Today was the first Bible study of the year and it was great to see so many new faces. This begins another trip through the Bible and every one is very different! Today we asked some very basic questions. For many individuals, "Bible study" is associated with fundamentalism and a belief in things that are ridiculous. Bill Maher, for example, wonders how any reasonable person could take a book seriously that describes a talking snake, a river that parts in two, and a virgin birth.

Others object for other reasons. The Bible claims that "God is love" and that God is all-powerful, but how can this be true when we consider the innocent children that suffer and die every day? Others look at the recent scientific discoveries and believe that this disproves the existance of God. And more recently there are criticisms that Jesus was merely a legendary figure or at least that there have been such significant additions and embelishments to the gospel accounts that they are unreliable.

How should we approach all of these objections? Can we really take the Bible seriously in the 21st century?

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Download 3 years worth of book-by-book bible studies on itunes: 2008, 2009, and 2010