Question: Dear doctor. I have been reading your articles and while I agree with many things you say there are some I disagree with such as Trump and the issue of illegal immigrants. I don’t think it’s fair for you to say that Trump and his supporters are all cold hearted individuals. The Bible talks […]
Dr. John Oakes is now leading a church planting in Merced, California. Please join us 11:00 Sundays at 500 Buena Vista Ave., Merced or on zoom at 342-225-5971 pw 857096. Also, join us for midweek devotional Wed. 7:30 at UC Merced Rm GLCR 120 or the same zoom. Also, visit our website at www.mercedchurch.com. 3/23 […]
Question: In Isaiah 42:11 God is clearly saying that He will send the people of Kedar (i.e., the Arabs) a Prophet and they should “rejoice” and “raise their voices” in happiness. Also, “Let the desert and its towns raise their voices;” is clearly referring to Arabia, since Arabia is known to be made of mostly […]
Question: Concerning the exegesis of Zechariah 12:10, I read that the word translated “pierced” or “killed” theoretically could go either way, but how about the structure of the sentence? Jews seem to see it as not referring back to “ME” in the sentence where as the Christian interpretation is it does. Answer: I am not an […]
Question: If God’s Son had to be sacrificed, then why did the OT prophets not tell their generations in detail and leave it to the NT authors who interpreted passages like Isa. 52:13-53:12 to strengthen their case? If it was pre-planned, then why was God hesitant to reveal his son’s details to his beloved nation? […]
[Editor’s note: The article below concerns an article the inquirer found by Richard Carrier. Carrier is an atheist who tries to present himself as a scholar, but who writes fantastically poorly reasoned nonsense. My suggestion: Do not waste your time reading his blog, but it is up to you.] Request: Could I ask you to […]
Question: It’s is common knowledge that the early church held to what is called baptismal regeneration. We can find this through quotes and epistles from the fathers. What about quotes on infant baptism? I’m sure you’ve read a few that can supported infant baptism. What is your response to these quotes? Also, if we are […]
Question: I have a Catholic vs. Orthodox Church-based question… Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father or the Son and the Father? Where in scripture can we find an answer and what are your thoughts on this? Answer: It is not my job, or even my desire, to clear up a controversy between these […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a lecture titled “The Bible and Evolution” at UC Merced 2/28/2025. He presented the idea that evolution is a viable scientific theory, but that the evidence points very strongly to the conclusion that the process is not a fully natural, random one, but that God has intervened at various times and […]
Question: My question is about the story in John’s gospel about the woman caught in adultery. This has always been one of my favorite, go-to, stories about Jesus to share with people. So, I was pretty disappointed when I learned from a textual critic standpoint that the story is very weak and was likely a […]
Question: My question is about the story in John’s gospel about the woman caught in adultery. This has always been one of my favorite, go-to, stories about Jesus to share with people and to teach on. So, I was pretty disappointed when I learned that from a textual critic standpoint that the story is very […]
Dr. John Oakes is teaching a class on Church History for the West Coast School of Ministry this Spring. All notes, PPT and audio will be posted here: Church History Notes Notes Church History PPT Church History I Audio Church History II Church History III Church History IV Genesis […]
Question: I’ve been reading a good amount on the Old Testament canon. Jesus quoted some of the Deuterocanonical texts. The writer of the book of Hebrews did so as well. This books mention events that happened in the Deuterocanon as well. Not to mention that many early church fathers quote the Deuterocanonical books as well. […]
Question: Please clear up for me the discussion below I found on line in which the writer tries to argue that the resurrection of Christ was invented by the later Christians for religions reasons: Christian apologists and conservative scholars have tried to argue that, while there was a belief in a coming general resurrection, the […]
Question: Could you please make a response to this atheist who claims Galatians 1:9 is an interpolation?https://vridar.org/2011/06/03/a-case-for-interpolation-does-not-rely-on-manuscript-evidence/ Response: First of all, I am pretty sure you are talking about Galatians 1:19, not Galatians 1:9. This question has been “out there” in the internet lately, so I assume you made a little error in your question. […]
Dr. John Oakes is teaching a seven-week class on Christian Theology at UC Merced, Wednesday nights at 7:30 in Rm GLCR 120, beginning on 2/5/2025. For those not in the Merced area (most of you!), I will be posting the notes, power point and audio here: Christian Theology Notes Christian-Theology PPT Christian Theology […]
Question: What is the evidence that the very early church believed in the bodily resurrection of Christ? Answer: I get a lot of questions from visitors to the website in which they ask me to respond to skeptics who deny the resurrection of Christ. These deniers have a right to say what they say and […]
