“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Heb 3:12 ESV). The unbelieving heart is an evil heart rejecting God who the Source of all good things. God’s commands and traditions in the Scriptures are for the good of every believer. God did not create humanity for His whims, so God also did not give arbitrary commands. Likewise, Jesus taught, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

            When God gives us a command, He gives it because believers are capable of obeying His commands. God does not give commands that we can’t keep. When God tells us to endure temptations and make disciples and we dismiss our ability to do so, what are we claiming about God? What false god do we claim who keeps us from obeying His commands?

            Your church family is a constant reminder that you are capable of doing more. You can read, pray, assemble, overcome temptations, evangelize, and make disciples. Furthermore, the Pauline writer of Hebrews declared, “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13; cf. 10:24–25). Christians need one another as we are in a spiritual war — a true holy war. The apostle Paul described that Christians are in a holy war against the evil of coveting and yet able to destroy every argument against the knowledge of God (1 Pet 2:11; 2 Cor 10:3–5; cf. Eph 6:12–13). God has given Christians every means to oppose evil. Paul revealed, “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light” (Rom 13:12).

            God has given His holy nation the armor and weapons to destroy every stronghold and take captives to Christ (2 Cor 10:4–5; Eph 6:10–20). For this reason, the church must train to handle rightly the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15). The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12). Many Christians struggle with God’s Word and fail to carry their own shield of faith because they are not familiar with their armor. They refuse to train and engage the world that is in resistance to God. For this reason, many “believers” degrade themselves and think little about their abilities as a Christian soldier in spiritual conflict. Was God wrong about them or are they wrong about themselves?

            How can a soldier serve when he doubts himself or doesn’t trust his fellow soldiers? The Christian must train with other Christians. The Scriptures are all-sufficient to help the faithful confront struggles (2 Tim 3:16–17). The Bible attests that everyone is made in God’s image, significant, and purposeful so that no paralyzing self-doubt, insult, resentment, or anxiety can stop the faithful Christian. Stand by faith in the identity of God. God is faithful and provides you with more than basic training. God spoke, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” (Isa 57:15).

            God made you to find Him (Acts 17:26–27). God made you in His likeness. God loves you while yet a sinner (Rom 5:8). Paul revealed, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). Christians must listen to God and act as one who is responsible for helping oneself. Paul taught, “For each will have to bear his own load” (Gal 6:5). However, he also taught, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). If you can’t help yourself (and yet you can), then how can you help others? Love God and obey His commands!

You are not a useless nobody. God made you in His image — in His likeness. You were made in God’s likeness, thus you are not worthless. You are far from it. You have intrinsic value so that God loves you even when you are a sinner. God formed you in your mother’s womb. You are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:13–14). What is your opinion compared to God’s standard? Don’t degrade yourself below what God has made you. It doesn’t matter your body shape, your age, and your success level. Your spouse and your family’s value of you are not greater than God’s love for you. God sets your value, not your spouse, your family, your friends, your boss, or your church family.

            Your business success will not save you (Luke 12:16–21). The rich fool said to himself, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry” (Luke 12:19). However, God declared to him, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” (Luke 12:20). God wants you to seek eternal life before you seek retirement and comforts in this life because you are worth eternal life in Jesus Christ.

            After Jesus warned those whom He loved about Hell, Jesus revealed, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6–7). God knows all about you. He knows your every sin, secret, and fault, but that does stop His love for you. God has a goal and mission for you to seek His kingdom (Luke 12:31). God does not want anyone to perish and not be saved and that includes you (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9). God loves you. You are precious in value to Him. Paul wrote, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).

            No matter your “winning” or “losing” at life. God loves you. Paul revealed, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved” (Eph 2:4–5). Your sins can’t stop the love of God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:31–39).

            God wants a holy people (1 Pet 1:14–16). However, everyone sins with the exception of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who came and lived a perfect life. God could have taken Jesus straight into Heaven so that Jesus would never die and exterminated the rest of us. Why not? Jesus earned it and we spurned it. God wanted a holy people, and now Jesus accomplished that as one holy and divine person. God could have allowed Jesus never to die. Instead, God loves you so much that He sacrificed His only Son for sinners to resurrect for eternal life.

