#Bible Questions and Answers

[fdelopera]

I’m Christian but want to challenge what I’ve been taught after seeing your posts about the Old Testament having cut up the Torah to fit a different narrative. Today I was taught that the Hebrew word Elohim is the noun for God as plural and therefore evidence of the holy Trinity and Jesus & Holy Spirit been there at creation. Is that what the word Elohim actually means? Because I don’t want to be party to the Jewish faith, language and culture being butchered by blindly trusting what I was told

Hi Anon.

NOPE! The reason G-d is sometimes called Elohim in the Tanakh is because during the First Temple period (circa 1000 – 587 BCE), many of the ancestors of the Jewish people in the Northern and Southern Kingdoms practiced polytheism.

(A reminder that the Tanakh is the Hebrew bible, and is NOT the same as the “Old Testament” in Christian bibles. Tanakh is an acronym, and stands for Torah [Instruction], Nevi’im [Prophets], Ketuvim [Writings].)

Elohim is the plural form of Eloah (G-d), and these are some of the names of G-d in Judaism. Elohim literally means “Gods” (plural).

El was the head G-d of the Northern Kingdom’s pantheon, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah incorporated El into their worship as one of the many names of G-d.

The name Elohim is a vestige of that polytheistic past.

Judaism transitioned from monolatry (worshiping one G-d without denying the existence of others) to true monotheism in the years during and directly after the Babylonian exile (597 – 538 BCE). That is largely when the Torah was edited into the form that we have today. In order to fight back against assimilation into polytheistic Babylonian society, the Jews who were held captive in Babylon consolidated all gods into one G-d. Shema Yisrael Adonai eloheinu Adonai ehad. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.”

So Elohim being a plural word for “Gods” has absolutely nothing to do with the idea of the Holy Trinity in Christianity.

Especially because Christians are monotheists. My understanding of the Holy Trinity (please forgive me if this is incorrect) is that Christians believe that the Holy Trinity is three persons in one Godhead. Certainly, the Holy Trinity is not “three Gods” — that would be blasphemy.

(My sincere apologies to the Catholics who just read this last sentence and involuntarily cringed about the Protestants who’ve said this. I’m so sorry! I’m just trying to show that it’s a fallacy to say that the Holy Trinity somehow comes from “Elohim.”)

But there's something else here, too. Something that as a Jew, makes me uneasy about the people who are telling you these things about Elohim and the Holy Trinity.

Suggesting that Christian beliefs like the Holy Trinity can somehow be "found" in the Tanakh is antisemitic.

This is part of “supersession theory.” This antisemitic theory suggests that Christianity is somehow the "true successor" to Second Temple Judaism, which is false.

Modern Rabbinic Judaism is the true successor to Second Temple Judaism. Period.

Christianity began as an apocalyptic Jewish mystery cult in the 1st century CE, in reaction to Roman rule. One of the tactics that the Romans used to subdue the people they ruled over was a “divide and conquer” strategy, which sowed division and factionalization in the population. The Romans knew that it was easier to control a country from the outside if the people inside were at each other’s throats.

Jesus led one of many breakaway Jewish sects at the time. The Jewish people of Qumran (possibly Essenes), whose Tanakh was the “Dead Sea Scrolls,” were another sect.

Please remember that the Tanakh was compiled in the form that we have today over 500 years before Jesus lived. Some of the texts in the Tanakh were passed down orally for maybe a thousand years before that, and texts like the Song of Deborah in the Book of Judges (in the Tanakh, that’s in the Nevi’im) were first written down in Archaic Biblical Hebrew during the First Temple Period.

There is absolutely nothing of Jesus or Christianity in the Tanakh, and there is nothing in the Tanakh that in any way predicts Christianity.

Also, Christians shouldn’t use Judaism in any way to try to “legitimize” Christianity. Christianity was an offshoot of 1st century Judaism, which then incorporated a lot of Roman Pagan influence. It is its own valid religion, in all its forms and denominations.

But trying to use the Hebrew bible to give extra credence to ideas like the Holy Trinity is antisemitic.

It is a tactic used by Christian sects that want to delegitimize Judaism as a religion by claiming that Christianity was somehow “planted” in the Tanakh over 2500 years ago.

This line of thinking has led Christians to mass murder Jews in wave after wave of antisemitic violence over the last nearly 2000 years, because our continued existence as Jews challenges the notion that Christians are the “true” successors of Temple Judaism.

