Editor’s note: I have gotten dozens of questions from disingenuous Muslim sources recently, so I decided to publish this Q & A as an article for your consideration. Question: What would you tell someone who was having trouble figuring out which religion is the one true religion? What would you tell him if he said […]
Question: Why do Christians and Jews have different interpretations for the meaning of the word “Moshiach” in Daniel chapter 9 verses 25-26? Why do Jews translate “Moshiach” as “the anointed one” but Christians translate it as the word “Messiah”? Answer: If we transliterate the Hebrew word Moshiach, we get Messiah. If we translate it, we […]
Question: I am currently studying out the book of Hebrews (I am reading the book you wrote about Hebrews along the way as well) and I’m learning a lot, but there is one question that I would like to ask. If the covenant that Moses brought was to be replaced by Jesus at some point, […]
[Editor’s note: I got a follow-up question from the same person. The second question and answer are below.] Question: I am a Christian who is going through some doubts about the Bible and I was wondering if you had any insight on the claims made on this article? https://bibleoutsidethebox.blog/2021/07/18/are-stories-in-the-bible-influenced-by-popular-greco-roman-literature/ Thanks [Editor’s note: In the article […]
Dr. John Oakes is doing a missionary teaching trip to West Africa Feb 16-Mar 5, 2023. He will be posting all or nearly all of his lessons, outlines and ppts here. Great Bible Study Time Notes Great Bible Study PPT Great Bible Study Audio Reliability of the Bible notes Reliability of […]
Ghana, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal I am now in Cote d’Ivoire, and will leave for Senegal tomorrow. Accra, Ghana Feb 16-20 This is my second time in Accra, Ghana. My last visit was ten years ago. Ghana is a country of 32 million souls. It is a fairly small country, the size of […]
Question: What is the relationship between the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic Covenant? Also, what is the relationship between the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant? Are Christians still under the Abrahamic Covenant? Answer: This is a good question. I believe that it is (more or less) answered in Galatians 3:10-22. In this passage Paul […]
Question: What would you tell someone who was having trouble figuring out which religion is the one true religion? What would you tell him if he said he believes it must be Christianity, Islam or Zoroastrianism but he isn’t sure which of these three is the one true religion and isn’t sure how he can […]
Question: What do Isaiah 66:17 and Isaiah 65:3-4 mean? What are these passages about? How should we understand these passages as Christians? How would you respond to someone who says Christians shouldn’t eat pork based on these verses and that Christians will be judged by God for eating pork based on these verses? Those who […]
Question: Book of Daniel and Zechariah (Ch. 9-14) are the product of Hellenistic era. Jesus is not prophesied in them otherwise DSS would elaborate it. What’s your response to this criticism? Harrison: These are quite simply false statements. I assume that they are coming from a Muslim source. Muslims have a disingenuous approach to the […]
Dr. John Oakes is giving a lecture using his book In Christ (www.ipibooks.com) for churches in Worcester and Providence titled “In Christ the Veil Is Removed.” Wed. 1/25/2023 7:30 EST on zoom. The notes, power point, and, eventually the audio are posted here. In Christ the Veil is Removed Notes In Christ the Veil […]
Question: What are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Who were the Qumran Community? Who were the Essenes? Answer: The Dead Sea Scrolls are hundreds of manuscripts found in about a half dozen caves in the desert hills to the west of the Dead Sea. Some are entire documents, and others are mere fragments. Most were on […]
Question: Jesus did not fulfill Zech. 9:9 because a significant part of the verse speaks about the person riding as the “victorious king of Israel”. The passage explains that at that time, universal peace will be established. This is a key feature of the Messianic age, as we see in passages like Isa. 2:4; 11:1-9 […]
Question: How God can allow his Messiah to be a descendant of immoral people i.e. Judah and Tamar, David and Bathsheba? Hadn’t scribes fabricated these immoral tales? Answer: Good question. One of the beautiful things about Christianity is that Jesus is the descendent of imperfect people. In fact, when Matthew recorded the genealogy of Jesus, […]
Question: What are the main covenants in the Bible and how do they relate to each other? Answer: The five covenants in the Bible that most Christians will recognize as such are the following: The covenant with Noah Genesis 9 The covenant with Abraham Genesis 17 (or Gen 12, 15, 22) The covenant with Moses […]
[Editor’s comment: This must be the Muslim biblical criticism of the day, as I have gotten five versions of this question in the last couple of days] Question: Was Jesus ignorant of Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai? Why did he not cite them? Answer: Jesus was well aware of the entire canon of […]
