Question: Do all Christians confirm that God (ie. one who creates the heavens and earth) and Jesus Christ are one? If God and Jesus Christ are the same why when Jesus Christ was on earth did he preach sometimes opposite to the old rules and regulations in the Old Testament? Answer: It is my opinion that, […]
Question: A Muslim that I talked to argues that Muhammed was predicted in the Bible in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 12: "And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned." He claims that this is exactly what happend when Mohammed recieved […]
Question: Could you explain to me about the chosen nation either in Old Testament and New Testament? Answer: The Jews are known in the Old Testament as a "chosen people." They were chosen by God because of the faith of Abraham. The promise that the family of Abraham would be chosen is found in Genesis […]
Question: Is there going to be one supreme Antichrist who is above the previous ones? Many futurists have been linking the 70 weeks of Daniel into a 7 year period of Tribulation where the antichrist shall rise up and claim the world. Is there any validity to this theory? Answer: No, there is no validity […]
Question: I have been discussing original texts with my History and Development of Early Christian Thought Professor. He made the point that the original word that Jesus used was synagogue instead of church. For example, "On this rock I will build my synagogue" versus "On this rock I will build my church". What Understanding do […]
science_and_religion_lecture 1.42 Mb Power Point for a recent invited lecture in a philosophy class at Grossmont College by John Oakes, PhD
Question: Is there any proof in the Bible that dinosaurs really existed? Answer: Dinosaurs are not mentioned in the Bible. Some say that leviathan (Job 3:8, 41:1, Ps 74:14, etc.), is a dinosaur, but this does not make sense. Whatever leviathan is, it surely is not a dinosaur. It does not even make sense that […]
Question: I was just reading an excerpt out of the book "Who is My brother" by F. LeGard Smith, I believe you are familar with this book. He states that those who are baptised even without the knowledge that they are baptized for the forgiveness of their sins are still saved in God’s eyes. So […]
Question: I have done some study online, read a couple of books (early church writings) and listened to an audio on baptism (by David Bercot). When I looked up the words in Matthew 28, Acts 2 and Romans 6, each time, I see the first definition as "to dip repeatedly". While reading a primary source […]
Question: God is one who created the Universe and at the end he will destroy the Universe. Why does he do this? Does He have any choice not to destroy the Universe? If the Universe is destroyed, how can humanity can escape from that giant disaster? The Universe exists, then after a very, very , very long time it will […]
Question: Were the original prophecies of the Messiah altered? Jews state that Jesus did not fulfill all of the prophecies realting to the Messiah. They also claim that the followers of Jesus in the early ages sincerely believed he was the Messiah, and altered the Old Testament to suit their needs. Answer: It is true […]
Hi John, Excellent review of the debate. I think you summarized it all very well, and I particularly like your reflections on the “injustice” of God punishing the innocent Jesus for our sins. I thought about that a lot also, and we have to remember that Jesus volunteered to take the punishment for us. It […]
Hello John, I was so excited to hear about your visit. I am sure that you had heard from Vangjel how grateful he is, but still, here is what he wrote…(please read the forwarded message) p.s.: thank you again for all your effort and love. Love, Petra Dear Petra! I am so happy to […]
Hi John, It ‘s good to know your head is better.We appeciate so much your visit.The classes are so deep , helpful and encouraging.I know it helped and encourage so much all the churches you’ve had been.We hope you can come back some day. We wish this trip could encourage Liz. We really want her […]
Hi John, It ‘s good to know your head is better.We appeciate so much your visit.The classes are so deep , helpful and encouraging.I know it helped and encourage so much all the churches you’ve had been.We hope you can come back some day. We wish this trip could encourage Liz. We really want her […]
Question: Are there any specific prophecies that have been fulfilled? Many skeptics claim that prophecies are too broad to be reliable. Answer: The answere is a resounding yes. You will find a wealth of information on this topic in three of the books I have published. The three are Reasons for Belief, Daniel, Prophet to […]
