Genocide and the Old Testament There is one question which comes up repeatedly, both as I travel and teach for Christian groups and at the web site. The question takes different forms, but in general it goes something like this: If God is such a loving God, how can we explain the fact that […]
Question: I want to know about the Holy Spirit and how it did so many miracles in the 1st century through the apostles and other disciples like speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing by laying on of hands etc. Does that stil happen today, if it does is it by God’s Spirit? Answer: Here is what […]
Question: What does Hebrews 6:1 mean? Answer: Hebrews 6:1 means that there are certain very basic Christian teachings. For obvious reasons, most of these deal with salvation issues, such as baptism, faith and repentance (See Acts 2:36-39). However, in order for a Christian to grow and to remain faithful throughout their lives to God, they […]
Question: Recently, someone asked me how if God is such a loving God could he tell the Israelites to go and totally wipe out entire nations of people (even the innocent people). He also said that God showed favoritism toward the Israelites in doing so which is something even Christians are not supposed to do. […]
Question: In 1996/97 I read Barbara Thiering’s Jesus the Man – I have been re-reading it now as someone who thinks they understand and have read more of the Bible – specifically the New Testament in the 10 years since. However, as a “lay man” , one with not a lot of knowledge on research […]
Question: The main thing that bothers me is the view of amorality. What do you say to someone that doesn’t believe (sometimes due to apparent “lack of evidence”) in such things as “good” and “evil” hanging around out there anywhere? Sure they will admit that things happen that are both helpful and detrimental to a […]
Question: Is college partying sinful according to biblical principles? I am a college student myself and I have avoided parties mainly because of all the sinful activities I hear about parties such as drunkenness, sex, drugs, etc. But what I don’t understand is if it is ok for Christians to attend college parties and even […]
Question: If the miracle stories and the resurection are myths started years after the crucifiction wouldn’t there be alternate stories of Christ that would be written down? I don’t know of any stories of a non-miracle working Jesus so isn’t this very strong evidence that the stories are not myths? Why don’t I ever here […]
Question: How or when do you consider someone drifted away or wondered away? And what is the retoration process? Answer: The Bible makes a distinction between a person who has wandered away and someone who has fallen away. Hebrews 6:4-8 describes a person who has become completely unfaithful, who has turned his or her back […]
Question: Were Adam and Eve neanderthals or modern humans? Answer: Adam and Eve were humans. Whether or not neanderthal are humans is debatable, but Adam and Eve were humans. Anthropoligists have failed to prove Neanderthals were not humans. They had different physical features, but we have every reason to believe they were humans and no […]
The Miracles Jesus Did Not Do Note: This is a chapter in an upcoming book by David Eastman and John Oakes on Miracles, to be published by Illumination Publishers, International in late 2007 or early 2008. It is a truism that you learn almost as much about a person by what they do […]
Question: What is the Christian response to having political affiliations such as being a conservative, liberal, or independent? Does the bible say anything about participating in a political life such as voting, protesting, being a politician, etc? The reason I’m asking is because there are churches that seem to be strongly conservative and then there […]
Question: What does “the evil spirit from LORD” means as stated in 1 Samuel 19:9? Answer: It is a truism that everything which happens is either caused by God or allowed by God. In the case of evil, God allows bad things to happen because such things fall under the free will God has given […]
Question: In the OT, when the Israelites went to war with their enemies, I read numerous times where God told them to put the women and children to the sword after killing their enemies. Don’t you think this is a very cruel act in killing helpless and defenseless beings? Even in modern warfare, armies don’t […]
Question: The Bible never mentions Muhammad, but in the Qur’an it talks about Jesus. Why is that? Answer: The answer is quite simple. Muhammad began his ministry in the year AD 612. This was over five hundred years after the New Testament was completed. There is no reason to expect the Bible to talk about […]
Question: I heard you say at an event that life used to exist on Mars. I thought life only existed on earth. I am reading a book about how unique the earth is and it has been faith building – so that is why I was curious about the comment. Why do you think life […]
