All of us can imagine the great horror of being immersed in a lake of hot flame forever. With that pain in mind, I think the Bible leads us to conclude that hell is even worse than that.

Why is sexual sin singled out as uniquely damaging to the body in a way that other physical actions are not? Substance abuse, gluttony, cutting—these are all harmful acts to the body, but they do not do what sexual misconduct does, according to Paul.

The transfiguration was more than just a moment to dazzle the disciples. In it, Jesus gave them (and us) four essential truths to hold onto.

Prayer is unnatural and often dubious, so it is difficult. We wonder if we have the right motives, if we will be heard by God, and if we have sufficient trust in our requests. We may feel cluttered with distractions of our concerns and doubts. We can feel paralyzed by the many prescriptions about prayer, such as:

pray with thanks and worship before making requests

persevere (“keep asking and knocking”) even if you don’t get a response at first

repetitive prayers can be vain and so God will ignore those (this warning comes to mind when I see pedestrians pushing the button for the walk signal repeatedly)

prayer should be unceasing

prayer can be conversational

pray biblical prayers, such as the so-called Prayer of Jabez

prayer gets God to change his mind

prayer does not change God; prayer changes me

I offer a recommendation for the difficulties of prayer despite the many confusing prescriptions about how to pray and the clutter in our consciousness as we attempt to pray. When we turn to prayer, we are often distracted, and we have trouble forming prayers that are genuine and relational instead of being religious and done as a work—perhaps even as a formula resembling magic (for example, “If I pray the right way, then I’ll get what I want from God”).

Critics have sometimes claimed that marriage is not that important to God. But interestingly, the Bible both begins and ends with a marriage.

Two-thirds of everyone who has written about what makes churches grow agree on just six factors. What are those factors? Here are the consensus factors that are found in growing churches in North America.

Does the original Greek of Scripture use profanity or are the words just rude? Or are they innocent after all?

Here are five reasons that surfaced during our discussion for why Christians should stop “playing the Santa Claus game” with your children.

Isn’t it irrational, oppressive, or even dangerous to base our lives on an ancient book—any book—rather than to “think for ourselves”? In fact, basing our lives on the Bible is exactly what thinking for ourselves leads us to do—if we’re thinking well.

This post is for people who are praying seriously about the possibility of serving overseas in long-term cross-cultural missions. It may help you assess where you presently stand in terms of “readiness” for such a ministry assignment.

Jesus’ response to His disciples lack of faith may offer some guidance for how to respond appropriately with God's grace when facing difficulties and crises that arise with family members, friends, fellow church members, colleagues at work, and neighbors.

If the Holy Spirit is the third part of the Trinity, then should we offer prayers to Him? Or should we only pray to the Father?

There are five women in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. In a time when genealogies didn’t normally contain even a single female name, why are these women included? And what does their presence imply?

Many women, and men, too, avoid studying Proverbs 31:10-31 because they think it presents an unrealistic and unattainable standard for women. But would God really put a job description in His Word if it were unattainable?