Reasoning Through Scripture Let me say upfront: this isn't a topic that fits neatly into a single post. Scholars spend entire careers researching and debating these very questions, and I don't claim to have any groundbreaking new insight to offer. I simply want to share a few thoughts worth considering. What is Critical Thinking Let’s define terms because incorrect assumptions complicate arguments. Critical thinking, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is: "The act or practice of thinking critically (as by applying reason and questioning assumptions) in order to solve problems, evaluate information, discern biases, etc." Simply put, thinking critically calls us to take an objective look at something, research, gather context and facts, and come to a reasoned conclusion. I believe that Scripture, when critically evaluated, holds up to such scrutiny. Let’s look at the arguments. First Up: The Authenticity of Scripture Notably, many passionate former atheists, such as Lee Strobel, have set out to scientifically and historically disprove Christianity and have instead become Christians themselves because they could not refute the evidence for the truth and authenticity of Scripture. Christianity, as stated by J. Warner Wallace, “stands unique among worldviews because it rests on public, testable claims.” Other worldviews cannot claim eyewitness testimony or dig up compatible historical records to support their claims. He makes the further point that Christianity doesn’t hinge on mystic revelation given to a single person, but on factual, provable evidence, witnessed by multitudes. If the gospel account is made up, it seems unreasonable to me to believe that an entire movement of people kept silent while the New Testament writers circulated the incredible claims they did. It also seems unreasonable to me that all the claims and testimonies about Jesus would fit together and actually build on one another if they had made it all up. Looking at the whole of Scripture, things get even more interesting. Roughly 40 different authors contributed to its writings, spanning over 2,000 years. Answers in Genesis points out something else that’s incredibly important to our understanding of how the Bible was penned: Shepherds, kings, scholars, fishermen, prophets, a military general, a cupbearer, and a priest all penned portions of Scripture… They composed their works from palaces, prisons, the wilderness, and places of exile while writing history, laws, poetry, prophecy, and proverbs. Scholars throughout the centuries have worked diligently in researching evidence for the authenticity of God’s Word. If you’re familiar at all with the Dead Sea Scrolls, then you’ll understand how their discovery alone is tremendous proof that these ancient manuscripts were not fabricated, as experts were able to match them with writings in what we now know as the Old Testament. (If you’re not familiar with what they are, you can check them out here.) Fun fact: these scrolls were written mostly on parchment or papyrus, which makes them difficult to preserve, as their organic nature leads to rapid decomposition. However, they just so happened to have been located in an area of the world that was arid enough to keep them from decomposing, which is why we were able to find them in the first place… Coincidence? I’ll let you decide on that one. Next Up: The Moral Dilemma If we believe Scripture to be authentic, the next idea to think through would be its contents. We could spend decades debating this, so let’s turn our focus to just one question: How could a good God allow evil? Again, not a simple topic, but here are some things to consider about this age-old question, at least. In the comment that sparked this article, one of the views offered was: I don’t believe anyone applying critical thinking to the Christian biblical narrative can come away believing it represents a just, merciful, and loving God. This made me pause, because I believe it shows us the crux of the issue. When I read Scripture, I can’t help but see how just, merciful, and loving God is. So how can two people read the same thing and come away with two completely different conclusions? Of course, there are many plausible explanations for this difference in opinion, like maybe they haven’t read Scripture. Maybe they were hurt by the church. Maybe they’ve only read some of Scripture, or had someone teach it to them incorrectly. I don’t know the answer, but I do know Scripture repeatedly points back to the goodness of God. It’s filled with testimonies of His mercy, grace, steadfastness and justness. The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation. ~ Numbers 14:18 God allows evil, but He doesn’t leave it unpunished. Many argue that God could just stop evil from happening, but imagine with me for a second: what if a parent never “allowed” their child to do anything bad? Imagine if that parent stepped in and prevented every single instance of their child attempting to throw a toy at their sibling, or lie, or gossip, or think an impure thought. For starters, this wouldn’t be possible for human parents. But if it were, can you imagine what a miserable life that would be? How awful would it be to live such a controlled life? Now think about how miserable our lives would be if God controlled evil the way we often think He should. Critical Thinking and the Bible: Suffering The argument I usually hear is something along these lines: If God is good, how can he allow good people to suffer? It’s because we live in a broken world. The Lord created humans to be in fellowship with Him, but we broke that fellowship of our own volition, and we experience suffering as a result. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. ~ Genesis 1:31 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ~ Genesis 3:17 We weren’t flawed from the start. We were given free will from the start. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, he effectively made them His administrators over the earth. They had dominion over all the animals, and the garden sustained them. The command to keep away from the fruit was for their protection, not to control them or to set a trap for them. The fact that they were told about the tree and instructed to stay away from it confirms that the Lord gave them the freedom to choose it if they wanted to. God could have locked the tree down or placed it somewhere they’d never find it; then He wouldn’t have even needed to tell them about it. But he didn’t want us to choose Him out of obligation or control. When you read the account of the fall in Genesis chapter 3, you see how the serpent (Satan) tricks Eve by twisting God’s words. He places doubt in Eve’s mind about God’s motives behind telling them not to eat the fruit, and she succumbs to his lies. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ~ Genesis 3:6 God had already told them both what would happen if they ate the fruit, but all it took was an inkling from the enemy for them to doubt God. Adam and Eve were living in perfection. They had all the food & freedom they could ask for, but they wanted more. The fruit looked good. It sounded good. It probably tasted good, too. A subtlety in this story usually goes unmentioned. God didn’t just say not to eat the fruit. He told them to stay away from it. …but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ~ Genesis 3:3 Here, Eve was recounting to Satan what God had told them. She mentions that God had said not to touch or eat it, meaning they should avoid the tree altogether. Could it be that God knew who was lurking around the tree, waiting for one of them to venture near enough to entice them? Either way, now there’s a problem. Sin has officially entered the picture. As we saw above in Genesis 3:17, Adam and Eve were now sent to live a life outside the garden, which God had warned them about before they ate the fruit. Whereas before they’d only known a life of perfection and easy work, they would now have to toil all their days. Their children and the coming generations would only know hard labor because they were no longer inside the protection of the garden. Enter: Jesus But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~ Romans 5:8 There are so many other verses that reveal God’s heart towards us, but I especially love this one because it truly sums up what Jesus did on the cross. God allows us to choose to live as we desire. He doesn’t force us to follow His commands or choose Him out of obligation. He allows us to choose sin, which is why there’s evil in the world today. However, even as sinners, He still loves us and wants to provide a way out for us. That’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus willingly chose to take on the sins of the world, on the cross, as punishment for every single one that has ever been committed. He did this because he knew we’d never be able to do enough good things to earn our way into Heaven, so he became our scapegoat. He didn’t have to. He could have said, “LOL, good luck, guys!” and laughed from heaven as we all floundered around down here. But that’s not God’s heart. His heart toward us is that of a loving Father who desperately longs for time with His children. Unfortunately, some children choose different paths than the ones their parents would like them to. Some children choose to leave home and never come back. It’s heartbreaking for parents, but it’s a sad reality. God gives us that choice, too. The Final Question: Is God Just? Skeptics often point to the Old Testament when questioning God’s morals (to which, I’d like to add: God can handle your questions, but watch your heart when asking. Seeking truth is one thing; questioning God is another). Specifically, passages like Deuteronomy 20, where God commands the Israelites to lay siege to enemy cities and, in some cases, completely destroy them. Many claim this is immoral because those cities would have had women and children in them. Without context, I’d agree. However, there are some facts to consider. The Israelites were surrounded by nations that performed vile, satanic rituals. The Canaanites, for example, did heinous things like sacrifice their children to false gods such as Moloch. Even secular scholars agree on this, which you can see here. God didn’t just tell the Israelites to slaughter whoever they wanted because He hated women and children. He sent His small nation of people into battle to protect them from being annihilated by the much larger enemy nations surrounding them. The same things happen today when countries fight against one another, whether for good reason or not. Innocent lives are tragically lost, and that is part of the price we pay for war. It sounds barbaric because it is. But that doesn’t inherently make it unjust. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. ~ Psalm 89:14 God is faithful and just, and everything He has done or will do stems from His love for us. Because of this, we can trust that His motives are always pure. There’s nothing He does out of selfishness or pride, but rather His actions flow from His righteousness. In contrast, however… This great dragon — the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world — was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. ~ Revelation 12:9 Satan is not just. He has twisted God’s words from the beginning and will continue to do so until Jesus comes back. He’s a crafty wordsmith who makes sin look holy, and he will deceive multitudes of humans straight into the pits of hell. There is hope, however, because: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. ~ Romans 10:13 God loves us so deeply that He provided a means for our salvation, and Jesus’ gift of salvation is available to anyone who will call on his name. He offers us this gift, not simply as a “get out of hell free” card, but as an opportunity to choose to spend eternity in the holy and gracious presence of the Almighty. It’s up to us to decide whether we want to be in His presence. Why wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, this evidence won’t be enough to convince some. But my prayer is that someone, somewhere, will consider these words and genuinely seek out the Lord. Don’t get caught up in Satan’s lies, friends. Read Scripture for yourselves and ask God to help you understand. Critically think about lofty statements thrown around so casually, and ask yourselves if it’s based on truth or emotion. © 2026 Stephanie M Press on, friends! 🫶🏼 Thanks for reading! My heart is truly to see others dive deeper into Scripture and reason through things biblically. These are wild times, but together we can chase clarity in a confused world! If that sounds like something you want to do, please consider following Rooted in Reason so you’ll be notified when there’s a new post. From the Editor: Critical thinking and the Bible go hand in hand, since Scripture was never meant to be accepted blindly but examined honestly. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

This one is going to have an unexpected turn towards the end. We know God created animals; they are an integral part of the creation process, put here first before man and woman, and established as a needed part of nature. God undoubtedly had an absolute blast with animals. There are just so many, every possible color known to man, shapes, sizes, squishiblity factor, functions, and quirks so unique that science is still scratching its head. Ever watch swans? Did you know they mate for life and are monogamous? They show that to their mates with beautiful synchronized dances and intertwining their necks to make a heart shape. God May Have “Pets” Now, for this, I’m bordering on a wee touch of speculation here because of how we define a pet versus how God might for Himself in heaven. But all of this does go to my main point; I’m just entertaining you with some fun ideas first. In Ezekiel 1, Ezekiel 10, Revelation 4, Revelation 6, Revelation 19, and possibly Isaiah 6, although I’m not sure on that one yet, that’s only there because of the wings part. There are creatures in heaven. Now, I’m not saying they are like our Dukes or Jaspers here on Earth, but they definitely have animal features and are plainly described looking like lions, eagles, horses, ox and there are, of course, lots of wings involved. Why wouldn’t God have some kind of creatures in heaven? We have guard animals here on Earth that we love; we have all kinds of different roles animals play here on Earth. We have all sorts of creatures here, granted, not quite as described in heaven, but that also makes sense. Heaven is very different from Earth; these creatures currently exist in a dimension, like angels and demons, that we do not inhabit. We don’t have a clue on how to begin to think about the dimension they live in. Also, I do not find the Biblical descriptions from the writers weird, odd, or implausible in any way, never have, and I don’t believe the descriptions are “metaphorical” or “poetic.” Have you seen some of the animals on this planet and what they can do? watchmojo.com (check out the guy at 2 min, 50 sec) Why Is There Heartbreak In This? First, I will firmly state that in no way am I taking away from Abel’s death and the tragedy and grief God felt when that happened. What I am doing is adding context that many have never thought about. The first death was one of His other creations, an animal. Not only did He feel the break from humanity from Himself