Question; I have been following the work of Hugh Ross and his team on reasonstobelieve.org. A claim made on that web-site is that we can show using y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA that the population of mankind can be traced back to a mitochondrial Eve and a y-chromosomal Adam. Furthermore the dating of Eve at an […]
Click below to open or download a power point presentation which is pictures from the mission/teaching trips of John Oakes
QUESTION: How does one conclude that morality exists and is given directly by the Christian God? I am a Christian, and have been raised in a very conservative Christian home, but I’m afraid I’m growing weaker all the time. It’s getting especially harder for me to understand the whole morality issue. It seems that many […]
Question 1 – If God is all knowing that would mean that he knows when anyone is born and how he or she would turn out and whether he or she would go to heaven or hell. My question is this, if he knows that someone would eventually go to heaven or hell why would […]
Question: Did God took rest on the seventh day of creation, if so then he can get tired & weary. Also who does the work during the rest time? I want to know the correct interpretation. Answer: In answer to your question, God does not get tired, Isaiah 41:28 gives us some insight into this, […]
Question: Do you believe that God uses Satan’s evil to bring us closer to following Christ? Answer: I believe that everything which happens is either caused by God or allowed by God. God does not use evil. God does not do evil. God is willing that the evil done by those who do not love […]
Question: I heard in a recent lesson you gave that even in quantum theory and relativity God has left his finger prints. Can you elaborate and illuminate on this? Answer: Quantum mechanics tells us that the simple mechanical view of the universe of Newton and LaPlace is not correct. Quantum mechanics tells us that light […]
Question: I am a Christian in the UK. There are a couple of best selling books in the UK at the moment that deny the existence of God and the truth of Christianity. On is “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins and the other is “Tricks of the Mind” by Derren Brown. The latter is […]
Question: It is taught that by some that only 144,000 people will receive eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ as co-rulers over the earth. Witnesses believe that in the war of Armageddon, which they believe to be imminent, the wicked will be destroyed. The survivors of this event, along with individuals deemed worthy of […]
Question: What’s this about a Gospel of Barnabas? Who wrote it and why? Was Barnabas an apostle or not? Answer: The New Testament speaks of a 1st Century Jew named Joseph, a Levitical priest from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, who became a follower of Jesus. He “was a good man, and full of the […]
Question: What about the Gospel of Barnabus? Who write it? For what? Was Barnabus is apostle or not? Answer: My answer will depend on whether you mean the Epistle of Barnabas or the Gospel of Barnabas. Of the two, the more well known is the Epistle (letter) of Barnabas. The question of whether Barnabas was […]
Question: I came across a book about what happen to you after you die by Dr.Douglas Jacoby. I was thinking about getting this book but I was just thinking that based on what is already written, is there more information on this subject .Answer: Thanks for your question regarding a long neglected teaching! In addition […]
Question: I Am just reading your book “From Shadow to Reality” about all the types for salvation through baptism (which I also believe to be true). What I have always wondered though, is whether people can be “accidentally” saved by participating in a baptism they believe to be symbolic, as in the baptist church, where […]
The Ultimate Miracle [Note: this is a chapter on the resurrection taken from the book Reasons for Belief by John M. Oakes Illumination Publishers, International www.ipibooks.com] In the previous chapter we looked at the miracles that Jesus performed, examined evidence that Jesus really did work these miracles and considered what they imply about the miracle-worker […]
The Resurrection of Jesus An Outline Q: Is it logical to believe that Jesus was raided from the dead? Q: Why is this important? 1. If Jesus was in fact raised from the dead, this validates all his claims. If not?.. 2. It explains a lot The changed […]
? Knowing the Mind and the Heart (and Knowing the Future) [Note: this article is a chapter from a book by John Oakes and Dave Eastman on miracles to be published in 2007] The miracles we have looked at thus far involve Jesus violating physical laws of nature. We will now consider a […]
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Hi J.Oakes, Thanks for the email. We were touched by your concern and "tears" for our welfare and that of our children as ministry staff. We cannot forget that. Thanks for the inspirational classes as well. Hope you will make Lagosthis year either during AFRICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE or later in the year. Titi, Philip […]