Question: I have recently read claims that Paul’s supposed vision on the road to Damascus are just hallucinations. Critics claim that the word used by Paul to describe the event refers to spiritual sight not a physical appearance. Could you respond to his claims about Paul? This really bothered me, and I am struggling. Can […]
Dr. John Oakes is teaching a ten-part, twenty hour class on Christian Apologetics for a ministry training program in Haiti. The class will be taught in English, but translated into French. Notes, power point and audio will be posted, with the notes in English, but the PPT and audio in both languages. Existence of God […]
Question: I’ve come across this interesting question that Catholics love to argue for… if we all interpret the Bible a specific way and we can even agree or disagree with certain church fathers, who’s interpretation is correct? Holding to “sola scriptura” seems like it comes down to someone’s word vs someone else’s word at the […]
Editor’s note: This is a long but important question with an even longer answer! Question: Kind of a tough question here that has been on my mind for a couple years now… I’ve been reading up about free will, philosophy of mind, and neuroscience and am having trouble reconciling these things with the Christian faith/ […]
Question: How was it that Jewish scholars can ignore the prophecies of Daniel chapter 9:24-26 about when the Messiah would come? This prophecy clearly points to Jesus. Answer: I do not think it is fair to say that Jewish scholars simply ignore Daniel 9:24-28. In fact, a number of Jewish authors have commented on this […]
Question: My question is this, Is there technically the same and/or more evidence for Jesus/resurrection and his existing than there is for guys like Abe Lincoln and George Washington exosting (historical figures that everyone accepts as real men even though we’ve never seen them)? Abe and George are in school textbooks with a few anecdotes […]
Editor’s note: This question is most likely coming from a Muslim source who is trying to undercut the evidence for the reliability of the New Testament manuscripts. He/she is attempting to undermine the evidence, to claim its strength is exaggerated by believers. Question: Not all NT writings are attested by 5000+ manuscripts. Thus, by stating […]
Question: Some Apostolic-Pentecostal Christians claim that being baptized “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38) is the correct form of baptism, and disregard baptism in the name of the Trinity (Matt. 28:18-20). They claim that there is a great importance concerning what you are baptized into. My question is this: are these baptisms the […]
Question: When Jesus was called Son of God, was it meant literally or in metaphorical sense? Muslims argue that Jesus was called Son of God in metaphorical sense because of his close relationship with God or so and I want to refute that idea (That it was metaphorical) from Biblical and Historical view on Jesus […]
Question: Is it plausible that God made earth and the universe “Look” old, when it’s really only a few thousand years old? This could after all glorify him and be a testimony to his craftsmanship. Perhaps the cosmic background radiation carbon dating, and other like data could all have been made to seem old? Same […]
Question: The Jewish expectations of the Messiah as described in Micah 5 were not met by Jesus since, although “being the Messiah”, he lacked the traits of a “ruler.” Christians now absurdly believe that Jesus’ kingdom was spiritual, yet this prophecy actually refers to the earthly kingdom. The same is true of Zechariah 9:9–10, which […]
Question: I was having a conversation with a friend about how Christianity overall makes positive impacts in the world/society. His rebuttal was that Finland and Denmark are consistently ranked the happiest countries in the world and less than a quarter of their population even believes in a god. They also have much lower crime rates […]
Editor’s note: This is a rather long question, with many parts, but the answer is down below! Question: Hindu religious texts (Puranas) contain several cosmological descriptions that intriguingly align with modern scientific understanding. While these alignments may not be exact or systematically scientific, they can be interpreted as reflections of profound philosophical and observational insights. […]
Question: The Gospel authors weave OT passages and themes into their various portraits of Christ, e.g., John’s Gospel fabricated a narrative that depicts Jesus being offered sour wine to fulfill the second half of Psalms 69:21, but that lacks anyone trying to poison Jesus to fulfill the first half of this passage. In reality, there […]
Question: I was reading Ephesians chapter 1 yesterday and there’s all this talk of predestination, such as in verse 4,5,11. Does this affirm the U in the TULIP acronym (unconditional election)? What is your response? Also, what’s your response to verse 13 saying we were marked with the Holy Spirit at belief, versus receiving the […]
Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up from a questioner who wanted to know how important is the statements in the Babylonian Talmud about a certain Jesu who was hanged on the eve of the Passover. This passage is often mentioned as non-Christian support for the reality of Jesus and the fact of his crucifixion. Therefore, […]