and felt the full weight they brought on themselves, but He had to sacrifice one of His creations so that Adam and Eve could be clothed. God can grieve, just like we do; that wide variety of emotions we feel came from Him because we are created in HIS image. Imagine your creation (humans) willingly choosing to separate themselves from God. We know what our Heavenly reward is, we strive for it, we wait for it, we pray for it, we trust in it, and Adam and Eve walked away from what we know and want that is waiting for us. That had to crush God’s heart. God hurts and grieves just like we do. He said, “Surely they are my people, children who will be true to me”; and so he became their Savior. In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. Isaiah 63:8–10 Then, imagine that He had to make atonement for what they did, He had to look at His creation, choose one, and end its life so they could be clothed and atoned for. Our Father Feels Everything There is no planned-out theological ending to this article. This is more of a reflective piece. This is more of a think about this moment article. What we feel, our happiness, our sadness, our love, our body-shattering grief — that all came from God because He also feels these things. I think too often we forget that He is our literal Father in Heaven, with a substance-type presence, with possible “pets” in heaven, and with a heart because He is love itself. Adam and Eve broke His heart, and then, to pour salt into the wound, it forced Him to make the first atonement and end the life of a completely innocent animal. He regretted creating humanity by chapter six in Genesis. “The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” Genesis 6:6 “Troubled” here means: To grieve, to hurt, to pain, to vex And I don’t blame Him. As a mother, I understand the complexities that come with a child and that whole range of constant emotions. And God. He does that for EVERYONE. And not just everyone now, but everyone in the past and everyone yet to be born. We often forget that God, in some ways, is just like us, heck Jesus joined us down here in an era of no toilet paper or refrigerators for about 30 years. He gets us, He understands more than we can possibly know or more than we give Him credit for. Each time we sin, or each time a person hardens their heart against Him and blots out their name in the book of life, God grieves, and yes, that is a choice to have your name blotted; your name was written in that book before you were a twinkle in someone's eye. I have no idea if there are physical tears in the current Heaven that God sheds, but Jesus shed tears. He knows what pain is. Let's not cause Him more grief than He already has; let us go out and make disciples, let us crowd our new Heaven as full as we can. We know what our reward is, we know that death is not the end, but only the beginning. I wasn't kidding when I said this was going to go in an unexpected way. But you know what, I think this world needs a lot more of that and this kind of thinking and writing, because the old stuff doesn't seem to be doing the trick anymore. Also, I don't know for sure if there will be pets (ours) or animals in heaven, but I consider these: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” In Ecclesiastes 3:20–22, Solomon also asks the clearest question on this matter in the Bible, “All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” Then we have Romans 8:19–21, Isaiah 11:6–9, and Matthew 10:29. We get new bodies, so why is it not possible that animals won’t? He loves them also. © 2026 Jane Isley. Want more content like this? Explore more articles in Exploring Scripture. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save.

For Anyone Who Is Done With the Labels and Just Wants Jesus In the era of "how do you identify?" and "what denomination are you?" I have found myself repeatedly calling myself a "Biblical Christian." I know at some point that too will get taken out of context and redefined, but for now that's what I'm going with because you can't simply say "I am a Christian" any longer because that means next to nothing in this era. I have been just as confused about Christianity as most people out there have. Not confused about Jesus, but confused by the ruckus surrounding Him. The competing voices, the twisted teachings, the countless denominations, and the teachers who seem more interested in being right than being honest. At some point I realized that this confusion is not from God, because God is not the God of confusion, this is from satan. If you have ever felt lost in all of that, you are not alone. I've been there with you. Wanting clarity on questions, no matter how "insignificant" someone else may deem your question does not mean your faith is weak or that there is a single thing wrong with your curiosity. It means you are paying attention and God loves that. That's why He gave you the Bible. Being biblically grounded is not what I used to think it was many years ago. I personally thought it meant knowing everything about the Bible, having better answers, memorizing every verse or story, being certain about things other people seemed to argue over. But I have come to understand that it means you pit everything you are told to believe, told to do, pressured into and how to live your life against Scripture. Simple as that, Scripture is your physical grounding mat in this world. Scripture tells us in many places why it is here, and it is here for us to use for teaching, rebuking and correcting. You are to build your life on what Scripture says, letting Jesus shape your heart, and staying open to learning even when it is uncomfortable. It is a posture of the heart more than a GPS location to a specific church. No Label Required You do not need any denominational label to follow Jesus or try to bend yourself into any doctrinal creed, simply being a follower of Christ and a Bible reader is all you need. Jesus calls us His friends, that is more than enough in this world. Worldly labels can carry real history and offer meaningful community, I don't deny that, but they can also become the very thing you build your identity on instead of the Word itself. Scripture is the one thing that does not shift with cultural trends or personal preferences. That is where God meets you, talks to you, guides you, corrects you, and challenges you. Nobody Has It All Figured Out (Including Me) I do not have a "perfect theology," nor do I pretend to. What I do care about is exegesis which is reading Scripture for what it actually says rather than what someone wants it to say. Beyond that, I honestly have no idea what "theological" group I fall into, and I stopped caring about that a long, long time ago. No single person on this current Earth has the "perfect" or "correct" theology, including the people who are absolutely sure that they do. I have been corrected by God on so many things I once felt certain about, and I fully expect God to keep doing that. God does not expect you to have it all sorted out at once, what He cares about is that your heart is in line with Him, not any of the countless labels out there that can lock your faith down. (The absolute best thing I ever did for my relationship with Jesus was walk away from every single label I used in the past or that was pushed on me.) God teaches you at the pace your heart and mind can handle. When He corrects something in your understanding, that is not condemnation. I actually get excited and openly share whatever I learned with friends, family and sometimes online with excitement because that is Him being present in my life. And that will only come to you from actively reading the Bible, and actively using the Bible to test all spirits and