Question: What do I do? I am 19. I have been a Christian for 3 years now and just recently I have started asking myself some very tough questions which in turn has left me very doubtful of my faith and left me oftentimes in despair. The questions include: Couldn’t God have saved us another way? Why did […]
Question: Some believe that John the apostle was indeed not the author of 1 John, 2nd John, and his Gospel. Some declare that it was LIKELY that John “the elder” was the writer if these pieces of scripture. They say and I quote “This would explain those passages in the gospel that speak about the […]
QUESTION: Is there historical evidence that the apostle Paul was real? I have come across talk on the internet saying that there is no real evidence that Paul ever existed. I would appreciate it if you can shed some light on this. Thanks and God bless. Answer: Yes, there is historical evidence that Paul was […]
John Oakes wrote this article three years ago, but for some reason it never got published at the site. This article was written to prepare for a forum on evolution of the same title. A DVD of the debate is available at www.ipibooks.com Four Chrsitian Views of Evolution
One of our ARS Apologetics Certificate students, Randy Hroziencik, submitted a paper on fideism which many will find helpful, so we are publishing it. Thanks, Randy. Fideism
Dr. John Oakes taught a lesson recently on discipling. This is not a Christian evidence topic, obviously, but we thought some of our website users might be interested. Discipling PPT Discipling Notes Discipling audio
Question: In the Bible it says the fall of man was the result of natural evil (carnivores,hurricanes,explosions,etc…), so my question is this: If that is the case, then why does science show us that dinosours and many others animals where carnivores. If God created carnivorous animals and he says it was good, then doesn’t this reflect […]
Question: Why Did God create black holes? It seems the universe works very ramdomly like creating planets from planets or comets exploding, supernovae explosions,etc… I dont think an explosion is how God will work for creating the Earth.! Answer: Obviously, I cannot speak for God on “why” he created one thing or another, but as a […]
Comment: Shalom, Revelation 22:7 King James Version (KJV) 7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. Revelation 22:20 King James Version (KJV) 20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. QUICKLY= GREEK TACHU = SWIFT-QUICK. Matthew 28:7 […]
Question: Discussing Christianity with a friend, we both agreed that what makes Christianity hard to believe for non-believers, and believers, is the supernatural aspects. As children we are told not to believe in ghosts or spirits. But yet as Christians our belief is based on the unseen. And for us humans, we like to see,smell […]
Question: Do you have any good sources to find the truth out about Zoroaster and the claims that it predates Christianity and we stole a lot of our claims from them including a resurrected Lord? If you could in brief give an answer as well, I would appreciate your time. Answer: First of all, there […]
Question: Can you give me some reasons why God would created the universe in so many time… If He is so powerful, and intelligent, then why he created everything in many periods of time? Answer: I assume that you are asking why God use such vast amounts of time to create the universe, the earth […]
QUESTION: I am taking a Introduction to the Old Testament and the professor stated that the first phrase in Genesis, “In the beginning,” has been mistransated and the better phrase is “When God began creating the heavens and the earth.” She states that the former gives the impression to the readers that this was the […]
Question: Do we need to keep Sabbath? Which Bible verses supports your answer? Are the Ten Commandments important? Answer: There is no indication in the New Testament that Christians are required to keep some sort of Christian version of the Sabbath. All the evidence from both the scriptures (Acts 20:7 which says that the church […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a lesson 4/17/2013 in San Diego on the Christian doctrine of baptism. The class includes a brief history of teachings about baptism. Notes and power point are attached. Baptism: In Christ PPT Baptism: In Christ notes Baptism In Christ Audio
Question: How do you convince someone that, through Jesus, there’s life after death? Especially if the person is a character who believes in tangible facts and figures?” Looking forward to hearing from you soon, Answer: It is very difficult to make a “logical” case that life continues after death. Certainly we cannot use physical/scientific arguments to […]
Comment: Your article about the Seventh Day Adventists was good. You kinda (sic) did some research. But you drew conclusions too soon……Ellen G. White never said that she was a prophetess. Please read the whole book by Ellen G. White. You express your opinion only, not the truth. Don’t use some verses of the Bible to justify your […]
Question: Do you have any references you could pass along that might shed some light on 1 Clement, both in terms of its dating and his possible authorship of Hebrews? I saw a recent question on your site regarding dating 1 Clement to the late 60’s (which makes a lot of sense to me). All […]
