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: When Jesus said to Thomas “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed” what does he mean? Does he mean that we should have a blind faith without looking for facts? Today we search for answers regarding the evidences of Bible’s reliability, we find solutions for apparent Biblical contradictions, we search for […]

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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  Is there any other historical documents or archeological evidence that tells us about the Prophets of the Old Testament?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: If we are 100 percent sure that the 4 gospels are written by authors whom we attribute them to, why don’t they identify themselves in the gospels? Let’s exclude 2 and 3rd gospels (Mark and Luke) because they were not eyewitnesses, but let’s take 1st and last gospel (Matthew and John) if these gospels […]

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[Editor’s note: This is a rather long question, the essence of which is that the questioner doubts that the deity of Christ is established in Philippians 2:6-9. The questioner thinks that this is the principle support in Paul of Christ’s deity, but he believes that this claim is not supported by the passage] Question: How […]

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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: In Matthew 11:25-27 (Luke 10:21-22)  Jesus says, “I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned…this is what you were please to do…no one knows the father except the son and those to whom the son chooses to reveal him…come to me all…”  […]

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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: I am a vegetarian and I believe that slaughtering innocent animals is unethical, but the bible didn’t prohibit eating meat. Jesus ate fish.  What’s is your opinion? Do you think that killing animals is ethical?  Personally, I can’t understand how killing any living creature (unless I have no other choice, as defending myself or […]

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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: Can you help me to resolve this problem? “And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.” (Acts 22:9)  “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.” (Acts 9:7)  In […]

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Dr. John Oakes gave a series of 16 sermons from the Gospel of Matthew (with a lesson on Matt 13 by Josh Fatherree included) for the Bakersfield Church of Christ. The entire series is available here, including notes and power point.  Matthew Sermon Series Notes   Matthew Sermon Sermon Series PPT  Matthew I The Jewish Gospel ...

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[Editor’s note: This is a series of questions on Critical Theory, which is a philosophical method developed in Germany in the 1930s, but which has been mentioned much lately as a means to evaluate and propose solutions to the racial issues in the US today.] Question: I have a question for you. I have been […]

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Questions: 1) Why does God need to sacrifice His only Son in order to forgive other people’s sins? He is God, so couldn’t He do this without sacrificing his son?  2) Is the trinity a contraction? (How can God sacrifice Himself to Himself?) Answers: You are asking some really big questions here.  I am answering […]

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Question: If all humans descend from Noah, when did the first humans appear in the Americas and how did they cross the ocean to get there? Answer: The evidence from multiple angles, most importantly from C-14 data, but also from stratigraphic, the disappearance of megafauna and other kinds of evidence is that humans entered the […]

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[Editor’s note: I have posted an inordinate number of articles on the biblical doctrine of baptism lately at the site. This is, on paper, a Christian evidence website, which seems to not fit this question, but this is a serious question, and apparently many are asking about this important topic, so I felt I must […]

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Question: I am an undergrad at [unidentified prestigious American university] who has been having a discussion with some friends about the following question:  Why is it so much better to be a Christian than a virtuous person in the world? Why is it better to acknowledge God and live an exemplary life rather than just […]

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Question: Would you be able to explain the words Jesus spoke in his monologues to himself and with the devil (being tempted in Matthew and Luke 4… etc)?  If He were alone at those times, how were the Gospel writers able to report what transpired ‘accurately’ – since no one except Jesus could be there […]

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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: Why should Israel punish heretics with death? in the NT it does not seem to happen in the same way.  Should a Christian country tolerate pagan philosophies and religions, or should you pursue for the good of all? Answer: First of all, let me acknowledge that the distinction you notice is certainly real.  The […]

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John Oakes gave a series of sixteen sermons from the Book of Matthew April through August, 2020 for the Bakersfield Church of Christ.  PPT, notes and audio are included.    Matthew Sermon Whole Thing    Matthew Sermon Series Notes     Matthew The Jewish Gospel Audio    Matthew II Prepare for Ministry    Matt III Kingdom...

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Dr. John Oakes gave a twelve hour class on Church History for interns in the San Joaquin Valley Churches of Christ on 7/23-23/2020.  Notes, ppt and audio are included.  Church History PPT    church history notes Part I    CHURCH HISTORY NOTES II  Ch Hist Audio 1    Ch Hist Audio 2    Ch Hist Audio 3 ...

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Dr. John Oakes gave a class on History, Archaeology and the Bible in Bakersfield July, 2020  Notes, ppt and audio are included.History Archaeology and the Bible Notes    History Archaeology and the Bible PPT    History Archaeology and the Bible Audio                            ...

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Dr. John Oakes gave a series of two lessons on practical evangelism for the Bakersfield Church of Christ.  Notes and audio included.Evangelism Audio    Evangelism Midweek  Studying Bible With Friends Audio  Studying the Bible With Our Friends                                ...

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Dr. John Oakes gave a four-part class of eight hours on the subject of Christian Theology titled God.  for the Bakersfield Church of Christ May-June, 2020.  Notes, PPT and audio are included.   God: Christian Theology PPT     God–Christian Theology Notes    God 1    God 2 Audio    God 3    God 4 Audio    ...

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John Oakes taught a very brief overview of the importance of Church history to Christians in general, followed by an almost ridiculously short survey of the subject up to the time of the second great awakening.  PPT, notes and audio are included.   Church History very short 1    church history very short 2    Church...

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Dr. John Oakes gave a ten hour class on the Book of Revelation for the Bakersfield Church of Christ April, 2020.  Notes, ppt and audio are included.Revelation notes  Revelation PPT  Revelation Audio 1    Revelation II Audio    Revelation Audio III    Revelation IV Audio    Revelation Part V Audio          ...

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Question: Hello I had a question regarding an interesting theory that I heard from Dr. William Lane Craig regarding the historicity of Adam and Eve. Dr. Craig stated that he has been studying the question of the historicity of Adam and Eve for around 2 years now. He has discussed information with scientists on a […]

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Question: I have been reading the book of Romans with some family members who believe salvation occurs by “praying Jesus into your heart” and that this salvation is not swayed by a lack of obedience towards God. It has been really exciting to go through Romans with them as it does not support these ideas […]

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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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Question:  I have a question concerning Daniel 11:43 where it talks about Libya and Ethiopia being at the northern kingdom leaders steps, do you have a clue what that means? Answer: This question is dealt with in my book, Daniel, Prophet to the Nations (www.ipibooks.com).  You definitely should get a copy!  But… I better answer […]

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Question: I recently stumbled upon a theory that the story of Jesus as the Messiah is borrowed from people before him who also claimed to be the Messiah.  Two claimants in particular were mentioned. The first one is called Simon, some aspects of his life are extremely similar to those of Christ. The second one […]

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Question: In reviewing one of your Q/A online I saw you refer to “original sin” as a false doctrine? What is your basis for this statement? Are you meaning that you don’t believe that sin originated with Adam and Eve? Do you believe that creation was perfect before Adams sin–that mankind did not, sin creating […]

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