Some of my friends say there is evidence that during the reign of Constantine and the meetings at that time, many scholars met and decided which books to put in the Bible and eliminated others that didn’t fit their agenda and they changed the wording of many of the verses and deleted others.  Yet the […]

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Question: What are the diseases associated with demon possession in the New Testament (for example in Matthew 4:24; Luke 8:27, and Luke 8:26-39.)?  Also, during the time of Jesus, what was the meaning of being possessed by a demon? Answer: Many commentators have noticed a similarity between the symptoms of demon possession described in the New Testament […]

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  Scientific Materialism/Naturalism an article by John Oakes, PhD Apologetics and the Christian World View Part II Scientific Materialism/Naturalism In the previous essay we looked at why people ought to think carefully about their view of the world, and at the importance of forming and holding to a consistent world view.  We have considered a […]

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A journal for John Oakes’ trip to teach in Korea and the Philippines 1/2-1/18/2009   Seoul/Manila 2009 Journal Seoul, Korea Jan 3-6, 2009 I arrived in Incheon Airport, one hour from Seoul.  Seoul is a city of 12 million + inhabitants.  It is a prosperous industrial city where everyone is in a hurry.  Korea appears […]

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 christian_theology_outline and infoDr. John Oakes and Robert Carrillo will be teaching a class on Christian Theology on Saturdays starting 3/21 in San Diego from 9:00-10:30.  See attached information sheet.  The location will be the clubhouse at Portofino in Tierra Santa  (10690 Escobar Dr, San Diego 92124).  Recordings of the classes are also attached.      Christian Theology Outline    Power Point 2.46 Mb    […]

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Question: What is the point of, or the reason for, the difference between the premodern notion of “reason” and the modern notion? What are the pluses and minuses of each? 2.      How do you think reason is related to : (a)     authority (b)     love (c)     intuition: (d)     mysticism (e)     symbolism (f)     hope 3.      How .   […]

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Question: Please explain to me Genesis 2:21-23.  It’s about God creating woman by taking one of the ribs in man(adam).  It says that God created man from the dust thru the breath of his nostrils.  Why did God create woman by taking one of the ribs of the man?  What is the purpose or lesson that i […]

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Question:  And another question about Daniel. I’ve calculated the date to 31-32 A.D. and other scholars do that as well, but wasn’t Jesus born like 6 or 7 B.C ? If he only lived 33 years, that would make him riding into Jerusalem at 27 A.D. Isn’t that date incorrect then? Answer:   You need to get […]

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Question: I have a friend who is a member of Seventh Day Adventist. He mentioned  the observance of Sabbath days (Saturday), and the Law according to the Old Testament. He said that when Jesus died the ceremonial law has been fulfilled while the moral law still stands. is this true?  They don’t eat pork and […]

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Question: What year did Jesus get baptised? Answer: We cannot say with absolute certainty the year Jesus was baptized, but using biblical data we can give a date with an uncertainty of one year or, at most two or three years. To establish the date of the baptism of Jesus, one must first establish the […]

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Question: I have heard that Christianity has a lot of pagan influence, can you comment on this? Answer: Believe it or not, this is actually a fairly complicated question.  There are several aspects of how to answer the question.  First, how much Pagan influence was there in the original Christianity taught by Jesus and the apostles.  […]

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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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