            Please, do not degrade yourself and devalue your life. Don’t judge yourself by how you perceive your usefulness or value to others. Stop measuring yourself as Jesus commanded you not to judge by your own standard (Matt 7:1–2). God gave you life and He knows the number of your days (Ps 139:16). God saved you, the believer, by grace and raised you to new life from baptism to become God’s worker now to do good works. Show the world that you work because God saved you by grace. Paul taught, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). Stop valuing yourself by your standards, your perspective, and your expectations of yourself. You’re not God! God has provided you a way to salvation in Jesus Christ. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Jesus did signs and wonders and He marveled at the unbelief of people (Matt 13:58; Mark 6:6). A man with a son who was mute came asking Jesus for compassion and help. Jesus responded, “If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23). “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24).

            The writer of the Hebrews warned Christians about “an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God” (Heb 3:12). Paul warned about the hardening of the heart that comes from “the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13). His answer was for Christians to encourage one another daily so that they all come to share in Christ and hold firm their confidence unto the end (Heb 3:13–14). Evil and unbelief have always linked together.

            Is there any lack of faith behind worry and anxiety? Today, many credit their anxiety to a mental disability. However, Jesus did not speak of humanity being helpless to address anxiety. Christ spoke of each person being able to confront how they think, feel, and behave even when that person thinks that he or she cannot. Jesus commanded His listeners, “Do not be anxious about your life” (Matt 6:25). Jesus preached on the mount and commanded listeners not to worry about food and clothing. He taught that worry does not help fix problems. Jesus taught that God loves and cares for you more any other living thing (6:26–30). The Son of God declared, “O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” (Matt 6:30). What is the answer for those struggling with doubt and anxiety over their livelihood? The Righteous One commanded, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt 6:33). The faithful Christian follows Jesus’s commands.

            How did the apostle Peter encourage the church as they struggled with the anxieties of being persecuted? Peter commanded, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:6–7). Why should Christians struggle with worry when others are not persecuting them? All Christians should cast all of their anxieties upon Christ. Casting anxieties on Christ means the Christian should have the faith to give their concerns to God and rely on the Son of the Almighty God. The worst that one experiences are nothing before God and nothing in the end (Rom 8:31–39).

            Jesus and His apostles did not need to become licensed counselors to instruct Christians about how to confront anxiety and stress. Paul commanded rejoicing, faith that God is near, praying with requests to God, and praying with thanksgiving to God (Phil 4:4–6). These commands come with the promise of the peace of God that surpasses all understanding to guard the hearts and minds of those in Christ (Phil 4:7). This is how the Christian must confront stress and anxiety.

            Everyone who feels such a burden can find the rest that God promises. Jesus invited, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28–30). Thank God that He is the God of all comfort!

“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Crowds of people were stepping on one another to hear Jesus. Jesus responded to the man, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (Luke 12:13–14). Then, Jesus warned the crowd, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15 ESV).

            Is it coveting to want one’s inheritance? Coveting is greatly desiring something especially when it belongs to another. The tenth command is “You shall not covet […] anything that is your neighbor's” (Exod 20:17). The apostle Paul wrote, “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (Rom 7:7b). That's true for every one of us.

            Paul translated the tenth commandment as “You shall not covet” with the same Greek that translators rendered “lust” in Matthew 5:28. Jesus preached in Matthew 5:28, “but I say unto you that everyone who looks at a woman to want her has committed adultery already with her in his heart” (translation). Jesus is not condemning women for their physical beauty but the act of men to look with want. Sexual sins begin with looking to want. Fathers should teach their sons not to look to covet women (Eph 6:4). Women too should avoid looking to want and fantasizing about another husband.

            Coveting is among Jesus’s list of evil things that come from within and defile a person (Mark 7:20–23). What is so wrong with coveting? Among sexual sins and desires, Paul revealed, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col 3:5; cf. Eph 5:5). The Christian must put to death coveting especially wanting a sexual relationship outside of marriage. Coveting is idolatry. Those who covet are worshipping something other than God.

            Jesus taught, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” (Matt 6:24a). When a person wants another sexual relationship, that person will come to despise his or her spouse. Foolish people who are agnostic of God do this. Believers who drift from God do the same. Covetousness chokes out one’s life with God. Jesus taught, “And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).

            If you want more than you need or desire what someone else has, then you are coveting (Deut 5:21). Many do not realize they are coveting when they want and try to become someone else who has attention, wealth, influence, or freedom. If you are looking for significance or acceptance in anything other than God and the faithful people whom He has put in your life, you are coveting. If you want someone who is not your spouse, you are coveting. If you want something over church and Bible study, then you are coveting.