Again, the only successor of Temple Judaism is Rabbinic Judaism, aka Modern Judaism.

This line of thinking has also gotten Christians to force Jews to convert en masse throughout the ages. If Christians can get Jews to all convert to Christianity, then they don’t have to deal with the existential challenge to this core misapprehension about the “true” successor to Temple Judaism.

And even today, many Christians still believe that they should try to force Jews to “bend the knee” to Jesus. When I was a young teenager, a preacher who was a parent at the school I went to got me and two other Jewish students to get in his car after a field trip. After he had trapped us in his car, he spent the next two hours trying to get us to convert to Christianity. It was later explained to me that some Christians believe they get extra “points” for converting Jews. And I’m sure he viewed this act of religious and spiritual violence as something he could brag about to his congregation on Sunday.

Trying to get Jews to convert is antisemitic and misguided, and it ignores all the rich and beautiful history of Jewish practice.

We Jews in diaspora in America and Europe have a forced immersion in Christian culture. It is everywhere around us, so we learn a lot about Christianity through osmosis. Many Jews also study early Christianity because Christianity exists as a separate religion within our Jewish history.

But I don’t see a lot of Christians studying Jewish history. Even though studying Jewish history would give you a wealth of understanding and context for your own religious traditions.

So, all of this is to say, I encourage you to study Jewish history and Jewish religious practice. Without an understanding of the thousands of years of Jewish history, it is easy to completely misinterpret the Christian bible, not to mention the Hebrew bible as well.

#judaism #jumblr #jewblr #jewish history #as a jew i never thought i'd be explaining the bible to christians but here we are! #i hope i've answered your question! #i know that a lot of jews will already know most of the jewish history i've shared but just in case i'm putting this in the jumblr tag #antisemitism tw

[brogodisgoodbiblestudy]

I am reading in the Bible right now Matthew, chapters 8 and 9 where I am coming across many instances of confusion within the disciples. Jesus is going here and there and spreading a lot of information quickly, so quickly that even His own disciples are confused.

Jesus knows what they are thinking and takes time to explain things but other times, Jesus specifically shields information from them. An interesting phenomenon which seems to be all in God’s timing.

It is so interesting to me that while reading the Bible I too get confused and have to take time to go over things again and research, wishing I could just ask Jesus for clarity face to face.

The disciples during this period have Jesus right in front of them but are often too afraid to ask. Crazy.

How often do we do that in our own life now?

We feel that our question is too dumb, or we should already know the answers, but Jesus understands that we are human and these feelings are normal. He teaches us through ways we can understand and shields us from things that are not in God’s timing.

Incredible.

#gisgood #personal #bible study #Matthew #Jesus #love #god #teaching #Christian #gisgoodbiblestudy #reading #information #questions #answers

[flickeringflame216]

@sliverswords i didn't wanna hijack Gracie's post because this might be somewhat of a long answer!

So, when I was in middle and high school I went to an all-girls Christian summer camp a few years in a row--the same camp I now counsel at. My cabin the year I was going into 9th grade was mostly church kids and we all wanted to do more for morning devotions than the little booklet they hand out, so our counselor told us "read through 1 Peter." At the same time, in our group Bible lessons, she was teaching us how to study the Bible in a way that I had never really done before. I remember realizing how much she loved the Bible, and how passionate she was about it, and at that point I didn't really know anyone like that and it shifted my perspective. Man, I wish I had my notes from that first really thorough read-through of 1 Peter! You know how people say the Bible jumps off the page at you? Yeah, that was the first time I had any clue what they meant. I was a pretty lost kid at the time, and dealing with some rough things at home, and the amount of hope in that little epistle was so foreign to me and so lovely. It told me that it was okay to go through hard things, and that it was even possible to rejoice in the midst of them--not because the pain went away, but because my joy doesn't come from a life free of pain. It comes from faith in Christ and from the living hope I have of growing more like Him on earth and being with Him in heaven. 1 Peter told me I had purpose, was part of "a chosen people," and to a kid who felt aimless, unwanted, and alone, being chosen by God seemed almost too good to be true. It told me there were expectations for how God wants us to live--structure and order were comforting too--but that He gives boundless mercy as well. Chapter 3 is one of those husband and wife passages that I still really don't like, if I'm honest with myself and with God. Let's just say I don't enjoy the idea of submission, to Him or to other people. But that passage taught me to wrestle with God, and that it was okay to dislike something and bring it before Him, as long as His will remained above my own. Cliche as it may be, the verse about casting your anxiety on Him because He cares for you hit extra hard, and I began to ask God to help lift my worries. Finally, it ended on hope again--the hope that God wouldnt leave me in pain, that He would restore life to me and make me "strong, firm, and steadfast." He is keeping that promise.

