Questions People Ask About the Bible

"Read the Bible. The Bible is Israel's story. It is the church's story. It is God's story. As we read it carefully, we see that it is our story. When we read with ears and hearts open to hear, God speaks and the scriptures convey to us the wonderful words of life."

Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible

What kind of book is the Bible?

The Bible is — as one scholar put it — a disturbing, wonderful, perplexing, and inspiring book. It is none of the simpler things people sometimes want it to be: not an owner's manual, not a science textbook, not a straightforward history, not a book of promises arranged for easy retrieval.

Scripture spans what scholars call pre-history — the foundational stories of Genesis 1–11 — and genuine history, beginning with Genesis 12 and extending through Revelation. The story of Israel opens with Abraham, presumed to be around 2000 BCE, and moves through Moses and the Exodus around 1300 BCE. Historical evidence becomes more substantive beginning with the era of King David. All of it unfolds in the ancient Fertile Crescent, the lands of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates — a landscape of competing empires, contested territory, and a people trying to understand who their God was and who they were called to be.

What is the Old Testament about?

The Old Testament — the law, the prophets, and the writings — is an account of Israel's traditions: how the people of Israel understood themselves before God and the world, and how they perceived their future in light of those relationships.

It is both Israel's story and the story of the God who chose them — who loved them as a parent loves a child, who delivered them from slavery and gave them a land, who watched as they turned away and was seen to hide his face, who saw his people attacked and scattered, and who, in the end, moved to restore them, bring them back from exile, and promise them a new king.

The faith of Jesus was formed by this inheritance. The Hebrew scriptures — especially those traditions that emphasize God's mercy — clearly shaped his sense of mission. The Old Testament's prophecies are best understood as "forth-telling" rather than foretelling: speaking on behalf of God, offering comfort and calling for repentance, in the ongoing pattern of relationship between God and God's people that would find its culmination in Jesus Christ.

What is the New Testament about?

The New Testament begins with Jesus Christ, sent from God to seek and to save those who are lost, and continues with the story of the early Church as it sought to carry on his ministry.

The first three gospels — Matthew, Mark, and Luke, often called the Synoptics — focus on what Jesus did and stood for: the announcement that the kingdom of God is near, the call to repentance, and the healing of the broken. The Gospel of John focuses on the theological significance of Jesus and the life of faith his followers are to lead — believing, abiding, and being filled with love.

Paul's letters address new faith communities with clarification, encouragement, and challenge as they wait for ultimate redemption. Revelation insists that God's kingdom will triumph over every earthly empire, and that those who remain steadfast in Christ will inherit what was promised. The New Testament canon took shape around four criteria: usefulness, consistency with the apostolic witness, connection to the first generation of Jesus' followers, and broad acceptance by the faith community.

Is the Bible inspired by God?

Yes — and that affirmation carries more texture than a simple yes can convey. The development of Scripture is more complex and more intriguing than most readers suppose, with multiple traditions woven together by different authors across different times and contexts.

"Through the words of the Bible, the Holy Spirit has spoken and continues to speak. It is inspired, and it inspires. And it also reflects at times the limitations, biases, and assumptions of its human authors."

To say the Bible is inspired is to say it is the vehicle through which God has chosen to speak — not that every line was dictated from heaven without human involvement. Holding both its divine origin and its human fingerprints together is not a compromise of faith. It is a more honest and ultimately more faithful reading.

Is the Bible the Word of God?

The Bible is best understood as a biography of God, not an autobiography. You will find within its pages what the human authors believed God said, alongside their reflections on God's character and their attempts to put into words what God is like and what God wills for humanity.

"The Bible contains the word of God found within the words of its human authors."

At MOPC, we hold a high view of Scripture — meaning we approach it with deep appreciation for its history, study it carefully, listen for God to speak through it, and seek to be shaped by what we find. We would not describe the Bible as inerrant or infallible in the technical sense, but we trust that whatever God knew we needed for salvation is available to those who engage its pages honestly.

Does the Bible conflict with science?

