Comment: A friend directed me towards your site. I’ve been reading your articles on how life could not possibility come about spontaneously. I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. When a new property of RNA was discovered: some kinds of RNA can catalyze chemical reactions – and that means that RNA can both […]
Question: I think that the one story that undoes the Bible and the claims made about its infallibility and God’s loving kindness is the story of Elijah calling down evil in the name of Jehovah on children. You defend it in the manner of someone who doesn’t really believe that 42 children were torn to […]
question: You mentioned that a researcher encountering a miracle in their research would most likely disregard the event, however what do you do when that miracle is something like the Antikythera Mechanism? We can xray and study it, but all the data we collect seems to completely contradict our understanding of the Helenistic world. With […]
This is a debate between Dr. Douglas Jacoby and the skeptic. Richard Carrier Jan 14, 2012 in Sacramento, CA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJmKxTB7Twg
Question: Do plants have a soul? Should we use animals for food? Answer: No, plants definitely do not have a soul. Neither do animals have a soul. According to the Bible, human beings were made "in God’s image" (Genesis 1:26). This God-likeness includes having a spirit and a soul. Animals definitely do not have the […]
Question: When did Christians begin to understand that the articles in the temple were foreshadows of Jesus? For example the bread on the Showbread table is a foreshadow of Jesus as the "Bread of Life". Did the disciples teach this principal? Did this thinking come later as the books of the Bible were collated? Answer: […]
Editor’s not: This article is not edited, except for spelling, capitalization and punctuation errors. Some of the language is a bit offensive, but we wanted the person’s ideas to be expressed in his own words. Comment: I think that the one story that undoes the Bible and the claims made about its infallibility and God’s […]
Question: I was wondering what your thoughts would be on the article "Evolving yeast sheds light on life’s rise" singled-celled brewer’s yeast evolve into more complex, multi-celled organisms. This is a step towards showing us how life came about. This shows that lots of time is not needed for the origins of life. I read […]
Question: When debating with an atheist about the origins of life I used your statement (see below) In order for life to come about by a chemical accident, as atheists and scientists committed to materialist explanations assume, several things must have happened which simply can not happen. First of all, a genetic code, capable of […]
Question: There are many issues we learn about God and Jesus by studying His 6 hours on the cross. So why do so many Protestants object to the crucifix? Do you? Answer: It is hard to say why most Protestants stay away from crucifixes in their churches. There is the reason they say they do […]
Question: Anger can also cause someone to hate another person. If someone murders someone we love most people would feel anger and hatred towards towards than person. According to the Bible hate is equivalent to murder. These feelings and emotions are due to instinct and the fact than humans have emotions, which we were born […]
Question: When does one receive the Holy Spirit? Answer: This is one of the easiest questions I have ever gotten! The Bible is very clear on this one. In the first gospel sermon, when asked "What we must do?" Peter replied in Acts 2:38-39, "Repent and be baptized so that your sins may be forgiven. […]
Question: My church has always brought us up to believe the Bible is without error and every section in it must be taken literally. Then I have other people tell me that the Bible should not be taken literal. Like the book of Ruth the miracles of Jesus, the Exodus, and others…please forgive me for […]
Question: Could you explain the Quran prophecy about the Byzantines and Sassanids at this Islamic site http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/347/ Response: We should call this a prediction rather than a prophecy. The fact is that if you look at the history of the Sassanid Persians and the Byzantine Empire you will see that they fought continuously for over […]
Question: How would you respond to the apparent contradiction between the epistle of Galatians, and Acts. Paul highlights his trip to Arabia and specifically states that he did not go up to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:17) , however Luke reports nothing about Arabia and states that Paul went to Jerusalem just a couple of days after […]
Request: I cannot find any explanation for Noah’s slavery curse on your site. You only say that using that story to show that God condones slavery is trash. Please, explain why it should be considered trash if it’s in the Bible. Response: There are a number of activities that God allowed in the Mosaic system […]
