See below for outline of the class "Master and Commander: The Moral Argument for the Existence of God" by Dan Conder from the 2010 ICEC. Master and Commander: The Moral Argument for the Existence of God Romans 1:18-2:16 (see also Genesis 1-3) "You don’t have to believe in God to be moral." In principle, […]
Question: Is it possible for a baptized saved Christian to lose the Holy Spirit after receiving it like in Saul’s case who was disobedient and it was taken away from him? Answer: Yes, it definitely is possible for a baptized/saved Christian to lose the gift of the Holy Spirit. I do not believe what happened […]
Question: Most Christians generally agree that abortion is a sin. But what about abortion to save the life of the mother or abortion because of rape? I am stuck on determining these answers. In the first case, to save the life of the mother, I can see that it might not be a sin, yet […]
A power point by Dr. John Beggs, professor at Indiana University for 2010 ICEC on his research in neuroscience and the philosophical and theological questions of the existence of the human soul. PPT Defense of the Soul 2.36 Mb
The notes and power point are from a class taught by Dr. William Golightly at the 2010 ICEC. The notes/essay attached are particularly good, providing a fairly comprehensive description of where cosmology is at today, as well as listing anthropic fine tuning arguments. Essay: God and Cosmology PP God and Cosmology 3.78 Mb
Question/Comment: You say, with regard to the Letters, that "my assumption…. is that these are inspired writings." I have to point out that whenever God-inspired Scripture is spoken of in the NT, that it is the Jewish Bible that is spoken of. There is in fact no Biblical warrant for the inspiration of the NT […]
This power point is the one used by John Clayton at the 2010 ICEC in Irvine, CA Why Human Suffering 11.72 Mb
This is the power point used by John Clayton for his public lecture "Why I Left Atheism" at the 2010 ICEC in Irvine, CA Why I Left Atheism 12.57 Mb
A sermon given by John Oakes, PhD 6/13/2010 in Long Beach. Faith That Answers the Hard Questions
A class taught by John Oakes, PhD at the 2010 ICEC. A Defense of Christian Theology 1.17 Mb Notes: A Defense of Christian Theolgoy
A class taught by Dr. John Oakes for Proyect Esdras, Mexico City May 8, 2010. ppt Four Christian Views of Evolution (English) 4.10 Mb ppt Four Christian Views of Evolution (Spanish) (
This class was given at the 2010 ICEC by Dr. Robert Kurka of Lincoln Christian University. Note, the notes are more thorough than the ppt. PPT Science: Christianity’s Lost Child Notes for Science: Christianity’s Lost Child
Question: I am a Christian, but I am tempted to let go of my faith. My faith is based on fear (eternal damnation, hell, etc.). I just want to know any evidence of the authenticity of Christianity which is different from other religions. Others also have their divine scriptures and revelations. What makes Christianity different […]
Question: Out of curiosity, how do you address the problem of Israel’s population in Exodus? Supposedly I’ve heard that the increase in population from 70 to 600,000 isn’t realistic? Answer: I can see how one might wonder about this. Well, let us assume 430 years for the time in Egypt. I am not at all […]
Questions: 1. Moses was prevented from crossing the Jordan and entering the promised land by God, because of Numbers 20. If the promised land is a foreshadow of heaven, and Moses did not enter it, are we to infer that Moses did not make it to heaven? 2. We can see how God has protected […]
Question: I’m just curious; if there was nothing before Adam and Eve when did the dinosaurs exist? Answer: According to scientific evidence, based on fossils radioisotopic and other kinds of data, we know that dinosaurs lived from about 240 million years ago until 65 million years ago, at which time it appears that the last […]
An Article by John Oakes, PhD describing four Christian views of evolution, along with strengths and weaknesses of the four views. This essay is intended as a guide for the upcoming forum at the 2010 ICEC in Irvine, CA. Four Christian Views of Evolution John Oakes 6/3/10 We at ARS will be sponsoring a […]
Question: Looking at Mark 9:1 and 1 Cor. 15:51, it is clear that both Jesus and Paul were mistaken in expecting, the arrival of the Kingdom of God in the case of Jesus and in Paul’s case, the second coming, in the lives of some of those present in each situation. How do you cope […]
