Comments: What is interesting about the Gospel writers is the way in which they fit the details of the story to match the “prophetic” passages which are pre-existent to the story and are already selected as “must be” parts of the story. How for example do you know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem? The […]
Question: What are the churches from which the four text types of the Greek New Testament (Alexandrine, Western, Caesarean and Byzantine) circulated? Answer: The Western text type will have circulated in the West. Generally, the Western churches are taken to mean North Africa, Spain, Gaul and Italy. The North African churches were very strongly influenced […]
Comment: One of the benefits of reading Essene interpretations of Scripture written 100/200 years before the Gospels, is that it enables one to see how religious Jews of the period would happily wrest any passage of Scripture from its clear ancient context and apply it allegorically either to the present or the future. The evangelists […]
Question: My question is can you tell me where specifically did the four text types originate and when they originated and by whom or what local group are most likely to have done so? I understand by Bruce Metzger that using the fathers to locate a certain family of text or reading is also a […]
Question: Please explain to me the differences between the Septuagint and Masoretic text in relation to your belief in the faithful transmission of Scripture. How also does it impinge on your belief in the prophetic element in the OT ? Answer: I have found in my study that the transmission of the original has been […]
Question: (note, this is a long series of questions, followed by a general response to all the question) (1) Should the sacred texts of a religion be understandable to anybody that reads it (ex. Buddhist texts are fairly hard to understand in Chinese…even to those that know Chinese)? (2) Should there be a presence of […]
Question: What text type or types do the most early church fathers use? If the Byz. type goes no further than the 4th cent. why then do kjv. only people say that church fathers from the 2nd cent usedthis type? My second question is what are the text types for the earliest versions of the […]
Question: Please explain to me the discrepancies, both theological and numerical, between 2 Samuel 24 and 1Chronicles 21. Answer: If you read my book Reasons for Belief on the reliability of the biblical texts, you will find the comment that we have a NT which is a virtually perfect copy of the original. With the […]
Question: Please explain about the star named Wormwood in the Bible (rev.8.11) Answer: I am assuming you are aware that the book of Revelation is written in a highly symbolic style. The technical term is apocalyptic literature. In normal writing, the reader is to assume a literal meaning of something unless the context suggests a […]
Question: I detect an anachronism in the burial practice described in 2 Chron 16:14. To the best of my knowledge there is no Jewish custom recorded elsewhere regarding this clearly ongoing practice. What therefore is its explanation? Answer We do not know all the cultural practices of the Philistines. If the Bible were to mention […]
Question: I would be interested to see any paper trail that takes us back to 1300BC as far as archaeological evidence that supports the Bible. Response: Paper? Paper was invented by the Chinese some time in the early centuries AD. (just teasing… forgive me) Have you read me book, Reasons for Belief? I make the […]
Question: What is the evidence of the 2nd coming of Jesus? Answer: I am afraid that there is no physical evidence to confirm the second coming of Jesus. This is obvious, given that the second coming is in the future. It is, by definition, impossible to produce evidence of an event which has not yet […]
Q: Who exactly was Paul referring to as “the lawless one” in 2 Thessalonians 2:8? A: Here is the relevant passage in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12: “Now regarding the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to be with him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to be easily shaken from your […]
Question: My husband and I are planning a Passover meal for our Bible group. Do you have an outline of the Passover meal and the coorelations between it and Jesus’ life? Answer: I have a friend who is an expert on this. He is Phillip Lester. His e-mail is PPLester@aol.com. He did a Passover seder […]
Question: I was wondering what philosophical/theological argument could be mustered in favour of the proposition that people should not commit suicide. A bit of background to the question might help. From a secularist perspective, surely we are ultimately going to die anyway. Our lives will necessarily end with a certain degree of pain and suffering […]
Question: There is evidence of proto-Israelite settlement in Canaan around 1400BC. The Iron Age in Canaan is dated to 1150BC at the earliest. How then can Moses be the author of Leviticus when he reports God as speaking of iron in 26;19 when it was not to be discovered until 200 years after his death […]
