Question: The concept of a “Second Coming” is not prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. The only prophecies without the required interpretation were about the Human Messiah (not God’s Son in any sense) who would bring world peace, defeat Israel’s enemies, rebuild the Temple, and gather all Jewish people back to their land. How did NT […]
Question: Why did Jesus curse a fig tree for not bearing fruit when the Gospel text explicitly notes that “it was not the season for figs” (Mark 11:13)? This appears to be Jesus’ outburst of uncharacteristic, irrational anger. Your response? Answer: I have one article on this passage at the web site. Here is the […]
Question: If Isaac was the only worthy or legitimate son, because Ishmael’s mother was a slave, then what about the twelve sons of Jacob, all of whom have the same status as progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, regardless of whether they were born of wives or concubines? Answer: Ishmael was accepted as a […]
Question: How does the Christian see this comparison? “Egyptian magic reached a high point of organization and influence during the New Kingdom period (around 1550–1069 BCE). That’s why Moses was given the miracle of rod turned into a snake. Greek medical theory was completely at its peak and dominated the entire Mediterranean world during the […]
Question: If Jesus is God, to whom was He praying? Also, why didn’t Jesus leave behind writings of His own? Answer: One of the great mysteries, if not THE great mystery of the Christian faith is that there is one God, yet three “persons” in that one God. This is the idea of the Trinity. […]
Question: If Jesus cannot sin, was His temptation genuinely possible or merely theoretical? Answer: That is a good question. The answer is that his temptation was absolutely real. Just because we do not give in to a temptation does not mean that we were not tempted. In fact, as a Christian, I only give in somewhat […]
Question: If Isaac was the only worthy or legitimate son, because Ishmael’s mother was a slave, then what about the twelve sons of Jacob, all of whom have the same status as progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, regardless of whether they were born of wives or concubines? Answer: Ishmael was accepted as a […]
Question: Where does the Torah explicitly teach that God will become incarnate, that the Messiah will die as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world, that circumcision and many Mosaic laws will no longer be binding, or that Gentiles will enter God’s covenant apart from the Mosaic Law? Answer: Actually, you are asking […]
Question: I was recently listening to a debate on the Trinity and I heard someone explain the relationship between the Father, Son and, Holy Spirit. In this explanation, I heard them say that though God the Father is eternal, and the Son is also eternal…only the Father is un-begotten while the Son is begotten. I […]
Question: According to the famous Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, God did not invent the concept of priesthood and sacrifices; instead, he transferred an existing, deeply ingrained custom to His own name, i.e. The Israelites grew up surrounded by Egyptian paganism, where temples, priests, and animal sacrifices were the only known way to worship a deity. […]
Question: As you know, one of the hot topics these days is cryptocurrency. For example, Dave Ramsey has recently, said he advises against it. Yet, many popular church contribution-giving platforms are using it (somewhat covertly). For me personally, my conscience prevents me from being a part of it. (On a deeper level, it gets into […]
Question: I have a friend who is having a hard time reconciling their belief in evolution with Christianity–particularly with God creating the world in 6 days and that Adam and Eve were the first humans to exist. What books can I recommend them to read that will help them navigate this argument? Answer: Let me […]
Question: I came across this biblical argument for the papacy and was wondering if you have heard it before and if you had any thoughts on it. As I’m sure you know, the typical passage that is often cited in support of the papacy by Roman Catholics is Matthew 16:17-19. However, in more more recent […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah”? Answer: Whoever says this does not know what he or she is talking about. Either that, or possibly they are making a very narrow statement in order to make a bogus point. Jesus said in John 5:39-40 to the […]
Question: According to the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies (4th Century), the Torah was altered (Homily 3.47), God did not ordain sacrifices (Homily 3.45), and salvation is based on obeying the True Prophet’s uncorrupted laws rather than a singular, atoning death on a cross (Homily 8.5-7). This hits the foundations of Christianity. How would you respond to this […]
Question: Do you actually believe that Jesus, while speaking to Paul (Acts 26:14) in Hebrew, is quoting a Greek proverb “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” spoken by Dionysus (an Olympian god) from ‘The Baccahae’ written by Euripides? Answer: Because Luke, who knew Paul, tells us that this is what Jesus […]
