Question: How can you explain the seeming contradiction in the Genesis story which has the sun and the moon being created on the fourth day, if there was already day and night on the first day of creation? Isn?t this an example of the Bible being contradicted by science and by common sense? Answer: I […]

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Question: I was talking to a Muslim and he told me that the word that was used in the original Hebrew New Testament for the cross actually meant Stick and that the word has changes over time to mean cross, is this true? Also I am readibng your book “Reasons for Belief.” It is very […]

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Questions (there are several here): Let us take the final 11 verses of Mark for which the earliest evidence is non-existent. Why and by whom were they later added? Why was Jesus described as riding on a donkey? Because the writer knew it would be seen as the fulfilment of OT prophecy and would therefore […]

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Question The earliest Gospel was written c. 70 AD. We have only purported reports of what Jesus said – see for example Geza Vermes ” The Authentic Gospel of Jesus” or further ” The Jesus Mysteries” by Freke & Gandy. Even evangelical writers such as Mark Stibbe talk of “redactors” and “interpretations.” The claims you […]

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Question: I was looking on the internet and i saw some intresting books in PDF form at this website, http://www.ellisskolfield.com/downloadable-books.shtml, they are intersting but I would like to know what you think of them. Answer: This person’s arguments work as long as he is only talking with people who already agree with him and who […]

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Question: In your section on the 10 horns-the 11th being Domitian, what historical sources can you site that show that Vespesian and/or Domitian subdued Otho and Galba? I have only been able to find sources for Vitellius’s overthrow by armed forces who supported Vespesian. Could the three who were subdued actually be ordinal… For example, […]

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Question:Please comment on three quotes I found in your book, “Is There a God?” Page 23. ” If in asking questions about the Bible one is unwilling to reach the conclusion that the Bible is wrong, then it is easy to predict what conclusion will be reached. Page 25.” Belief in Adam and Eve can […]

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Question: I’m trying to reconcile an apparent discrepancy/contradiction between Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts of the Gerasene demoniac. Matthew says there were two while Mark says there was just one. I’m conviced the Bible is inspired, but it seems strange (to me at least). Wasn’t Matthew an eye-witness? And isn’t Mark’s Gospel Peter’s (another eye-witness) memoires? […]

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Question: Does the denial of macro-evolutionary theory fly in the face of decades of evidence & research? Isn’t the idea of ‘theory’, in regards to macro-evolution, really a fact on balance of probabilities (considering paleontological discoveries)? Is it incredibly simplistic & naive to say that people like Richard Dawkins (who wrote ‘The Selfish Gene’ & […]

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Question: I am currently a college student and have taken several religion courses. Often I find information that bothers me. One is that it is often very biased due to the teacher. What has been bothering me recently is some information that has been presented to us, and claimed as “factual.” It is said that […]

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Question: I was rereading your article on the ID debate after reading through an interesting article found at the link below http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00002583/ It made me reconsider your statement: “There is no experiment one can even conceive of which can test the design hypothesis. What could one do in a laboratory to test whether a system […]

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Question: How do you reconcile the Biblical date (Ussher) for Adam, with the age of Homo Sapiens of approx. 150,000 years? Answer: First of all, a bit of history. Bishop Ussher’s date is not authoritative. He claimed that the universe was created on October 23, 4004 BC. He used lengths of reigns of kings of […]

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Question: I have a friend who is a Muslim, and as most people know, they believe in only one God. My friend asked me if I thought that Jesus was God and further emphasized that the Bible does not talk about the trinity. He also pointed out that Jesus never refered to himself as God. […]

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Question: I just recently shared my faith with a man who claimed you cannot trust the Bible as it is just a theory. He also holds that history has been altered and that the stories of the New Testament were most likely alteredt. I told him about the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in […]

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Question: I have a colleague at work who professes to believe in Christ and yet lives a lifestyle which does not reflect this. During discussions on the issues in the Bible I am repeatedly confronted by the accusation that God cannot be just and still punish people for different crimes in the same way (I […]