It's been awhile since then, and life got worse before it got better. But 1 Peter was a refuge I returned to over and over, and a reminder that hope persists always. The ability to hope--not a wish, not an emotion, but a choice and an action--is quite literally why I'm alive today. And I don't think I'd have that ability without a camp counselor who taught me how to study and a God who knew right when I needed His words.

Terribly long answer to a terribly short question! But, that's why it's my favorite book of the Bible.

#living hope #<- this is also the reason for that tag and why hope is so important to me in general #anyway I bared my soul more than I intended answering this question but. It was good to do that methinks. #silver thank you for asking <3 #1 peter #the bible

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

just as everyone who claims atheism knows deep down there is a God, everyone who pushes or participates in gender confusion knows deep down there is no such thing as gender of the human person

#- HK #both are fundamental and unavoidable realities #and Hannah I know you’ve had a question about that in my inbox outstanding for months at this point #I thought I’d be able to get to it if the bible study group chose Love Thy Body but they didn’t #I wish I could just answer it out of the blue but the top of my head is not sufficient #I haven’t forgotten though. it’s been haunting my waking moments :) #mobile #x #sexuality

[butchdykekondraki]

i dont CAREEEE that gabriel isnt really important to the tmc lore anymore. hy is TO ME

#[ren] #MOTHERFUCKER REALLY IMPLIED THAT NOT ONLY WAS THE BIBLE REAL BUT ALSO HE TRICKED GOD? AND ALSO JESUS?????? #WHICH. FUCKING IMPLIES ALTERNATE CHRIST? I THINK??????? #WHICH RAISES A LOT OF FUCKING QUESTIONS. NONE OF WHICH WILL EVER BE ANSWERED. #SCREAMS SO LOUD #anyways. im normal about Implications

[eddis-not-eeddis]

Folks, could I have some urgent prayers for my friend, Allison? If you would raise her up before the Lord I would be eternally grateful. She is a Christian, but she doesn't know what she believes. She wants to believe, but she's not sure how. Pray that she meets strong Christian mentors who will help lead her in her faith, pray that she makes strong Christian friendships that will bolster her through her life, pray that her parents will have wisdom when she comes to them with questions, pray that she has discernment when reading the bible, pray that the Lord will open her eyes and speak to her heart. Pray that she will find good resources to educate herself. Pray that I have wisdom in my interactions with her, and can help answer her questions. Pray for her friends, please, please pray. She is very precious to me.

#please also pray that she finds a good job that doesn't compromise her morals and a good boss and coworkers who treat her well #the beauty of Christianity is that it encourages questions #curiosity is encouraged (or at least it always has been in my case and it is promoted in the bible) #so if she seeks for answers for her questions she will find them #but oh pray that she seeks them in the right places and has wisdom and discernment #my friends please keep her in your hearts #i love her so much

[mustangs-flames]

Just a heads up that I've updated the Hail, True Body AU masterpost on my pinned post so it has the title now for Part 6! This part will begin shortly after Part 5 ends. There's no set length of chapters yet or a summary to avoid spoilers for the currently ongoing Part 5.

The title for Part 6 is 'Eye For An Eye'.

Thank you for sticking with the AU so far!

#hail true body au #tmc #tmc au #the mandela catalogue #you're welcome to ask questions about it but just know i won't go too deep with answers to avoid spoilers! #title is a ref to the old testament bible passage not the mother mother hayloft song lmao

[dont-tell-my-mom-im-here]

If you go to a catholic school you won't always get trauma but what you will definetly get is stranhe moments when you realize that the amount of bible knowledge that you have is above average

#i was in my art history class the other day #and the teacher was asking a bunch of questions about bible stories and stuff #and i was answering them #and my friend was like hey how tf do you know all that? #and i was like is that not? something you know? you didnt get taught that in primary school? #twas quite the shocker #catholic school

[pankomako]

my (christian) online homeschool's personal finance class: when you make decisions, ask yourself "what do i think God would have me do here?"

me: (at a chain restaurant) man idk what to eat

God: get the cheeseburger. i hear theyre amazing

#i cant take these guys seriously i shouldnt be having to answer questions about bible verses in my science class

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Esther Goes Before the King

1 It so happened that on the third day Esther put on her royal attire and stood in the inner court of the palace, opposite the king’s quarters. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the palace, opposite the entrance. 2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she met with his approval. The king extended to Esther the gold scepter that was in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the end of the scepter.

