Question: Philo of Alexandria wrote in his work “Questions & Answers on Genesis” that: 43…On which account a certain prophet, the kinsman and friend of Moses, uttered an oracle of this kind, “If the omnipotent Lord had not left us a seed, we should have been like blind and barren People,” https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book42.html This is a […]
Dr John Oakes preached a series of eight sermons from the Book of Joshua in Merced, Winter, 2026 Notes, PPT and audio are available here: Joshua I Be Strong and Courageous Notes Joshua I PPT Joshua I Strong Audio Joshua II Preparing to Enter Notes Joshua II PPT Joshua II […]
Today is St. Patrick’s Day. Just for fun, here is a Bible study using the life of the amazing Patrick of Ireland as the basis for a group Bible study: St Patrick’s Day Bible Study Purpose: To encourage us to take on the spirit of the great evangelist, St. Patrick of Ireland. Introduction: Born in […]
Editor’s note: Mara bar Serapion is a pagan author who spoke of “three wise men” who were unjustly killed. The first two were Pythagorus and Socrates. The third is one he called “the wise king of the Jews.” In bar Serapion’s letter, he tells his son that after they killed their wise king, the Jews […]
Question: The geolocal academic article below says that “a local earthquake between 26 and 36 AD” happened. Would you use this as evidence in favor of the eartquake at the crucifixion in public? Paper link: https://staff.polito.it/alberto.carpinteri/related%20piezonuclear%20papers/williams_mod.pdf Answer: No, I would not use this as evidence for the biblical story. For a few reasons. 1. That is […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “The Greeks (before Christ) also had science. Therefore, there is nothing special about the Bible and its contributions to science.”? Answer: The Greeks made some significant advances in the study of the natural world, but one thing that they did NOT do is apply the scientific […]
Question: There is a long version and a short version of “Epistle to the Trallians” by Ignatius of Antioch. Which version would you use? Answer: I do not “use” the writings of early church fathers, in the sense that I use the inspired biblical books. I read them, and I study them, but I do […]
Question: Why do Catholics use a rosary? Is this unbiblical? Answer: To be honest, I am not aware of the precise history by which what we now call the “rosary” developed. What we can say for sure is that it emerged out of a Catholic Church which had already firmly committed to the semi-deification of […]
Dr. John Oakes is doing a series of classes Winter, 2026 at the University of California, Merced, Wednesdays 7:30 in Rm. Granite Peak 150. Dr. Oakes is covering topics in which Christianity interacts with modern culture. Topics will include Bioethics, Gender Issues, War and Peace, Christianity and Race, Christianity and Politics, Abortion and more. Some, […]
Dr. John Oakes is now leading a church planting in Merced, California. His lessons and sermons will be posted here. There is another, earlier article, with many sermons and lessons from 2022 to 2025. Here is the link: Earlier Merced Sermons More recent sermons are below! 3/22 2 Peter I The Knowledge of […]
Editor’s note: This is a response to a fairly long Jewish criticism of Christianity which included 50 “reasons” to believe that Jesus is not the Jewish Messiah. It can be found at https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/624738 . Question: Please reply to criticisms # 2,3,9,10,11,14,26,30,40,44 in the following article: https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/624738 Response: 2. I have already responded to point 2 […]
Question: How would you respond to secular feminists who say “The ancient pagan culture was more pro-woman in comparison to the Christian culture”? Answer: This is so untrue. I am assuming here that they are talking about the Pagan culture in the time of Jesus. The Graeco/Roman world was extremely Patriarchal, as has been documented […]
Question: Please respond to an article I found by an atheist guy named O’Neill regarding the evidence for the resurrection. https://www.quora.com/What-evidence-is-there-for-Jesus-Christs-death-burial-and-resurrection/answer/Tim-ONeill-1 [Author’s note: O’Neill claims that the physical resurrection of Jesus was an invention of Paul and others, made many years after the death of Jesus] Answer: This is typical argumentation from unbelievers. O’Neill begins […]
Dr. John Oakes is teaching a series of lessons for the Iglesia de Cristo de Tijuana Feb 5-8 on various topics, including baptism, Calvinism, the Holy Spirit and more. Materials will be published here. Bautismo PPT Bautismo Tijuana Audio I Baptism Tijuana Audio II Baptism Audio III Libertad en Cristo PPT […]
Question: Did females have leadership role over grown men in the churches (not private settings) during the 1st century AD? Answer: That is a debatable point, depending on your definition of leadership roles. There is no evidence that women were preaching or teaching the entire, assembled church, and there certainly were no women elders. But […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “Randomness can explain the fine-tuning of the constants” and “Randomness can explain the code in DNA”? Answer: Those who say such things either do not know what they are talking about (most common) or they are so caught up in their naturalist presuppositions that they cannot […]
