ARS is proud to announce that the ninth of ten classes in our Apologetics Certificate Program is now available. The class is on the reliability, inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible. The instructor of the class is Dr. John Oakes. The class includes a study of biblical manuscripts and the canon of the Old and […]
ARS is excited to announce the eighth of our ten courses in our Christian Apologetics Certificate is now available. This is a ten hour class on the historical and archaeological support to the reliability of the Bible. The instructors are Dr. John Wilson, professor emeritus of archaeology from Pepperdine University, as well as Dr. John […]
Question: Hello Dr. Oakes. I wanted to ask you a question about studying the Bible with a friend of mine who is a Hare Krishna. How should I approach it? I know a little bit about the religion through talking with him and reading a bit of the Baghavad Gita. I really want him to […]
Hello sir, I want to know about what happens to our whole life’s stored memory after death? Answer: I am assuming you want a biblical answer to this question, not a scientific answer or my opinion. The Bible is not explicit about what happens to our memories when we are in heaven (or in hell, […]
Question: I am a 20 year old college student from Louisiana and I have been a Christian all my life. There came a time this past summer where I began to question my faith and why I believed what I did. I began searching and instead found a lot of atheist arguments which proceeded to […]
QUESTION: I have a question for in regards to an article posted by Fox News today. Apparently a 1.8 million year skull has been found which apparently is some evolutionary link. Does this mean tha there was some sort of pre-adamic race? Are they even sure the skull is that old? How would this reconcile […]
Question: I did not grow up Christian. I was in my forties when I studied the Bible. There is an idea, a concept, that Christians seem to hold on to ferociously that I don’t see in the Bible. Am I missing something? The strong majority of people that I talk to see forgiveness and salvation […]
Question: If God understands my humanity and sin nature better than I do, why does He still hold me accountable for what I cannot help doing?” Answer: A good question. When my children were young, I understood their “humanity and sin” better than they did. Despite this, I held them accountable for their actions because […]
Question: May I ask why anyone should believe in the Bible? You claim that the global flood was miraculous, yet what does that have to do with evidence? Did God completely heal the earth? Is that what you’re saying? You wish people to believe that God kept the ocean animals, plant life, bacteria all from […]
Question: I recently was won over to a more Evolutionary Creationist (is that what you’d call it? Belief in the Bible and evolution?) philosophy. I’m trying to research more and more as I begin to debate with my strictly Creationist friends. I don’t expect to win them over but I’d like to be able to […]
Question: Hi, John! How are you? We are all well, thanks to God. I wanted to ask you about perfectionism. On the one hand the Bible many times calls us to be perfect: there are many direct passages about aspiration to the perfection: ” Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect etc. On the other […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a class on worship in the Book of Revelation in San Diego October, 2013. It focuses on the picture of Jesus in Revelation Ch 1 and 5 as well as worship scenes in Revelation 7,11,15 and 19. A picture of believer’s before the throne of God is presented. Revelation Worship Notes […]
Question: I was reading the question and your response to Mr. Atwill’s claim about Christianity. My question is, why are other religions not attacked like Christianity? Why don’t Mr.Atwill, and others like him, do the same to Buhdah, Muhammed,etc. To me, this proves even more the validity of Jesus and Christianity. Answer: I am not […]
Editor’s note: Below is a paper submitted by Randy Hroziencik as part of his work on the ARS Apologetics Certificate. It was of a quality we are proud to publish at the web site. “Refuting the Skeptical Case against Fulfilled Messianic Prophecy” Randall L. Hroziencik Prophecy & Christian Apologetics October 2013
Dr John Oakes gave a class 10/17/2013 on how the Christian can know God’s will. Coll 1:9-10, Psalm 119:110, Romans 12:1-2 and others are used. The lesson focuses largely on how to obtain wisdom through advice. This is clearly not Christian evidence, but we thought we would publish it for those interested. Knowing and Doing […]
Question: I am asking a series of questions that come from 1 Cor. 15. Several times in the chapter Adam is referred to as “one man,” a single individual. If Adam and Eve existed as an “original couple” and had a real Fall, I believe this may present major problems in trying to harmonize evolution with […]
