Challenging Questions People Ask

In this series of lessons, we take a look at answering questions that folks just like you ask as they try to better understand the world around them and strive to learn more about the God of their salvation and what God has in store for them.

Here is a look at the questions that we will be studying, many of them submitted by my students:

• What do you "see" when you pray?
• Why do some Bibles have words in red ink?
• Why is the word "LORD" spelled with all capital letters in the Old Testament?
• Were the Old Testament Jews "saved"?
• Why does it say in Genesis chapter one, verse twenty six, "let us" make man in "our" image? I thought that God made man in His image.
• Did God create the earth and all living things in literally six days, or did each "day" represent periods of time covering thousands of years?
• If someone commits suicide, aren’t they going to hell?
• Can I lose my salvation?
• Do you tithe on the gross amount of your check or the net amount?
• The Old Testament really isn’t relevant today, why bother studying it? -- It all happened over 5,000 years ago, and I’m not even Jewish.
• How many wives can you have in heaven?
• I've always wanted to be stronger in the area of defending the faith. We all deal in college-educated work environments filled with atheists and agnostics, who believe that religion and faith are merely panaceas for unenlightened common people. How can you help?
• Every few nights or so (not every night) I go to bed and think "Seek ye first the kingdom of God". Then realize I failed to do it. Some days I don't even say the phrase. I need to raise my "batting average" on this. Any suggestions?
• In 2 Deuteronomy 17:15-17, it seems to contradict the way King Solomon lived. So how did Solomon ever make it to King? I thought he had many horses and wives and lots of wealth. I'm not aware that he ever went or sent anyone back to Egypt (but haven’t checked). Did his God given wisdom override these verses? What did I miss?
• I struggle because I’m not a reader. In spite of this, I force myself to read the Word but I don't get much out of it. Lately I have been reading the book of Isaiah and I don’t retain what I read, I reread it and I still don’t retain it and I don’t get out of it the rich meaning that I know is there. I take notes and I reread those to remind me but it seems like a bunch of pieces of a puzzle that just don’t come together. I have a study Bible and other resources but I think the real issue is that it takes me so long to read. What is the best way to read the Bible over long periods of time and still be able to connect all the pieces?