            At the root of many personal problems, we have our wants and unmet needs. However, Christians must be very careful not to confuse wants for needs. The personal needs of purpose and love are met by God. Every person is responsible for finding God for God is not far from anyone to seek and find Him (Acts 17:26–27). However, many want more than God and wanting more than God is coveting.

            Thank God that He meets our every need. God loved us when we were sinners (Rom 5:8). God wants us now to be saved and repent (1 Tim 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9). God has gives us an eternal purpose and mission to glorify Him (Matt 5:14–16; 1 Pet 2:9).

“Paul was only talking about the Old Testament Scriptures being inspired by God.” Many have made this assertion often that the apostle Paul and other New Testament writers were not aware that they were writing new Scripture. They assert this to undermine any certainty in New Testament Christianity.

            The apostle Paul wrote 2 Timothy 3:16–17 recognizing that the Scriptures included the Christian Scriptures as God-breathed and all-sufficient for teaching and equipping for every good work. Paul’s recognition of the Gospel of Luke as “Scripture” confirms the apostolic oversight of the biblical collection (1 Tim 5:18; cf. Luke 10:7). In addition to this, Paul’s associate Luke mentioned previous accounts of Jesus’s life from eyewitnesses including Mark and Matthew in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 1:1–3). The apostle John wrote about the eyewitnesses of Jesus testifying and proclaiming eternal life including himself who are “writing these things so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:4). John recognized that the apostles were writing to spread the gospel as eyewitnesses.

            The writing of authoritative letters by the Holy Spirit occurred early as noted in Acts 15. The apostles with elders in Jerusalem distributed letters concerning doctrine very early in the church about AD 48 (Acts 15:22–25, 30). After this event, Paul began writing epistles to churches.

            Paul declared that his writings were Scripture when he noted that he wrote the command of God for the churches to obey (1 Cor 14:37; cf. 4:17; 7:17). The apostle’s writings were authoritative as Paul wrote wisdom “taught by the Spirit” (1 Cor 2:13; 7:40; 2 Pet 3:15–16). Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to the church at Corinth and for all Christians (1 Cor 1:2). Furthermore, the apostle wrote what God revealed through all the apostles and prophets for churches to read especially in assembly (Eph 3:4–5; Col 4:16). Christians assembled for edification and worship and then read letters from a missionary whom they believed spoke the commands of God (Acts 15). Sadly, many believers struggle to endure the reading of Scriptures today.

            The apostle Peter recognized all the writings of Paul as “Scripture” (2 Pet 3:15–16). Peter noted that Paul’s writings were spread throughout nations including some nations that none of the apostles specifically addressed (1 Pet 1:1; 2 Pet 3:2, 15–16). The early Christians spread the Scriptures throughout the known world in the first century.

            Paul wrote about the gospel that had gone to the entire world when he wrote the church in Rome in AD 57–58 (Rom 1:8; 10:18–20; 16:25–26). Likewise, Paul noted again that the gospel had gone to all the world when he wrote to the church in Colossae in AD 61–63 (Col 1:5–6, 23). The spread of the gospel by the apostles and other Christians explains the spread of the Christian Scriptures as these writings were completed, copied, and distributed.

            Early Christians spread the message of Jesus throughout the world in the first century and the Scriptures spread through the churches. Those Scriptures survive and exist today by God’s providence passed down centuries among various churches to profit all with teaching and equip the church for every good work.

            Christians can and must trust the Scriptures as the all-sufficient guide for teaching and good works as the apostle Paul taught (2 Tim 3:16–17). Thank God that His apostles oversaw the collection and spread of the New Testament Scriptures in the first century.

“The Catholic church put the Bible together in the late fourth century, so the New Testament Scriptures do not reveal the true teachings of Jesus and early Christianity.” This is a common assertion of unbelievers, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, and more. However, scholars recognize that the New Testament writings date to the first century and are the earliest writings of the Christian faith.

            Christians can and must trust the collection of the New Testament Scriptures. Jesus never questioned the Old Testament Scriptures that the prophets collected, priests protected, and scribes passed down. Jesus noted the three parts of the Jewish Scriptures, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44 ESV). He also declared, “My words will not pass away” (Matt 24:35; cf. Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). The scribes that Jesus promised have fulfilled Jesus’s words (Matt 23:34).

