A friend of mine wants to know ‘why can’t a prophecy today be considered scripture, if it is all inspired by the Holy Spirit?’

I was watching a fairly well known Bible teacher on television and at one point he said, ” Why do you think the Lord condoned slavery?” His answer was that the slaves who had benevolent masters were actually much better off then if they had been on their own as they were illiterate. I can only assume he was referring to slaves of the South before the Civil War, who were often grossly mistreated. I was totally stunned to hear a Christian say such a thing much less a teacher of God’s Word! I would very much like to know what your opinion is about this.

In Joshua 1:5 God said to Joshua, “As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will not fail you, nor forsake you.” In Hebrews 13:5 the writer said, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; and be content with the things that you have: for he hath said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you” quoting the promise to Joshua. How did he get from a specific promise made to an Old Testament individual, to a general promise for all New Testament believers? Was he applying a spiritual principle or describing a characteristic of God?

I wanted to see what your thoughts were on the 13 letters penned by Paul. I have read in some research that scholars only are sure that 7 were penned by Paul, maybe another 2 are 50-50, and the rest are likely not penned by Paul (the pastoral epistles). Personally, I think Paul did pen them but have no proof of this other than faith. Since early church fathers did not question Paul’s letters as part of the New Testament canon, I would believe we should not either.

Recently I asked for prayers for my daughter and myself as we are both due to have surgery in a few months. I did so on a message board that I get on when talking to my friends. Not long after I wrote the prayer request one of my friends messaged me back and told me they would keep us in their prayers and told me to check out (a currently popular self help book). Have you seen the movie or read the book? What is your opinion and how should I address this person?

Wouldn’t it be more accurate to state that the Bible was written under either the “guidance” or “authority” of the Holy Spirit rather than the “inspiration”? I realize that at first blush this might seem like hair splitting; however, I think that using a word slightly stronger than “inspiration” would better convey the authority of the Gospels. People might question less and read more.

Re: Inspiration of Scripture. We often hear people claiming this confidently but is there really a verse that really claims that the entire Bible is the word of God? 2 Tim. 3: 16 speaks along those lines but to me it refers more to Old Testament scriptures rather than all other scriptures, because much lf the New Testament hadn’t been written yet. What are your views on this?

Re: Matt. 18:15-17. I read these verses in William Barclay’s commentary in which he essentially says these have been misapplied. He further states that the language indicates to him that Jesus could not have said this in that specific way, i.e., it sounds too legalistic for Jesus, and sounds more like an ecclesiastic committee’s work. Also, Jesus would not say to take the matter to the Church, since the Church was not yet existent. This throws me a bit on the basis of inerrancy, so it must be some kind of interpretation that stands. Your thoughts?

I have always believed the Bible is inerrant, but I’m puzzled by the apparent discrepancy between the accounts in Matthew and Luke of the healing of the centurion’s servant: did the centurion meet with Jesus or not?

We all know that there are different methods of interpreting Scripture. Some “spiritualize” it and attribute it to allegory. Others, such as me and you interpret Scripture “literally, historically and grammatically.” Is there any place in Scripture where God told us how he wanted us to interpret his Word? How did we come to the consensus that Scripture was to be interpreted “this” way as opposed to “that” way?