Question: Jesus spoke predominantly in riddles and parables, obscuring rather than elucidating the message. Therefore, Jesus is guilty of obscuring his message from opponents although the Koran states: The messenger’s duty is only to deliver the message clearly (24:54). What should be the response? Answer: A few comments. First of all, the Quran itself and […]
Question: Why do Christians not offer prayers (Salah) like Jews and Muslims who bow down their heads to earth. It is also referred in Nehemiah 8:6? Answer: First of all, the majority of Jews in Jesus’ day did not bow while praying. They prayed, looking up to heaven. The statement in this inquiry shows that […]
Question: If Jesus was predestined by an all-knowing God to be sacrificed for humanity’s sins, what was the purpose of sending prophets beforehand to call people to repentance? Many righteous men and women believed these prophets and were forgiven long before Jesus, so would they not have already entered God’s Heaven? Answer: Good point. Like […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “A king used violence to Christianize the local people. Therefore, Christian is wrong.”? Answer: Every religion has members who do evil in the name of that religion. This is not acceptable. This is tragic. But it is also true. The fact alone that evil has been […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a series of eight sermons from 1 Peter in Fall, 2025 for the Merced Christian Church. Two sermons from 1 Peter 2 were delivered by others during the series, so this series of sermons covers only about 80% of the book. Notes, PPT and audio are included. 1 Peter I Elect […]
Dr. John Oakes did a six-part class on the history of Christianity for the campus ministry at UC Merced in Merced, CA Fall, 2025. The class was intended to help students understand what Christianity ought to look like today–how to navigate the various strains of how church is done in the modern context. Notes, PPT […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “King Herod’s murder of the children is only mentioned in the New Testament. Therefore, it is automatically wrong” or “The murder of the children by Herod was copied from the child massacre in the events with Moses and therefore is made up”? Answer: The vast majority […]
Dear EFC guests: I am re-posting an article on Christmas I poster a few year ago. Enjoy and Merry Christmas! Is Christmas a Christian Holiday? Christmas sure has taken a beating lately, seemingly from all sides. The secularists demand that we say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, while some believers have threatened to boycott a certain […]
Question: How would you respond to females who say “Christianity causes me to feel guilty. Therefore, I want nothing to do with Christianity”? Answer: I am not sure how to think about this question, as you specify a female questioner, but the actual question does not reference anything which is gendered. So… I will answer […]
Question: “But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”” Genesis 30:27 NIV Is there a clear answer on the divination meaning here? I have been reading Genesis and was wondering how to understand this […]
Question: Why did David write in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”? Answer: We need to recognize first the genre of literature of the Psalms. These are poems. These are people talking to God, rather than God talking to people. For this reason, we should […]
Question: Martin Luther said that Virgin Mary was a perpetual virgin. Do you agree or disagree? Answer: No. Certainly not. Luther did teach the perpetual virginity of Mary earlier in his career, when he was reflecting his Roman Catholic heritage. Earlier in his career he had a very high view of Mary, but later he […]
Question: It is debatable which is more reliable–the Septuagint or the Masoretic Text. Let me put it this way: in making English translations of the Hebrew Old Testament, as a general rule, the opening text to be used in the Masoretic. One obvious advantage of the Masoretic Text, even though it is not as old […]
Question: This question is more on the scientific side but it has to do with fine-tuning. A favorite claim that online atheists like to make is that the complexity we see in the universe is the result of matter self organizing itself into a complex system through unguided processes. They use the example of how […]
Question: Do you any advice on how I can know when to tell when a prophet jumps from talking about fleshly to spiritual Israel, or when they go from literal to symbolic or figurative language? Prophecies can be tricky for me, because it has been said they mix immediate historical events with foreshadowing of ultimate […]
Dr. John Oakes recently gave an apologetics/Christian evidence lecture at the University of California, Merced on the claims of Jesus, the miracles, of Jesus, fulfilled prophecies of Jesus, and the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. The PPT and audio are posted here. Claims of Jesus PPT Who Is Jesus Lecture Audio
Question: I have a Bible question for you that I’ve been wondering about. God reveals his name YHWH to Moses at the burning bush. He also says in Ex 6:2-3 he says that by the name YHWH he did not make himself known to the patriarchs. I think in the NIV whenever the word, LORD […]