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Question: Why did God allow people in the Old Testament to have more than one wife, even though we do not practice this today? What about “white lies?” Did Rahab sin when she lied? Did God allow immorality, such as with Jacob and his maidservant, which was consented to by his wives Leah and Rachel? […]

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Letters to the Editor, December Edition Is Christmas A Christian Holiday? When people claim a late date for NT writings, another great question for them is why there is no mention of the Jewish Temple being destroyed, the ritual sacrifices with it, and the scattering of the Jews. To most people who understand the Jewish […]

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                Consider a second example of a criticism of the Qur’an which was raised by a questioner.  This involves what the Qur’an appears to say about the nature of earth’s mountains and their purpose.  Examples include Suras 16:15,21:31,31:10,78:6- 7.  Sura 16:15 says, "And He has cast great mountains in the earth lest it might be […]

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Question: How can only Matthew through Revelation be considered divine scripture? What about the Apocrypha? What about the thousands of other writings? Besides, it was man who canonized scripture and man is not perfect so that would obvisouly mean that scripture runs the risk of not being perfect right? What I am really struggling with […]

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Author’s Note.  The article below is a response to a question, so it will begin with the question which motivated its writing. I was looking online about the Qur’an and found claims of errors which seem impossible to deny.  For example, With regard to Sura 18:83-100 which is about Alexander the Great, which seems proposterous […]

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Is Christmas a Christian Holiday?               Christmas sure has taken a beating lately, seemingly from all sides.  ?The secularists demand that we say happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas, while some believers have threatened to boycott a certain large retail corporation for caving in to political correctness and no longer mentioning Christmas.  When my […]

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Question: Note: This question came in French. I have attempted to translate it, but it may not make complete sense. (J. O.) HOW to LIVE A LIFE OF DISCIPLE everyday WITHOUT HAVING THE CULPABILITE OF sins; HOW to GIVE THE BEst of ONESELF for GOD WITH such restricted time? AND HOW ETRE OUTSIDE ONESELF IN […]

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Question: It seems that most of Revelation has taken place, but I’m confused about the seals, trumpets, and bowls of Gods wrath. Can the OT/NT, or other historical writings help us understand when these events happened? Answer: When you say that “most of Revelations has taken place,” I assume that you believe the majority of […]

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AIM WEST COAST Registration Form Apply by downloading, completing form, then emailing it to:  joakes01@san.rr.c om.  Or print and complete the following form and mail it to AIM WEST, 1074 7 Cariuto CourtSan Diego, CA92124.  Include:  $50 fee.  Make checks or money orders to Apologetics Research Society.  Memo: For AIM WEST   1. Full name (as […]

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ATHENS INSTITUTE OF MINISTRY AIM WEST COURSE DESCRIPTION & READING ASSIGNMENTS   CHURCH HISTORY As one wise person said, ?Those who ignore the lessons of history are bound to repeat them.?  There is so much to learn from two millennia of church history?a valuable course indeed.  Includes sections on; the early church, Patristics, Restoration Movement, […]

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Question: Does Hebrews 6:4-7 refer to it being impossible for fall aways to repent due to their state of heart and mind, and not that God is preventing them from being restored to the faith? Also, in Matthew 24:12, who is referred to as “most?”Answer: If you just read Hebrews 6:4-6 in isolation, I can […]

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Question: How do you know evolution isn’t real? Answer: The answer is that I do not know it isn?t real. Evolution happens. It is real. We know this from experiment. Scientists have studied very simple life forms such as bacteria and viruses and observed them “evolving” in the laboratory. By doing genetic studies, they can […]

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Question: The instructor in my religious class at college (VCU) teaches that 1-2 Timothy, Titus and 2 Peter where written in the early 2nd century. Why do they think that? How do we know the letters really were written by the apostles? What would it mean to us if they were written in the 2nd […]

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Question: I am doing an apologetics project to help me answer the questions of critics and am struggling to find a decent secular source on Jewish burial practices in the first century. The reason that I am seasrching for this is that I am currently looking at different versions of the swoon theory and the […]

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