teachings out there. I want to reiterate heavily that what you believed yesterday, if it turned out to be wrong or incomplete, did not remove your salvation if your heart is on fire and in line with God. That is the whole point of grace. Believing is an active process of learning. If we knew everything "correctly" right from the moment we turn to Christ, then what fun would that be? Honestly, think about that. Your Built-In Nonsense Detector You will encounter Christians who are wise, rooted, and genuinely loving. You will also encounter Christians who misuse or misinterpret Scripture (even "biblical" Christians), chase down sensational ideas, and pressure people into agreement with what they want others to believe. You will hear a lot of teachings mixed with politics, fear, and personal agendas. This is why Scripture is so important. It instructs us to test the spirits. Being biblically grounded means you do not accept something just because someone says so. You always take it back to Scripture, you pray, study and you sit with it. It is completely acceptable, more than acceptable in fact, to say you are not sure yet and I'd rather hear that from someone than a parroted speech. There are plenty of things in Scripture I'm not 100% on, or decided on yet and still sorting out and I've been at this a long, long time and you know what? That's ok, those things aren't taking away my salvation and I look forward to the time when God looks at me, grins, and goes "here's your next rabbit hole," hun. Bad Representatives Don't Make a Bad God The failures of other people and churches do not change who Jesus is. They do not change Scripture, and they do not reflect an issue with God. They reflect an issue with imperfect people. Being biblically grounded means learning to identify and separate Scripture from the humanity that would abuse it. And you really can live in peace with other believers who hold different viewpoints, as long as those viewpoints do not contradict the clear teachings of Scripture. I do it every day, whether online or in my personal life, what I look for is their heart and it is NOT always my place to be the corrector, unless it gets into dicey territory or they pounce on me first. And no, that does not mean I let unbiblical beliefs stand. You can absolutely learn to approach and appropriately address these situations when they happen, but first you have to know Scripture and trust God with your mouth. I would rather walk alongside a respectful believer until God makes it clear that something needs to be said than cause any unneeded strife and conflict for no damn reason. In a world as divided as ours, learning to live peaceably with the people around us would bring more healing than we can possibly imagine. Fair Warning Though When you choose to stand on Scripture instead of popular opinion, you will find yourself standing apart more times than I can give you a number for. It will challenge your relationships and push your comfort zone. You will frustrate people who want a version of Christianity that they deem "correct" or that never requires anything of them. You will struggle, especially in this era with so many things demanding a label to fit in. The best thing I ever did was stop giving a crap. My strength comes from God and standing on His word, and that has put me at odds with so many people over my lifetime, but there is a huge difference between being at odds with someone over a label, a doctrine, a specific theology or a denomination's culture, than over Scripture, because I know I can always go to Scripture. There is a relief in that, that allows you to breathe, to be happy, content and at peace with God because you are doing exactly what He commands. "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." 1 John 4:1 I call myself a Biblical Christian because that is what I do and am; Scripture is my compass in this world. Without it I would falter and get sucked into a label. When I stopped chasing "belonging" to anything but God, my life with Him bloomed. The cost is high and it will only ever get higher as we get closer to His coming. But I have never once regretted choosing Scripture over belonging. The reward is worth it because death is only the beginning of our lives. © 2026 Jane Isley. Want more content like this? Explore more articles in Rethinking Doctrine. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

This is my first and last-ever how-to type of article, written for people interested in Christianity, but turned off by it because of all the misinformation and manipulation out there. Everything here comes from my own experience and what I wish someone had told me from the start. 1) You do not have to define yourself to any doctrine, or denomination. You absolutely can just be a Christian. Those labels are more damaging than you realize. They start to define your journey with God more than you and God do. 2) No one church or person has it completely right. I do not have it right. When I get to heaven there will be things I thought were true and believed that I was completely wrong about. Do not ever sell yourself short and believe that you are 100% right on everything, or that someone else is. Leave yourself room to learn and grow. One of the most amazing things about God is that He sees your heart and where it lies. If you have a belief that is off He will direct you to that when the time is right. But that only happens if you are open to Him teaching you. Some examples from my own life: I genuinely believed in purgatory, evolution, that satan was an equal being to God, that angels have wings, that I couldn’t cut my hair, and that baptism is required, to name a few. God did not bring them to my attention until I was ready to learn I was wrong. My heart was in line with Him, and He had me working on other things first. 3) When God teaches you something, that is not condemnation. This goes with number two. When God corrects something big or small, that is Him actually involved in your life. And whatever you learned yesterday that turned out to be wrong never took away your salvation from yesterday. I think part of the fear of learning we may be wrong about something is this silent belief that we would have gone to hell if we had died the day before we found out. That is not how this works. 4) You will not know everything about God, Scripture, or Christianity right away. There is no way. Think about it this way. When you are born you eventually start kindergarten. You do not jump from kindergarten to graduation overnight. Enjoy your process. Embrace your learning. Relax and lean into whatever stage you are in and realize God loves you in every single stage of it. If He wanted to rush us into learning everything overnight He would have set up salvation that way. 5) No church, pastor, deacon, or congregation member has any right to your journey. Nobody gets to dictate how you should be learning or progressing according to their timeline. If you run into pushy people or people who make you feel like you are doing something wrong or not moving fast enough, walk away. Your relationship with Jesus is worth far more than their opinions. 