Question: Is there any truth of historicism? It is the belief that the prophetic events on Revelation, Daniel, Matthew, etc. repeat over time. Some believe that the events which have already taken place will occur again in greater magnitude. The holocaust (3.5 years) was just foreshadowing the events of the true Great Tribulations (Second half of […]
Question: What proofs are used to show the book of Daniel was written in the 600s and what evidence is used to prove a later composition, around the time of Antiochus Epi arephanes? Answer: There is no evidence to support the idea that Daniel was written in the 600s, as Daniel died in about 535 BC. […]
Question: Did God know Adam and Eve were going to eat the apple and bring sin into the world? It seems to me we are all suffering for what they did. Answer: God is all knowing. If I understand the biblical view of God correctly, he is not affected by time and therefore he knows past […]
Question: Is there any evidence outside of the Bible that Jesus was real? Answer: A number of non-Christian historical sources mention Jesus of Nazareth, from as early as the late first century AD. This includes Jewish historian Josephus, the Jewish OT commentary known as the Talmud, and Roman historians, especially Tacitus and Seutonius. These writers […]
Question: I assume that God allmighty is performing miracles right at this moment. He is curing cancer, AIDS, and all kinds of spiritual and physical illness. But, why God doesn’t answer the prayers of a person that has been mutilated? Why there isn’t any miracle performed by our Allmighty God where a limb that has been […]
ScienceChristApologFlyerSecond is a series of classes toward a certificate in Christian Apologetics San Diego, CA 10/18 and 10/25/2008 Announcement: Two-Part class to be offered Sat. October 18th and 25th: Science and Christian Apologetics The board of ARS is excited to announce that we will be offering a certificate in Christian Apologetics, which will include nine classes in total. […]
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On a recent visit to Rio de Jainero, John Oakes gave a talk on the question, “Who Is My Brother?” Notes are included below Who Is My Brother? Editor’s Note: The author of this outline is John Oakes, but in giving this talk he acknowledged that the inspiration for this outline comes quite directly from […]
Teaching Trip to Brazil by John and Elizabeth Oakes 8/15-8/26/08 Report on Teaching Trip to BrazilAugust 15-26, 2008 Rio de Jainero Aug 16-18 It took my daughter Liz and I 24 hours to travel from San Diego to Dallas, to Sao Paulo, switching airports in order to fly to Rio de Jainero. We are pretty […]
Question: I was reading the website of Yusuf Estes. A muslim apologist who used to be a Christian Minister. He claims that in his study of the Bible he saw the Bible is littered with contradictions, and that after reading the Koran he saw it had no errors and so could only be from God. How […]
Question: I noticed that you indicated in a question concerning how many were in Jesus’ family, that he may have had at least 3 sisters. My question is this. If Jesus had such a large family and Jews were noted to care for their parents, why does Mary go to live under the care of the apostle […]
Question: The Bible says in 1 Corithians 11:10 "for this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head." Why does it say that a woman should have a cover on her head because of the angels? Answer: You should know that 1 Corintians 11:10 is […]
Question: Reading in the Old Testament I came across a few things: many times it is said that angel of the Lord came to people, then the next line it is said that it was God who came e.g. Genesis 18 – talking to Abraham (those 3 men were angels or God?), Exodus 14 – Numbers 9:15…, Judges […]
Why is it that the latest book published on the archeology of Palestine, namely "The Bible Unearthed" by Finkelstein & Silberman flatly declares that the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan never happened ? Answer: You will have to ask them. I have enough trouble explaining why I say what I say, never mind taking […]
Editor’s note: Since this article was written, a new paper which appears to identify Darius the Mede as Cyaxares II the Mede has been published. This appears to more or less settle the question. We recommend you read this paper. It is at http://www.academia.edu/9787699/Darius_the_Mede_A_Reappraisal Question: Why is it that “The Cambridge History Of Judaism” knows nothing […]
Question: A new question has been submitted by Francisco (fjgoulart@gmail.com) on [08/21/08]: Everytime I read the gospels I wonder how possible it was to keep Jesus’s exact words in each of the writings. Thus, I have a question: Is it possible that someone took notes while walking around along with Jesus, maybe one of hs disciples? Answer: This […]
Question: I know that we are all descendents of Adam and Eve, but what about the cavemen who proceeded them? Aren’t they the earlier forms of humans or are they a different kind of species? (Similar to how gorillas are almost identical to humans genetically) When we look at the genealogy in the Bible, it shows that […]
