The Bible as the Word of God
The Bible is true in what it teaches about God and salvation. The mainline churches receive it as the inspired Word of God, through which God still speaks.
The Bible
Who wrote the Bible, how Christians have read it for two thousand years, and how the mainline churches read its hardest passages with the help of history and the rule of love.
Should we read the Bible as literal fact?
The Bible is a holy text, not a literal history book. Paul read Sarah and Hagar as an allegory, and Christians have long read Scripture for its spiritual sense.
The authors of the Bible
Many human authors wrote the Bible over centuries: prophets, priests, scribes, poets, apostles, editors. Christians confess that God inspired them.
Evolution and Christian faith
Christians can believe in evolution. Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal statements call it compatible with faith in God as Creator.
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were probably not the only first humans. Mainline churches do not require belief in a historical Adam; many read them as figures for everyone.
Noah’s ark and the flood
Noah’s flood is a holy story of God’s grief, mercy, and promise. Geologists find no sign of a worldwide flood, and Christians read it in different ways.
Sodom and Gomorrah
The Bible remembers Sodom for cruelty: Genesis shows a city trying to rape strangers, and Ezekiel says it had plenty but did not aid the poor and needy.
Choosing a Bible translation
For study, the NRSV Updated Edition (NRSVUE) is accurate and ecumenical. For easy reading, try the CEB or NLT. The KJV remains the classic for beauty.
Violence in the Old Testament
The Old Testament tells of an ancient people in a violent age, in the language of ancient war. Christians read its hardest texts in light of Christ.
Slavery and the Bible
The Bible regulates slavery and never abolishes it, but its story of God freeing slaves led Christians to condemn it. The churches now call slavery a sin.
Contradictions in the Bible
The Bible contains conflicting details, such as who killed Goliath and how Judas died. The church kept both texts and hears God speak through them.
The Book of Revelation
Revelation is a vision sent by a prophet named John to churches under Rome: God and the slain Lamb reign over history, and God will make all things new.
The four Gospels and their authors
The four Gospels are anonymous. By the second century the church named them Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Most scholars date them from about 70 to 100 CE.
How to start reading the Bible
The best place to start reading the Bible is a Gospel, such as Mark or Luke. Then read Acts, pray the Psalms alongside, and leave Leviticus for later.
The mainline churches on the Bible
Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians receive the Bible as the inspired Word of God and the primary authority for Christian faith.
The mainline churches on evolution
Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches teach in official statements that evolution is compatible with faith in God as Creator.
Women of the Bible
Miriam, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah, Huldah, Esther, Mary, Mary Magdalene, Phoebe, Junia, and Priscilla: women of the Bible who prophesied, led, and taught.
The Apocrypha and the Catholic Bible
Catholic Bibles keep seven Old Testament books from the Greek Septuagint that Protestants set aside as the Apocrypha, giving 73 books instead of 66.