ARS will be sponsoring a six-hour class on Islam 9:00-4:00 Saturday May 4th. The location is 15610 Crenshaw Blvd., Gardena, CA 90249. Teachers will include Dan Conder and John Oakes. The cost for the class is $20. Suggested reading, schedule, registration and more information will be posted soon. For more information, contact Jan at joakes01@san.rr.com
Question: Why does the Septuagint Bible consist of additional books (3 Kings, 4 kings, Maccabees,etc.) and psalms (151,152)? From my understanding some of these books and psalms were found in the DSS, so why wasn’t it included in the canon? Answer: The question of what the content of the Septuagint is/was is not an easy […]
Question: Have you ever done the Miller experiment from 1953, where they synthesized 22 of the 24 amino acids we need to live? If so how did it turn out? Answer: There are hundreds of thousands of chemists. Probably no more than one or two have ever tried to repeat the Miller experiment because there […]
Question: My Church cannot really give me answers to alot of the evolution questions I have and direct me to either Kent Hovind or some other creation website. I know from talking to a lot of my atheist friends this source is not reliable. I also have an atheist friend who is studying history. His […]
Question: How do you respond to the claim that the gospels are just another embellished or fabricated story like Apollonius of Tyana and Honi ha-M’agel (the circle drawer)? What’s your knowledge of these two figures and their role in history and their relation to Christ? Thanks! Answer: At ARS we sponsored a debate on this […]
Question: I am very iffy about this book that someone has mentioned to me which is titled Hebrew is Greek by Joseph Yehuda. This book is really hard to find, but the basic idea is that the Hebrew and Arabic languages are descended from the Greek language. I did research on the author, and what […]
Question: I was wondering your position on a natural route of healthy living. I was reading a response you had about how it is not a sin to use modern drugs to help with physical pain or psychological disorders. What about alternatives to it? The more I get into natural ways to resolve health issues […]
What is the most convincing evidence for the existence for a supernatural being? Answer: The most convincing evidence for the existence of God, at least for me, is the indirect evidence provided by the inspiration for the Bible (and all the evidence which supports belief in the inspiration of the Bible). For this I strongly […]
Question: I was hoping you could answer my a question on Isaiah 45:14. It seems to say that Cyrus the Great would gain tribute or conquer Egypt, Cush and the Sabeans (which I believe are Ethiopians). But Cyrus the Great never conquered Egypt. Rather Cyrus’ son Cambyses invaded Egypt and conquered Egypt. He then tried […]
Question: I have a lot of trouble when presented with "picky" questions about numbers, names, or even localities of the Bible events. Some of them are raised by people I talk to, and some of them are mine, when trying to read the Bible deeper and have a better understanding of God’s word. As for […]
Translated power points from John Oakes’ teaching tour in China. From Shadow to Reality Mandarin 680.50 Kb Problem of Pain and Suffering Cantonese 1.38 Mb Christianity and the Paranormal Cantonese 6.68 Mb The Bible From God or Man? Mandarin 2.78 Mb Acts and Church History Mandarin 6.70 Mb
Comment: You must be a Catholic or not have read very much. I ran into this article today and BS. " The Catholic Church changed Saturday Sabbath to Sunday Sabbath. We are still obligated to the Law (Matthew 5:17-20). How do you resond to this biblically" I don’t have time now but i will. I […]
Question: Any thoughts on the contradiction between John having Jesus as crucified on the eve of Passover and the other gospels on Passover itself? Answer: This is a somewhat complicated question. There is no doubt that John tells us Jesus was crucified on the eve of the Passover. It was also the day before a […]
Question: Does God say we should have only one wife? Answer: One would think that this is a straightforward and easy question, but there are subtleties to the biblical response to this question. First of all, I believe that all along, God fully intended, without any qualification, that one man and woman is unambiguously God’s […]
psalm 96
Question: As a student studying Biology I personally believe in evolution, and I also believe in God. However, I have been struggling to figure out whether I should interpret Genesis chapter 2 literally. I looked at two different prestigious scientists who are both Christians but claim evolutionary creationism or bios logos. The first is Dr. […]
I read that the firmament in genesis 1:6 acctualiy means expanse(sky). Does that mean that there I water above the sky(expanse) as some atheists say? Also I have been reading about the genesis geneologys in genesis 5:1-32 and I found out that the old greek version of the old testament states that methuselah begot lamech […]
