I registered the domain https://BibleQuestions.info on July 7, 2018. My intent is to write a blog to answer questions related to the Bible. I expect to research subjects which are only briefly mentioned in Sunday sermons, if at all. Some of the questions I’ve written down might be objections to Christianity which I feel I can address. Here’s a sample of questions from my notes, along with partial answers:
- How many names are used for God in the Bible in Hebrew? Yahweh, Elohim, El Shaddai
- Is there archeological evidence which supports the Bible? “House of David” inscription, Seal of Hezekiah, Politarchs in Thessalonica
- Who were the Early Church Fathers? Ignatius, Papias and Polycarp
- Did Giants Really Exist? Goliath, Og
- How Many Marys are in the New Testament? Mary mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene
- What Animals are Mentioned in the Bible? Ant, bear, camel, dog, eagle
- Does the Bible Mention Dinosaurs? Behemoth, Leviathan
I currently have over 200 questions written down, and there are some which go into theology and philosophy. I probably won’t be posting those until I feel more confident about my research and writing skills. I don’t want to write any articles which are theologically, philosophically, morally or scientifically incorrect.
I have written a few draft posts, but I need to do a lot more research before I start posting regularly. My goal is to post weekly, but that means writing one post a week on average. For now, I’m hoping to do a bit of research and note taking almost every day, but I doubt I’ll be able to write one a week until I’ve gone through a lot more resources. Once I’ve built up my collection of notes, one post a week seems reasonable. This blog may turn out to be twice a week, or twice a month.
My plan is to start posting weekly by January 2019. That gives me six months for note taking, research and figuring out my writing style. I’ll likely post a few test articles (ones which don’t require much research) in the meantime. Please be patient if you don’t see any new posts for a while!
Some (hopefully long-term) readers will wonder why I’m writing a blog about these topics. There are several answers I could give:
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- I find these topics interesting. Since I’m learning about them anyway, I may as well share my research with others. If no one besides me learns from the blog, at least I’ll get something out of it.
- Maybe I’ll address the last remaining objection someone has to Christianity. That will make the effort worthwhile.
- There’s a vast amount of material written by better theologians and philosophers than I am, but I don’t know about it. Hopefully this blog will motivate me to research it so I’ll know what is orthodox Christian teaching, not just what’s convenient to believe.
- I currently have about 20 books on my bookshelf that I haven’t read yet (there may be more in boxes in the shed). I also have books 19 on my Amazon wish list. I needed motivation to read books faster than I buy them.
My wife says I need a hobby, though I suspect she meant outside the house.
My intent for this first post was essentially to make a placeholder for the domain so people wouldn’t see the default WordPress page. As you can see, it turned out to be longer than that. Maybe writing does help me organize my thoughts.
Paul Gibson
