…Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed… For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him. (Genesis 18:18,19)

Note: The following essay is the fruit of research I've done on the history of marriage ceremonies, specifically their liturgy. I've asked the question "How can my work as a pastor officiating at marriage ceremonies be used by God to strengthen the commitment within our congregation to God's Truth in the area of the meaning and purpose of sexuality?"

Woman was not made for this, O man, to be prostituted as common. O ye subverters of all decency, who use men, as if they were women, and lead out women to war, as if they were men! This is the work of the devil, to subvert and confound all things, to overleap the boundaries that have been appointed from the beginning, and remove those which God has set to nature. For God assigned to woman the care of the house only, to man the conduct of public affairs. But you reduce the head to the feet, and raise the feet to the head. You suffer women to bear arms, and are not ashamed.

Three things are too wonderful for me;
four I do not understand:
the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a serpent on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas,
and the way of a man with a virgin.

Note: This article was written about fourteen years ago, back when I was a pastor in the mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). Thirteen years ago, the session (elders) of the two churches I served as pastor decided to leave the PC(USA) and enter the PCA, a conservative and biblical denomination. Two of the most significant reasons for the sessions' decision were the PC(USA)'s approval of abortion and it's refusal to say God's no to sexual sin in general, but particularly sodomy.

From Apologetics Study Bible. Used with permission.

When I left seminary, we had no money, so book purchases were mostly from used bookstores and resale shops. But I felt the need to have something "substantial" on at least one of the Gospels, so I took everyone's advice and spent about 40 of our limited dollars on I. Howard Marshall's commentary on Luke. "Stupendous example of evangelical scholarship at its very best" they all said, and I took the bait.

Do I believe the Bible is literally true?

Yes. A thousand times yes.

But to answer this question "yes" is not to say every text of Scripture is intended by the Holy Spirit to be interpreted literally. These are two different uses of the word 'literal' and the second use does not logically follow, and is not necessarily connected to, the first:

1. I believe the Bible is literally true.
2. I believe the Bible should always be interpreted literally.

Some time ago my wife, Mary Lee, and I had the pleasure of announcing that Mary Lee was "with child" for the fifth time. The little one then nestling in his mother's womb whom today we know as Taylor Isaiah Bayly was a wonderful gift from God and, along with our other four children, we are grateful to God for His good gift. When we announced this pregnancy, though, undoubtedly there were some who wondered, "Why another one? Aren't four enough? How many are you going to have?"