Dr. John Oakes taught a class titled Christianity in a Postmodern World at the 2013 ICEC at San Diego State University. He proposes a rational Christian response to both the good and the bad which comes with postmodern thinking. The class covers the history of modernism and why it was replaced by postmodernism, as well as a […]
Question: I just wanted to thanks all your help. It is really needed! Thanks for be very patient,caring and loving. I have a question regarding if you can review the “facts” that my Buddhist friend emailed me: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/mindfulness-meditation-benefits-health_n_3016045.html and http://www.tm.org/benefits-of-meditation He claims that meditation is good for health, and that a Christin can be a Buddhist too. How would you respond to […]
Question: Some atheists posted this on Reasonable faith facebook page: http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2010/nov/19/penrose-claims-to-have-glimpsed-universe-before-big-bang http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Science/article1261602.ece Is it true that these is evidence of a multiverse? would the Kalam cosmological argument be refuted by this kind of data? What do you think about these articles? Are there any famous physicists that endorse kalam? What about British actor Hugh Laurie, known for his lead role […]
Question: I see you’ve got some words about deism, but what answer have you for pandeism? Answer: Pandeism is an interesting philosophy. It is not a religion, but a philosophcial/worldview perspective. This is certainly not now, nor has it ever been a large movement. I am not an expert on this philosophy, but my guess […]
Editor’s Note: The essay below if by Randy Hroziencik, a student in our Apologetics Certificate program (see the link on the front page of the site). It is a follow-up to another essay (referred to as essay #2) in which he answered a request to write a defense of atheism. Thanks to Randy for permission to publish […]
Question: I have a question regarding the Kalam argument: Can the universe or universes can come from quantum random fluctuations? Is the quantum vacuum part of the universe (material, energy)? What exactly is a vacuum in quatum physics? Finally, can you give me some tips about how to study apologetics books? How can I remember […]
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 […]
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
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 […]
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: […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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: I have had a discussion with a New-Age friend. Jesus is the only way to God (as opposed to New-age belief many roads lead to God) mainly based on Jesus’ statement in John 14:6. and also from Acts 4:12. My New-ager friend is aware of these passages and asks “How do you know that Jesus hasn’t […]
Editor’s note. This article was recently published by Dr. Robert Kurka, a professor at Linconln Christian University and a good friend of us at ARS. He carefully discusses the theological and biblical implications of recent evidence from biology with respect to the origin of human beings. If Adam Be Razed
QUESTION: I was reading your questions and answers section and it got me thinking… Is there anyway of knowing why God would create the world and not create man until millions of years later? What would be the point? Just curious, and maybe that is something I will have to wait to ask God when […]
This power point was used by Dr. John Oakes as a follow-up lesson at the 2012 ICEC in Los Angeles on October 21, 2012. It is about the reasons the church in the first three centuries was able to conquer the known world for Jesus and a suggestion of how faithful Christians today can see […]
QUESTION: I’ve been looking a bit into Quantum Physics and Mechanics and recently found this question asked on Yahoo Answers: Christians, two of the most fundamental concepts in quantum mechanics disproves your god. I’ll explain below. Just remember, you can’t say this is just a theory (even though a theory means an unproven fact in […]
Question: An article appeared in Yahoo a day or two ago. It quotes theoretical cosmologist Sean Carroll. Here is the article detail: Will Science Someday Rule Out the Possibility of God? By Natalie Wolchover | LiveScience.com Here is the core section shared by Carroll: Carroll argues that God’s sphere of influence has shrunk drastically in modern […]
Dr. John Oakes taught a lesson for teens on the Christian World View and the Christian answer to the most common hard questions which all human beings ask. Why is there evil? Why is there suffering? Why does God allow killing of nations in the Old Testament? Why did God make hell? PPT Answering the Hard […]
QUESTION: My question for you is fairly simple and straightforward. What are the best arguments for atheism and why don’t you find them convincing? Answer: A good question. It is always advisable to understand the best argument of those with whom we disagree. Sometimes we might even change our mind if we are willing to […]
See below for a Q & A of particular interest which was answered by John M. Beggs on the question of whether scientific results about the neural pathways for decision-making can be used to prove that we do not have free will.
