Editor’s note: This is a follow-up to a recent question. The comment is a bit rambling and hard to follow, but this person does raise some important issues, so we have posted it. As a little background, this person believes that the bears in 2 Kings killed 42 little children. Comment: I’m just an ordinary […]
Question: Since the rock in Daniel 2:34 struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay (insted of its legs of iron) doesn’t that mean that God’s kingdom (the church) would be set up when the Roman Empire was divided? If the church was setup around 29-33 A.D shouldn’t the rock hit the legs of iron […]
Comment: A friend directed me towards your site. I’ve been reading your articles on how life could not possibility come about spontaneously. I was wondering what your thoughts are on this. When a new property of RNA was discovered: some kinds of RNA can catalyze chemical reactions – and that means that RNA can both […]
Question: I think that the one story that undoes the Bible and the claims made about its infallibility and God’s loving kindness is the story of Elijah calling down evil in the name of Jehovah on children. You defend it in the manner of someone who doesn’t really believe that 42 children were torn to […]
question: You mentioned that a researcher encountering a miracle in their research would most likely disregard the event, however what do you do when that miracle is something like the Antikythera Mechanism? We can xray and study it, but all the data we collect seems to completely contradict our understanding of the Helenistic world. With […]
Question: Do plants have a soul? Should we use animals for food? Answer: No, plants definitely do not have a soul. Neither do animals have a soul. According to the Bible, human beings were made "in God’s image" (Genesis 1:26). This God-likeness includes having a spirit and a soul. Animals definitely do not have the […]
Question: When did Christians begin to understand that the articles in the temple were foreshadows of Jesus? For example the bread on the Showbread table is a foreshadow of Jesus as the "Bread of Life". Did the disciples teach this principal? Did this thinking come later as the books of the Bible were collated? Answer: […]
Question: I was wondering what your thoughts would be on the article "Evolving yeast sheds light on life’s rise" singled-celled brewer’s yeast evolve into more complex, multi-celled organisms. This is a step towards showing us how life came about. This shows that lots of time is not needed for the origins of life. I read […]
Question: When debating with an atheist about the origins of life I used your statement (see below) In order for life to come about by a chemical accident, as atheists and scientists committed to materialist explanations assume, several things must have happened which simply can not happen. First of all, a genetic code, capable of […]
Question: There are many issues we learn about God and Jesus by studying His 6 hours on the cross. So why do so many Protestants object to the crucifix? Do you? Answer: It is hard to say why most Protestants stay away from crucifixes in their churches. There is the reason they say they do […]
Question: When does one receive the Holy Spirit? Answer: This is one of the easiest questions I have ever gotten! The Bible is very clear on this one. In the first gospel sermon, when asked "What we must do?" Peter replied in Acts 2:38-39, "Repent and be baptized so that your sins may be forgiven. […]
Question: My church has always brought us up to believe the Bible is without error and every section in it must be taken literally. Then I have other people tell me that the Bible should not be taken literal. Like the book of Ruth the miracles of Jesus, the Exodus, and others…please forgive me for […]
Question: Could you explain the Quran prophecy about the Byzantines and Sassanids at this Islamic site http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/347/ Response: We should call this a prediction rather than a prophecy. The fact is that if you look at the history of the Sassanid Persians and the Byzantine Empire you will see that they fought continuously for over […]
Question: How would you respond to the apparent contradiction between the epistle of Galatians, and Acts. Paul highlights his trip to Arabia and specifically states that he did not go up to Jerusalem (Galatians 1:17) , however Luke reports nothing about Arabia and states that Paul went to Jerusalem just a couple of days after […]
Request: I cannot find any explanation for Noah’s slavery curse on your site. You only say that using that story to show that God condones slavery is trash. Please, explain why it should be considered trash if it’s in the Bible. Response: There are a number of activities that God allowed in the Mosaic system […]
Question: Why does the Septuagint Bible consist of additional books (3 Kings, 4 kings, Maccabees,etc.) and psalms (151,152)? From my understanding some of these books and psalms were found in the DSS, so why wasn’t it included in the canon? Answer: The question of what the content of the Septuagint is/was is not an easy […]
