If some people believe that water baptism is required for salvation, does this mean that they are not saved since they aren’t depending fully on the Lord’s work on the cross for salvation? I ask this, because I have come across people that are putting water baptism into John chapter 3, which is just a misinterpretation. I know its impossible to say if a person is truly saved or not, but if they are claiming Jesus’ death plus water baptism, is there a reason to be concerned for these people?

In your article, What did Jesus do in Hell, you said, “Of course the real issue is whether the Bible is the inspired word of God or not. If it is, then Jesus, the thief, and Lazarus all went to Paradise when they died, just like the Bible says, until Jesus went to Heaven to sprinkle His blood on the altar there and opened its gates to the spirits of all dead believers who would follow.” Since the blood of Jesus has been completely spilled out from his body according to John 19:34, how did he do the sprinkling?

I know that we should pray for the unsaved to come to faith. However, how are we supposed to pray when a person won’t even listen to reason? My son says he doesn’t believe in any idea of a God, and doesn’t want to hear about it. Please help me to understand how to pray for him, and how to influence him to discover the God who loves him.

During a conversation with friends, the “why do you believe” question came up. Since I’m a fairly new believer, it was a difficult question to answer. Their comments were there are many faiths, and who am I to say Christ is the only way. I told them that’s directly from the word of God. Then they wondered how I know it really is the word of God. Can you help me do better with questions like this in the future?

How do I handle women who tell me they pray in tongues? I know these 3 women who think that this spiritual gift should be sought after and that it is a sign of a higher spiritual walk.

Your excellent study on the book of Revelation makes the point that there is no need for the church to eat from the tree of life. The tree of life is for the nations during the millennium. If this is so, why does Jesus promise that believers will “eat from the tree of life” in Revelation 2:7?

Thanks for the work you do on the site. It’s a fantastic tool. I was reading a timeline in my bible today and it stated that Jesus was born in 5BC. If this is correct then Jesus would have been 38 at the time of the crucifixion. It doesn’t really matter how old he was but I’ve always assumed that he was 33. Which do you believe is correct?

I’m a fairly new Christian and have always been a believer in the pre-trib rapture. I just found out today that our Associate Pastor is Post Trib. I found this out during a group discussion regarding God’s Wrath after I pointed out that 1 Thes. 5:9 says we’re not appointed to wrath. He said the wrath Paul was referring to is eternal condemnation of non-believers. He said rapture passages could just as easily be describing the 2nd Coming, the rapture doesn’t appear anywhere in New Testament theology, and the dispensational interpretation of Daniel’s 70th Week is a shaky and novel one. Being a baby Christian, the understanding that I had from beginning has now been shaken and that scares me to death! Can you help?

Calvinists use verses like Matt 1:21, Luke 1:68, John 10:11 and John 17:1-2, 9 to say Jesus only died to save His people from their sin. But 1 Timothy 2:3-6 says Christ gave himself as a ransom for ALL men, not just His people. Can you help me reconcile this apparent contradiction?

I am a college student taking Psychology this semester. This week, I have an assignment due on Dream Interpretations. My instructor sent me to a website that interprets dreams and gives their symbolic meaning. Being a Christian, I don’t feel like this is a Christ-pleasing thing to do. I don’t believe it’s up to us to interpret our dreams and try to put symbolic meaning to them. I was wondering what the Biblical perspective is to interpreting dreams. Any help or Scripture references you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and God bless!