The following is the notes by Dr. Robert Kurka from his class on the Christian worldview and that of other world religions at the 2008 International Apologetics Conference.    2008 International Apologetics Conference                                Dr. Robert C. Kurka                                                                                                      Chicago, IL                                                                    Prof., Theology and Church in Culture June 6-8, 2008                                                               Lincoln Christian Seminary                      […]

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Question: I want to know from when or which nation the Muslim religion started. Is it from Ishmael son of Abraham? Answer; Islam as a religion was established by Muhammad, a member of the Arabic Quraish tribe from the West-Central part of the Arabian Peninsula in the region of present-day Mecca.  Muhammad is a real person […]

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Question: I am from India, a country with majority of Hindus. Hinduism is now proclaiming itself to be the ‘most glorious religion’. ‘Human Gods’,with ability to show miracles,are sprouting up in Hindu community.  Many Indian Christians are attracted to Hinduism through such miracles. Have you done a comparative study of Hinduism & Christianity? How can […]

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Question: Why can’t Muslims admit that Jesus "claimed" to be the Son of God? We know that Muslims, Jews, and many other people don’t believe that he actually is the Son of God but I can’t get past the intellectual obviousness of his claim. I don’t think anyone else in the world disputes this historic […]

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Question:,The Jehovah’s Witness say God did not want us concuming blood in the O.T and that it continue in the N.T . In Acts 21:25 God does not let us use the blood to help other people. Therefore it is wrong to give or receive a blood transfusion. I do not believe this, but where […]

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Question:,Is this world real or maya? Will there be an end? Will there be any hereafter?,Answer,First of all, I deeply apologize for such a delayed response. I have gotten behind with the new semester.,The answer will depend on your world view. If you accept the Hindu or the Buddhist or the Jaina worldview, then you […]

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Question: I see what you say about the laws of the old testament having been “fulfilled” and therefore do not have to be followed. However, many Jews still do follow those rules and, it has to be said that in doing so they are following the word of God as that is what is written […]

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Question: 1) Is there anything distinctively Christian about apologetics? Why or why not? Do all religions include apologetics? Why or Why not?;2) How much do you think natural human reason can accomplish in religion? In general?;3) What good does it do to argue for your faith? What harm can it do?;4) How useful are merely […]

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Question: How does the zodiac principle relate to the Bible if they do and was the system of the zodiac developed before the Bible? Also , many people believe that the repetition of specific numbers i.e 7 , 3 , 40 , 12 are related to the zodiac.Who influenced who in this subject? Answer: The […]

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Question:,You agree with me that there was probably some sort of oral tradition given to the Jews which did not make it into the Old Testament. (editor’s note: this is based on an earlier question and answer) I would like to ask you the following three questions:,1) What purpose do you think this oral tradition […]

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Question: Could you please provide me with scriptures to explain why 1st communion is non Biblical and scriptures about workshiping “saints” “virgin mary” “etc.” I am currently engaging a catholic family and I would like to have scriptures at hand to over with them. Answer: I do not have any scriptures about these topics. This […]

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I’m studying bible with a friend but my friend is adventist. Please send me the real message about the “sabbath” and the day to worship God, because my friend is convicted that the day is sunday.what can i do? Answer: My advice is that you avoid a big debate over the Sunday issue. Bottom line, […]

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Question: Are you aware of the Church “Iglesia ni Cristo” or the Church of Christ? This Church believes that Jesus Christ is just a “mere man” with extraordinary power given to him by God the Father and that Felix Manalo the founder of this Church is the fulfillment in Rev.7:2. What can you say about […]

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Comment: One of the benefits of reading Essene interpretations of Scripture written 100/200 years before the Gospels, is that it enables one to see how religious Jews of the period would happily wrest any passage of Scripture from its clear ancient context and apply it allegorically either to the present or the future. The evangelists […]

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Question: (note, this is a long series of questions, followed by a general response to all the question) (1) Should the sacred texts of a religion be understandable to anybody that reads it (ex. Buddhist texts are fairly hard to understand in Chinese…even to those that know Chinese)? (2) Should there be a presence of […]