Question: If so many experts and historians say the Bible is made up, full of errors, and has been changed, etc. then how can we trust what historians say about secular history? Answer: I assume yours is more of a rhetorical question than an actual one. You seem to be making a point rather than […]
Question: 1. If Jesus’s mission was to the lost sheep of Israel, why did he fail in his mission? And why did Jesus prohibit the gfrom being preached to the Gentiles during his ministry but after his ‘resurrection’ tell them to preach the Gospel to the whole world? If Jesus really had made the latter […]
Question: Sir, Literalist Christians frequently employ the argument that the gospels represent objectively reliable “eyewitness accounts”, but this contention is disingenuous. The reasons are: (1) Literalist Christians have no way of authenticating any of the gospels. In fact, all four were originally written anonymously. and (2) These gospels constitute unreliable hearsay and not true […]
Question: Trinitarians claim that Christ was declaring Himself to be God in John 8:58, but this sentence is not translated accurately. The New Jerusalem Bible has translated the phrase in Exodus 3:14 “I am that I am” from “Ehe’ye asher ehe’ye” (Hebrew) as “I am He who is: Ego eimi, Ho on” (Greek). The Divine […]
Question: What is your opinion of The Voice translation? Answer: I have not yet read from The Voice translation. From what I have read about it, this translation was created using 125 scholars, but also artists and other creative people. There appears to have been some solid scholarship behind the translation. The intent was to […]
Questions: Doctor, There are historical problems in the trial & crucifixion accounts of the Gospels. 1) Passover was a family holiday. Would the entire Sanhedrin (and the high priest) get up and leave their families, first as a group to arrest him, and second, for a trial of a Galilean wonder-worker? According to later Rabbinic […]
Question: The Bible doesn’t tell us how Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Malachi, etc. proved themselves as prophets in the eyes of their contemporaries. Their alleged prophecies were fulfilled, according to the NT authors. Before then, what was their status? Answer: This is a good question. The answer is that we do not have access […]
Question: According to Robert Carroll and Auld: Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, etc. were poets and were NOT thought of as prophets until exilic times. The collectors of their words labelled them “prophets”. The Koran also does not mention them except Jonah. What are your thoughts? Answer: My response is this: Why do we listen to people […]
Question: Several prophets make no definite promise of a “single person” as the Saviour; such as Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Haggai, the Deutero-Isaiah. All didn’t have a perception of the future salvation in connection with an individual. Dr. Oakes, What is your response? Answer: First, I ask the one who is posing this […]
Question: Zechariah Ch. 9:8 says: “But I will encamp at my temple to guard it against marauding forces. Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch.” But in reality, Jerusalem was soon overrun by the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans, who utterly destroyed the second temple in 70 […]
Question: Prophecies need to be specific. There was no need to hide the promised messiah within a passage that was also speaking about something else, for e.g. if Isaiah had an intention of speaking about the Messiah, it would’ve been nice had he said it clearly, instead of using the same moniker to identify both […]
Editor’s Note: The questioner mentions “Deutero Isaiah.” There is a commonly-accepted scholarly opinion that Isaiah only wrote Ch 1-39, and that Ch 40 onward was written after the exile by another author. This theory is somewhat speculative, but has some reasonable evidence supporting it. The author is assuming presuppositionally that the theory is true. Question: […]
Question: If the gospels are eyewitness accounts then why is it clearly evident that Matthew, Mark, and Luke just copied each other? There are so many verses that are exactly the same and that doesn’t make sense if they were based on different eyewitness accounts. If you could help explain this to me that would […]
Question: Sir, George Athas writes in his book “Deuteronomy: One Nation under God” that Yahweh continued to send prophets to Jews even after they returned from exile. However, they were never able to reinstall a Davidic heir as king. Foreign kings ruled over the Jews at that time. This frustrated Deuteronomy’s condition that Israel’s king […]
Dr. Gary Habermas is one of the premiere apologists today. I do not normally publish work by those I do not know personally, but in the case of his lecture on the resurrection, I am making an exception. This lecture is really great. I strongly recommend to our EFC community to watch this lecture. In […]
Question: What is the meaning in Genesis 1:26 where God says, “Let us make man in our image”? My NIV study notes that “us” refers to members of His heavenly court? I was always led to believe it referred to the Trinity. Thank you Answer: Commentators give three possible interpretations of the words “us” and […]