            The apostle Paul recognized the New Testament Scriptures being written in his time as he quoted Jesus in the Gospel of Luke as “Scripture” by stating “the laborer is worthy of his wages” (1 Tim 5:18; cf. Luke 10:7). Paul is quite passive in recognizing the Gospel of Luke as “Scripture” as he expected all Christians to have already accepted this. In Luke’s Gospel, he wrote a consecutive order just as eyewitnesses had written previous accounts about Jesus (Luke 1:1–3). Scholars recognize that Luke quoted from Mark’s Gospel and from Matthew’s Gospel or source confirming the preexistence of Mark’s Gospel and probably Matthew’s Gospel.

            The apostle Paul did not intend his writings only for those explicitly addressed but included “with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” when he wrote the church in Corinth (1 Cor 1:2; cf. 2 Cor 1:1). The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone (Eph 2:19–22). For this reason, the apostle Paul revealed, “When you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;” (Eph 3:4–5).

            Peter recognized “all” of Paul’s epistles were “Scripture” written to Christians throughout Asia, Galatia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and Bithynia (2 Pet 3:15; cf. 1 Pet 1:1). Peter anticipated that all these churches had all of Paul’s epistles when Paul did not specifically write to churches in Pontus, Cappadocia, and Bithynia. These scriptures demonstrate that the Scriptures did spread throughout the world. Peter encouraged all these Christians to “remember the words spoken” by the Apostles and so to read Paul’s epistles (2 Pet 3:2).

            Peter noted that John and he had “the prophetic word” more fully confirmed than by hearing God’s voice on the mount of Jesus’s transfiguration (2 Pet 1:16–19). Peter added that Christians must attend to this prophetic word knowing “that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:20–21). Peter would have been referring to Paul’s writings among these Scriptures as he noted later in his letter, and this is true in addition to John and him writing Scripture too (cf. 1 John 1:4).

             Christians can and must trust the Scriptures as the all-sufficient guide for teaching and good works as the apostle Paul taught (2 Tim 3:16–17). Thank God that His apostles noted the Scriptures in the first century.

“The Bible was written by bronze-age goat herders.” Even if goat herders were the writers of the Bible, that does not discredit the Bible. Personally, I am impressed that such “uneducated” writers of the Bible can even read, write, and think theologically. The Bible did come from somewhere. People can see that the Bible existed generations ago. The substance of the Book attests to its identity and source.

            How should people respond to the most influential book in history? The Bible is a collection of 66 books written over 1,600 years by more than 40 named writers? The Bible is the most diverse book in history consisting of various genres and repeated themes. The Bible is united in its theology, which is its teaching about God. The writers didn’t introduce new gods. They built on the Abrahamic faith in one God as the Creator of the universe and the Source of all good (Exod 34:6–7).

            Some assert, “You can’t use the Bible to prove the Bible.” Yes, I can — because the Bible came by various people in different periods writing about the same God. Older parts of the Bible set the foundation and even predict future events confirmed in later scriptures while the newer texts attest to the authenticity of past scriptures. Jesus used previously written Scripture to demonstrate that He is the Son of Man — the Messianic King (John 5:46–47).

            By trusting Jesus, Christians trust the Bible. By seeking to do God’s will, Jesus taught that those who consider His words will know whether His teaching is from God or not (John 7:17). Faith in Jesus according to the Gospels attests to the whole of the Bible because Jesus quoted from past scriptures in the Old Testament and He would send His Spirit to guide His apostles and prophets into all truth and produce the New Testament Scriptures (John 14:26; 16:12–13).

            Believers can trust that God has preserved the Bible as He desired. They can know this by faith in Jesus as the Christ. Jesus revealed, “My words will not pass away” (Mark 13:31). Jesus also taught that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). In further external support, 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament Scriptures and almost another 20,000 in other languages including Latin and Coptic confirm that the Bible has not changed over 1500 years from the 1^st to the 15^th century. Strata of various church writers cite and quote from the New Testament starting immediately after the apostles and prophets wrote the New Testament (cf. Eph 3:3–5). The detailed early Christian commentators in the 2^nd and 3^rd centuries address every book of the New Testament.

            Those who disbelieve the Bible choose to view the world from an agnostic, negative, and distorted view of God and the Bible. They see contradictions because they want to see contradictions. For believers, the Bible is perfectly harmonious and unified. Much of the doubts concerning the Bible come from a person’s perspective when someone refuses to view God by the wisdom of God (cf. 1 Cor 1:21).

            Thank God for the Bible! You believe that Jesus loves you and died for you, then read His words. You believe that Jesus resurrected from the dead to give you eternal life, then study the Scriptures. View the world through God’s revelation to humanity and so see the truth of God’s Word in the Bible.

