Answers to Tough Questions
A Survey of Problem Passages and Issues from Every Book of the Bible
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Drawing upon twenty years of teaching experience in the seminary classroom, J. Carl Laney provides concise and practical discussions of over three hundred difficult questions and troubling Scripture texts. Using an easy-to-follow question-and-answer style, this resource not only addresses major interpretive questions in the Bible but also deals with the biblical and historical background issues for various passages and books as well.
Dr. Laney writes, "The solutions that I have offered in this book are not intended to serve as the final answers to all the difficulties in the Bible [but] as stepping-stones in your research and study of God's Word. The answers presented here are good answers based on careful research. They are answers that are consistent with a high view of Scripture." Some of the questions dealt with in this work are:
- Were the days of the Creation account twenty-four-hour days as we know them?
- Is it fair of God to punish children for the sins of their parents?
- How should we interpret the imprecatory psalms?
- When was Jesus born?
- Should Christians practice fasting?
- How do we account for the difference between Luke's and Matthew's versions of the Sermon on the Mount?
- What is the relationship between a believer's salvation and good works?
- Who are the 144,000 who are sealed as "bond-servants" of God?
J. Carl Laney is a graduate of the University of Oregon, Western Conservative Baptist Seminary. He is Professor of Biblical Literature at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and the author of numerous books including The Divorce Myth, A Guide to Church Discipline, Everything I Know About Success I Learned from the Bible, and commentaries on several Old Testament books.
"Dr. Carl Laney draws from his deep reservoir of teaching experience to share practical insights into the perplexing questions of God's Word. His answers to tough questions of the Bible are logical, thorough, practical, and biblical. This book belongs on the shelf of every Bible teacher."
-- Dr. Charles H. Dyer
Executive Vice President, Dallas Theological Seminary