The Bible Records Six Suicides and Condemns None of Them to Hell. Here's Why
The "suicide = hell" teaching was not citing Scripture. It has no biblical basis.
And it has caused incalculable harm to grieving families.
If you are in pain right now: The door out of suffering is not to stay in the cycle that’s harming you; it’s a radical change of direction toward help and healing.
The 'Rod' in Proverbs Is a Shepherd's Comfort Tool. Here's Why
The Hebrew word shebet, translated "rod" in Proverbs 13:24, is the same word used in Psalm 23:4 — "your rod and your staff, they comfort me" — because it refers to a shepherd's guiding tool that protects, directs, and rescues, not a weapon for beating
The Only Bible Verse About Pregnancy Loss Assigns a Fine, Not Murder. Here's Why."
Exodus 21:22-25 prescribes a fine if fighting men cause a woman to miscarry, but "life for life" if the woman herself dies — a legal distinction that shows the fetus did not have the same status as a born person under the very law code most often cited as biblical authority.
There Are Five Atonement Theories, Not One. Here's Why That Matters
Christianity has produced at least five major theories of what the cross accomplished — Ransom, Christus Victor, Sacrifice/Access, Moral Influence, and Penal Substitution — spanning 2,000 years, and no ecumenical council has ever declared one of them "the" answer.
The Bible Never Mentions Abortion. Here's Why
Christianity has produced at least five major theories of what the cross accomplished — Ransom, Christus Victor, Sacrifice/Access, Moral Influence, and Penal Substitution — spanning 2,000 years, and no ecumenical council has ever declared one of them "the" answer.
A Trans Woman Wearing Women's Clothes Is Not Cross-Dressing. Here's Why.
A trans woman wearing women's clothes is not pretending to be what she is not. She is being what she is. She is living authentically, not practicing deception. The entire framework of the prohibition — deception — does not apply to someone living their truth.
If "God doesn't make mistakes" means bodies should never be altered, then glasses, insulin, hearing aids, cleft palate repair, pacemakers, and heart surgery are all forbidden. We don't apply this logic to any other medical condition. Gender-affirming care is supported by every major medical organization as evidence-based, life-saving treatment.
And the empirical evidence is clear: trans youth in non-affirming environments have suicide attempt rates exceeding 50%. Those with accepting families experience an 82% reduction.
Even if you disagree theologically — use people's names and pronouns, tell them they're loved, don't kick them out. The stakes are measured in lives.
Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child' Is Not in the Bible. Here's Why.
Spare the rod, spoil the child" comes from a 1662 satirical poem by Samuel Butler called Hudibras, not from anywhere in the Bible — and the Hebrew word for "rod" (shebet) is the same word used in Psalm 23:4 for the shepherd's staff that brings comfort
The Word 'Homosexual' Was Not in Any Bible Until 1946. Here's Why
For 564 years of English Bible translation — from the first Wycliffe Bible in 1382 through 1945 — no translator used the word "homosexual," because the concept of sexual orientation as an innate identity did not exist in the ancient world and the Greek words in question don't mean that
Rome Killed Jesus. God Did Not Require It. Here's Why
Jesus was executed by the Roman Empire on political charges ("King of the Jews"), by Roman soldiers, using a method reserved for slaves and rebels — and he asked God to stop it ("remove this cup from me"), which makes no sense if God required the death.
America Is Not in the Bible. Here's Why.
he Bible was completed approximately 1,681 years before the United States existed — it says nothing about America, democracy, constitutional republics, or capitalism, and every verse cited for American exceptionalism is about ancient Israel, not a modern nation-state.**
The Bible mentions Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. It does not mention America. It could not, because the United States did not exist for another seventeen centuries after the last biblical text was written.
The Bible Was Used to Justify Slavery — and the Church Was Wrong. Here's Why
Pro-slavery preachers cited Leviticus 25:44-46, Ephesians 6:5, Colossians 3:22, and Philemon from American pulpits for two centuries — they had a biblical case that was technically grounded in specific verses, and they were still catastrophically wrong, because snapshot reading always loses to trajectory reading
Romans 1 Is a Rhetorical Trap. Here's How It Actually Works
Paul describes pagan idolatry in Romans 1 to get his audience nodding along in judgment — then catches them in Romans 2:1 with "therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others" — meaning that using Romans 1 to condemn people is literally the thing Paul condemns.
Romans is Paul's most carefully structured letter. It builds an argument across sixteen chapters. Pulling verses from chapter 1 without reading chapter 2 is like leaving a courtroom after the prosecution rests and assuming the trial is over.
Black Skin Is Not a Biblical Curse. Here's Why
No verse in the Bible connects skin color to divine punishment — the "Curse of Ham" theology was fabricated by European slaveholders in the 1400s-1600s to justify the Atlantic slave trade, and the text it claims to cite actually curses the Canaanites, says nothing about race, and says nothing about Africa
The Bible Never Says Suicide Sends You to Hell. Here's Why
The teaching that suicide automatically sends someone to hell comes from Augustine (5th century) and was formalized by Thomas Aquinas (13th century). It was a theological conclusion, not a biblical citation. Even the Catholic Church's current Catechism has walked it back, acknowledging diminished responsibility and stating: "We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives."
Romans 8:38-39: "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God."
Neither death. That means the method of death does not override God's love.
*If you are struggling right now:* you are not condemned. Call or text 988. There are doors out of suffering that are not death.
Chapter and Verse Numbers Were Added 1,000 Years After the Bible Was Written. Here's Why
Chapter divisions were added by Stephen Langton in 1227 CE and verse numbers by Robert Estienne in 1551 CE — they are not inspired, not original, and they often break at exactly the wrong place, which is why reading individual verses in isolation produces bad interpretation.
The Bible Never Mentions Trans People. Here's Why.
Transgender people are not eunuchs. But the Bible's consistent movement toward including gender outsiders — culminating in Jesus's direct acknowledgment and Philip's unconditional baptism — establishes a clear trajectory.
How to Choose a Bible Translation. Here's What No One Tells You
Every English Bible is a set of choices made by a committee of translators — there is no single "correct" version, and the labels "literal" and "readable" hide five different axes of translation philosophy — so the best way to choose a Bible is to understand what each translation prioritizes and pick the right tool for the job
How to Choose a Bible for Your Kid Without Accidentally Teaching Them Theology You Don't Believe
Children's Bibles are not miniature adult Bibles. They are curated selections of stories, retold for young audiences, with interpretive framing baked into every editorial decision. The pictures, the language, the stories chosen and omitted — all of it is theology. And most parents never think to evaluate it that way.
Ephesians 5:22 Does Not Mean What You Think It Means. Here's Why
When someone quotes Ephesians 5:22 to keep a woman under a man's authority, they have stopped reading too soon, ignored the Greek, and reversed the passage's meaning. The passage commands husbands to die for their wives — not wives to endure death from their husbands.
God Does Not Want You to Stay with Your Abusive Husband. Here's Why.
God's power to redeem your abuser does not hinge on your misery. God does not need you as a punching bag. God needs you alive. Galatians 5:1: "For freedom Christ has set us free."