Many of us in our praying are like nasty little boys who ring front door bells and run away before anyone answers.

It's not a matter of us standing outside it and ticking off the boxes: yes, the Bible is faithful here; yes, it's telling the truth there, and so on, but rather granted that it's God-given. It's the frame of reference that shows us how to live in, tells us how to think about everything.

Our prayers may be an index of how small and self-centered our world is.

"Study Bible" is the expression used for Bibles that include significant explanatory notes, usually at the bottom of the page, sometimes in the margins. Often a Study Bible will also include some brief articles, photographs of geographical and archaeological sites, fairly extensive maps, and charts that summarize a lot of information.

We are dealing with God's thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly.

In every generation there are voices that question the authority of Scripture. So in one sense this is merely part of the continuing stream. But there's a sense in which the questions that are raised against Scripture vary a wee bit from generation to generation.

Sin defies God, utterly corrupts each individual, corrodes all social relationships, and issues in death.