3 The king said to her, “What is on your mind, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even as much as half the kingdom will be given to you.”

4 Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for the king.” 5 The king replied, “Find Haman quickly so that we can do as Esther requests.”

So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 6 While at the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your request? It shall be given to you. What is your petition? Ask for as much as half the kingdom, and it shall be done.”

7 Esther responded, “My request and my petition is this: 8 If I have found favor in the king’s sight and if the king is inclined to grant my request and approve my petition, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them. At that time I will do as the king wishes.”

Haman Expresses His Hatred of Mordecai

9 Now Haman went forth that day pleased and very much encouraged. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the king’s gate, and he did not rise or tremble in his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai. 10 But Haman restrained himself and went on to his home.

He then sent for his friends to join him, along with his wife Zeresh. 11 Haman then recounted to them his fabulous wealth, his many sons, and how the king had magnified him and exalted him over the king’s other officials and servants. 12 Haman said, “Furthermore, Queen Esther invited only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared. And also tomorrow I am invited along with the king. 13 Yet all this fails to satisfy me so long as I have to see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

14 Haman’s wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows 75 feet high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.”

It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built. — Esther 5 | New English Translation (NET Bible) New English Translation ® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. Cross References: Esther 2:2; Esther 2:9; Esther 2:19; Esther 3:1-2; Esther 4:11; Esther 4:16; Esther 6:4; Esther 6:13-14; Esther 7:2-3; Esther 7:9; Esther 8:4-5; Esther 9:12; Mark 6:23

#Esther #petition #king #banquet #Haman #the king's question #answer #Haman's plot #Mordecai #Esther 5 #Book of Esther #Old Testament #NET BIble #New English Translation #Biblical Studies Press L.L.C.

[raspberryzingaaa]

Thinking about going to World Most Boring Bible Study Ever. Idk yall. Idk. Idek.

#the number of times i have faked a call yo leave early. the number of times ive played solitaire on my phone. i got to the potty to kill tim #like! just answer questions its not that hard!!!!!! #you dont even need to be right just throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks! #also group leaders stop reading questions from a script from your phone #ALSO PLEASE CAN WE STOP GOING THROUGH THE SAME VERSES WE GO THROUVH ON SUNDAYS #this is why we have a split in our life group/church crowdm just sayin #i just. i just miss doing bible studys with people who were way smarter than me #being a church kid in a college church is just 👁👄👁 #i shpuldnt be dreading going to bible study!!!!!! #so its probably a me problem right?! #and also the group leaders have had to tell me to stfu more than once (politely. which was really annoying. dont pussyfoot around!!) #also our only bible study is also our ~only space for new comers~ so i get in trouble if i get too meaty in my excitements and theology #EHICH SHOJLDNT BE MY FAULT!!!!!!! #and YEAH it IS my fault that its my only spot where im spiritually feeding. but also there is a secret eomens group people mention that.. #i guess im just excluded from? but also i know most of the women dont like me bc I have interminable Doesnt Shut Up Disease l #like i understand fhat yes it is a little my fault rhat me talking about deep theology makes them feel inadequate but also THAT SHOULDNT BE #guh. i also forgot my meds today so im a little bit more mulish and hard hearted #and i KNOW its a teachable moment amd God is usimg this to temper me or something else but im feelimg grumblr #and ill probably delete this later. #and i have to got to work ok bye

[magpiecollectingknowledge]

Is there a religious story or a mythos that you enjoy the most?

woah this is such a good question and i have absolutely no idea which precise one is my favourite but i can give some contenders!