Question: Have you ever done the Miller experiment from 1953, where they synthesized 22 of the 24 amino acids we need to live? If so how did it turn out? Answer: There are hundreds of thousands of chemists. Probably no more than one or two have ever tried to repeat the Miller experiment because there […]
Question: My Church cannot really give me answers to alot of the evolution questions I have and direct me to either Kent Hovind or some other creation website. I know from talking to a lot of my atheist friends this source is not reliable. I also have an atheist friend who is studying history. His […]
Question: I am very iffy about this book that someone has mentioned to me which is titled Hebrew is Greek by Joseph Yehuda. This book is really hard to find, but the basic idea is that the Hebrew and Arabic languages are descended from the Greek language. I did research on the author, and what […]
Question: I was wondering your position on a natural route of healthy living. I was reading a response you had about how it is not a sin to use modern drugs to help with physical pain or psychological disorders. What about alternatives to it? The more I get into natural ways to resolve health issues […]
What is the most convincing evidence for the existence for a supernatural being? Answer: The most convincing evidence for the existence of God, at least for me, is the indirect evidence provided by the inspiration for the Bible (and all the evidence which supports belief in the inspiration of the Bible). For this I strongly […]
Question: I was hoping you could answer my a question on Isaiah 45:14. It seems to say that Cyrus the Great would gain tribute or conquer Egypt, Cush and the Sabeans (which I believe are Ethiopians). But Cyrus the Great never conquered Egypt. Rather Cyrus’ son Cambyses invaded Egypt and conquered Egypt. He then tried […]
Question: I have a lot of trouble when presented with "picky" questions about numbers, names, or even localities of the Bible events. Some of them are raised by people I talk to, and some of them are mine, when trying to read the Bible deeper and have a better understanding of God’s word. As for […]
Comment: You must be a Catholic or not have read very much. I ran into this article today and BS. " The Catholic Church changed Saturday Sabbath to Sunday Sabbath. We are still obligated to the Law (Matthew 5:17-20). How do you resond to this biblically" I don’t have time now but i will. I […]
Question: Any thoughts on the contradiction between John having Jesus as crucified on the eve of Passover and the other gospels on Passover itself? Answer: This is a somewhat complicated question. There is no doubt that John tells us Jesus was crucified on the eve of the Passover. It was also the day before a […]
Question: Does God say we should have only one wife? Answer: One would think that this is a straightforward and easy question, but there are subtleties to the biblical response to this question. First of all, I believe that all along, God fully intended, without any qualification, that one man and woman is unambiguously God’s […]
Question: As a student studying Biology I personally believe in evolution, and I also believe in God. However, I have been struggling to figure out whether I should interpret Genesis chapter 2 literally. I looked at two different prestigious scientists who are both Christians but claim evolutionary creationism or bios logos. The first is Dr. […]
Question: In leviticus 11:20-23 it said that the Israelites could not eat any flying creeping thing that is on all fours. What was God refering to when he means flying creeping on all fours? I can’t find any creeping flying animal or insect that is on all fours. Answer: Scholars will agree that Leviticus 11:20-23 […]
Question: I have three different questions on scripture. The first is based on Matthew 11:18 "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon." Just a couple of passages before this John was eating locusts and wild honey? My only explanation of this is that Jesus was talking about John’s […]
Question: Does Genesis 1:7 say that there is water above the expanse(sky)? Does the Bible support this wrong cosmology? Answer: Genesis chapter one is not a scientific treatise and should not be treated this way. It is a theological treatise, stating that God created everything in the universe, giving a rough order in which the […]
Question: In the Septuagint it states that Methuselah was 167 when he begot Lamech. But that would mean that Methuselah living up to 969 would have survived the flood. The Bible states only 8 people were on the ark. Is there any earlier Old Testament text that gives Methuselah a different age when he begot […]
Question: I come from a VERY Catholic family. This Christmas was naturally a very…interesting time. ANYWAYS, they brought up a statement/question that I felt ill equipped to answer. They made the statement that back in OT days, when Jews made a sacrifice, they would have to partake (i.e. eat) the sacrifice to consummate the covenant. […]
Comment: I would like to address the question in your webpage concerning a friend that is being persuaded by people like Hitchens and Dawkins. I hope that you pointed out to this person these unarguable facts. No one has ever seen God. Not one prayer that has been prayed has come true by divine intervention. […]