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Question: What do you say about near death experiences? I’ve heard of certain people having experiences where they are supposedly almost dead and see heavenly places. I’ve even heard some say that people of different religions have NDE’s where they see their own religion’s heaven. It makes me a bit confused, but I think it […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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? The Jewish High Holy Days Phillip Lester 9/23/06 Jews all over the world are about to enter a three week period called the High Holy Days.   They involve special Jewish celebrations for the fall season. Although they are found in the Scriptures, their position in the Jewish calendar is often overlooked by disciples.  They […]

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THE BOOK OF MORMON   Joe Fields, Tuscon, Arizona   Introduction:  The Book of Mormon claims to be the record of God?s dealings with the inhabitants of ancient Mesoamerica (2000 BC to 421 AD).  The record tracks the history of two civilizations.  The first nation, known as the Jaredites, claims to have come to the […]

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Question: What do you believe is the significance of religious symbols? For example, what is so special about wearing a cross to signify Jesus, since it doesn’t state in the Bible that you should wear one? Also what about other symbols such as the Star of David, the pentagram/upside-down pentagram, inverted cross, freemason compass/square symbol, […]

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Question: I was recently told that the original Hebrew word for Satan, is in fact a different word completely, when compared to the word “devil” which is used in the New Testament. The claim is that Satan, and the devil are actually two different entities. What do we actually know about Satan and the Devil […]

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Question; The Mormons claim that when Jesus died he traveled in the time so that he was able to preach to long-dead people in the Old Testament. Any comment on this claim? Secondly what are those sins that do not lead to death? Thirdly, what kind of sins that are unforgiveable? thank you so much.. […]

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Question: A Muslim friend made an outrageous claim to me that in Deuteronomy 18: 15-19 it is speaking of Muhammed and not Jesus. One hole in this claim is that Muhammad was an Arab, not a Jew. (Genesis 22:18). He would be of the house of David (Jeremiah 21:5). What do you think of this? […]

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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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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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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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I’ve decided that there has to be a creator of everything due to the complexity of life and all creation, but how do I know Christianity is the right religion and not Islam or Judaism? This is a very good question. It is a bad assumption that one can simply leap from belief in God […]

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Abajo son notas para una clase sobre el Islam y Cristianimso   IGLESIA DE CRISTO EN MÉXICO, A. R. ESCUELA DE CAPACITACION BIBLICA UII-M1-211 HISTORIA DE LA IGLESIA III: RELIGIONES Y SECTAS. PROFESOR: DR. JOHN OAKES. ISLAM (literalmente, rendir la voluntad en Arabe). •·        Fundador: Mahoma. Cerca del 570-632 AD, en la Meca, Arabia Saudita […]

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ISLAM (literally, submit the will in Arabic)   Founder:  Muhammad.  About 570 ? 632 AD, in Mecca, in modern Saudi Arabia.   Roughly 1 billion Muslims in the world.   Location:  Northern Africa, almost the entire Middle East, Pakistan Afghanistan, Bangaladesh, India, Albania, Indonesia and the Phillipines, with scatterings elsewhere.   Background:   Arabiavery pagan, […]

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JEHOVAH?S WITNESS     Background and History.   Founded by Charles Russel   Russel was influenced by the Adventist movement (let to the 7th Day Adventis t Church)   The Adventist/Millerite movement began in the 1830?s   William Miller used Daniel 8:14 and Daniel 9:25 (a very odd connection) to calculate that the millennial reign […]

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I have a few questions about the Bible. I’ll list them here. 1. Why do some theologians who have studied the scriptures for years still preach many different denominations/religions and salvation by works? People teach and believe false doctrine primarily because they were “raised up” in these false teachings and because it is always easier […]

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Why is the word yahweh not written in the NT? Is it because Yahweh refers to the whole Godhead? The reason YHWH (I use YHWH rather than yaweh, as it is closer the the Hebrew original) does not appear in the New Testament is that the New Testament was written in Greek. YHWH is a […]

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Are Jehovah’s Witnesses considered part of a cult? How did this religion come to be and what is it they believe? Whether or not the Jehovah’s Witness are a cult would depend on your definition of the word. For me, personally, the word cult has come to have a very negative connotation. The working definition […]

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