Question: I wanted to thank you for your last email and for answering some of the questions I had. I appreciate you taking the time out of your undoubtedly busy schedule to do so.It helped me greatly. I hope I do not wear you out with my somewhat simplistic inquiries. The reason for this question […]
Question: Which religion is correct? Answer: Because you sent this question to a web site with the name Evidenceforchristianity.org, it is fairly obvious that we believe that Christianity is the correct religion. I am guessing that there is a more specific question behind this request. Do you have a more specific question about why we […]
Question: I have been thinking lately about the the difference between willing yourself to change vs. being changed through and by the Holy Spirit. What’s the difference? I ask this because it seems as though when God wants you to grow in an area He allows you to go through situations that mold you into […]
Question: This is starting to circulate on the internet. Facebook……etc. I am sure young christians in our congregations may have a hard time with it. Just curious if you guys have heard about it yet. http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2013/10/prweb11201273.htm Response: Ancient Confession Found: ‘We Invented Jesus Christ.’ A new “theory” to explain the genesis of Christianity is making […]
Ancient Confession Found: ‘We Invented Jesus Christ.’ A new “theory” to explain the genesis of Christianity is making the rounds of skeptic websites and will soon appear at a college or university near you. It is found in a recent documentary by Joseph Altwill “The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus” I would like to present […]
Question: Professor, one of the characters that I find most curious that there isn’t a lot of information about is Melchizedek. Besides Hebrews Chapter 7, Genesis 14, several references in Psalms, and mention in the Pseudoepigraph “The Book of the Bee” of the Book of the Cave of Treasures, are there any legitimate sources in […]
Question: The Magi/wise men who visited the young Jesus were obviously men of knowledge, possibly scholars of some sort. I would assume that when they returned to their home they documented their experience. Is there any evidence of this? Answer: I would agree that the Magi were probably of high birth and likely were scholars. […]
Question: I have recently been troubled by a theological dilemma regarding 1 Corinthians 11 and veiling. Actually, I should say I’ve been wrestling with it for years and the conflict comes and goes. How can we as disciples of Jesus KNOW that Paul is speaking culturally? I know that David Bercot is popular throughout churches […]
Question: One of the main reasons our founding fathers declared independence from Britain was because of taxation. Based on what Jesus said about” render unto Caesar…” in reference to paying taxes, were our founders going against what Jesus had said? Answer: This is a fun question. Probably there is no practical implication of this since […]
Request: Can you help me with this? How do you explain in simple terms the Trinity to some one who is struggling to understand how God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are different but are also one and the same? Thank you. Response: I hate to say this, but I am afraid there is no […]
Question: Are Christians in danger of committing idolatry by having crucifixes,and pictures of Jesus, statues of Saints and Archangels, praying for those saints and Archangels to intercede for us in God’s presence? Answer: I think you put it well. Christians are “in danger of committing idolatry” when they use crucifixes, pictures of Jesus, statues of […]
Question: I have seen your view about the book of Enoch.first I have to tell you where I am from , I am actually from Ethiopia. the only christian country that accepted the book of Enoch as canon.please I want much evidences that can disprove its authenticity. do you have? Answer: I did not say […]
Question: Since you believe Jesus fulfilled Zech.6:11-13, do you also believe the body of Christ is the Temple? Answer: I believe that Zechariah 6:11-13 is really more of a messianic foreshadow than a historical messianic prophecy. In other words, it is a picture, in earthly terms of an equivalent future reality in heaven. The vision […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a sermon on Deuteronomy 8 in San Diego 9/15/2013. The focus of the lesson is on Moses’ instructions to the “second generation” of those who wandered in the wilderness as an analogy for the life of a disciple. Deuteronomy 8 Entering the Promised Land notes Deut 8 Promised Land MP3 […]
Brian Colon and Dr. John Oakes taught a six hour class on the reliability of the Bible on Saturday Sept. 14, 2013 at the Orange County Church of Christ, Irvine, CA. The class covered the manuscript and other evidence for the reliability of both the Old and the New Testaments. The power point on the Reliability […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a four hour exposition on the Book of John for the South Florida Church of Christ. The class is available at the following link: http://new.livestream.com/Miamischoolofmissions/events/2365794