“God sacrificed Himself to Himself to save us from Himself.” Critics say this in mocking, but it’s quite right. The perfectly just God, Creator of the universe, and Source of all goodness came in the flesh, died, and resurrected to save humanity from the death and eternal condemnation that everyone earned by rebelling against the perfectly just God (Rom 3:19–26). As the apostle Paul observed, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8 ESV).
            Everyone’s perception of the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross is shaped by that person’s view of God’s justice and love in addition to one’s perception of Jesus as the Christ and the exact imprint of God. As in the first century, it is true today that Christ being crucified is a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1 Cor 1:22–23). Paul noted, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1:18).

            The world does not know God through its own wisdom (1 Cor 1:21). God has made foolish the wisdom of the world by sending Jesus Christ. The wisdom of Christ being crucified bypasses all axioms of philosophy that humankind has discovered and realized. That is why the preaching of the gospel is so powerful and often frustrating for its enemies. Jesus bypasses the wisdom of the world and He points directly to God. What is the wisdom of the world as compared to God’s wisdom? It is nothing. No scholar or debater can stand before God (1 Cor 1:20). The Scriptures teach that all wisdom and knowledge are in Jesus Christ (Col 2:3). Christians need to know this so as not to be deluded by persuasive arguments (Col 2:4, 8).

          Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God for those who are called by God (1 Cor 1:24). The gospel of Christ is wisdom from the Holy Spirit and the power of God for salvation (1 Cor 2:4; cf. Rom 1:16). Those rejecting Christ are hard-hearted and their perception of reality is blind. They refuse to consider reality by the wisdom of God. If they would look through the lens of the gospel and see the power of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, then they could perceive the love and justness of God. The world lacks the wisdom of God, but Christians have God's wisdom in Christ to proclaim and enlighten those who would hear.

            Faith rests on hearing the gospel (1 Cor 1:21; cf. Rom 10:14–17). Study Romans 3 and 5 to tell people about the effective purpose of Jesus’s sacrificial death and resurrection. Study to tell others how to unite with Christ in death by repentance, burial by baptism, and resurrection by a new life and hope of eternal life (Rom 6:1–7). No argument can stand against the wisdom of God.
          Do you know the power and wisdom of God? We should teach the wisdom of God to our family and friends so they see why they do not understand Christ's sacrifice and the Creator of the universe (1 Cor 2:14). They don’t know the wisdom of God. People deceive themselves when they deny the wisdom of God (1 Cor 3:18). They are agnostic of God and of Christ. Those rejecting God are suppressing the truth about God by unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). However, this is no excuse because God has plainly revealed Himself to everyone (Rom 1:19–20). Furthermore, God is not far from anyone (Acts 17:26–27; cf. Matt 7:7). Everyone will be judged by the gospel (Rom 2:16; cf. 6:23). For this reason, we persuade others (2 Cor 5:11).

          Thank God for He has given us His wisdom in the powerful message of Christ crucified.

“Jesus is a myth.” Some atheists have made this claim of “mythicism” on the internet. No historian or scholar holds the view that Jesus was a myth. However, many atheistic scholars are skeptical and see Jesus as a legendary figure meaning that Jesus was a real person but His followers exaggerated His life. Such academics seek to apply the critical-historical method to uncover the historical Jesus.

            Christians can have full confidence in the historicity of Jesus’s life. By character judgment, many believe the Bible today because they find Jesus and His apostles as honest, genuine, and compelling teachers of God’s purpose for humankind (John 7:17). Furthermore, the proofs of the Christian faith stand strong on every front especially the historical evidence for Jesus’s resurrection.

            The Christian stands and is saved by the gospel of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor 15:1–2). Historians affirm that the gospel of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 is the most ancient creed of the Christian faith. Paul received the gospel a few years after Jesus’s death, and he confirmed the gospel by Jesus’s apostle Peter, Jesus’s brother James, and eventually among all the apostles (Gal 1:11–2:10).            

            The legal-historical method of attesting to factual events by two or more witnesses affirms that various people experienced Jesus resurrected from the dead. The Gospels exist as eyewitness testimonies that confirm the predictions of ancient scripture describing the Messiah and His resurrection (Ps 16:10; 22; Isa 53:8–10). After Jesus ascended, Peter and later Paul preached these scriptures among the many proofs of Jesus’s resurrection for Jews and proselytes to believe (Acts 2:14–26; 13:26–41; cf. 1:3).