Question: I read that: “The Ebionites believed the entire collection of later prophetic books (Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.) was a human invention added to the Hebrew canon during the Babylonian exile, rather than the pure word of God. The Ebionites accepted certain verses from prophets because they believed that divine truth was still buried within corrupted […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “The Jews thought Jesus was an idolater and therefore would not have allowed Jesus to have a proper burial”? Answer: I will allow what the Jews said of Jesus, as recorded in the gospels, and as recorded in Jewish writings in the first two centuries to […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “Rich western countries automatically become secular, because they have better quality of life”? Answer: Let me, for the sake of argument, accept the premise that, on the whole, more prosperous countries have been more secular. I believe that this is a rather gross overstatement, but there […]
Question: I had a question about Psalm 110. Are we reading it wrong as Christians? I am not able to figure out who the writer was. Whether it was David himself, a scribe, or someone else. I’ve been reading a lot of commentaries and no one is able to decide the answer so I was […]
Question: How do you judge the evidence for the proposed Q source? Did think the proposed Q source actually existed or is it a figment of someone’s imagination? Answer: This “source” is entirely speculative. There is no direct evidence for such a document. Were there other written documents? Maybe. I would go so far as […]
Question: According to the Community Rule (1QS) 9:11 (DSS), [Editor’s note: This is a reference to a publication by the Essene group at Qumran in the first century AD, and was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls] there was an expectation of the coming of a “Prophet” and “two Messiahs”. Does this suggest that the […]
Question: Can Macrobius be used as evidence for the massacre of the innocents? Macrobius wrote in his work Saturnalia the following: “On hearing that the son of Herod, king of the Jews, [Herod the First] had been slain when Herod ordered that all boys in Syria under the age of two be killed, Augustus said, […]
Question: I recently came across more liberal theologians, discussing the fact that they believe that there were multiple authors that wrote the book of Isaiah rather than just Isaiah himself. Sometimes they say 2,3,4 or five people have written the book of Isaiah. My belief so far is that these theologians are looking at things […]
Editor’s note: Both the question and my response refer back to an earlier Q & A here: earlier question Question: Hello Dr. Oakes, in a recent Q&A you address the contradiction in the accounts of the death of Judas, but you and the asker both failed to mention another contradiction in the story, they give […]
Question: How does the historicity of Jesus compare to the historicity of Buddha? Answer: Both Jesus of Nazareth and Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) are certainly historical figures. I am not sure what is to be gained by asking which of two certainly historical persons is more certain. How much more certain can we be than certain? […]
Question: Some scholars argue that certain details in the Gospel accounts were intentionally shaped to mirror passages from the Hebrew Bible. Examples include soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ clothing (echoing Psalm 22), Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey (reflecting Zechariah 9), and vinegar being offered to him during the crucifixion (paralleling Psalm 69). From this […]
Editor’s Note. There is a follow-up question and follow-up answer below Question: Christian Fundamentalist church leaders have put the stamp of inerrant, infallible, perfect Divine Revelation on every last word of the entire collection of the Bible. This may have been necessary in the past in order to maintain Church discipline and to put down […]
Question: I have come to a conclusion that one of the two witnesses was born around the time that Israel became a nation again. Therefor he is anchoring the generation that will not pass away. This could mean that there is a lot more time involved before the rapture and tribulation take place. I call […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “The divinity of Jesus was made up in the Council of Nicaea”? Answer: This is an oft-repeated claim which is not supported by the evidence. It is true that the idea of Jesus’ divinity was in question at the Council of Nicaea, because a faction had […]
Question: In Judaic terminology, the phrase “Son of God” often signifies closeness to God rather than a literal or exclusive divine status. Given that the Bible frequently uses such language—and that both Jews and Christians address God as “Father”—it becomes difficult to see how this title alone justifies a unique claim to divinity for Jesus. […]
Question: Philo of Alexandria wrote in his work “Questions & Answers on Genesis” that: 43…On which account a certain prophet, the kinsman and friend of Moses, uttered an oracle of this kind, “If the omnipotent Lord had not left us a seed, we should have been like blind and barren People,” https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book42.html This is a […]
Editor’s note: Mara bar Serapion is a pagan author who spoke of “three wise men” who were unjustly killed. The first two were Pythagorus and Socrates. The third is one he called “the wise king of the Jews.” In bar Serapion’s letter, he tells his son that after they killed their wise king, the Jews […]