Question: When did Jesus become sin ? 1)When baptised by John the Baptist? 2)When he was tempted by Satan was he carrying our sin? 3)What does it mean to fulfill all righteousness? 4)When he was on the cross? Answer: Jesus "became sin for us" on the cross. This is why Jesus cried, "My God, My […]
As part of the 2010 ICEC John Clayton will be giving a public lecture titled Why I Left Atheism. Clayton was once a devoted atheist who set out to write a book "The Bible: A Book by Ignorant People in and Ignorant Age" The result: he became a Christian! 7:30 PM Location: 10 Goodyear, Irvine, […]
Question: I have recently come across this website apparently relating toward prophecy in the Bible (http://www.pillar-of-enoch.com/index.html). In the website, there are articles of apparent prophecies in Ruth, Ester as well as other books of the Bible. How should we respond to anyone who may bring these viewpoints up? Answer: I spent some time at this […]
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Question: Are there any specific arguments you can make that would make the possibility of an afterlife highly likely? For example, what about arguments for the soul, the resurrection of Jesus, or whatever? I keep running into people who say that when we die, we’re just dead. How would you respond to this? If we really […]
Notes for an OT survey class taught by John Oakes, PhD in 2004. OT Survey Notes
Question: How can one refute the ideas presented in Michael Drosnin’s Bible Code or other premillennialist viewpoints? Don’t these types of concepts hurt the integrity and validity of scripture? Answer: My answer with respect to Michael Drosnin and premillenialists will be very different. I believe it is not fair to lump premillenialists together with Bible […]
Pregunta: ¿Hay alguna base bíblica o escritura que soporte que ayunemos parcialmente o de algúna cosa por determinado tiempo? ¿es igualmente aceptable y agradable para Dios? Muchas gracias por tu atención a nuestras inquietudes. Respuesta: .No hay apoyo bíblico, por lo que yo sé de un ayuno parcial o para el ayuno de algo distinto […]
Question: I want to know if you have a class on Isaiah 55:6-7. How would you explain this passage? Answer: Thanks for your kind words. No, I do not have a class on Isaiah 55. I believe that the passage you mention has a fairly straightforward interpretation. "Seek the Lord while he may be found; […]
Question: Is there any [strong] evidence that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written after 70 AD? I’ve been browsing wikipedia and found that some scholars believe that those 3 gospels, specifically Luke, believe that it was dated sometime after 80 AD to maybe around 125 AD. Is there any [strong] evidence […]
Question: God cannot and will not tolerate sin. "The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) If this is so, then why did God allow sin to occur? If he is all-knowing, before he created the world, didn’t he know that sin would occur? If he hates sin, and he is the creator of all […]
Este clase se ensenado por John Oakes, PhD 8 de Mayo, 2010 para el Proyecto Esdras en DF Mexico. Cuatro Perspectivas de la Evolucion 3.88 Mb
Question: There is a link to an audio message by Darrel Falk available on Douglas Jacoby’s website. The title of the talk is “Bridging the Worlds Between Faith and Biology”. In this talk, Darrel talks about Noah and the Flood as follows: "We can use science to test the story of Noah, and when we […]
Question: I’ve recently learned about these so called Deuterocanonical books that are accepted by Catholics and Eastern Orthodoxs, but not by Protestants. I even came across this from an Orthodox Christian (not a friend of his btw) on Facebook who claims that this predicts the coming of the Messiah: "The Book of Wisdom was the […]
Question: I have searched the Q&A’s and have not found an answer to this question. Is there a resource or an answer that you have to the following: If the point of us being on earth is to give us the opportunity to choose God, and suffering causes us to become more like Christ(simplified for […]
Question: It seems that the ideal of secular humanism is to do whatever benefits the well being of mankind. Does the idea of secular humanism conflict with God? Or does secular humanism put people on a pedestal above God? Answer: Secular humanism is a philosophy and world view which includes an assumption that the physical/natural […]
Question: I have a question about the Big Bang. Does the Big Bang state the the universe came from nothing? If so, would it support the idea of the genesis account? The reason I ask this is that I came across this on the internet and I wanted to get your thoughts on it: "Considering that […]