            Critical scholars recognize the historicity of Paul and Jesus’s brothers including James as hostile converts to the Christian faith by experiencing appearances of Jesus having resurrected bodily. These hostile witnesses all became proclaimers of the gospel of Jesus’s resurrection (1 Cor 9:5; 15:5–11). Furthermore, hostile source material is embedded in the Bible that attests to Jesus predicting His resurrection on the third day and that guards sealed and protected the tomb that they found empty (Matt 28:11–15; cf. Mark 8:31; 9:31). Critical scholars see these accounts as mere experiences and revert to agnosticism in the face of these facts. Eerdmans Dictionary of Bible is a critical-historical source that records the skeptical perspective.

            Jesus’s resurrection is the cornerstone and capstone of the Christian faith. The apostle Paul taught, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14 ESV). Jesus’s victory over death was by bodily resurrecting providing a way for His followers to resurrect bodily on the last day (John 6:40; Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 6:14). Jesus became the first fruits of the resurrection to come for the faithful (1 Cor 15:20–23). The application of Jesus’s resurrection makes the gospel even more compelling as Christians look forward to resurrecting in the flesh like Christ and putting on the immortal nature to enter the eternal kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50–53; 2 Cor 5:4; cf. Luke 24:39).

            The church exists and began in the first century because various people experienced appearances of Jesus risen from the dead and they told the world. Now, Christ has passed that gospel through the apostles and generations of Christians to us. What will we do with it? Thank God that we stand and will live eternally by the gospel of Jesus’s resurrection!

“The God of the Bible condoned and commanded genocide, so those who believe and worship God are morally depraved.” Any atheist making accusations against God has no moral foundation to stand to make any judgment of anyone except by their own standard and their comrades. The world saw the mass murder of 60–120 million people by various regimes in the 20^th century spawned from atheistic ideology. Many such antagonists assert that God commanded mass murder via genocide in the Bible. They reinterpret the Bible to reject it, and by doing so, they forfeit honesty and lose credibility from the start.

            Some may initially think that the atheistic position has some valid points. However, the Creator of the universe created everything so God must be the cause and source of all morality and of any real purpose and value for humanity. In the Bible, God commanded, “You shall not murder” (Exod 20:13 ESV). God commanded that people love their neighbors as themselves (Lev 19:18). God defined murder, “Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked” (Exod 23:7). From the beginning, God condemned murder when Cain murdered Abel (Gen 4). After the violence of humanity ended by Flood, God declared, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Gen 9:6). The divine likeness of humanity’s nature gives a greater and higher value to every person than any philosophy of humanity thus making every murder a sin against the likeness of God (Gen 1:26–27).

            Regarding the Flood, the violent wickedness of humanity brought suffering and destruction upon them (Gen 6:5–9). Many take a position like Abraham pleading with God not to kill the righteous with wicked, but God can take the lives of the innocent without being unjust (Gen 18:25). For God to take the life of a child is like a parent moving a child from one place to a better home. God does no injustice for taking the children of wicked parents because the children are safe to have life in the kingdom of God (Matt 18:10; 19:14).

            God did not command Israel to murder the children of wicked nations but they were devoted men, women, and children to destruction by being driven out of the land. God instructed Israel to offer peace to surrounding nations by requiring tribute and service (Deut 9:5; 20:10–15). However, God commanded Israel to drive out and so destroy the nations of Canaan for their wickedness that included child sacrifice (Deut 20:16–18; cf. Gen 15:16). God commanded Israel to “put to death” corrupt nations by driving them out. Adam and Eve’s death was by removal from Eden and consisted of the same words for putting to death man, woman, and child of corrupt nations by driving them out of the land (Gen 2:17; 3:22–24; Josh 6:21; 1 Sam 15:2–3).

            God’s instruction to destroy the Amalekites by killing man, woman, child, and animal was a hyperbole, meaning to drive them from the land and not to slaughter innocent children (1 Sam 15:2–3). This is proven by the Amalekites continuing to live after this command. Did God command Saul to lead Israel and actually murder the children of Amalekites? That does not agree with God’s fundamental nature of love or His basic commands to love others (Exod 34:6–7). On a prior occasion, Israel protected women and children at Baal Peor when Moses commanded the execution of the guilty women and the males hiding among the children (Num 31:10–11). Some have mistakenly thought that the execution of these males included children. However, Philo and Josephus reported from their historical records and traditions that Israel did not kill children at Baal Peor.

            Without God, moral absolutes cannot exist. However, moral absolutes do exist. Therefore, God lives! God’s love is steadfast (Exod 34:6–7). God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). God commands humanity not to murder the innocent.