THE PROBLEM OF PAIN AND SUFFERING I An apologetic/intellectual problem. II A human problem. I Pain and Suffering: an apologetic problem. Agnostic says: God is completely good and all-powerful. Given the pain and suffering in the world, this cannot be true. He could be either: A. All-powerful, but certainly not completely […]
QUESTION: Are miracles real and still happening today? In other words, if you believe for a loved one to be healed of a certain disease, the miracle can take place? ANSWER: The short answer to your question is “yes.” God is the Sovereign Creator of heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1), so He possesses all the […]
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 […]
Question: The idea that the eye-witnesses (apostles) who were in the position to know the truth and died for it, was to me one of the strongest reasons to believe their testimony of Jesus Christ. Because numerous eye-witnesses don’t die for a know lie. It’s against human nature. I have been told (by non-believers on […]
Note: This excellent article on the date of writing of Daniel was not written by an ARS author. It is taken from the web site www.Christian-ThinkTank.com Good question….Was Daniel written AFTER the events he foretold? [Draft May 16, 1998; 3rd revision draft Dec/2000……………..Intro/Menu] Section One: The Dead Sea Scrolls Manuscript Data ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. […]
Question: I read your response in the questions and answers archive (in the Church History section) where someone asked how we can be sure that the apostles were martyred, according to non-Christian sources. You said there’s only one non-Christian source (Antiquities of the Jews) which describes the death of an apostle. This is Josephus’ account […]
Did Josephus Refer to Jesus? [IMAGE] Note: This article is copyrighted and is by Christopher Rice. It is found at http://www.bede.org.uk/Josephus.htm A Thorough Review of the Testimonium Flavianum By Christopher Price The most important extra-biblical references to Jesus are found in the writings of Josephus. Although some have questioned the authenticity of the passages, modern […]
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, […]
?The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot.? These words begin a startling new discovery, announced to the world in April of this year. First there was the Da Vinci Code, now there is the Gospel of Judas. It seems like when it rains it pours. On […]
Comment: You state in your book Is There a God “Comparison of Genesis one with scientific knowledge implies a transcendent source for the creation story.” Why only limit it it to Genesis one? What about Genesis two? Not so brave there – you have to fall back on faith. There is no strict logical implication […]
Comment: To take as given that spiritual reality exists is to commit to a path that is self-validating and circular. To believe in the “ghost in the machine” is to add a superfluous hypothesis which adds nothing to the explanation of the observed phenomena; in fact it confuses it unnecessarily, as Ockam’s razor would point […]
Question: What is the definition of spirit? Answer: (Note: This is a follow-up to a question about the nature of a soul. To save the reader time, I am pasting my response to that question to the bottom of this answer) It is easier to define soul than spirit for the simple reason that the […]
Question: What are the properties of a soul? Answer: As a scientist I cannot define the word soul. As far as I know, the soul has no physical reality. Rather, it has a spiritual reality; not subject to experiment. It is ontolological, metaphysical. I will freely admit that my belief in a soul rests principally […]
Question: Answer: I do try to keep up as much as possible with the new discoveries in evolutionary/molecular biology. I am not sure exactly which aspect of self-replicating molecules you refer to. For example, there are prions, which are the cause of Kreutzfeld-Jacob (mad cow) disease. These molecules are self-replicating, but only within a cell […]
Question: What evidence have you for the existence of a metaphysical soul outside the Bible? Where is the soul located? Where absolute proof is unavailable, we should be able to proceed on the basis of the balance of evidence. For example, if a person is standing at a bus stop and a bus comes along […]
Question: I’ve always thought science was the study of God’s creation. If we find that our species is just a part of a living planet, that which was made in His image is a bit bigger than our species. In that case, God’s image is grander than is expressed in humanity-stood-alone, but more like humanity-in-and-of-nature. […]
Question: Is it written that the communion should be taken every Sunday or once in a year? Answer: The answer to this question is simple. It is not written how often the church should share the communion. For this reason, we should not be dogmatic about this issue. What we can definitely say is that […]
Question: I have read arguments that the church really shaped the Bible for their own purposes.That is implied by the Da Vinci Code. Some of the people I’ve talked to don’t believe in Jesus because they don’t think the Bible is legitimate, but that Jesus was just a teacher andthat the church turned in him […]
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 […]
The Da Vinci Code: A Review Dan Brown?s book, The Da Vinci Code, has been the best selling book in the past few years. Its only recent rival has been the Harry Potter series. This summera blockbuster movie based on the book, promises to be the biggest movie of the year. What is […]