Question: The writings of Paul and the Gospel of John are NOT credible. Reasons are: 1. John was written around 90 CE. If the author of John was with Jesus, it was over 55 years prior! John would have been a senile, Alzheimer ridden 90 year old man! And yet, we are to believe that […]
Question: I read several early church father quotes on baptism, A Baptist’s view on this would simply be that baptism is a metonymy. [Editor’s note: A metonymy is a smaller thing used as a symbol of a greater thing. For example, “bread” is used as a metonymy for all food in Deuteronomy 8] In the […]
Questions: How can the Old testament Torah, give us the creation, and flood narratives, when other much older religions and belief systems existed thousands of years before? Are these stories not plagiarized from earlier historical narratives? How can Christianity claim to be exclusive and The way the truth and the life?? That they are the […]
Question: I read your post on original sin and have several issues/questions on the matter. No offense but I don’t believe that your interpretation of original sin is accurate. It seems to me that original sin is more of a human nature issue. Adam sinned, we all have the desire to sin, or we all have […]
Question: Hello Dr. John! I’m young in my faith (it’s been only 4 and around 1/2 months since I got baptized) and I read the a lot of the Bible. Now I’m restarting the book of Genesis. I just wanted to ask a question of the order of Creation. I find it quite difficult to […]
Question: What does Haggai 2:6-9 mean? Answer: I believe that Haggai 2:6-9 is a prophecy about the coming of the kingdom of God, most likely being a reference to the ministry of Christ and the establishment of the church. Evidence for this interpretation is found, particularly, in 2:9, “And in this place I will grant peace.” […]
Question: The Gospels’ writers fabricated stories about Jesus which have no strong evidence, e.g., the sky grows dark for 3 hours at midday at the crucifixion, an earthquake rips the curtain in the Jewish temple & opens the tombs of the saints, from which dead people resurrect and then appear throughout Jerusalem. This is an […]
Question: As stated in the Koran 3:183, the Israelites even killed the prophets who presented a fiery sign from heaven that consumed their sacrificial offerings, but why does the Bible not mention this happening? Answer: This is an easy question. The Bible does not mention this because it did not happen. The Qur’an is the […]
Question: According to a Muslim Clergy, the current Pentateuch is not reliable because it has immoral stories about Abraham’s relatives which can’t be from God. Your response? Answer: I am well aware of this charge by Muslims. My response is that there is no such thing as an immoral story. There are immoral actions, but not […]
Question: Generally speaking, are ancient accounts about events which were written 1-3 centuries after the events they record reliable records of the actual events they record? Answer: Let me give a commo-sense answer, which is that the later an event is recorded after it occurs, the less reliable that account will be. However, there were […]
Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up from an earlier question in which the questioner made claims of Christian borrowing from Zoroastrian sources, and I respectfully asked for actual quotes from which the borrowing occurred. Thankfully, the questioner responded to the request. Question: The NT authors copied elements of Zoroastrianism from the Jews and fit them […]
Question: I have some Bible questions for you that I’ve been trying to figure out from Revelation 13 as it appears those events are now happening. I’m sure you’re familiar with “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.” from Revelation 13. […]
Question: It has been claimed that Jews borrowed Zoroastrian elements regarding the “final savior” during their time in Persia. According to Zoroastrians, an individual, called the “Saoshyant,” will usher in the final era and lead the battle against evil spirit (cf. Zech. 14:3) and all people will remain of one accord in the religion of […]
Question: According to a Muslim Clergy, the current Pentateuch is not reliable because it has immoral stories about Abraham’s relatives which can’t be from God. Your response? Answer: I am well aware of this charge by Muslims. My response is that there is no such thing as an immoral story. There are immoral actions, but […]
Question: 1. I read more than a couple of your articles about Krishna a deity in Hinduism. You said that Krishna is a mythical figure demanding details like where did he live? Where was he born? When was he born? What did he look like? Who were his parents and where did they come from? These […]
Editor’s note: This is a series of two questions and two answers. Question #1: How do we demonstrate to non-Christians the Christian understanding of life after death – that we will either be sent to hell or go to heaven based on whether or not we have accepted God’s gift of eternal life in this […]
Question: My school friend told me: The Big Bang Theory arrived in 1931, but God declared 1,400 years ago by the mouth of an unschooled prophet in Sura 21:30 that “the heavens and the earth were joined together as one mass, then he clove them asunder.” God even said in Sura 51:47 that “he […]
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