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Biblical Studies by ding0t

These are personal bible study notes to help make sure I learn, and share that learning. We have the Bible, an integrated message to us of God's work with humanity. It is foolish to ignore this message.

These notes have a focus on:

  • Understanding faith in God as described in the Old and New testaments of the Bible, in order to be prepared to explain the truth in love.
  • Bible end times, because the Bible says we are in the last days, and it is important to know where we stand with God before terrible days come, and we are not prepared.
  • Investigating common issues in order to understand them.
  • Starting the journey of learning biblical Hebrew.
  • Getting some sermon/teaching ideas together as they come.

The gospel

If you take nothing else from this site, take this. You are made by God, and He loves you — but every one of us has sinned and fallen short of who He made us to be (Romans 3:23 (ESV)), and that sin separates us from Him and earns us death (Romans 6:23 (ESV)). God did not leave it there. He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, to live the sinless life none of us could live, to die on the cross carrying the punishment for our sin, and to rise bodily from the grave three days later, defeating death itself (1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (ESV)). This is not something you earn by being good enough — it is a gift, received by grace through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)). Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13 (ESV)) — that offer is as real for you, today, as it was for anyone. See my full Statement of Faith for how this fits together.

Why I believe

I don't hold this faith blindly, and I don't think you have to either.

Creation testifies. The order, fine-tuning, and sheer existence of the universe point to a Creator, not an accident — "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1 (ESV)), and what can be known of God is plain from what He made (Romans 1:20 (ESV)). See how I understand the creation account itself.

Archaeology testifies. Discoveries in the ground keep confirming, not undermining, the biblical record — see Ancient Texts, Manuscripts, and Inscriptions Validating Scripture for specific examples, the Dead Sea Scrolls among them.

The documents themselves testify. The Bible is, by a wide margin, the best-attested document to survive from the ancient world — more manuscripts, closer to the original writing, than any other ancient text we treat as reliable history. That case is laid out in the same manuscript evidence study.

Prophecy testifies. Scripture named the Messiah's birthplace (Micah 5:2 (ESV)), described his execution in the language of crucifixion before crucifixion existed as a method of execution (Psalm 22:16-18 (ESV)), and said he would suffer and die in the place of others (Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)) — all written centuries before Jesus was born, in documents datable well before his lifetime. Daniel even pins down the era itself, counting out the years to the Messiah's coming and being "cut off" (Daniel 9:25-26 (ESV)); see Prophecy Events and Times for how that count lands on Christ's own ministry. Around 300 such prophecies converge on one person, centuries ahead of the fact — that's not the kind of thing chance, coincidence, or deliberate deception can produce, and it validates Scripture's testimony about Christ from entirely outside his own lifetime. See Bible Prophecy Essentials for the fuller picture.

Christianity does not rest on my good works. I am not saved because I was good enough — no one is. I am saved by the grace of God in Christ, full stop (Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV)) — see Salvation for the fuller statement.

I have seen it myself. Beyond the evidence, I know the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit because I have seen lives — including my own — actually transformed by it. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)). That's not theory to me.

Explore

  • Prophetic Timeline — key events across biblical history in both Gregorian and Zadok calendars.
  • Genealogy Viewer — trace the lineage from Adam through Jesus.
  • Statement of Faith — what I believe, and why, built out one doctrine at a time with Scripture behind each.

Recently updated

See the full Recently Updated list for more.

Studies

Browse the studies in the navigation, covering prophecy, feasts, theology, spiritual disciplines, and more.