Question: What is your take on the strange passage Exodus 4:24-27 in which God almost kills Moses? Answer: I found a web site which presents a range of responses from a Judaic Christian perspective, which I think might be the best. Bottom line, we are not sure why God wanted to kill Moses, but we […]
Question: What is your explanation for the apparent contradiction between Gen 1:11-13 and Gen 1:26-31 with Gen 2:5-7 ? Answer: I can see why one might ask this perfectly reasonable question. I believe that Genesis 2 is the story, not of creation as a whole, but of the creation of “man.” It is not a […]
Question: What is your explanation for the translation “dome” in Genesis 1:6. Doesn’t this show a Hebrew false concept that the heavens are like a dome? Editor’s note: this quote is from the New Revised Standard Version Answer: I looked up the Hebrew word in a Hebrew dictionary. They do not use the word dome […]
Question: What is your explanation for the translation “dome” in Genesis 1:6. Doesn’t this show a Hebrew false concept that the heavens are like a dome? Editor’s note: this quote is from the New Revised Standard Version Answer: I looked up the Hebrew word in a Hebrew dictionary. They do not use the word dome […]
Question: What do you say about near death experiences? I’ve heard of certain people having experiences where they are supposedly almost dead and see heavenly places. I’ve even heard some say that people of different religions have NDE’s where they see their own religion’s heaven. It makes me a bit confused, but I think it […]
Question: I was looking at your website and I thought that you had an interesting point to make about Intelligent Design not being falsifiable. Isn’t the same true for macro-evolution? There is no experiment or data that evolution proponents can even conceive of that they will accept to disprove evolution. In that sense, macro-evolution is […]
Question: I have just finished reading a book that has caused me to mistrust the truth I find in the Bible. The book “Misquoting Jesus – The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why” by scholar/author Bart D. Ehrman has raised innumerable questions in my mind as to the validity of what Jesus actually […]
Question: I just want to get your opinion on the ten ossuaries that were found in Israel, apparently belonging to the family of Jesus of Nasareth. I watched part of the Discovery Channel program, and I am certainly intrigued. Answer: It is my opinion that the ten ossuaries, or bone boxes, found in Israel have […]
Question: Sorry if this question is always asked or if you have already answered it. I noticed in one of your articles you said that evolution is not absolute fact and you commend brave people such as Behe for trying to push the idea of Intelligent Design. I myself am a Christian, but most Christians […]
Question: I want to know about the Holy Spirit and how it did so many miracles in the 1st century through the apostles and other disciples like speaking in tongues, prophecy, healing by laying on of hands etc. Does that stil happen today, if it does is it by God’s Spirit? Answer: Here is what […]
Question: What does Hebrews 6:1 mean? Answer: Hebrews 6:1 means that there are certain very basic Christian teachings. For obvious reasons, most of these deal with salvation issues, such as baptism, faith and repentance (See Acts 2:36-39). However, in order for a Christian to grow and to remain faithful throughout their lives to God, they […]
Question: Recently, someone asked me how if God is such a loving God could he tell the Israelites to go and totally wipe out entire nations of people (even the innocent people). He also said that God showed favoritism toward the Israelites in doing so which is something even Christians are not supposed to do. […]
Question: In 1996/97 I read Barbara Thiering’s Jesus the Man – I have been re-reading it now as someone who thinks they understand and have read more of the Bible – specifically the New Testament in the 10 years since. However, as a “lay man” , one with not a lot of knowledge on research […]
Question: The main thing that bothers me is the view of amorality. What do you say to someone that doesn’t believe (sometimes due to apparent “lack of evidence”) in such things as “good” and “evil” hanging around out there anywhere? Sure they will admit that things happen that are both helpful and detrimental to a […]
Question: Is college partying sinful according to biblical principles? I am a college student myself and I have avoided parties mainly because of all the sinful activities I hear about parties such as drunkenness, sex, drugs, etc. But what I don’t understand is if it is ok for Christians to attend college parties and even […]
Question: If the miracle stories and the resurection are myths started years after the crucifiction wouldn’t there be alternate stories of Christ that would be written down? I don’t know of any stories of a non-miracle working Jesus so isn’t this very strong evidence that the stories are not myths? Why don’t I ever here […]
Question: How or when do you consider someone drifted away or wondered away? And what is the retoration process? Answer: The Bible makes a distinction between a person who has wandered away and someone who has fallen away. Hebrews 6:4-8 describes a person who has become completely unfaithful, who has turned his or her back […]