Question: I need your help. I wanna know your responds to some statements by a quite popular Jewish influencer on Instagram. She is an ex Christian who converted to Judaism. So she said that many of Paul’s teachings are contradicted to what Jesus taught and the core belief or Christianity is actually Paul’s teaching and […]
Question: How would you deal with a person who said, “Paul was not a real apostle. Therefore, we can disregard the book of Romans?” Answer: If someone chooses to ignore Paul, that is up to them. It is a free world, as they say! But what I can say is that the apostles of Jesus […]
My wife Jan and I are doing a journey on the Camino de Santiago–walking from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, northern Spain. It is a time of fellowship, of spiritual reflection, and of a lot of exercise. I am so proud of my wife Jan for taking the journey with me. A few […]
Question: I wanted to ask you a question about Deuteronomy 32:8-9. In more recent manuscripts it’s translated as “Sons of Israel” but using older manuscripts it’s translated as “Sons of God” or even angels. Scholars say this was changed to sons of Israel because scribes didn’t like that it sounded so polytheistic. Did God actually […]
Question: Scholars say that the concept of hell in the Bible developed throughout time . Hell as a place of eternal suffering didn’t exist in the Old Testament, only the New Testament, which has led scholars to draw the conclusion that early Christians took the idea of hell being a place of eternal suffering from […]
Question: Is it sinful to call Mary “The Mother of God”? If Christ is fully God and Jesus was fully his mother should this be a problem? On a deeper level if Christ’s natures are inseparable and Mary bore and birthed someone who is fully human and fully God (The God-Man) then it should make […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a new class at the International Campus Ministry Conference in Aneheim, California Aug 2, 2025 The class is a study of Colossians 2 and of the supremacy of Christ over the philosophies and stoichea/elementary principles of this world. Dr. Oakes then continues to discuss philosophies of our day, including modernism, postmodernism […]
Question: Dr. Oakes. I am a very big fan of your writings and your work and they have helped me greatly in understanding Jesus and understanding my faith . I have recently accepted Christ as my savior and was baptized only a few months ago. I’m still learning about Jesus and one question I have […]
Question: I wanted ask you about the similarities between Isaiah 27 and the Canaanite’s Baal cycle in which both Yahweh and Baal respectively kill a large aquatic sea serpent like monster. I’m copying and pasting some more information about it down below. Leviathan in the Book of Job is a reflection of the older Canaanite […]
Question: I understand many believe that Jesus is speaking metaphorically in John 6 about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. There are two different verbs used in John 6: “phagein”: the common verb “to eat” (used broadly in Greek), and “trōgō”: a more graphic verb, meaning “to gnaw, chew, munch, crunch.” Early in the chapter, Jesus […]
Question: How would you respond to a females who says “Christianity causes me to feel guilty. Therefore, I want nothing to do with Christianity”? Answer: I am not sure how to think about this question, as you specify a female questioner, but the actual question does not reference anything which is gendered. So… I will […]
Question: I wanted to ask you about the Soleb Inscription. I’m copying and pasting some information about it down below. “Yahweh before Israel: Glimpses of History in a Divine Name” by Daniel E. Flemming where he argues that YHWH was a nomadic people group attested by an inscription in the temple at Soleb in Egypt.” […]
Question: Can these statements about Mark 10:18 be fact checked? The Muslim gentleman argued the earliest findings of Mark 10 say “Don’t call me good because only my father is Good” and quoted Justin Martyr and others. https://youtube.com/shorts/zSiB6sq_EnU?feature=shared The Christian didn’t get to respond. Answer: What this Muslim person did is irresponsible. To me, it borders […]
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. 9/24 […]
Question: Can these statements about Mark 10:18 be fact checked? The Muslim gentleman argued the earliest findings of Mark 10 say “Don’t call me good because only my father is Good” and quoted Justin Martyr and others. https://youtube.com/shorts/zSiB6sq_EnU?feature=shared The Christian didn’t get to respond. [Editor’s note: In this youtube a Muslim apologist claims that there […]
Question: How do we know what New Testament scripture is inspired apart from tradition? I understand Luke and Paul are quoted as Scripture but here is the problem. Luke wrote 2 books and Paul wrote 13. There are only 7 of Paul’s letters that are recognized by modern scholarship as “undisputed” (there is no contention […]
Question: The Koran taunted that unbelievers are waiting for God Himself to come to them in the shadows of the clouds, together with the angels (2:210). Isn’t this taunting on the Biblical concept of God’s arrival? Response: Muhammad can taunt whomever he likes. As Christians, we turn the other cheek to those who persecute us, […]
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