Question: Our senior high pastor recently resigned and tit was brought to light what he thought were termed inconsistencies, which made him doubt the inerrant quality of the Bible. For example, in the same verse of scripture 2 Sam 8:4 the different versions don’t agree.  The youth in my group want to know why the different versions differ, […]

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Comment:  I am not impressed with your endorsement of "theistic evolution".  This position is nothing more than a fence-straddling compromise to make evolution mutually compatible with creation and it will never work!  Evolutionists simply refuse to allow God the glory to suddenly and spectacularly create, as in "Let there be light" (Gen 1:3) and "He […]

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Question: Please explain to me the meaning of the passage in Hebrews 10:26-31.  "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Answer: The Passage in Hebrews is talking about those who, once becoming a Christian, choose to return to willful sin over a continued time, making a mockery of […]

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Question:  I get confused sometimes with interpretation in general of the Bible. Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, etc. All have different forms of theolgical understandings of scripture that has resulted in various denominations. Why, and how do you decide which one to agree with more or less?? Answer: The particular false teachings you are […]

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Question: I have been reading some articles on Wikipedia lately about different categories of sexual preference and gender identities.  One interesting category is "intersexual people."  These people are ones whose biological sex is ambiguous because they have both male and female anatomies.  Many in the past and even today believe that such people cannot be […]

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Many atheists seem to dismiss the belief in the "supernatural". Is the word supernatural in the Bible? Are Christians making assumptions, or portraying God in a way that is non-Biblical.  I probably haven’t thought about this much, but saying "supernatural" means saying "magic" or "impossible" to a non-Believer. How can we explain this to a […]

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Question: Do you believe that those who believe in theistic evolution will be pleasing to God on judgement day? Why are Christians turning to the world views and compromising the basics of God being the Creator? Is it appalling to any other Christian Leaders in the fellowship of ICOC that leaders are encouraging this type of […]

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Question: Who put all of the books of the Bible together in one book, and how do we know that they were right? Answer: The logic of the answer to this question is fairly simple, but the evidence is a bit involved.  In order to give you a sufficient answer, I suggest you read the […]

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Question: I don’t understand the whole "hardening your heart" idea in the Bible. For example in Hebrews 6:4-7, is the situation that the person can try to repent and cannot be restored or is it because their heart is hardened so they won’t repent or turn to God? The Bible says that He will always forgive us when we turn to […]

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A message by Philip about the relationship between Hannukah and Christmas (with a little apologetics thrown in!)   Messiah and the Lights of Hanukkah Hanukkah, the Jewish winter holiday also known as the "festival of Lights" derives its name from the idea of "rededication." It commemorates deeds of courage and faith among a Jewish army […]

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Question: Why does the God of the Old Testament seem so mean, and unmerciful, but God in the New Testament is gracious, loving, and merciful? Answer: Yours is a very common misconception of both the Old and the New Testament.  There are two misconceptions here.  First, it is common to view the portrayal of God […]

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Question: 1.      Why would an all knowing benevolent God give such ridiculous laws? Not using two different types of fibers? Cutting off the hand of a woman that grabs the private parts of the man that fights her husband? Not touching a woman for seven days after the beginning of her period? What is that???? The almighty […]

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Question: What are the five miracles in the Old Testament? Answer; I have no idea.  There are a LOT more than five miracles in the Old Testament.  If you are interested, I have published a book on miracles which includes a chapter on Old Testament miracles.  It is titled  "That You May Believe." It is available […]

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Questions:     (several questions are followed by the answer to all of them below) 1.  Does 1 Cor. 7:10-11 really say that divorced couples ought to remarry if they can?  I thought Jesus taught that a divorce was final.  I don’t think Paul is talking about a couple who merely separates because he says the woman […]

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Question: Is Jesus really an acceptable sin sacrifice according to the Old Testament?  The new covenant couldn’t have been active till after Jesus’ death and resurrection, right? So it would make sense to say the initiation of the new covenant shouldn’t violate the standards of the old. Does Jesus REALLY count as a sin sacrifice? […]

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Question:  Where does Jesus say he is God? I haven’t seen a verse in the Bible where Jesus says he is God.  Also I am sure that you are aware that many people think that the Bible is corrupt, it this is not true, where are they getting this belief from? Answer: The answer is that Jesus […]

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An article by John Oakes about recent archaeological discoveries in Edom and Israel.   Two Recent Archaeological Discoveries Support Biblical History Add two to the "we’re not surprised" category of archaeological finds in Palestine.  For reasons that are at times hard to understand, archaeologists have moved increasingly in the direction of skepticism toward biblical history, […]

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Editor’s Note:  The article below is written by Zack Ashmore.  Zack is a high school student who is very interested in Christian Apologetics.  If you want to contact Zack, let me know.   The Implications of Evil on Our World             The problem of evil is, historically, the oldest attack against Christianity.  Sadly, it has […]

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Question:  Someone has mentioned this website to me that gives an argument that homosexuality is not a sin, that we think it’s a sin because we misunderstand what the biblical meaning of the word "homosexual" means.  Here is the website:  http://www.soulforce.org/article/homosexuality-bible-gay-christian  I am sure something is wrong here, but I cannot see why.  Can you […]

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Question: Are there any examples of failed Prophecies in the Bible and scientific contradictions in the bible as claimed by some books? Answer: No, there are not. Of course, there are people who say that there are, and I have heard such claims. For example, in a debate held last June in Chicago, the claim […]

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Induction, Deduction, Revelation:  Notes on a class on how to interpret the Bible and to determine what is best to do, suggesting that we need to take into account first, revelation, which is the direct teaching of the Bible, second Bible principles and third, experience as a source of wisdom.   Induction, Deduction and Revelation How […]

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Notes on how to maintain a dynamic personal relationship with God.  Class presented by Dr. John Oakes in Edinburgh, Scotland.   Thoughts on how to have a great personal Bible Study experience. Example in Numbers 11:4-6.   We never see anything but this manna!   Has the food you eat become somewhat bland to you?    (when I […]

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 what_is_truth 576.00 KbNotes and Power Point for a lesson taught at San Diego State University 11/14/2008   What is Truth? Is Anything True Any more? John 18:37-38    Jesus:  "I came to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." Pilate:  "What is truth?" Now that is a good question.  This […]

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Review by Dr. John Oakes of a debate 11/13/08 between Rabbi David Wolpe and Richard Hitchins Debate Between Rabbi David Wolpe and Christopher Hitchens A Review On Thursday Nov 13, 2008 a debate was held between Rabbi Wolpe and Christopher Hitchins on the question Does Faith Matter at the Jewish Community Center in La Jolla, California.  Rabbi […]

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Question: I have heard a lot of people who argue that Christianity is false, say that the Gospels were written to conform with the political views of the time, and each author wrote to get his political views accross. What do you say about this? Answer:  This is a very good question.  I have not […]

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Question: Could you please explain what man’s righteous anger looks like.  I see Jesus’ reaction in Mt.21:12 and Moses in  Ex.32:19, but how can righteous anger be understood in a Christian life dealing with the sin of another Christian?  What would that look like? Answer: I think that in order to know what righteous anger might look like, we […]

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