6) You tithe where God directs you to tithe. Many churches pressure or sometimes outright force their members to give money to the church. That is not how it works and never has been. Take your money and ask God where it is most needed. Once you leave that in His hands He will bless the rest. Also don't brag about it, don't look for a tax break or your name to be listed somewhere, that is not why we do this. 7) You are going to run into assh0les people along the way. And I am not just talking about unbelievers, although prepare for that too. I am talking about fellow "Christians." They are going to act holy on Sunday and horrible by Monday. You are going to witness abuse, hurt, hypocrisy, prophecy seekers, crime, twisted Scripture, and so much more. Learn to separate mankind from God and Scripture. We do it all the time with other groups. Not all doctors are bad, not all cops are bad, not all teachers are bad. That same level of discernment needs to be applied to Christianity too. 8) You can live in harmony with believers who do not share all your viewpoints. I do it all the time. What I look for is whether their heart is in line with Christ. God will direct you when and if a conversation needs to be had. 9) Prosperity Foolishness Do not let other believers fool you or convince you that your life should have done a complete 180 overnight, and that because it did not you are somehow lacking in faith. That is not how this works. If you still have anxiety or a chronic illness, so did Paul. Still have depression and burnout, so did Elijah. Still have digestive issues, so did Timothy. The Bible is full of people who were still very human with very human problems. 10) Do not listen to anyone who tells you that if you really had the Holy Spirit you would just know they are right. That is a line of malarky and you have every right not to blindly believe a person. You should not. We are given Scripture for a reason. It is also completely acceptable to say you are not sure about something yet but are looking forward to diving in and learning what the Bible says. 11) Your relationship with Jesus needs to come from your own work with Him. Not from behind a pulpit. Not from books. Not from a devotional. Not from 30 second reels. Sit down and let His Word talk to you. 12) If something in the Bible confuses you, do not panic. Many of us who have been doing this a long time still get stumped and confused. I take notes, try to find all the relevant passages, and hop online and search what a specific passage means. It really helps when I get stuck sorting something out. I've been doing this a long time and there's still stuff I go back to and read more on till I sort it out, not knowing something for sure does not remove your salvation or make you any less a Christian. 13) Do not let politics into your relationship with Jesus. You let Jesus into your decisions about politics. 14) You have every right to walk away from any church/group heading in the wrong direction. You are not indebted to a building or to the people in it. You are indebted to the man who died for you. 15) Despite popular belief, there is going to be every kind of Christian possible in heaven. Catholics, Lutherans, Pentecostals, Mormons, Reformed, Deconstructed, Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses. No one person here on earth has it completely right. It will always come down to whether your heart was in line with Christ. 16) For the love of bacon bits, read your Bible before you read anything about your Bible. Devotionals, extrabiblical books, podcasts, and 30 second reels do not get to be their own standard. Scripture is what you test everything against. Get rooted in His Word first and let everything else come after. 17) Please be patient with yourself as you grow in Christ. There is no race to be won. You already crossed the finish line by going to Him. © 2026 Jane Isley. Want more content like this? Explore more articles in Rethinking Doctrine. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

Nora Gwen was born and raised as a strong believer who later went astray as a prodigal, struggling in sin and suffering its consequences as a result. Since repenting and being born again, experiencing a spiritual awakening, Nora has returned home to Our Heavenly Father (by inviting Jesus into her heart forever-literally) who has blessed her with a new name “Grateful Gwen” and a clear purpose to be salt and light through reading, writing, praying, counseling, and mentoring. She knocked and the door opened. She continues to seek and find, more is revealed one day at a time! YouTube - @GoodReadsChannel Nora Gwen Want to read more from Nora? Here are a few places to start: Follow Jesus......Don't Follow Me Why Religion Gets a Bad Reputation & What Faith Really Means Church, State & Balance

Relationships, Grief, & the Questions We Carry Will we remember our life on earth in heaven? It is one of the quietest and most personal questions a believer can carry, and this article does not flinch from it. Drawing from the often-overlooked depths of Psalm 88 and the words of Jesus about relationships in eternity, the writer wrestles openly with grief, marriage, and what it truly means to be with God forever. If you have ever lost someone and wondered what heaven will actually feel like, this one is worth reading slowly. Psalm 88:9-12 "God, you’re my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you. Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I’m in. I’ve had my fill of trouble; I’m camped on the edge of hell. I’m written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case. Abandoned as already dead, one more body in a stack of corpses, And not so much as a gravestone— I’m a black hole in oblivion. You’ve dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss. I’m battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger. You turned my friends against me, made me horrible to them. I’m caught in a maze and can’t find my way out, blinded by tears of pain and frustration. I call to you, God; all day I call. I wring my hands, I plead for help. Are the dead a live audience for your miracles? Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you? Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of hell? Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?" I have lost count of how many times the Psalms have expressed my feelings better than my own words ever could. I learned to pray by quoting the Psalms. I learned to be honest with God from what I read in the Psalms. I think I'm quite familiar with the Psalms, but I still find surprising verses. I've often thought about heaven. I'm not really curious about its appearance. I gather that it will look like a better, unsullied version of earth. Heaven is the blueprint of earth. The thing that I wonder about is relationships. What are relationships like in heaven? Here, on earth, we live in an "us - them" reality. We have different relationships with different people. Family and friends are closer to us than strangers. Often, life is turned into allies and enemies. We don't love everyone equally. I have a special relationship with my husband. I can't think that there will ever be a time when I won't love him, or view him as my husband. We share a special bond. Yet, Jesus said in heaven, relationships don't work the same way as on earth (Matthew 22:23-33). There are no marriages in heaven, except for Christ's marriage with His bride, the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32; Revelation 19). How will it change in heaven? When my husband and I are in heaven together, how will we not have the same relationship we had on earth? How will we love everyone equally? The Bible tells us that there will be no pain or sorrow in heaven (Revelation 21:4), yet thinking that some of my loved ones won't be in heaven causes immense anguish. Will we not care about the lost in heaven? What will change so that we don't think of loved ones or marriage partners, parents, or children? Thoughts like these often occupy my mind, and more so since the death of my brother and daughter. Reading Psalm 88 causes me to think that we simply won't remember. "Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No Memory?" What simpler way is there to forget pain if we don't remember