Question: Were Adam and Eve neanderthals or modern humans? Answer: Adam and Eve were humans. Whether or not neanderthal are humans is debatable, but Adam and Eve were humans. Anthropoligists have failed to prove Neanderthals were not humans. They had different physical features, but we have every reason to believe they were humans and no […]
Question: What is the Christian response to having political affiliations such as being a conservative, liberal, or independent? Does the bible say anything about participating in a political life such as voting, protesting, being a politician, etc? The reason I’m asking is because there are churches that seem to be strongly conservative and then there […]
Question: What does “the evil spirit from LORD” means as stated in 1 Samuel 19:9? Answer: It is a truism that everything which happens is either caused by God or allowed by God. In the case of evil, God allows bad things to happen because such things fall under the free will God has given […]
Question: In the OT, when the Israelites went to war with their enemies, I read numerous times where God told them to put the women and children to the sword after killing their enemies. Don’t you think this is a very cruel act in killing helpless and defenseless beings? Even in modern warfare, armies don’t […]
Question: The Bible never mentions Muhammad, but in the Qur’an it talks about Jesus. Why is that? Answer: The answer is quite simple. Muhammad began his ministry in the year AD 612. This was over five hundred years after the New Testament was completed. There is no reason to expect the Bible to talk about […]
Question: I heard you say at an event that life used to exist on Mars. I thought life only existed on earth. I am reading a book about how unique the earth is and it has been faith building – so that is why I was curious about the comment. Why do you think life […]
Question; I have been following the work of Hugh Ross and his team on reasonstobelieve.org. A claim made on that web-site is that we can show using y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA that the population of mankind can be traced back to a mitochondrial Eve and a y-chromosomal Adam. Furthermore the dating of Eve at an […]
QUESTION: How does one conclude that morality exists and is given directly by the Christian God? I am a Christian, and have been raised in a very conservative Christian home, but I’m afraid I’m growing weaker all the time. It’s getting especially harder for me to understand the whole morality issue. It seems that many […]
Question 1 – If God is all knowing that would mean that he knows when anyone is born and how he or she would turn out and whether he or she would go to heaven or hell. My question is this, if he knows that someone would eventually go to heaven or hell why would […]
Question: Did God took rest on the seventh day of creation, if so then he can get tired & weary. Also who does the work during the rest time? I want to know the correct interpretation. Answer: In answer to your question, God does not get tired, Isaiah 41:28 gives us some insight into this, […]
Question: Do you believe that God uses Satan’s evil to bring us closer to following Christ? Answer: I believe that everything which happens is either caused by God or allowed by God. God does not use evil. God does not do evil. God is willing that the evil done by those who do not love […]
Question: I heard in a recent lesson you gave that even in quantum theory and relativity God has left his finger prints. Can you elaborate and illuminate on this? Answer: Quantum mechanics tells us that the simple mechanical view of the universe of Newton and LaPlace is not correct. Quantum mechanics tells us that light […]
Question: I am a Christian in the UK. There are a couple of best selling books in the UK at the moment that deny the existence of God and the truth of Christianity. On is “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins and the other is “Tricks of the Mind” by Derren Brown. The latter is […]
Question: It is taught that by some that only 144,000 people will receive eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ as co-rulers over the earth. Witnesses believe that in the war of Armageddon, which they believe to be imminent, the wicked will be destroyed. The survivors of this event, along with individuals deemed worthy of […]
Question: What’s this about a Gospel of Barnabas? Who wrote it and why? Was Barnabas an apostle or not? Answer: The New Testament speaks of a 1st Century Jew named Joseph, a Levitical priest from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, who became a follower of Jesus. He “was a good man, and full of the […]
Question: What about the Gospel of Barnabus? Who write it? For what? Was Barnabus is apostle or not? Answer: My answer will depend on whether you mean the Epistle of Barnabas or the Gospel of Barnabas. Of the two, the more well known is the Epistle (letter) of Barnabas. The question of whether Barnabas was […]
Question: I came across a book about what happen to you after you die by Dr.Douglas Jacoby. I was thinking about getting this book but I was just thinking that based on what is already written, is there more information on this subject .Answer: Thanks for your question regarding a long neglected teaching! In addition […]
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