Bible questions ahead

I’VE STARTED a weekly Bible Q&A that promises to give a free book to the person asking the Bible Question of the Week.

I thought you might like to see some of the early contenders for this kickoff week.

Actually, I’ll take questions beyond the Bible. I’m taking them, too, on God and the Christian faith.

Here’s a sampling of the questions I’ve gotten so far.

• I’m considering buying a firearm for home protection but as a Christian I have conflicting thoughts on being prepared to protect my family and trusting God will not allow anyone to harm us. How does the Bible direct followers of Christ to act on the topic of self-defense? (David H. Hagan)

• Everyone always says that Jesus was without sin. But wasn’t it a sin when he got angry in the temple and overturned tables? (Kathy LaMaster)

• The Bible is the word of God and inspired, so we are told by the Scriptures and Bible scholars. Please explain what is meant by inspiration. How are we to look at the New Testament and the writings of Paul? What are the viewpoints about infallibility and inerrancy? What evidences are there that the Bible is trustworthy and that what it says is to be believed? (Wayne Sacchi)

• What were the locusts that John the Baptist ate? (Steve Grisetti)

• Is the word and concept of “Rapture” in the Bible? If not, when did the concept begin and how does one believe in the Second Coming of Christ without believing in the “Rapture?” (Gary Lee Parker)

Feel free to add other questions, or to tell me which question you think I should pick as the winner.

I’m looking for questions that would seem most interesting to most readers—especially to non-Christians and newbies.

I’ll pick the winning Question of the Week on Fridays and publish an answer in the blog on Mondays.

I’m still trying to decide whether or not to carry over some of the questions to future weeks, in cases when I get two or more great questions in a given week. I’m leaning toward doing that.

Here’s the list of free books you’ll have to choose from, including signed copies of books by many by other authors.