QUESTION: How would you respond to the claims that free will is an illusion? I’ve looked over some of the “evidence” for this argument and have heard several lectures on this topic (http://media.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/WebMedia/FAR460%20Alexander.mp3 and http://media.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/WebMedia/FAR470%20Newsome.mp3) given professors and scientist at The Faraday Institute. I believe the strongest evidence for the “illusion” of free will is […]
A video on the topic of hell is available at http://vimeo.com/30967402 We at ARS do not necessarily endorse all that Dr. Fudge is saying in this video, but believe it may give a useful point for thought and discussion on this controversial topic which is very important for Christian apologetics. Fudge describes three common ideas […]
Question: I’m a Christian and like to think myself an enthusiastic amateur theologan 🙂 Firstly I have to point out your website and all of your articles are amazing, they’ve certainly done a lot for me in advancing my knowledge and having fun with my studies. With that said I ran into a minor philosophical dilema today […]
This class was taught by Dr. John Oakes in Mexicali, Mexico May, 2012. It is in English, translated into Spanish. PPT Hebreos, Preservacion y Predestinacion Hebreos Predestinacion y Preservacion Audio
QUESTION: I’ve listened to numerous debates by famous Christian apologists (William Craig, Douglas Jacoby, Mike Licona, ect.) and I noticed that in some of their arguments they regard the Athiests of having a presupposition (naturalism, materialism, etc.) for not believing in God. However, I was wondering what if we asked that same question about Christians? […]
This lesson was given by Dr. John Oakes for the Iglesia de Cristo de Tijuana April 20, 2012. Translation is by Mauricio Garcia. The class is about hte reasons that the early church, starting with a small group of poor, uneducated people without power were able to conquer the entire Roman and Greek world. Hechos […]
Question: Dear Sir, what about human memory? Scientists tells us our memory is stored in Brain. Word of God tells us it is the soul that has memory. Lamentations 3:20. what about our memory when we die? our memories stored in our brains will be transported into disembodied souls at the time of our Death? […]
This is a debate between Dr. Douglas Jacoby and the skeptic. Richard Carrier Jan 14, 2012 in Sacramento, CA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJmKxTB7Twg
Request: I have a former student who is in college and really questioning his faith and is starting to believe in the arguments presented by Hitchins and Dawkins. Recently he posted this "question" asking for people to comment and give him feedback. I am looking for anyone who could help me give some meaty and […]
Why do you believe what you believe? Why should others believe it too? Wouldn’t it be great if you could answer both questions with the same answer? With his new book, Basis for Belief, ARS boardmember Brian Colon will teach you how to think critically about your faith, provide reasons for why you believe in […]
Question: Can Monotheism be proven? Answer: The simple answer is no, monotheism cannot be proved. There is no mathematical equation, the end of which, if solved, would result in having "proved" the reality of monotheism. On at least some level, monotheism is believed on faith. To the Christian, monotheism is accepted by faith in the […]
Request: I am a minister and college student who has found himself on the defensive a lot lately about the topic, "Does God exist?" When searching for references about this topic for a research paper I came across the Butt-Barker Debate of 2009 published by Apologetics Press on YouTube and on DVD. After reading information […]
Question: Gen.2:7 says that "God proceeded to..blow into his (Adams) nostrils…and the man became a living soul." Elsewhere in the Hebrew text animals are spoken of as "souls" (Gen.1:20; Num,31:28 ect)It seems to me a soul is what we are, not something we have. Eccl.3:19 says that at death man has no superiority over the […]
Question: I wanted to ask, how would you respond to a comment like this, done in the form of a cartoon: http://www.martinspribble.com/2011/09/12/soldier-crab-is-hostile-to-religion I know that it is useless to argue or to try to convince people who are blocked and refuse to believe anything about Christianity, but I was wondering if you had any thoughts […]
Question: Any thoughts on the book "The God Part of the Brain" by Matthew Alper? Answer: Note: This book has as its thesis that religious thought is entirely the result of genetic/physiological causes which were created due entirely to evolutionary forces. It is published by Sourcebooks, Inc., Naperville, Illinois. There is a lot of good […]
Question: Where did the concept of the soul, after-life, and triune God originate? Some say that the concept of the soul is only mentioned when David tries to stir up his troops before battle, giving them something great to hope for, that Heaven and Hell and scarcely mentioned in the Bible, and lastly that the […]
Question: I want to start off by letting you know right away that I am not a Christian currently, though I haven’t shut the door on Christianity. I am a philosophical theist. I felt like it is fair to let you know where I’m coming from. If you don’t wish to help me because of […]
Una leccion se ensenado por John Oakes para Projecto Esdras en DF Mexico 7/25/2011 Cristianismo y Lo Paranormal 12.72 Mb
Question: Last time you had responded to my question when i forwarded the excerpt from Professor Vic Stenberg on his critic of D’Souza’s book: "Life after Death: The Evidence". I haven’t yet immerged myself into the Near Death experience and out of body experience, I wonder if you would say that he is correct that there is […]
Question: I am currently taking a Philosophy class and I am reading different arguments for the existence of God. For example, so far we covered Aquinas, Descartes,and Spinoza. Are the arguments by these philosophers useful for Christians arguing for the existence of God? Granted that Spinoza did not believe in the Judeo-Christian God, he did […]
A power point and notes by Dr. John Oakes from a presentation at the 2011 ICEC Christianity and the Paranormal. Thinking About the Paranormal: Notes Thinking About the Paranormal PPT 12.02 Mb
Question: I just want to ask what is Quantum Mechanics? Why do atheists say that this is the biggest threat to the existence of God? Answer: It just so happens that my specialty as as PhD scientist is in chemical physics, with emphasis in quantum mechanics. Now, you have given me a nearly impossible task. I […]
Question: After taking an Anthropology course (which is preceded by my philosophy course) I have to wonder what reasons are there for God creating Bonobo’s with such striking similarities to humans? Viewing footage of Jane Goodall’s work and other anthropological studies I saw, although through a biased lense, that bonobo’s and other species of primates […]
Question: Where can I find (if exists) a philosophically based break-down of the Christian world veiw? Having read Plato, Sartre, Macmurray, etc. Im interested in comparing directly these philosophies and world views with something other than my own convictions, which are more intimate and less universal. Answer: By coincidence, I just taught a lesson on […]
Note: The question is quite long, including some quotes from scientific journals. I have moved much of these quotes to after my answer so that the reader will not get distracted by too long a question. Question: I would love some help in one area, because I feel like I don’t know enough to tackle […]
Question: How can you be sure that God is outside of your mind instead of inside? Every spiritual or religious person seems to have their ideas about what God wants them to do, or what he (or she) is like. I am not a Christian, but very interested in the idea of faith. I am […]
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