[Editor’s Note: This Q & A is a follow-up to an earlier question regarding Genesis 1:30 in which the questioner proposes that before the “Fall” of Adam and Eve, both humans and animals were vegetarian.] Question: Isn’t Genesis 9:3 problematic? God says that “Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as […]
Rabbi Tovia Singer has published an anti-Christian polemic which has created doubts in some Christian believers. Dr. John Oakes has published a review of this book. We are attaching the document and copying and pasting below. Review of Let’s Get Biblical In addition, here is an article by Jeff Chacon Why I Believe Jesus is […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a lecture on God and Science at UC Merced for the Alpha Omega club Feb. 2, 2023. PPT and audio are here: Science and the Bible PPT God and Science Audio
Dr. John Oakes did a teaching weekend for the Anchor Point Church of Christ in Tampa, Florida. Audio, Notes and Power Points are attached. Who Is Jesus Tampa PPT Jesus Evidence Tampa Audio Shadow to Reality Notes Shadow to Reality PPT From Shadow to Reality Audio
Question: Andrew B. Davidson (1902) wrote that Scribes were arrangers of the scattered fragments, many of them anonymous, existing in their time. They arranged small anonymous prophecies under general headings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, just like all Psalms were gathered together under the name of David. Dr. Oakes, is it possible that anonymous prophecies became part […]
Question: Thank you for taking my question, My question is about the meal talked about in Exodus, that was eaten in haste, in which they ate the lamb they sacrificed. My question is this: in Jesus’s day, would that meal have been eaten on Friday night? Is that called the Passover meal? If it was […]
Question: Why don’t Christians need to follow the Old Testament Laws (especially the Old Testament Civil Laws) anymore? Answer: Christians do not need to follow the Old Testament law because Jesus fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17). Jesus replaced the Law of Moses with the Law of Christ (1 Corinthians 9:21, Galatians 6:2). The requirements of […]
Question: What are some key problems with Christian theocracy? Why shouldn’t Christians seek to have a Christian theocratic nation? Answer: There is no direct statement in the New Testament which commands Christians to not create a theocratic state. If believers in some country decided to found a state based wholly on Christian principles, I suppose […]
Question: How would you respond to these common claims that Muslims make with the intention of trying to show that Islam is true i.e. the one true religion 1) ‘Islam is not a religion in the common and distorted sense, for it does not confine its scope to one’s private life. It is a complete […]
Editor’s note: I answered the question above in 2011. At that time, I had no knowledge of non-Christian sources supporting this claim, and said so. However, a visitor to the web site has shared with me an article which does provide good support from a Jewish source in the first century that there was a […]
Dr. John Oakes is teaching a short series on Christian Apologetics for the Houston Church of Christ. Notes, PPT and audio will be posted here. Science and God PPT Science and God Houston Audio Reliability and Inspiration of the Bible PPT Progressive Theology Notes Progressive Theology PPT
Question: How can Isaiah 42:2 apply to Jesus when he did cry out for people to repent, cleansed the temple and argued with the Pharisees? Response: I suppose you have a point here if we take Isaiah 42:2 to be literal. Clearly Jesus “shouted” at times, otherwise how could his teachings to groups like the […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a series of classes in both French and English in Port au Prince, Haiti in Aug, 2022 Reliability of Bible Haiti Church History Haiti Audio I Church History Haiti Audio II Christian Worldview Haiti Audio Prob Pain Suff Haiti Audio Hebrews 1-6 Haiti Audio Hebrews...
Dr. John Oakes gave a series of lectures in Santo Domingo, Dominical Republic in Spanish and in English Aug, 2022 World View Santo Domingo Reliability of Bible Spanish/English Fiabilidad PPT Science and God Santo Domingo Audio Dios y la Sciencia PPT Existence of God Spanish Audio La Existencia de Dios PPT ...
Dr. John Oakes gave several classes at the ICOC World Discipleship Summit in Orlando, Aug, 2022 Col 2 Jesus vs World Audio Col 2 PPT Col 2 Sermon Christ vs World Notes King Jesus vs World’s Philosophies Audio King Jesus vs Philosophies PPT King Jesus Col 2 Notes In Christ WDS ...
Dr. John Oakes taught a series of classes for campus interns in Merced June, 2022 Genesis Merced Audio I Genesis Merced Audio II Genesis Merced III Genesis Merced Audio IV Genesis Merced Audio V Genesis Merced Audio VI Genesis Merced PPT Genesis Merced Notes...
Dr. John Oakes taught a series of classes on Spiritual Formation in Bakersfield Spring, 2022 Spiritual Formation I Audio Spiritual Formation II Audio Spiritual Formation III Audio Spiritual Transformation Part I – III Notes Spiritual Formation Part III PPT...
Dr. John Oakes gave a series of sermons from the Book of Acts for the Bakersfield Church of Christ Spring, 2022 Acts I Mission Audio Acts II Starting Gun Audio Acts III Model Church Audio Acst IV Paul’s Farewell Audio Acts V Why Not Be Baptized Acts VI...
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