the book of ruth is up there in my favourite biblical books, and the love narrative is awesome

the story of eros and psyche from greek mythology

the hindu story of prince rama and sita (celebrated at diwali)

story of hephaestus coming back for revenge against hera after she tossed him off mount olympus

the story of jael from the bible and her murder of sisera

the story of judith from the bible and her murder of holofernes

the book of esther

the book of tobit and the theory that the lady sarah, who was supposedly being tormented by demons who killed every one of her husbands on their wedding night, was actually a serial killer

i think the stories of jael, sarah in tobit, and judith are my three favourites. the story of jael can be found in judges 4 to 5, and judith can be found in the book of judith (not found in all bibles) and the book of tobit (also not in all bibles).

an extra fun one: jesus cursing a fig tree because it won't give him fruit, despite it being off season for figs. first example of hangry-ness? guess we'll never know, lmao.

thanks for your question dude!! i love questions like this. if anyone wants me to talk about any of the biblical stories in more detail, pleaseeee ask me because i love talking about them so much!

xoxo magpie

#answers to question #anon #anon ask #thanks anon! #thanks for the ask! #theology #religion #religious art #tw religious themes #greek mythology #mythology and folklore #hindu mythology #greek myth #bible #biblical scripture #biblical studies #religious studies #student

[marshmallord]

me whenever i’m even slightly unconfident in my answer

#b man #the maybes and question marks are what really sell that you have no clue what to answer #can you tell this was whipped up in imovie be honest #bible summetikul #bible summet #bible wichapas #kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #kp cast #kinnporsche cast #i fixed the audio turns out i had it at. 500% #which is why it sounded so awful #but it’s better now!

[ruthlesslistener]

Every day I wish for the creepy old man riding around on a bike by the MU shouting bible verses to die and every day I am dissapointed

#people called the police on him multiple times but nothing was done bc its a public campus and 'free speech' #but the last person who did that shot up a mosque and killed several people so it makes me rlly uncomfortable #theres been a rise in christian cultists trying to convince people to join their faith on campus and it makes me feel rlly unsafe tbh #they're on every fucking corner #one was even offering to pass out free donuts to those who could answer bible trivia questions today and it made me mad #i want donut >:[ but i hate christian converters #gtfo of here you genocidal colonizing fucks

[waywardskychaser]

Not to ask obvious questions that may not be worth asking, but, in Good Omens Season 2, when we see Michael’s trial someone (can’t recall who) says something about how one prince (I think prince is what they say) being sent to hell is fine but two shows an institutional issue and Michael (being a prince) won’t be demoted to hell because of this. Is Satan/Lucifer (because from what I googled they seem to be the same in the Bible) the prince they are referring to as the first one to be cast out?

#I don’t know very much about the original text of the Bible and I haven’t yet read the original Good Omens book #so I’m not sure if my question would be answered if I had read either one #it also seems like there may be different systems of belief when it comes to the angels and there titles #so idk if that plays into it at all #I tried google and it failed me #I just wanted to ask cuz it seems like there are a lot of hints that Crowley might have previously been and archangel #or at least a very powerful angel #and I wasn’t sure if this was possibly another hint or if this is just Bible knowledge I don’t have #good omens #good omens season two #good omens spoilers #crowley #good omens crowley #good omens michael #archangel michael

[queenlucythevaliant]

Do you think Behemoth and Leviathan were actually real and happened to be dinosaurs? Behemoth was a huge and formidable land dinosaur while Leviathan was a pleisiosaur. Technically, plesiosaurs weren't dinosaurs, but you get my idea?

So I've been sitting on this ask for a little bit because I honestly didn't know what tone to take in answering it. I don't know your background, and thus don't know whether to be more blunt or delicate. Ultimately, I settled on blunt, simply because I could not figure out how to answer this question delicately. That said, I hope you take this in the gracious spirit in which I have written it.

SO. That's a hard no from me, friend. Let's discuss!

So typically when you hear people say that Behemoth and Leviathan were dinosaurs (or dinosaur adjacent), it's in the context of arguments in favor of young earth creationism. It's a fairly big talking point with the Answers in Genesis crowd. Basically, they make the argument that Biblical texts referencing creatures that superficially resemble dinosaurs are evidence that humans and dinosaurs could have lived at the same time.

This works out if the earth is only 6,000 years old, but not if we take paleontology, geology, or human evolution at all seriously. The writer of Job would have had no way of knowing that dinosaurs and plesiosaurs existed because they had already been extinct for many millions of years. Even if you want to argue that maybe God is describing creatures with which Job was unfamiliar, it still doesn't track. God's address to Job treats these creatures as something for which he has a point of reference. It also just doesn't make sense why God would choose this moment to reveal the existence of dinosaurs. Talk about a tangent!