The Resurrection of Jesus An Outline Q: Is it logical to believe that Jesus was raised 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 […]
Question: Do Good Friday, Easter Sunday represent the actual date that Jesus was crucified. and what is the significance of Church on Sunday? Answer: Jesus was crucified on a Friday; on the eve of the Passover. He was raised on the day after the Passover, which was a Sunday. The early church began to commemorate […]
ARE THE GOSPELS RELIABLE? By John Oakes A number of questions have come to the web site from people who question the validity of the gospel accounts. Groups such as the Jesus Seminar have sought to find the ?genuine? sayings and acts of Jesus among what they consider to be the chaff added by believers […]
Question: What do you think of human reasoning? What are its boundaries when it comes to religion? Would you say that using reason is the wrong way to approach religion? Would you ever say that human reasoning is inaccurate? I was talking to a pastor and he said that reasoning was biased and it got […]
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.. […]
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? […]
Are The Gospels Accounts Reliable? It is a very common phenomenon for scholars and theologians to question the reliability of the gospel accounts as history. Groups such as the Jesus Seminar have sought to find the ?genuine? sayings and acts of Jesus among what they consider to be the chaff added by believers in […]
Question: If you feel like a heart attack, go to the University of Idaho website, type N.F.Gier in the search box and then select GRE.It’s a reference to his book ” God Reason and the Evangelicals”. Then select Chapter 13. The point is that Genesis one describes the earth as surrounded by a solid “firmament.” […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: How did we get light on the first day when the sun was not created until the fourth ? Answer: I have studied current theories of the early earth and its atmosphere. As far as I understand it, the early earth most likely had much higher quantities of sufur dioxide, methane, ammonia and so […]
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 […]
How can you disprove Mormonism? I am currently a Mormon now. Also, why are there so many diffrent versions of the Bible? I have produced a fair amount of material on Mormonism at the web site. One can consider the validity of this religion from two main perspectives. First of all, are the teachings of […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: What is your take on mitochondrial Eve? Answer: My take on “mitochondrial Eve,” is that there is evidence that all human beings are related by direct descent to a single female progenitor from about (this is not my area of expertise) 20 or 30,000 years ago. The fact which forms the basis of this […]
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’ & […]
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 […]
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. […]
Question: With regard to Islam, it seems the religion shows a worldly image of heaven. This thought came to mind when I looked at your power point on Islam at the web site. I think Muhammad wanted to build on people’s darkest desires in order to make converts, while still trying to keep some kind […]
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 […]
Question: Will you give me evidence on whether “Christianity is the foundation of liberty”? Answer: I will need to guess what the person from whom you are quoting is trying to claim. I am going to guess that this person is saying that the indirect influence of Christianity on human culture and means of government […]
Question: What is your opinion on whether babies should be baptized or not? I am a member of the Church of England, so I would say yes but is it really necessary to be a Christian? My freind is a non- denominational Christian and hasn’t been baptized. Is he a Christian, or is the essence […]
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 […]
Question(s): I was looking online about the Qur’an and I found some amazing errors which it is hard to imagine how they could explain it. They are: With regards to Alexander the Great it says that he was given his power from Allah, which is proposterous as he is said to have the importance of […]
Question: Is Jesus’ birth day on December 25th or an approximation? How did we come to this date? Please share your studies on this especially some scripture(s). Answer: I answered this question in an article posted at the web site just a couple of weeks ago. What I will do is copy the article here: […]
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 […]
Question: Do you believe that the supposed big bang is possible with what it says in the Bible as I think I am not sure but from the Bible I have never seen anything which directly contradicts this theory. Answer: As I would assume you know, this is a matter of opinion. More accurately, it is […]
Question: I am interested to know what is your opinion on the Earth’s approximate age in view of the fact that creationists believe it to be not more then a few of thousand years. They oppose the scientists’ claims that the Earh could be as much as 4,5 billion years old. They oppose this on […]
INTELLEGENT DESIGN CONTINUED From all this, we can conclude that intelligent design is real. It is not the product of religious presupposition, but the only reasonable conclusion from the evidence. Those who persecute the supporters of ID would do well to consider the facts. But then again, most of them approach the question already […]
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