QUESTION: How do we know that Satan didn’t write the Bible? How do we know that the true religion isn’t Buddhism for example and the Old and New Testament are the works of a devil/demon/Satan trying to trick us into doing wrong things like stoning adulteresses and non-believers? Satan could reveal himself as Jesus, claim […]
Question: As I write, I am thinking of Eccl 1:9, there is nothing new under the sun. As I think about theological/scriptural/Christian ideas, I believe that others have considered and discussed the same ideas sometime and someplace in the past. I am just ignorant. I was watching TV a few weeks ago—a scene where a […]
Dr. John Oakes gave a sermon on the power of the resurrection 3/31/2013. Notes, power point and audio are attached. Resurrection Power audio Resurection Power ppt Resurrection Power notes
Question: “I have two questions for you, what is the doctrine of Soul-Sleep and did the thief immediately go to Paradise with Jesus? A friend of mine believes in the doctrine of soul-sleep.” Answer: Thanks for the questions, below are my answers I hope this helps! What is The Doctrine of Soul-Sleep? The (false) doctrine […]
Suggestion: Hi, please do read the doctoral thesis by the late Thomas Herron in which he presents a persuasive argument for re-dating 1 Clement to just before 70 AD. There are of course explosive implications if 1 Clement was pre 70 AD – for example if Clement is quoting at least one of the gospels […]
Question: Hi, John! I want to ask you about the informaiton at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Roerich What do you know about this teaching and her influence on Christianity today? (In my church there is a member who believes in this teaching. And she doesn’t want change it) Your book about Daniel is very good! I am enjoying it! Answer: […]
We are excited to announc that the seventh of an eventual ten classes in our Apologetics Certificate Program is now available. The class is Archaeology and Christianity. The principal teacher is Dr. John Wilson of Pepperdine University. Dr. Douglas Jacoby and Dr. John Oakes also are teachers in this calss. The classes now available are: […]
Randall Hroziencik, one of the students in our ARS Apologetics Certificate Program submitted a paper on the cultural and theological background to the two Genesis creation accounts, focusing on the genre of the first part of Genesis. We feel that this paper is of a very high quality and offer it for your consideration. Thank […]
QUESTION: Since the birthplace of Jesus is too far from the Indian subcontinent, there is a viable chance for him travelling to India or Tibet. All the story of Jesus is mythological like Indian mythology. Hence, there is solid proof that Jesus Christ came to India and has made a deep study of Hindu religion. After returning […]
Question: In baptism, the church I go to does a good confession by saying “Jesus is Lord” and there are scriptures that supports it like Romans 10:9. How can we be sure that we are doing it the way the early Christians did? Did the 3000 baptized in Acts 2 undergo the same practice as we […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a six-week class on World Religions on six consecutive Saturdays beginning on 2/23 9:00-11:00. See below for suggested reading and schedule. World Religion Notes World Religion PPT World Rel Audio 1a World Rel Audio 1b World Rel Audio 2a World Rel Audio 2b World Rel Audio 3a World Rel Audio 3b […]
Question: If life is discovered on another planet, how will it affect our understanding of the Bible, God, the Anthropic Principle, and our place in the universe? Answer: In a word: no effect. If God created life here, he can create life elsewhere. That is God’s prerogative. The Bible does not suggest one way or […]
Question: Your thoughts on the new information concerning the Higgs-Boson, the “God particle”? Response: My thoughts on the new information about the Higgs Boson is that it changes absolutely nothing from a Christian Apologetic point of view. First of all, the theory about the existence of this particle–the one responsible for giving mass to particles–has been […]
John and Jan Oakes just returned from a 20 day teaching trip in Jakarta, Ambon, Surabaya, Medan, Singapore, Brisbane and Perth. A report is attached. Indonesia Singapore Australia Journal
Question: At what point in the evolutionary line did humans develop the Image of God? At what point in time did we fall into sin? What is the eternal fate of our evolutionary ancestors? Please forgive my rusty science, but what I am asking is will there be neanderthals, cro-magnons, etc. in heaven Answer: Humans […]
Question: How do we understand the Book of Jonah? Was he really swallowed by a whale/fish/something else? How did he survive for three days in whatever it was? Is this just one of those things we must just understand as a miracle? Answer: According to the writer of the Book of Jonah, when Jonah was […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a series of lessons in Indonesia January, 2013. Power points in Bahasa Indonesia are included. Kingdom of God Day of Lord-Kerajaan Allah dan Hari Tuhan PPT God and Science Tuhan Dan Ilmu Pengetahuan PPT
Editor’s note: This recent Q & A is of sufficient interest that we have turned it into an article. See below.