Note: This is part three in a series on the problem of pain and suffering. The others are available at the site. Part III Suffering: A Human Problem. Human pain and suffering raises an apologetic problem. How can the idea of a loving and powerful God be consistent with the existence of evil, […]
Question: According to Jer 43 Egypt would be conquered by Babylon, but secularhistorians attribute this conquest to the Persians. Do you have any infoon this? Answer: Your information is correct. The Persians/Medes did conquer Egypt under Cambysses, the son of Cyrus in 525 BC. However, the Persians were not the first to conquer Egypt. The […]
Question: I have read your material on evolution being “scientific” and your view of the Big Bang. Would you object to the Big Bang being taught in school as it is not “science” any more than intelligent design? One cannot do an experiment to prove or disprove Big Bang. Have you read the book by […]
Question: What was the law before the mosaic laws? What was the penalty that goes with sin under that law? Answer: As far as we know, the law given to Israel under Moses was the first formal covenant between God and a nation or large group of people as a whole. The time before Moses […]
Question: One concept I do not understand of evolution, is that if change happens by chance over time, how does it account for reproduction? That is, how is it that species mutated to the differentiation we see today with the ability to reproduce every step of the way? We have to assume fully functional reproductive […]
Note from John Oakes: This is a college lever paper submitted by a user of the web site. It is not at an extremely scholarly level, but I am proud of Johans for doing an excellent job of defending theism in view of scientific knowledge. I hope you enjoy his paper. J. O. […]
Question: Can you help with history of city of Corinth and at present what’s their condition? Answer: Corinth is on the isthmus separating the Peloponesian peninsula from mainland Greece. For this reason, it was in important and wealthy city from ancient times. During the 500’s BC it played a role as the or one of […]
Questions: 1. God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to Tarturus according to 2 Peter 2:4. If God sends angels to Tarturus when they become bad, is Satan the only spiritual force of evil in the heavenly realm that we are fighting against? 4For if God did not spare angels when […]
Question: Ever since last year, I’ve been sharing with a Jewish friend I have. He told me about this small book he read about why you can’t trust the Christian Bible and why not to believe in Jesus. The thing that made me think the most is when this little book talked about how scriptures […]
Introduction to World Religions: Judaism. Click on the link below for a Power Point presentation by R. D. Baker (Phoenix, AZ) and Ryan Cartwright (Edmonton, Alberta). This is a general introduction to a course on world religions, followed by the body of the class, which is on the background of Judaism. Power Point: Judaism 2.29 […]
Question: Did Jesus Christ himself claim to be God and that we should worship him? When he was teaching in the synagogues and temples wheretheJews went, did he teach the following fundamental beliefs? 1. Trinity 2. His supposed divinity 3. That salvation will come through his blood. What didhe mean in John 17:3-4 where he […]
The Problem of Pain and Suffering Part II John Oakes 11/1/06 In the previous essay I proposed a two-pronged strategy to considering the problem of pain and suffering. The existence of evil and of suffering is both an apologetic problem and a human problem. In the first part, I tackled the apologetic issue. […]
The Problem of Pain and Suffering John Oakes 9/27/06 This past summer I traveled to the UKon a teaching trip. I was asked to speak on the problem of pain and suffering. When I received the request my first thought was to wonder why they thought I might be qualified to speak on this […]
Comment: The oldest representations of gods are female & one of the oldest is the Venus of Willendorf, dating from the Upper Palaeolithic about 30,000 years ago. Coming closer to the present is the Mother Goddess of Skorba in Malta which dates from the Neolithic about 6,500 years ago. Isis, the Mother Goddess of the […]
Question: I was at an islamic apologetic web site which claimed that the Qur’an has a correct value for the speed of light, which supposedly proves the Qur’an is inspired by Allah. Below is the quote. 299,792.458 km/sis the speed of light in vacuum. However, according to Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, the speed of […]
Question: If the age of the Cosmos is regarded as 24 hours, Homo Sapiens did not appear until the last second and Jesusdid not appear until almost the last 1/100th of a second. Is it impertinent to enquire what God was doing for the rest of the 13,000,000,000 years ? Was he pondering the future […]
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