the people or things that cause us pain? To me, it sounds like mercy. I know this contradicts so many stories I've heard of people reportedly having gone to heaven during near-death experiences. Was this what they actually encountered, or was it a product of their subconscious mind? I don't know. It does make sense to me that death is a place of no remembrance. Psalm 88 refers to the place of death, not heaven. I know this, but it doesn't stop me from wondering and questioning how things will be different in heaven. Have you thought about the changes in relationships in heaven? Will nothing else matter except being with God? Will we be so focused on His glory and greatness that we won’t think about anyone else? How can we forget the special bonds we had here on earth and will we treat loved ones like strangers? I know that we will know and recognize one another in heaven. Jesus spoke about Lazarus and the rich man recognizing one another. How will it work? It boggles my mind. © 2026 Rina Schultz. Want more content like this? Explore more articles in Exploring Scripture. "Will we remember our life on earth in heaven is a question that may not be fully answered this side of eternity, but asking it honestly is itself an act of faith. If this article gave language to something you have been quietly carrying, share it with someone who is grieving or wondering the same thing. Some questions are better held together than alone." Still thinking about heaven? These two articles go deeper: 👉 Animals & Pets in Heaven? A Surprising Reflection on God's Heart and Creation If we wonder whether we will remember the people we loved, it is worth asking what God feels about all He created — including the creatures He made before us. 👉 The Surprising Truth About Heaven (Hint: It's Not Plato's Idea) Before we can ask what we will remember in heaven, it helps to make sure we understand what heaven actually is — and it may not be what you were taught. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

I accidentally wandered into a 'haunting' aka spiritual warfare documentary, and I almost missed it entirely. It played in the background while I worked until one phrase stopped me cold. What I heard was not just a ghost story. It was a case study in everything Scripture warns us about. I have to say, as a Biblically grounded Christian, I cannot watch these things as “entertainment.” I can’t forget what Scripture teaches about spiritual forces or pretend any of these encounters are harmless. Documentaries like this don’t merely “entertain” people; they reshape entire belief systems, normalize these encounters, and ever so subtly teach people to negotiate with, empathize with, or fully engage with these entities. What stood out immediately to me was the systematic use of fear, manipulation, and deception throughout their story, the very tactics Scripture attributes to satan. When the Home Has No Spiritual Anchor The documentary gave some background on this man. The man grew up attending church with a devout Catholic mother, while his father, a man of science, encouraged him to approach everything rationally. On the surface, that may sound like a balanced and workable upbringing. But spiritually, it left him unequally yoked within his own home, with no grounding in Scripture and zero biblical discernment. He sensed something was wrong, but that was it; it never crossed his mind that he was being spiritually attacked. Despite years of church attendance, he had no understanding of demons and spiritual warfare, and no ability to interpret what was happening to him. When the Priest Has No Answer As the story unfolded, it became painfully clear that he interpreted everything through emotion, fear, and his friends’ misconceptions about the supernatural, not through Scripture. He eventually did reach out to a priest. The priest initially asked whether he had been drinking or using drugs, a reasonable question I would also ask, but once it was clear that was not what was going on, the priest performed a “house blessing,” and things calmed down briefly. The priest admitted that he did not believe in spirits or anything like that, which explained why he never recognized what was actually happening. But here is the huge problem with that. This priest, trained in Scripture, lacked discernment and failed to recognize what was happening. Instead of grounding the situation in biblical truth, going to God, or even opening his Bible, he said, “I don’t have the tools for this.” If you are in church leadership, this should not have been a mystery. Scripture is not vague about these things. A biblically grounded leader should have recognized the nature of the attack and responded with the authority of Christ. Instead, God was left out of the entire situation. Deception Dressed Up as History Another crack in the armor started happening when the people involved began researching rumors about a long-dead individual, trying to connect the entity to a tragic past. This is where the priest failed again. This was never a dead person, which should have been made clear from the beginning. Without biblical grounding, everything became a swirl of folklore, emotion, and fear, and the documentary leaned heavily on that mixture. Scripture is clear. It gives us truth, authority, and discernment. If someone never encounters passages about this stuff in the Bible, it is because: They are selectively reading Scripture, or They are not reading it at all. Survival Is Not Victory He confronts the entity on his own. He states the entity was saying, “Please help me.” But instinctually, he recognized something was wrong because he then says, “I don’t want to talk to it.” He knew, deep down, that this thing was not a good situation or normal by any means. He felt that, and that’s why he went to a priest in the first place. The issue is that the priest failed him, and he failed himself by not remembering God. Btw, Scripture never instructs us to confront demonic forces out of curiosity or personal strength; it instructs us to stand firm, rely on God’s power, resist satan, and pray. Yet he followed some advice to confront it, treating the entity as though it were a confused human spirit. He even referred to it as “he,” giving personhood to something that should never have been engaged in the first place, instead of seeing it for what it really was. The most troubling moment for me came when he offered it forgiveness. His exact words were: “I forgive you. That’s all I can offer.” 1) He does not have that authority. 2) He engaged it exactly how it wanted all along, as though it really was a person and not a demonic entity, that’s all it ever wanted out of this haunting. Reshaping his beliefs for the rest of his life, even he says a part of him is still stuck there in the past because of this. Satan doesn’t need a lot; all he needs is to knock out a few chinks here and there in our armor to lead people astray. When he described the aftermath of the confrontation as feeling “like a spell had been broken,” and the huge relief he felt. That right there shows how easily emotional release can be mistaken for spiritual deliverance. Satan is fully willing and capable of offering calm if it keeps a person in long-term bondage. He walked away believing he had overcome something, when in reality, he never understood what he was facing in the first place. He didn’t overcome anything; he still lives in fear and lies not recognizing it for what it was, that is not a personal triumph or victory. It is spiritual trauma left unresolved, and repackaged with a bow as resilience. Compare that to someone who felt a demonic presence firsthand and, instead of trying to interpret or engage it, simply prayed and pressed