Question: What’s your response to people who claim the hallucination hypothesis and state that Paul had a lot of guilt towards persecuting the Christians which eventually led to his hallucination? And how would you interpret the verse in Matthew 2:3 "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed and ALL Jerusalem with him"? Thanks! Answer: […]
Question: In 1999, researcher Bruce Bagemihl showed that homosexual behavior has been observed in close to 1,500 species, ranging from primates to gut worms, and is well documented for 500 of them and in many creatures that do not have the conscious capacity to think.That was almost 13 years ago. Why again do you still […]
Question: How did the Philistines get 30,000 chariots in 1 Sam 13:5? Is there any evidence that this is a copyist error? Answer: The answer is that the Septuagint and Syriac translations have 3000 rather than 30,000 chariots. Both are very early translations of the Old Testament which were made many hundreds of years before […]
Question: I have a friend who claims that there are biblical prophecies within both the Old and New Testament that have not come to pass as of yet. Though I am aware that not all biblical prophecy hasn’t been fulfilled, what are the basic rules for interpreting it? Should we focus on how Jesus had, […]
Question: I do think witchcraft and casting of spells is real. I live in Beaufort SC and up the road from me was once the VooDoo capital of the world Frogmore SC. The head guy was Dr. Buzzard. In his life time people from all over the world, even heads of state traveled to this […]
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 […]
Question: Are we supposed to forgive anything and anyone even when we are hurt badly? Answer: Yes. Without qualifications, yes. God expects those of us who have been fogiven of a massive weight of sin by God to forgive anyone and any thing, even when we are badly hurt. God was badly hurt by our […]
Question: In Mark 15:38 it says that the Temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. Is there any historical evidence that this actually happened: Either in some Jewish texts or some other credible writing outside of the New Testament? Answer: As far as I know there is not other written source confirming […]
Question: I am a Jew who lives in Israel, in recent times I began to wonder why my way, Judaism, is true. I talked with some rabbis, and their best claim against the other religion was that Judaism has survived thousands years. Despite all of the pogroms, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, even though they were […]
Question: Why is the tribe of Dan NOT LISTED in Revelation with the other tribes of Israel? Answer: There are a number of theories about why Dan is not included. The scripture does not tell us, so we are left with the need to do at least some speculating. Let me list a few suggested […]
Question: When did Jesus meet Simon? Was it when Peter’s brother Andrew asked Him to come see the Messiah (John 1:35-42)? Was it when Jesus healed Peter’s mother in law (Luke 4:38-43)? Or was it next to the sea of Galilee (Mark 1:14-20)? Thanks! Answer: Jesus met Simon (later known as Peter) when Simon’s brother […]
Pregunta: Mi pregunta es la siguiente: Hay personas que afirman basándose en pasajes de Hechos que el Espíritu no necesariamente se recibe en el momento del bautismo. Aducen que se recibe en el momento de creer. Me gustaría saber que piensas acerca de eso. Reputesta: Por supuesto, he escuchado esta opinión muchas veces. Yo creo […]
Question: Sorry to add another question to my previous question, but I was wondering how do you feel about the use of the Septuagint and the pre-Samaritan text in the New Testament? I know that these two versions of the Old Testament sometimes differ and have on older Hebrew reading from the Masoretic text. Would […]
Question: Some non-believers do believe Christ rose from the dead. The historical evidence is great. We mark our calendars by the event. Sadly even liberal Christians buy the baseless fairy tale that the writings of Josephus were "revised" or the book of Luke was "planted" in the Roman libraries despite not a shred of evidence […]
Question: I am stuck on Daniel 7:26-28. It seems to say that after the defeat of Domitian that Jesus sets up his dominion on earth and that the dominion would be everlasting and that the saints would possese the kingdom. But Jesus never came it 96 A.D? Answer: The Kingdom which Jesus established is the […]
Question: How would you interpret the formal contradiction in Mathew’s citation (Matt 2:6) of Micah 5:2? Matthew states that Bethlehem is by no means the least among the rulers of Judah, and Micah states that Bethlehem is small among the clans or rulers of Judah.Thanks! Answer: Here is a literal, word-for-word translation of the Greek […]
Question: I recently read a report prepared by an archaeologist from the Israeli Antiquities Authority which stated that Bethlehem could not have been occupied during the Herodian Period (the time of the birth of Jesus Christ) because no ruins or other archaeological evidence from that period had been found in or around Bethlehem. He did […]
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