This is a presentation given by Dr. John Oakes in Hong Kong 1/11/2012. John acknowledges that, although all the notes and power point are his, many of the thoughts come from a similar presentation by Dr. Douglas Jacoby at the 2011 ARS Christian evidences conference. Audio will be in the ARS store soon. Download the […]
Hi John, Please shed light about "dating outside our faith" (icoc).Is it alright to have a relationship to a non-disciple? many of our brothers and sisters got stumbled because for past decade i knew personally that its leadership indignantly taught us about this issue. please show me some light on this, thank
Question: In leviticus 11:20-23 it said that the Israelites could not eat any flying creeping thing that is on all fours. What was God refering to when he means flying creeping on all fours? I can’t find any creeping flying animal or insect that is on all fours. Answer: Scholars will agree that Leviticus 11:20-23 […]
What’s your response to this article on inerrancy? http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/08/16/the-inerrancy-of-scripture-the-fifty-years-war-and-counting/
Question: I have three different questions on scripture. The first is based on Matthew 11:18 "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon." Just a couple of passages before this John was eating locusts and wild honey? My only explanation of this is that Jesus was talking about John’s […]
Question: Does Genesis 1:7 say that there is water above the expanse(sky)? Does the Bible support this wrong cosmology? Answer: Genesis chapter one is not a scientific treatise and should not be treated this way. It is a theological treatise, stating that God created everything in the universe, giving a rough order in which the […]
Question: In the Septuagint it states that Methuselah was 167 when he begot Lamech. But that would mean that Methuselah living up to 969 would have survived the flood. The Bible states only 8 people were on the ark. Is there any earlier Old Testament text that gives Methuselah a different age when he begot […]
Question: I come from a VERY Catholic family. This Christmas was naturally a very…interesting time. ANYWAYS, they brought up a statement/question that I felt ill equipped to answer. They made the statement that back in OT days, when Jews made a sacrifice, they would have to partake (i.e. eat) the sacrifice to consummate the covenant. […]
Comment: I would like to address the question in your webpage concerning a friend that is being persuaded by people like Hitchens and Dawkins. I hope that you pointed out to this person these unarguable facts. No one has ever seen God. Not one prayer that has been prayed has come true by divine intervention. […]
Question: What’s your response to people who claim the hallucination hypothesis and state that Paul had a lot of guilt towards persecuting the Christians which eventually led to his hallucination? And how would you interpret the verse in Matthew 2:3 "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed and ALL Jerusalem with him"? Thanks! Answer: […]
Question: How do you respond when critics attack the Bible stating that Luke can’t be accurate because it put Quirnius as governor of Syria when Jesus was born. Quirinius was governor of Syria in 6/7 AD yet Herod was also alive at the time as well, but he was thought to have died in 4 BC ? […]
Question: In 1999, researcher Bruce Bagemihl showed that homosexual behavior has been observed in close to 1,500 species, ranging from primates to gut worms, and is well documented for 500 of them and in many creatures that do not have the conscious capacity to think.That was almost 13 years ago. Why again do you still […]
Question: How did the Philistines get 30,000 chariots in 1 Sam 13:5? Is there any evidence that this is a copyist error? Answer: The answer is that the Septuagint and Syriac translations have 3000 rather than 30,000 chariots. Both are very early translations of the Old Testament which were made many hundreds of years before […]
Question: I have a friend who claims that there are biblical prophecies within both the Old and New Testament that have not come to pass as of yet. Though I am aware that not all biblical prophecy hasn’t been fulfilled, what are the basic rules for interpreting it? Should we focus on how Jesus had, […]
Question: I do think witchcraft and casting of spells is real. I live in Beaufort SC and up the road from me was once the VooDoo capital of the world Frogmore SC. The head guy was Dr. Buzzard. In his life time people from all over the world, even heads of state traveled to this […]
Request: I have a former student who is in college and really questioning his faith and is starting to believe in the arguments presented by Hitchins and Dawkins. Recently he posted this "question" asking for people to comment and give him feedback. I am looking for anyone who could help me give some meaty and […]
Question: Are we supposed to forgive anything and anyone even when we are hurt badly? Answer: Yes. Without qualifications, yes. God expects those of us who have been fogiven of a massive weight of sin by God to forgive anyone and any thing, even when we are badly hurt. God was badly hurt by our […]
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