Question: I read a passage in the Bible where it said that there was a blackness and an earthquake after Jesus died. [Editor’s note: Luke 23:44 for the darkness, Matthew 27:51 for the earthquake] Is there historical evidence of people seeing this? Answer: Many people fail to recognize that we have very little information about […]

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Question: I want to know about the reliability of the Bible because many of my friends who are Muslims tell me that Jesus did not die on the cross nor was he risen.  They tell me that this is not written 600 yrs later but from 2nd century or the end of 1st century itself […]

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Question: I have a question. Muslims always say that Bible corrupted, but there is no evidence for it, in fact there is evidence for reliability of the Gospels. Now in gospel of John we can see how Jesus made claims about His divine nature, but is the Gospel of John reliable, since it latest of […]

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Question: In a recent debate Muslim imam Shabir Ally tells us that John’s gospel is contradictory to synoptics because in John Jesus said to the people who arrested him I am he without forcing his arrest but in synoptics it’s different.  In John, Jesus carries his cross, indicating that he was strong, but in the […]

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Questions: I’m not being able to protect my faith because of Muslims and they are telling that the Bible I hold in my hand is corrupted and the original manuscripts are lost. They showed me the video of a debate of Micheal licona a Christian apologist and Shabir Ally who is a Muslim apologist.  They […]

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Question: I have a question concerning the kings of Syria as mentioned in Isaiah 7:1, it identifies the kings Uzziah, Pekah,and Rezin. Do we have evidence for these three kings?  My special concern is for Rezin, the king of Syria.  Do we have evidence for Rezin as a Syrian King? Alexander: Yes we do.  He […]

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[Editor’s note: the one asking this question did some follow-up research, finding his own really useful additional information on what Nebuchadnezzar did to fulfill the prophecies in Ezekiel and Jeremiah.  His additional information is at the end of my original response.] Question: I want to ask some things relating to some answers you’ve given on […]

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Question: How can I keep my faith strong when people of great faith are walking away from my faith? And if we have historical evidences for Jesus outside the Bible that are more convincing than any other religion, why is it that people who are Christians convert into other religions like Hinduism or Islam? If […]

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Question: As for Acts 8:37 none of the most ancient manuscripts include this material. The King James Version is the one which got it wrong. You are telling here here that the King James Version of the Bible is wrong. So how can we trust the other versions of the Bible because KJV is the […]

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Question: I am a Christian but I have become very doubtful. I ask you to pray for me, and maybe you will be so kind and answer one of my questions.  Is there any other historical documents or archeological evidence that tells us about the Prophets of the Old Testament? For example Daniel became a […]

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Question: How can we trust the Bible? We know that Jesus existed for sure which every historian would agree but what about what he did ? If his miracles were true as gospels record them why don’t we have historical records of them outside the Bible?There were books that say that the 1st prime minister […]

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Question: If the gospels are eyewitness accounts how do we deal with contradictions in them?  Most of them can be reconciled but what about things that cannot be reconciled?  For example, the denial accounts of Peter differ heavily.  Is this not a contradiction? The possible solution would be Peter denied Jesus 6 times and if […]

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Question: John, have you heard/do you have thoughts about the Westar Institute material? They claim that Jesus was an exceptional man, but not the ‘son of God’. They are very learned and seem less ’emotionally motivated’ than a Bart Ehrman type account.  https://www.westarinstitute.org/projects/the-jesus-seminar   https://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/carson/1994_five_gospels_no_Christ_Jesus_Seminar.pdf    They are saying, yes Jesus existed, and he said and […]

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Question: 1. How many Greek manuscripts we have dated before the 3rd century?  I will be so happy if you give total manuscript numbers by century up to the 3rd century  2. How many copies do we have for the New Testament compared to secular ancient texts within the 3 centuries from the writing of […]

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Question: Can you help me with this supposed contradiction?  https://infidels.org/library/modern/j_c_jackson/galilee-or-jerusalem.html  [Editor’s note: As you will see below, this is a claim that there is a contradiction between the resurrection accounts in Luke/Acts and Matthew with regard to where and when the apostles went to Galilee and Jerusalem.] Answer The claim is that the post-resurrection accounts […]

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[Editor’s note: The answers from this Hindu gentleman are interspersed with the questions] Questions and Answers:  Acts 5: 1-11 show that the so-called Saint Peter was a cruel murderer who murdered in cold blood both, Annanias & his wife Sapphira. I am sure Peter would be horrified to be falsely accused of murder.  This is terrible false […]