on — The Spiritual Battle I Never Saw Coming. Spiritual Warfare Documentaries Shape Belief This documentary is not unusual or even unique at all. There are countless films and shows out there that glamorize demonic encounters as puzzles, mysteries, or emotional dramas. They teach people to empathize with or negotiate with spiritual forces Scripture warns us to resist. Homes without a biblical grounding leave people spiritually unprepared. Church leaders without biblical grounding make this even worse. I’m not saying every sermon must be about demons. But it must be taught, not avoided, and leaders must know what to do when someone brings this to them. Most church leaders today technically believe in demonic forces, but many do not study, teach, or even recognize them because modern seminary training has shifted toward psychology, institutional safety, and cultural respectability rather than the supernatural worldview of Scripture. Pastors fear sounding unscientific or ungrounded, and many feel uncomfortable dealing with anything supernatural at all. Paul Saw This Coming These same leaders love to teach what Paul teaches us in Scripture, while simultaneously ignoring that Paul spoke openly and frequently about deceiving spirits, rulers and authorities, and spiritual forces of evil. For Paul, this was simply part of reality, and it is still very much a part of our reality. Today, it is shushed and replaced with psychology and softness. The result is this massive gap where leaders acknowledge demons doctrinally but avoid the topic in practice, leaving their congregations with no scriptural understanding. Then the media swoops in and fills that vacuum, and satan uses that to his advantage. Not only was the young man spiritually reshaped, but so were the people around him, and so will be the countless viewers who won’t recognize what they’re actually watching. Satan's goal was never possession. It was distortion. And this documentary delivered it perfectly, to one man, to everyone around him, and to every viewer who watched and walked away thinking that was just an interesting story. Scripture gives us clarity, authority, and a name for what that man encountered. The only horror here is that nobody opened a Bible. © 2026 Jane Isley. Want more content like this? Explore more articles in Culture & Faith. Press Ctrl + P (Windows) or Cmd + P (Mac) to print this article or save it as a PDF.

The real surprise is how normal all of this actually is. Author’s Note: If you are a man or a woman reading this and your first reaction is defensiveness, anger, or the urge to explain why you, or the men you know, are different, then I am talking about you. That reaction is part of the problem. It helps maintain the systems that harm women and children. Good men do not need this explained to them. They already know I am not talking about them. The Epstein files didn’t merely reveal crimes; they cracked open a lie so central to the structure of our society that reality itself feels unstable. And yet, on some instinctual level, we might be finally recognizing something we have always known, but spent our lives pretending wasn’t real. When thousands of priests were exposed, we told ourselves it was a few bad churches. When investigators found tens of thousands of men in online groups sharing instructions on how to drug and rape women, we told ourselves it was a dark corner of the internet. When a husband in France was accused of drugging his wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her over years, we treated it like a random, unfathomable horror. When reporting documented hundreds of abuse allegations tied to organizations built around children, we framed it as a handful of bad actors. Every time, we insisted it was an exception instead of admitting what it was: a pattern. Women have been managing men’s behaviour our entire lives. We do it constantly. We share names. We exchange looks across rooms. We text each other after dates. We walk friends to their cars. We plan how to leave before we decide how to arrive. We choose what to wear, what to say, how much to smile, and when to stay silent based on how a man might react. We learn how to say no in ways that will not get us hurt. We teach our daughters early too, whether we want to or not. We spend our lives trying to protect our children from what we already know, from what happened to us, from what we watched happen to other women, while pretending everything is fine because admitting the truth would mean admitting how unsafe this world actually is. Because deep down, we knew. We all knew. We especially knew when it came to children. That is why you do not leave your children alone with other men: not the neighbour, not a teenager, not the coach, not the teacher, and especially not the priest. We have always known. We need to stop pretending this is about rare monsters. It’s not. Every four minutes, somewhere in the world, a child is killed by an act of violence. In the USA, every 10 SECONDS, a report of child abuse is made. At least 650 million girls and women, one in four alive today, were/are subjected to sexual violence as children. At least 550 million children are growing up in homes where their mothers are victims of intimate partner violence. Fathers. Husbands. Coaches. Priests. Teachers. Doctors. Bosses. Billionaires. Brothers. Uncles. Grandfathers. The men who tuck us in at night. The men who walk us down aisles. The men who mean well. Every woman knows at least one man who crossed a line. Most know many. Some know so many that separating the memories feels impossible. The only difference between the men in the Epstein files and the men in your life is money. That is it. Abuse is not confined to the top or to a handful of powerful men. It exists at every level of society because it is maintained and protected at every level. Across every socioeconomic class, men protect one another and the systems that shield them. This happens inside families, in schools, in workplaces, in courts, in hospitals, in churches, in government, and in our homes. The scale may change, but the behaviour never does. They do not protect each other out of loyalty or brotherhood. They do it out of self-interest. Every man understands, consciously or not, that the system protecting other men is the same system that could one day protect him. They are not horrified by the abuse. Some are jealous because they lack the wealth and access to take their desires that far. This is the hardest part for most women to accept. It doesn’t make sense because even on your worst day, your most broken, angry, resentful day, you would not fathom anything like this. You could not do this to another person. You would never trade someone else’s body, mind, safety, or childhood for pleasure, status, or power. That gap in understanding is not confusion. It is basic humanity. What you are feeling right now is grief. Grief for the version of the world you tried to believe in. Grief for the hope that decency was the rule instead of the exception. Grief for the slow realization that there is no version of reality where men collectively decide to change, because this world works for them exactly as it is, and they want their turn. They are not going to protect us. They are not going to protect the children. So the only question left is: What are we going to do about it? © Caitlin Heine