Question: I have a friend who suggested that I should get a Hebrew Bible because of supposed corruption with the translations. While I find his reasoning questionable, are there any current Bibles with the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic languages that are trustworthy? Answer: This is a good question! I believe that you will not […]
Pregunta: Las causas de los desastres, terremotos, huracanes etc. Ud. explico que eso es bueno para nuestro planeta y estoy de acuerdo. Pero como podemos explicar que estas causas tambien ocasionan la muerte en las personas? Le agradeceria mucho su ayuda en estos temas Respuesta: Para nosotros como seres humanos, la muerte es trágica, […]
Question: I am writing a paper on Soteriology for the Chicago MDA (ministry development academy)class I am in. Any research/book suggestions? We went through Shelley’s, ‘Church History in Plain Language’ for the class. Answer: You are giving me a rather broad topic. I assume you paper has some aspect of salvation theology involved. Is this a general paper or […]
Atheism: A Falsified Hypothesis. An essay by Brian Colon, a member of the ARS board. www.KnowItsTrue.com 4/28/2010 Atheism: A Falsified Hypothesis by Brian Colón Several Atheists like to complain that Theism, unlike Atheism is unfalsifiable. If this is true, then it means that Atheism can be proven false, Theism cannot. Many Atheists consider this […]
Question: Did Jesus not have the Holy Spirit before his baptism? What does it mean that he received the H.S.? Answer: That is actually a difficult question to answer. The Bible is somewhat vague about how Jesus developed. It is one of those mysteries about which we can speculate but which we can not provide a […]
Samuel;Question: I have a friend who works with NMR and he would like to do research to analyze some samples of soils by NMR and IR analyzes and compare with some analyzes of human issue. He would like to prove that man "comes from earth". Do you know if there is some material published about this? How could he make […]
Pregunta; Tengo una preguntas con respecto al Dios y el sufrimiento. 1) como explicamos las consecuencias (lamentables) que suceden cuando Dios llama nuestra atencion. Ejemplo: para buscar a Dios o paraque alguien se haga un cristiano, costo la muerte de un familiar? Si bien es cierto es bueno e increible de ser un seguidor, pero la […]
Question: What is your take on the Shroud of Turin? Answer: The Shroud of Turin is one of thousands of fake religious items which circulated in Europe in the late Middle Ages. I have heard estimates that if you added all the pieces of the "true" cross of Jesus which were in the churches in the […]
Question: I’ve heard a lot of skeptics claim that the accounts of Christ’s Resurrection in the Gospels of Matthew (28:1-10), Mark (16:1-11), Luke (24:1-12), and John (20:1-18) are hopelessly contradictory and it is impossible to accurately harmonize them. I recall hearing a claim that thereare 25 alleged contradictions or discrepancies between them, though I’m not […]
Question: As you are a scientist, I would appreciate your explanation as to how it is possible to get plants reliant on photosynthesis on the third day, before the creation of the sun on the fourth. Answer: Genesis 1 has night and day on the first day, but the appearance of the sun, moon and stars […]
Question: I’ve just learnt that you’ve had a really big ‘quake in San Diego. You’re remarkably assured on this subject and bacteria in your apologetics. I wonder if you still feel the same. Answer: Well, if I hold to a world view and it is shaken by something like an earthquake, then it certainly was not a very […]
Question: In the midst of many that claim to be prophets of God, is there any particular method to tell if one is an actual prophet of God? Or if in fact that there is anything a prophet could say that is validated by scripture? Answer: Believe it or not, the answer to this question […]
Question/Comment: I believe that Genesis should not be read literally as it conflicts with our current scientific models such as the dating of the universe and Evolution. As a result I believe that we must read Genesis as a theological poem not a scientific textbook. Thus I see that we were created and we fell […]
A class on Apologetics and World Religions was taught by John Oakes, PhD and Dan Conder in San Diego May 28-29, 2010. Notes on Apologetics and World Religions Power Point: Apologetics and World Religions 9.39 Mb I promised students a summary of the Book of Mormon by Joe Fields. Here it is. The Book of […]
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