believed to be “God ordained.”
22. Is it enough to offer thoughts and prayers in response to a hardship or tragedy?
Let us consider the following lesson from James:
“14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (James 2:14-19).
Offering prayers is good, but it is insufficient. As followers of Christ, our prayers must be accompanied by action, lest we be like the one James mentions who says “keep warm and well fed” without supplying those things to the one in need. We are told by Jesus to let our lights shine brightly in the world so that others may see our WORKS and thereby come to glorify God (Matthew 5:16). If our words (our “thoughts and prayers”) are empty and unaccompanied by action, not only are we failing to glorify God in the way scripture tells us to glorify God, but we are also actively turning people away from God by setting a poor example of what it means to follow Christ.
23. What does scripture say about using cannabis?
Scripture does not say anything about it directly, but it provides some guidance through related principles that would be applicable to cannabis use.
Scripture says to always be vigilant and of sober mind (1 Peter 5:8), ready to perform every good work (1 Corinthians 9:27), something cannabis may inhibit. Cannabis also has a well documented side effect of inducing paranoia, which is a form of fear. And scripture says there is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18); and that fear is of the fall, inhibiting our ability to walk with God unimpededly (Genesis 3:10). Cannabis also induces overeating (i.e. “the munchies”), which is a form of gluttony and spiritual inhibition (Proverbs 23:2). Last, if it is illegal for use according to your local secular laws, it is advisable to obey those laws when able (Romans 13).
So I would stay away from it if you are able, but I would not fault someone else for using it if it provides some much needed medicinal benefit to them, such as helping them cope with pain, depression, or anxiety. We should not judge each other (Romans 14:13, Matthew 7:1), but we should also seek to be stewards over our own bodies and keep them ready to perform every good work that God calls upon us to do (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
24. What actually happened at the fall? Why is it significant?
God created man and woman in his image (Gen 1:27), but then the serpent tempted the woman by saying she would be like God if she ate from the tree God warned not to eat from. So even though she was already like God (created in his image), she was tricked into believing she would gain something desirable that she didn’t already have. But instead the opposite happened – by following the guidance of the serpent (to eat from the tree) instead of the guidance of God (to not eat from the tree), the man and woman at that instant were no longer living by faith in God and instead were following the devil and his deception (and now living in fear). God warned the man and woman of the consequences (death) of eating from that tree and warned them of further consequences when he confronted them just after the fall (patriarchy, hardship, etc). Only by refusing the devil (through Christ), repenting of our fallen ways, and again living by faith in God can we eat from the tree of life, which is true wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 3:18-19), and live forever. The serpent made the fruit of the tree God warned not to eat from look “desirable as a way to gain wisdom” (Gen 3:6), but actually wisdom is found in following God, which was what man and woman were already doing before they ate from the tree God warned not to eat from. Eating from it caused them to lose wisdom they already had rather than gain wisdom they thought they lacked. This is the lie and the deception of the serpent from the beginning that Jesus spoke about in John 8:44.
For frequently asked questions regarding animals in the bible click here or for questions regarding gender and patriarchy in the bible click here.
Swords to Plowshares 