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Question: How do you explain the background to the textual variant in Mark 1:41 (whether Jesus felt anger or compassion)? It seems that it is very hard to resolve this variant. We can detect and resolve many textual variants easily…but when it comes to Mark 1:41 how do you consider this variant and explain its […]

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Question: Why would the women go back to the tomb to spice the body after it was already in the cave?  The spices usually were used to mask the smell of the corpse during the burial.  Rabbi Tovias Singer says this verse is fake and not true. He adds that Nicodemus was created by John […]

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Question: Dear Sir,   Please help! I have two questions:   1. Some like Bart D. Ehrman don’t believe in the empty tomb. Ehrman posted on the internet google page stating that the tomb of Jesus Christ was lost. Is the tomb of Jesus Christ actually lost and not found by his disciples or by other people? […]

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Question: In some posts concerning Enoch, you have stated that determining the canon of the Old Testament belongs to the Jews. How is this possible if the Jews themselves had no Old Testament canon? The Sadducees, Pharisees, and Greek Jews all had different canons. I predict that you will appeal to the Council of Jamnia, […]

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Question: Is there any evidence other than the Bible that show that the 12 disciples existed? Answer: Yes, there is plenty of evidence that the twelve disciples were real people.  In fact, no one who knows the evidence can seriously entertain the thought that these men were not real people.  We have evidence from both […]

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Question: What is your comment on the Ussher chronology?   He concluded that Adam was created in 4004 BC, and the flood covered the Earth 2348 BC, but this is incompatible with what we know about Egyptian history. The first king of Egypt, Menes died in 3150 BC (before the flood by 800 years!!!!)  Can the […]

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Question: How do I explain to someone who doesn’t believe in the inspiration of the gospels, how it is that John was able to write his gospel in Greek even though he was called “unschooled” Acts 4:13? “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they […]

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Question: Please explain to me the introduction of Luke’s account?    1. Is Luke stating or implying that he checked facts with those first  eye-witnesses to the Gospel and the words of Jesus Christ of Nazareth?  2. Or, was Luke just stating that those eye-witnesses just left accounts he referenced, like the Gospel/documents?   3. Did […]

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Question:  I have three questions:   1. It is said by some who do a lot of research that Jesus Christ of Nazareth did not exist and all stories about Jesus Christ of Nazareth were retellings of older pagan myths by relatively well educated Greek-speaking (and writing) Christians during the 2nd half of the first century.  […]

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Question: My friend asked “Does Daniel live up to the criteria for a true prophet laid out in Deuteronomy 18? Daniel 9:24 says that 70 weeks are decreed to put an end to sin, bring in everlasting righteousness and seal up vision and prophecy. Sin continues to this day, everlasting righteousness has not been brought […]

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Questions: Did Paul really write Ephesians, Colossians and the Pastoral Epistles? In other words, did Paul really write all the 13 epistles of the New Testament normally attributed to him?  One scholar, Bart D.Ehrman says that only the seven books, the undisputed letters of St.Paul are authentic and the rest 20 books of the New […]

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Question: How can I defend my faith to skeptics who say that Moses of the Old Testament did not exist? Answer: To be honest, this is not an easy question.  Here is why.  The evidence for the historical reality of Moses is relatively indirect.  There is no ancient inscription from the second millennium BC which […]

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Question: I have learned that there are many interpolations of several Bible verses in the Bible. Even Irenaeus and other early church fathers interpolated the version of Luke 23:34 which says ” Father forgives them,for they do not know what they are doing.”  Here,I have two questions:  1. If God is a sovereign God, why does He […]

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Question: Skeptics like Robert McNair Price and others says that a historical figure Jesus Christ of the Nazareth of our Christian Bible did not exist. Is there any historical evidences to their claim that  a historical figure Jesus Christ of the Nazareth of our Christian Bible did not exist?   My question is: Did the historical […]

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Question: It is said that the writings of the historians Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Titus Flavius Josephus, born Yosef ben Matityahu were forgeries.   Is there any historical evidence that the writings of the historians Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Titus Flavius Josephus were forgeries? How far it is true? Answer: About these authors, the answer depends […]

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Question/Comment: If Paul can see a bright light on a dark desert highway and believe that he has seen the physically resurrected Jesus then it is entirely plausible that this is what happened to Peter, James, the Twelve, and the “Five Hundred”. They all saw a strange bright light and believed it was an appearance […]