I don't know where you fall on the spectrum of Christian beliefs regarding origins and the age of the earth, but I've written at length on this blog about the case for theistic (old earth) evolution, so I won't rehash that here. Check out my all truth is God's truth tag or shoot me an ask if you want more on that. Regarding Behemoth and Leviathan, however, I think some of the same exegetical skills involved in reading (or misreading) Genesis are involved in the relevant chapters of Job.

When God addresses Job out of the whirlwind, he uses poetic language. He's talking about a real thing (his sovereignty over the universe), but it's something that transcends human comprehension on an overwhelming scale. Much like we can't ever hope to wrap our heads around deep time, we're simply not capable of grasping the extent of God's sovereignty.

When God describes storehouses of hail reserved for the day of battle, are we supposed to literally think that there is a giant building in heaven where God keeps all his hail? Or is it a picture of God's might as both creator and judge of the universe? If we know our Bibles, we see that hail is frequently used as a tool of judgement against God's enemies: Egypt, the Canaanites, apostate Israel, and ultimately the rebellious earth. So when God describes his storehouses of hail, we see the reality of his total control over the arc of history, his ultimate justice, his orderliness.

Likewise, Behemoth and Leviathan use the established language and symbolism of Scripture to convey truths for which plain language wouldn't suffice. Behemoth's description isn't that of any real animal, living or extinct. God paints a picture of a creature that no man could ever hope to tame and expresses that he, God, can.

Leviathan is the longer and more interesting image; it's a mighty creature of the deep that breathes fire and cannot be controlled. We know that in Biblical parlance, water is frequently associated with chaos (too many places to enumerate, but Psalms, the Prophets, and Revelation are good starting places). Leviathan is a picture of this chaos: mighty, rearing, deadly, uncontrollable, terrifying. Then God says to Job, "Can you draw this creature out with a fishhook? Can you make a covenant with him? Will he serve you? Can you injure him? Do you have any means at all of controlling the chaos monster? I do." It's poetry used to express a truth that we humans cannot hope to grasp otherwise: We cannot control the chaos of the world around us. We can't even try. But God can, and he does it effortlessly.

So no. Not dinosaurs. And I think that arguing that they are, especially trying to pick through the text and figure out which ones they're supposed to be and using that to argue for literalistic interpretations of Genesis, really misses the point and the power of what God is saying here.

I think Job's words back to God at the end of the book actually give us a remarkably important principle when it comes to Biblical interpretation: "I have uttered what I do not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know." The whole Bible is too wonderful for us. God condescended in order to give us his truth, and he had the magnificent grace to give it to us in ways that we can begin to grasp.

I think a lot of really literalistic reads on Scripture (Job, Genesis, Revelation, and elsewhere) are a kind of grasping at control. There's an assumption in it that God gave the ancients an exact accounting of things that humans just aren't equipped to fully comprehend.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try! But it does mean that when we read Scripture concerning the Big Things: the Sovereignty of God, the creation of the universe, the origin of life, eternity, infinity, even spiritual mysteries like the Trinity and the nature of the Incarnation, we have to approach it as something fundamentally beyond our comprehension which God is showing us the edges of. We can see other, different edges of many of those same things through scientific observation (or philosophy, or whatever other disciplines-- not all of the Big Things are scientific in nature.)

It's like Isaac Newton said: "I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

#i really really hope that this doesn't read as unkind #i really appreciate the question! and i don't know where you're coming from generally #but this stuff makes my heart sing #or ache sometimes when i see people reading the Bible in certain ways #i love my YEC brothers and sisters which is why I'm so passionate about theistic evolution #it's about panting after truth-- all truth any truth more truth than I can ever have #and yet recognizing that some truths are too lofty for me #i wish like hell that I could cast my mind back and really understand deep time #the eons the clockwork-precision the tides leading to life #i wish that i could understand the mysteries of knowledge the mysteries of God's sovereignty of suffering of grace of the Godhead #i will have so so many questions for God when I see him face to face #and even then i probably will not be given all the answers #i am trying to learn how to be okay with that #side note: there will be scientific research in the new heavens and the new earth i am all but sure of it #all truth is God's truth #ask me hard questions