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? […]
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 […]
[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 […]
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 Merced Christian Theology […]
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 […]
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 […]
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: 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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: In what language did Moses write the Torah? Critics say that he couldn’t have written the Torah because Hebrew didn’t exist at that time.” Answer: A good question. I believe that all or nearly all conservative scholars will agree that the Pentateuch was originally written down in Hebrew. Consider the name given to God […]
Question: Is 2 Samuel 7:16 a failed prophecy? “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”” 2 Samuel 7:16 ESV..I saw a critic claims that this is a failed prophecy, because “houses” and kingdoms do not last forever. Answer: This is in fact a […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “The Romans never conducted censuses in client kingdoms”? Answer: I am assuming this is in response to the fact that Luke tells us a census was taken, which was the reason Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem. I would say that this is incontrovertibly a false […]
Question: The Koran said 1,400 years ago that God warned the Israelites that he would raise against them those who would afflict them till the day of Resurrection. Whatever is happening today in the Middle East, does it not provide evidence of the truth of this statement? How do Christians see this? Answer: If I […]
Question: Why do we consider God perfect and that God’s plan is perfect if we have the example of Noah’s ark? He claims to know that he has a plan for all of us but was it part of his plan to wipe out humanity in Noah’s ark? And if he knew that that would […]
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