Question: How can you explain Matthew 12:7? Doesnt it say that God offers mercy and not sacrifice? How, then, can Jesus be the Sacrifice? Answer: As a general rule, when one finds what might appear to be a contradiction in the Bible, the first thing to do is to look at the context of the passage […]
Question: I noticed a curious thing tonight at bible talk. One of the passages we were asked to look at was Mark 11:22 – 25. I read a little further and noticed that there is no verse 26. Chapter eleven jumps from verse 25 to 27. What happened to verse 26? Answer: There is a […]
Question: I was wondering as a Christian, how sure are we that Matthew the Disciple of Jesus wrote the Gospel that bears his name and if he did, when can we assert he wrote his Gospel? Answer: I wish I could say that we know for sure that Matthew wrote this gospel and that we […]
Question: If you agree that the “appearance of age” theory can be rejected, what are the alternative ideas that you do believe? I remember that you believe that there may still be dinosaurs in Africa dwelling in uncharted territories. Do you still believe this? Although I haven’t seen “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, […]
Question: Why do some Christians believe Mark 16:15-16 is for us and Mark 16:17-18 is not for us but for the apostles? Answer: Before answering your question, let me point out something very important to know about Mark 16:9-20. Most scholars believe that it is quite likely this passage was not in the original book of […]
Question: A new question has been submitted by Karen (lilcricket229@aol.com) on [08/11/08]: In Genesis 6:3 God shorted mans lifespan to no more than 120 years, but Jacob live 147 years, and according to Exodus 6:16,18, and 20..three of Joseph’s brothers live 130+ years. Can you point me to what I am missing? Am I misreading […]
Question: The LDS church is very large. If The Book Of Mormon is not true then how come the church has been so prosperous? I am not saying that they are right but certainly they are doing goods things to earn God’s blessing. Answer: It is true what you say that Mormonism has grown fairly […]
Announcement: ARS will be sponsoring a two-part 10-hour class on the role of prophecy in Christian Apologetics September 6 and 13, 2008 in San Diego, California. Announcement: Two-Part class to be offered Sat. September 6th and 13th: The Role of Prophecy in Christian Apologetics The board of ARS is excited to announce that we will […]
Question: This has been bothering me for a long time, if Christianity is the true religion, why are there Christians converting to Islam? Answer: The fact that Christianity is the true religion (ie that is tells the correct story about God) does not prevent people from being Hindu, Buddhist, Confucionist or Islamic. People reject Christianity […]
Question: Is the Book of Mormon another testament of Jesus Christ? Answer: Joseph Smith certainly claimed that it was. This claim is found on the title page of the Book of Mormon. The simple answer is NO WAY. Joseph Smith showed no legitimate signs of being a prophet. He made no predictive prophecies which later […]
Question: Can you tell me About Baptisam? Without Baptisam can we be saved? Answer: All I can do on this one is go by what the Bible says. A good place to look is the first gospel sermon, preached by Peter on the Day of Pentecost, which is found in Acts chapter 2. After explaining to his […]
Question: Is saving grace conditional or unconditional? Answer: There is a sense in which this is a trick question, although I am sure you had no intention of posing a trick question. It reminds me of the situation in which Jesus was asked about whether one should pay taxes to Caesar. Simply saying either yes […]
Question: One might say it is unfair, that God might judge the world before some people (who are so very remote) ever get a chance to hear the message. What do you think? Answer: This is a very common question. I get it quite often at the site. It is a good question. My response is […]
Question: Is the situation in Irael just now, prophecy being fulfilled? Should we as Christians be concerned for the Israeli people? Answer: The quick answer is a definite no. I discuss in some detail the premillenialist view and the tendency to view modern events as fulfillment of prophecies in Revelation, Daniel or Ezekiel in an appendix […]
Question: Should christians or Elders today practice putting oil on their sick (siblings or relatives) and pray over them for healing? Is this something we shouldn’t be doing or should be doing? Answer; You question, I assume, is a reference to James 5:14-15. Here, James advises those who are sick to call upon the elders […]
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