Question: What would you answer to someone that tells you that people believe in God because they are afraid of death? I hope you can answer me. Answer: I am sure that there are some people who believe in God, at least in part, out of fear of death. That is not why I believe […]
Questions: I listened to all the 1 hour lectures you gave at a university recently. The evidence about the life of Christ, and lack of info about other claimed messiah types like Zoroaster was very helpful. I’m definitely struggling with your views on a approx 14 million yrs old earth ( I’m not sure that […]
Question: Is it true that Christianity endorsed Hermeticism at the beginning? Answer; I am going to guess that you saw someone somewhere claim that Christianity borrowed its belief system in part from Hermeticism. The simple answer to your question is a hard no. No, Christianity never has endorsed Hermeticism and especially primitive Christianity certainly did […]
Question: Please respond to this article: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/jesus-body/ Is it true that Jesus’ resurrected body was a spiritual one only according to 1 Peter 3:18, and that we too will have spirit, not physical bodies in heaven? Answer: First of all, you will do well to not listen to Jehovah Witnesses, both in person and […]
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 […]
Question: I have a question about the Temple mentioned in Ezekiel Ch 40-48. It says that there will be sin sacrifices, but how can that be so if Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice? I know that there are both literal and figurative interpretations, but everything I have seen has favored the literal view of these […]
Question: Why was The book of Enoch taken out of the Old Testament and why has this book been forgotten since New Testament times? Answer: The answer is that the Book of Enoch, also known as 1st Enoch, certainly has not been lost, and neither has it been forgotten. It was not taken out of […]
Question: How should I respond to Dr. Kauffman’s clever and humorous attack on Dr. Laura when she says that, as a Jew, homosexual behavior is blasphemy to God? [Editor’s note: Kauffman’s criticism is contained in the response] Response: I will have to say that I agree that this letter is clever, but I am not […]
Question: What is the name of God according to Exodus 6:2-3 based on the Hebrew Old Testament and the Septuagint? [Editor’s note: this is the early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible in the late third century BC] Answer: God has many names in the Bible, as I assume you know. He is called El, […]
Question: What did Jesus mean he said “I am the resurrection and life and those who believe in will live and those who live and believe in me will never die? The fact is that those who believe in him are still dying. So, what did Jesus mean? When he said that those who follow […]
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 […]
Question: What is the difference between a cult and a religion? (Simple question, I know, but this is a topic commonly brought up by atheists and I was just wondering what the real answer is). Answer: The word cult is one of the more “loaded” words in the English language. The connotations in today’s common […]
Questions: We know that the Bible prohibits idolatry. If Catholics were the first denomination of Christians, why then do they do everything contradictory to the Bible? Can we trust the additional books of OT in the Catholic Bible? Why did Protestants came years later after Catholics? It seems to me that they should have come […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a class on the Stone/Campbell movement for the Rocky Mountain School of Ministry. The SC movement is also known as the Restoration Movement, which is the historical root of the Churches of Christ, the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ. Notes, PPT and audio are attached. Unfortunately, the first twelve […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: My question is this. I have been seeing claims, specifically by atheists and Muslims, that the Christianity that exists today is Pauline. Paul interpolated on everything that Jesus taught, contradicted Jesus’ teachings on the law, and changed the gospel. Their ultimate point is, the critics, that the Christianity we have now is from Paul, […]
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 […]
Question: Can I be saved just by choosing Jesus as my savior, asking for forgiveness and repenting of my sins? Answer: The best thing I can do for you is point you to the first gospel sermon ever preached. Surely the means of salvation was clearly laid out in this essential sermon. After preaching about […]
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 […]
Question: I always get confused and I’m also asked by skeptics regarding the first miracle of Jesus and he selecting his apostles. If we read the Synoptics they say that after being baptized Jesus went to wilderness and was tempted by the devil, rejected at Nazareth in a synagogue and then he selected his apostles […]
[Editor’s note: The questioner is from India and is attempting to respond to unsubstantiated claims that Judaism and/or Christianity have ideas substantially borrowed from Hinduism] Question: 1.Is it true that the Phoenicians traveled to India and brought some arts and ideas of Hinduism and conveyed them back to Palestine where they had influence on Judaism […]
Dr. John Oakes is teaching a 12-hour class on Church History for campus interns in Bakersfield, California 7/24-25/2020. Notes, power point and audio are available here: Church History PPT church history notes Part I Church History Notes II Ch Hist Audio 1 Ch Hist Audio 2 Ch Hist Audio 3 Ch Hist Audio 4 […]
[Editor’s note: This question involves a personal Bible study which has been used in the International Churches of Christ called the “kingdom study.”] Question: I’ve been writing an article for my blog, theWitheredFigTree.com, about the Kingdom-related prophecies in Daniel. In the process of researching this, I found several articles on the web about the authorship […]
[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 […]
Question: Bible says that the disciple whom Jesus loves was at the cross. But it doesn’t specifically mention the name so how do we know that it’s John?And some of my friends who are Christians and pastors also say that Islam came before Christianity because of Ishmael. They say that Ishmael traveled to Arabia with […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a class on Christian theology. The class covered topics such as Trinity, the qualities of God, the problems of evil and suffering, theodicy, predestination, heaven and more. The class is now completed. Here are the notes, PPT, audio and link to the video. God: Christian Theology PPT God–Christian […]
Question: How can we reconcile the account of Jesus’ anointing at Bethany near the end of his life? Where, when and by whom was Jesus anointed?Was is at a Pharisee’s house as said by Luke, at the house of Simon the leaper, as said by Matthew and Mark, or was it at the house of […]
Dr. John Oakes is giving a three-part series of classes on the biblical Book of Daniel for the Greater Houston Church of Christ. Notes, Power Point and audio are available here. Daniel Notes Daniel PPT Daniel Audio 1 Daniel Audio 2 Daniel Audio 3 […]
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 […]
The most important scientist today, Francis Collins and the most important Christian theologian of the day N. T. Wright have done their own rendition of Yesterday by the Beatles. You will love it, I think. https://biologos.org/resources/n-t-wright-and-francis-collins-sing-genesis
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: Why would God create someone knowing that he or she would separate themselves from God? Answer; The reason we exist at all is because God is a relational being. This is indicated by the trinity itself. We exist because God wanted to love us, he wanted us to love him and he wanted us […]
[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 […]
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 […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a class 7/15/2020 for the Bakersfield Church of Christ on history, archaeology and the Bible. This lesson mostly covered the Old Testament, giving strong evidence that the Old Testament is the most reliable book of ancient history we have. History Archaeology and the Bible PPT History Archaeology and the Bible […]
Question: Will there be a New World Order government over the United States in the end times? I watch the end times show on TBN and the host says the United States will end up backing out of New World Order or One World Government? Revelation makes it clear of the Antichrist’s role in end […]
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…” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: I am reaching out to you today to ask a question. Sometimes it is easier to meditate on God’s Word intellectually but harder to connect to God through His Word emotionally or in a deeper level that produces transformation, which then leads to aligning myself to God. How do you gain the knowledge about […]
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 ...
[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 […]
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 […]
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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