The Bible is not a science lesson, and it was never meant to be. Genesis 1 lays foundational theological claims through the language of poetry and declaration, not historical report. Genesis 2–3 tells an archetypal story about the human condition and the nature and will of God in light of it. These chapters are not in conflict with what science reveals about the age of the universe or the development of life. They are operating on an entirely different register.

Truth in Genesis does not depend on its historicity. Its power lies in what it teaches about faith, identity, and hope — deeper truths about the nature of the universe and our place within it that no scientific discovery can either confirm or refute.

How do we reckon with the violence in the Bible?

If we take the Bible's humanity seriously, we open ourselves to the difficult possibility that much of the violence in Scripture reflects the values of its authors — people shaped by ancient warfare, honor culture, and tribal survival — rather than the timeless heart of the God they were serving.

We are not left without a compass. Christians read all of Scripture in light of God's definitive Word: Jesus Christ, who taught that the divine way runs through forgiveness and prayer. When biblical texts endorse violence, we do not ignore them — but we measure them against the one who said "love your enemies" and died rather than raise a sword. The Bible, read rightly, can actually free us from the tragic human tendency to invoke God's name in service of violence. That is part of what makes it worth reading so carefully.

Why do innocent people suffer? What does the Bible say?

The Bible does not speak with one voice on suffering — and that honesty is part of its integrity. Some biblical authors believed God controls all things and that suffering was punishment for sin. Others asked, with real anguish, why the innocent sometimes suffer most. The book of Job stands as a sustained challenge to that orthodox view: Job suffers without having done wrong, and God ultimately vindicates him against the friends who insisted otherwise.

New Testament authors take yet another approach: in Jesus, God bore the full weight of human suffering — as if to close the door permanently on the idea that God inflicts suffering as punishment for what we have done.

Our view: God does not dispense suffering, nor is it divinely orchestrated to test or punish us. But God is present with us in it, and that presence is accessible through faith. There are consequences to human choices, and a world that is not yet fully redeemed. God may not cause these things — but God will bring good from all of them, and nothing, not even death, can separate us from God's love.

What does the Bible actually say about same-sex relationships?

This question requires a clear and honest view of Scripture — one that honors both its inspiration and its humanity. The passages most often cited deserve careful reading in their original contexts.

The Sodom narrative in Genesis 18 condemns gang rape, not consensual relationship. The Leviticus prohibitions are embedded in an ancient holiness code that also prohibits eating pork and shellfish; the text is not specific about what it is actually condemning. Paul's language about "unnatural intercourse" in Romans 1 appears within a broader critique of pagan idolatry — most likely a reference to ritual prostitution or pederasty, the practice of older men taking young boys as students and sexual partners.

What the Bible does clearly condemn — and what we would all agree to condemn — is gang rape, coercive sexual exploitation, cultic prostitution, and pederasty. There is no record in the Torah of two people of the same sex seeking to share their lives as companions and lovers. The church is addressing a question the biblical authors never directly considered.

One helpful framework: some texts reflect God's timeless will for all people; some reflect God's will for a particular time and context; and some reflect the culture and historical circumstances of their authors without ever representing God's enduring will. We no longer follow biblical texts that endorse slavery or the subjugation of women. The same Spirit who guided the church to correct those misreadings continues to guide us.

For a fuller account of how MOPC has engaged this question and where we stand as a congregation, visit our LGBTQ+ Inclusion FAQ.

What is the Book of Revelation actually about?

Revelation was written to communities living under the pressure of the Roman Empire, and it was intended to encourage faithful resistance. It is not primarily a timeline of future events but a deeply symbolic vision of cosmic reality: God's kingdom will ultimately triumph over every earthly empire, however powerful it appears in the moment.

Revelation challenges us to examine our hearts and place God first in them. It calls for careful engagement with state power — even our own — while urging us to influence rather than withdraw. Resistance may come at a cost. But in the end, none of the gods we construct will be left standing. The kingdom of God, and those who remained faithful to it, will be redeemed.