Children are gifts. They are blessings. They are innocent. And in today’s world, raising them is no longer a neutral act, it is a spiritual battleground. Sexual violence, coercion, and abuse are not problems for men alone to fix. They are symptoms of a society, a culture, and a family structure that has lost its moral compass. We cannot point fingers at fathers or institutions and call it enough. Protection begins in the home, and mothers hold a unique, God-given role in shaping character, teaching discernment, and cultivating strength. Teaching Morals and Respect From the moment our children can understand right and wrong, they are listening, watching, absorbing. Words matter, yes, but so do actions. When a mother teaches her children to speak kindly, to honor others, and to treat every person with dignity, she is shaping their moral imagination. Sons learn restraint and respect. Daughters learn healthy boundaries and worth. Both learn to navigate the world through the lens of God’s truth. Modeling Godly Character Children do not simply inherit values; they inherit habits. They inherit the way we respond to stress, conflict, and temptation. When mothers model patience, honesty, respect, and courage, they give children a template for living honorably. These lessons are armor against a world that would seek to diminish respect for human life, purity, and safety. Protection is active, not passive. It means knowing what influences your children encounter: the media they consume, the peers they trust, the places they go. It means speaking early about safety, consent, and discernment, not to instill fear, but to equip them with understanding and confidence. Mothers have eyes on the unseen dangers and hearts attuned to questions children cannot yet voice. Partnering With Fathers Fathers share in this responsibility. Mothers are not alone, nor are they competing for control. A strong partnership models mutual respect, accountability, and love for God’s design of family. The lessons children absorb from the unity of their parents’ example are as formative as what is taught in words. The Call to Intentionality The world will not protect our children for us. The Church will not automatically step in. And laws, while important, cannot substitute for daily guidance grounded in Scripture. Mothers are called to be vigilant, proactive, and prayerful. To teach, to correct, to guide, to love unconditionally. To speak truth boldly and consistently. Proverbs 22:6 guides us “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Titus 2:3–5 calls on women to love their husbands and children and to be kind. Deuteronomy 6:5–8 calls us to teach God's ways faithfully and consistently in the home, weaving His truths into every part of daily life so that children absorb them through example, conversation, and routine. These commands are not optional. They are urgent. The question was never whether mothers should act, but whether we will. Whether we will seize the responsibility God has entrusted to us, knowing that our influence shapes not just behavior, but character, conscience, and ultimately, the safety of our children. This is our calling. This is our duty. It is a role of profound power and eternal consequence. © Jane Isley

In a society that is increasingly willing to blur moral lines for the sake of justifying evil, Isaiah 5:20 doesn't sound crazy anymore. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” A Minnesota State Representative sparked outrage by suggesting that LGBTQ youth should have access to pornographic websites for “educational” purposes. “They’re almost jubilant about being able to use these laws to ban young people from accessing content that could be educational if they are queer,” they said, commenting on a bill that would require age verification for adult websites, a measure intended to protect minors from sexually explicit content. The argument that pornography could serve as an educational tool for children is morally and spiritually wrong on so many levels. This representative also claimed that queer youth are not receiving adequate sex education. First, regardless of how one identifies, the basic realities of human anatomy remain the same in how body parts work and are discussed in sex education. Second, the scientific literature is clear:"One factor that may play a role in risky sexual behaviors is pornography viewing. [...] condom use is rarely depicted in pornographic scenes [...] Viewers who consume pornographic content – especially younger viewers – may learn from and model these behaviors (10), contributing to less condom use among sexually active populations at risk of STIs." Finke's argument is utterly demonic. Pornography is destructive to begin with. It distorts sex by separating it from covenant, intimacy, and responsibility. It distorts consent by portraying performance over mutual respect. It distorts relationships by reducing human beings, made in the image of God, to objects for consumption. Now imagine a generation of children being told to go to porn sites to “learn” about sexuality. What will they learn? That intimacy is transactional. That bodies are commodities. That aggression is normal. That self-gratification replaces self-control. That love is irrelevant as long as desire is satisfied. That is not education. That is conditioning. When children are exposed to pornography, it doesn’t “educate” them; it shapes them. It trains their brains before any moral compass can be formed and bypasses their ability to learn boundaries. It teaches them scripts for behavior long before they understand covenant, responsibility, or spiritual consequences. Scripture consistently emphasizes purity, self-control, and living honorably:"It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;" 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 And Psalm 82:3-4 commands: "Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Exposing children to sexually explicit content is a direct contradiction to this divine instruction. From a moral perspective alone, society has the solemn duty to protect those who cannot yet discern right from wrong. Attempting to frame pornography as “educational” inverts good and evil. Exactly what Isaiah warned against. Proper guidance fosters righteousness; exposure to adult content fosters confusion, desensitization, exploitation, and spiritual harm. How Did We Get Here? Part of the reason people are feeling so empowered to even suggest such demonic things and honestly believe they can get away with it is that accountability has been utterly eroded in society. High-profile cases involving powerful elites have shown that influence and money can bend justice with nothing more than a few words and a few dollars thrown in the right direction, while twisting moral and legal boundaries for their own gain. When those at the top appear untouchable, moral lines begin to erode everywhere else. At the same time, too many churches, spiritual leaders, and Christians have fallen away from Biblical principles, adding to this demonic corruption bleeding over this world. They are compromising with the world instead of standing firm in truth. They should be ashamed of themselves, and I hold them to higher standards than this and accountability for not checking under the fur. (Matthew 7:15) When right and wrong, morals, and common sense are disregarded, it emboldens others to push boundaries in more and more harmful ways. These people believe they can bend morality, definitions, and common sense without consequence because they are allowed to. And if we keep allowing it, the question becomes unavoidable: where does it end? Does it end when children are harmed under the banner of "progress"? When innocence is sacrificed to ideology? This was never really about partisan politics or left versus right. It is about good versus evil, about innocence set against Satan himself. Pornography is not education. It is exploitation dressed up as enlightenment, and our children deserve better than this. © Jane Isley Sources: New York Post National Library of Medicine