Question: The geolocal academic article below says that “a local earthquake between 26 and 36 AD” happened. Would you use this as evidence in favor of the eartquake at the crucifixion in public? Paper link: https://staff.polito.it/alberto.carpinteri/related%20piezonuclear%20papers/williams_mod.pdf Answer: No, I would not use this as evidence for the biblical story. For a few reasons. 1. That is […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “The Greeks (before Christ) also had science. Therefore, there is nothing special about the Bible and its contributions to science.”? Answer: The Greeks made some significant advances in the study of the natural world, but one thing that they did NOT do is apply the scientific […]
Question: There is a long version and a short version of “Epistle to the Trallians” by Ignatius of Antioch. Which version would you use? Answer: I do not “use” the writings of early church fathers, in the sense that I use the inspired biblical books. I read them, and I study them, but I do […]
Question: Why do Catholics use a rosary? Is this unbiblical? Answer: To be honest, I am not aware of the precise history by which what we now call the “rosary” developed. What we can say for sure is that it emerged out of a Catholic Church which had already firmly committed to the semi-deification of […]
Editor’s note: This is a response to a fairly long Jewish criticism of Christianity which included 50 “reasons” to believe that Jesus is not the Jewish Messiah. It can be found at https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/624738 . Question: Please reply to criticisms # 2,3,9,10,11,14,26,30,40,44 in the following article: https://voices.sefaria.org/sheets/624738 Response: 2. I have already responded to point 2 […]
Question: How would you respond to secular feminists who say “The ancient pagan culture was more pro-woman in comparison to the Christian culture”? Answer: This is so untrue. I am assuming here that they are talking about the Pagan culture in the time of Jesus. The Graeco/Roman world was extremely Patriarchal, as has been documented […]
Question: Please respond to an article I found by an atheist guy named O’Neill regarding the evidence for the resurrection. https://www.quora.com/What-evidence-is-there-for-Jesus-Christs-death-burial-and-resurrection/answer/Tim-ONeill-1 [Author’s note: O’Neill claims that the physical resurrection of Jesus was an invention of Paul and others, made many years after the death of Jesus] Answer: This is typical argumentation from unbelievers. O’Neill begins […]
Question: Did females have leadership role over grown men in the churches (not private settings) during the 1st century AD? Answer: That is a debatable point, depending on your definition of leadership roles. There is no evidence that women were preaching or teaching the entire, assembled church, and there certainly were no women elders. But […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “Randomness can explain the fine-tuning of the constants” and “Randomness can explain the code in DNA”? Answer: Those who say such things either do not know what they are talking about (most common) or they are so caught up in their naturalist presuppositions that they cannot […]
Question: Jesus spoke predominantly in riddles and parables, obscuring rather than elucidating the message. Therefore, Jesus is guilty of obscuring his message from opponents although the Koran states: The messenger’s duty is only to deliver the message clearly (24:54). What should be the response? Answer: A few comments. First of all, the Quran itself and […]
Question: Why do Christians not offer prayers (Salah) like Jews and Muslims who bow down their heads to earth. It is also referred in Nehemiah 8:6? Answer: First of all, the majority of Jews in Jesus’ day did not bow while praying. They prayed, looking up to heaven. The statement in this inquiry shows that […]
Question: If Jesus was predestined by an all-knowing God to be sacrificed for humanity’s sins, what was the purpose of sending prophets beforehand to call people to repentance? Many righteous men and women believed these prophets and were forgiven long before Jesus, so would they not have already entered God’s Heaven? Answer: Good point. Like […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “A king used violence to Christianize the local people. Therefore, Christian is wrong.”? Answer: Every religion has members who do evil in the name of that religion. This is not acceptable. This is tragic. But it is also true. The fact alone that evil has been […]
Question: How would you respond to people who say “King Herod’s murder of the children is only mentioned in the New Testament. Therefore, it is automatically wrong” or “The murder of the children by Herod was copied from the child massacre in the events with Moses and therefore is made up”? Answer: The vast majority […]
Question: How would you respond to females who say “Christianity causes me to feel guilty. Therefore, I want nothing to do with Christianity”? Answer: I am not sure how to think about this question, as you specify a female questioner, but the actual question does not reference anything which is gendered. So… I will answer […]
Question: “But Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”” Genesis 30:27 NIV Is there a clear answer on the divination meaning here? I have been reading Genesis and was wondering how to understand this […]
Question: Why did David write in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”? Answer: We need to recognize first the genre of literature of the Psalms. These are poems. These are people talking to God, rather than God talking to people. For this reason, we should […]
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