Dr. John Oakes taught a class titled Christianity and Bioethics for the South Florida Church of Christ 8/30/2013. The class focuses on the moral and ethical questions raised by the leaps in technology in the biomedical field. He discusses the Christian Worldview and how it can guide us to decide which kinds of technologies Christians […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a class for the South Florida Church of Christ 8/30/2013 on Christianity and Postmodernism. In the class Dr. Oakes explains the history of modernism, discussing its strengths and weaknesses. From there, he explains why modernism led to postmodernism, followed by a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the postmodern mindset. […]
Question: In Acts 10:44 Peter is at Cornelius’ house and the spirit of God falls on the Gentiles pre-baptism (while they hear the testimony of Jesus from Peter). Most commentaries suggest that this is more crucial to the argument of Jew v. Gentile and all being alike now, but how could the Holy Spirit come […]
QUESTION: The parochet at the Holy of Holies was “rent in two” as Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross. A most significant event to the Jews, even the Pharisee’s, and yet I have found no Jewish or Roman (non-Christian) evidence or commentary of this event. And the parochet in question is not be […]
Question: I have a question about sharing my faith with a Catholic friend who is mid-line atheist about why the saints are idolatry and about the holy trinity. Answer: For a person who is a mid-line atheist probably the question of whether worshiping saints is idolatry is irrelevant. If a person believes that there is no […]
Question: I recently saw some arguments on the internet where some have said that the Red sea which is believed to be the sea which Israelites crossed is actually “Yam Suph” in the Hebrew bible. They say that this phrase means sea of reeds. They therefore say that we have had a faulty translation going […]
Questions: I was listening to a Rabbi debate with a Christian and wanted to ask you about some of the points that the Rabbi made that the Christian didn’t respond to, if i may. 1. Christians had to “make up” the second coming of the Messiah to harmonize why Jesus did not restore peace in […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a presentation for the South Florida Church of Christ in Miami on 9/1/13 on answering the hard questions (the question of evil, the question of suffering and the question of hell). The power point is attached. HardQuestMiami
Question: What do you think about this take on Songs of Solomon… http://www.findingtruthmatters.org/articles/sos/ [Editor’s note: the gentleman writing this article rejects the “traditional” view that Song of Solomon is about a loving monogamous relationship between Solomon and his wife] Answer: A few logical fallacies or weak arguments on the part of this person (I will […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a class on the book of Jeremiah 8/23/13. The class was not comprehensive, but covers the main themes of Jeremiah. Notes and power point are attached. Jeremiah PPT Jeremiah Burden of the Lord
QUESTION: Do you know, or can you speculate on, what the “thorn in Paul’s fleah” might have been that he spoke of in 2 Corinthians 12:7? The reason I ask is its nice to know these things about elements of the Bible. So many people who are just starting to get into the Word with […]
QUESTION: I have heard several times that moral “law” is said to be observed in animals, suggesting a natural, rather than supernatural explanation for morality. That sentence might not be clear enough, let me elaborate: A good example of a proponent of this is Anthropologist Frans de Waal. de Waal has studied primates for years […]
Question: I have been doing research on this, but I just can find a lot on the question of when Zoroaster [editor: the founder of Zoroastrianism, the chief religion in Persia from about 500 BC until the time of Islam] lived. I know that some claim that he must have lived 1500 BC because the language […]
Comment: I would like to say that I envy you. I can’t seem to reconcile my faith with evolution. I’m sure that the things I was told at church about evolution has a big part to play in my crisis but I think it’s also the way that science has presented it. Ever since Darwin […]
Question: Is it true that Zoroastrianism created Christianity? Also, did Mohammed get his influence from Zoroastriansism? How is it that this religion is so close to Christianity and Islam? Were they living in the same place? How is it the Zoroastrians believe in a virgin birth and a Son of God? How is it that […]
Question: I’ve been reading a bit over the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ commands for personal righteousness. However, some passages leave me with dilemmas on interpretation. For instance, how should one interpret passages on “offer your shirt” in light of this scenario: if I own a business as a Christian and enter into a […]
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