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Question: Is it true, as said by Bart D. Ehrman, that the early church father Papias of Hierapolis ,who lived around 120-140 A.D , is not referring to our Mark or our Matthew of the gospels of the/our Christians Bible?   He (Bart D. Ehrman) said that there are very solid reasons that Papias of Hierapolis […]

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Question: How can we really know for sure that the Gnostic gospels- The gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Philip, the gospel of Mary, the gospel of Judas, etc. were actually not written by the disciples of Jesus Christ? Answer: I suppose we cannot absolutely “prove” in the mathematical sense of proof that Thomas did […]

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Question: Bart D. Ehrman says that the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) of the Christians Bible  don’t have names attached to them. The early church fathers who quote these gospels don’t say anything about them  being Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Here is what Ehrman claims: 1.The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) don’t […]

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Question: What are your thoughts on the 1995 radiocarbon dating performed on charred cereal remains found at Jericho’s (Tell Es-Sultan) Middle Bronze Age City IV which dated these remains to the 17th or early 16th century BC? (Link to report below) Many use this finding as a counter to Bryant Wood’s conclusion that the Middle […]

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Question: Scholar Bart D. Ehrman says that we have very scanty evidence and documentation of Jesus’ life. Bart D. Ehrman says that Jesus is never mentioned in any Greek or Roman, non-Christian sources until 80 years after his death. There is no record of Jesus having lived in these sources. In the entire first Christian […]

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Comment: I was reading some of your explanations as to why Paul was a valid apostle. I must disagree with you for a number of reasons.   You made this claim, “Paul is described as an apostle multiple times, both by himself and by others”  Paul describing himself as an apostle invalidates his claim because he becomes […]

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Question: It is said that Matthew and Luke have skirted around the obvious contradiction of Jesus’ conception; that Mary and Joseph were only betrothed and not married. Clearly, Virgin Mary would not have allowed Joseph to have sex until they were married. Thus, he must have raped her. This is covered up by using his […]

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Question: I am doubtful about Jesus’ purification of the temple in John 2:12-25 / Mark 11:15-18, were there two purifications or only one? Answer: There are three possibilities: 1. Jesus never cleansed the Jewish temple and these stories are all just made up in order to create a false narrative about Jesus. 2. Jesus cleared […]

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Question: Can you please explain the variation in the Bible between Mathew 8:28, Mark 5:1, and Luke 8:26-27 with regard to where the miracle took place and the drowning of the swine after casting out demons from a man by Jesus?  Mathew places the event in Gadara and Mark and Luke in Gerasa. They are […]

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Question: How should I respond to the false allegation that Jesus and Christianity were invented by the Roman imperial family, the Flavians (or by Titus Flavius) as claimed in a book Caesar Messiah by the scholar Joseph Atwill?  He also claims that the religion (Christian religion) was headquartered in Rome. Can you explain this to […]

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Question: I have heard that some early church writers interpolated several scriptures/verses into the New Testament: (For eg: Luke 23:34 was included by Irenaeus and Alexandrinus and others) Also, I heard it claimed that Luke 22:43-44, 22:19-20, 1 John 5:7-8, John 7:53-8:11,  Mark 16:9-20, and 1 Cor 14:34-35 are all interpolated. Apparently, New Testament scholars […]

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Question:  If Jeremiah 33 15 says that Messiah will sprout up in the days of Israel’s restoration doesn’t this contradict the time of Christ’s appearance? Answer: The timing and meaning of a prophecy is determined by the context.  Besides, many of the restoration prophecies in both Jeremiah and Ezekiel are what I call “double prophecies.”  […]

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Question: Question: If Jeremiah 33 15 says that Messiah will sprout up in the days of Israel’s restoration, doesn’t this contradict the time of Christ’s appearance Answer: The timing and meaning of a prophecy is determined by the context.  Besides, many of the restoration prophecies in both Jeremiah and Ezekiel are what I call “double […]

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Question: One area of Old/New Testament which I’m interested in is the genealogy of Jesus. Now what I’m wanting to find out is whether the genealogy of the line of David (as the Jews know the Messiah must come from his line) is still being recorded to this day? Is there any record of it […]

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[editor’s note: Tis is a pretty long, but nevertheless simple question. I hope you do not mind reading such a long question. My answer is below.] Question: In one of the articles at your web site someone was asking about how we can trust that the Bible came out correctly b/c it was written by […]

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