Question: I recently read an interview with atheist psychologist Steven Pinker about one of his books that he wrote. It was on a website (unfortunately,I can’t recall it). The topic of concern is the apparent biological basis for behavior and the impact this has on the traditional understanding of the Free Will Doctrine. As you […]
Question: May I know why God did not send anybody to India or some other countries just like he sent Jonah to Nineveh? Some good people in India such Gauthama Buddha searched for truth. Why did the true God Jehova did not respond to them by sending some angels to inform them? Answer: God did send […]
Are there modern-day Christian prophets? (Editor’s note: This question is a response to another Q & A posted earlier at the site) I disagree with your statement that there are no modern day prophets in these last days, not only that but scripture has been used out of context especially in your sentence “Like Paul […]
QUESTION: In Genesis 1:27 it is stated that God created “man”, with gender male and female. In Genesis 2:5-7 it is stated that God formed a man and called him Adam. Does this mean that God has created “man” first then later God formed Adam and Eve? In Genesis 6:1-2 it is stated that in […]
Author: Bill Pratt Editor’s note: This article is taken from the web site www.toughquestionsanswered.org Old-school atheists like Friedrich Nietzsche recognized that atheism utterly failed to answer the most profound of human questions, and thus atheism, he believed, led inexorably to nihilism. Nowadays, most atheists are very uncomfortable with nihilism and want to distance themselves from […]
Question: How could God create this material world out of nothing? We know nothing comes from nothing. Did God turn the energy of His words into matter? Kindly, explain this to me. Thanks. Answer: What a great question! I am afraid that this is one of those questions which will forever be beyond human ability to […]
We are pleased to announce that the sixth of an eventual ten courses in our Christian Apologetics Certificate Program series is now available for students to take the course. The topic is The Existence of God. The class is taught by Dr. Douglas Jacoby and Dr. John Oakes. The class is $150 ($125 in the […]
A number of related questions have come in lately about abiogenesis/the origin of life, so we thought it would be a good idea to reproduce an appendix from the book Is There a God (www.ipibooks.com) which addresses this topic. See below. John Oakes
QUESTION: The Greek translation of the Hebrew OT was called the Septuagint and I’ve read it was used in the early NT church and often quoted by NT writers. I’ve also read that it contained the Apocrypha, which was not accepted into the Hebrew OT canon. Question #1 “Was the Septuagint read in the NT […]
Question: I was wondering if science and scripture have any contradictions. I have done a small study on the creation account, and when doing that, I wanted to show how evolution was irrational, not logical, and so on. Even Darwin had doubts in his own theory, people of his day did not accept his theory. But […]
QUESTION: What can you say about this statement: “Religion is Darkness”? This comes from the character Mr. Kumar in the book and movie Life of Pi. It turns out that Mr. Kumar is an atheist. Answer: What I can say about this is that it is a meaningless statement. What does this atheist mean when […]
Question: Was the flood over the whole world or just part of it? Answer: I have previously answered a similar enough question that I will copy and past below. Let me add just a couple of thoughts. The Old Testament is not a careful, scientific analysis of events in the past. We […]
Question: I’ve really enjoyed reading your book, “The Christian Story” (editor: www.ipibooks.com) and hope to finish it soon. A question came up in our last Bible study that I didn’t remember reading about, so I’m hoping you could answer it for me. Who started the argument that the head of the Church was in Rome and […]
Question: What is freemasonry? Is it a religion or is it a fraternity? What are their beliefs? Can a christian be a freemason? Or are they anti-christ? Answer: The definition of freemasonry is complicated. It is a fraternal order with very strong religious overtones. The essence of the group is that it is a service organization. […]
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