#STRask

Questions about asking God for the repentance of someone who has passed away, how to respond to a request to pray for a deceased person, reconciling Hebrews 9:27 with people who have died twice, and whether we’ll be judged according to the revelation we received. What are your thoughts on asking God for the repentance of someone who has passed away? When asked to pray for a friend’s deceased mother’s soul, what is a compassionate response that may lead to an opportunity to share the gospel? How do we reconcile Hebrews 9:27, which says it’s appointed for each of us to die once, with people being raised from the dead by Jesus, Peter, and Paul and then dying a second time? Are people judged differently by God according to the revelation they received?

Questions about whether one can legitimately say evil is a privation of good, how the Bible can say sin and death entered the world at the fall if angels rebelled before man, and why God would judge Israel with a famine so great they would eat the flesh of their children. Saying that evil is a “privation” is simply wordplay. How is the privation of a thing not creating the result of that privation? If one is denied oxygen, he will die, but you would blame the one denying the oxygen for that death. Scripture says sin and death entered the world at the fall, but didn’t angels rebel before man? Wouldn’t sin have been introduced then? Why would God judge the Israelites for sacrificing their children to idols by pronouncing upon them a famine so great that they would eat the flesh of their children?

Questions about how secular books assist our Christian walk and how Greg studies the Bible. How do secular books like Atomic Habits assist our Christian walk? How do you personally study the Bible?

Questions about the Catholic Bible versus the Protestant Bible, whether or not the original New Testament manuscripts exist somewhere and how we would know if we found one, and the implications of not having the original manuscripts of the Bible. How do you know you have the right version of Christianity? The Catholic Bible was assembled closer to the time of Jesus, and your church just took books out of that Bible. If an all-powerful God can’t maintain the truth over time, he probably isn’t real. Do you think the original New Testament manuscripts still exist somewhere, and if we ever found one, how would we know it was the original? What do we mean when we say we don’t have an original copy of the Bible? Which parts aren’t right, and how would we ever know?