Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions – Page 2

Can you respond to a Muslim claim that the early church did not believe Jesus was God and that Constantine changed this?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Other Religions, Q & A .

Question: Dr Oakes, can you view this article: https://quranandbibleblog.com/2022/01/02/what-did-the-ante-nicene-church-fathers-believe-about-jesus/ What did the Ante-Nicene Church Fathers Believe About Jesus? بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْم What did the Ante-Nicene Church Fathers Believe About Jesus? Read as PDF “…but of His Son the Master said thus, Thou art My Son, I this day have begotten thee. A… quranandbibleblog.com This came […]

There was no OT canon until the second century BC, giving great opportunity for Jewish scribes to amend the writings. How do we know our received OT is inspired?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: There was no proper canon or collection of the writings of the Old Testament, until the time of the Synagogue under the Maccabees, which was only about 200 years before the appearance of Jesus. Up to this period, the “Holy books” were scattered and liable to be altered or amended just as priests might […]

My Muslim friend says there is no evidence from the first century that Christians believed Jesus is God. Is this true?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: A Muslim friend proposed this to me: I have seen this “issue” before and I haven’t done a proper investigation into it. He said there’s no evidence to support Jesus’ divinity in the first century. I believe (although I am yet to see) that there is evidence of early Christians in first century honoring […]

There are many biblical prophecies of the Messiah which do not fit Jesus. Your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, Daniel, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, History, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

[Editor’s note: This is a series of challenges from a Muslim regarding Jesus to be the fulfillment of Old Testament messianic prophecies. My answers are interspersed among the questioner’s examples in italics] Claim: There are many biblical prophecies which do not fit into Jesus, for e.g. Response: Whether Jesus fulfilled all potential messianic prophecies is […]

Does Origen deny Jesus is a carpenter based on a textual variant of Mark 6:3?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I want to ask you, sir, regarding the textual variation of Mark 6:3. Some early manuscripts said son of carpenter. Between “carpenter” or “son of carpenter”? This one was cited by a quote in Origen works (184-253), Against Celsus (248 AD), where Origen claimed that none of the Gospel on the current church said […]

A Muslim web site claims that only 50% of the New Testament is reliable. Your response? What about their evidence for the Qur’an?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Sir, can you view this article: http://mquran.org/content/view/9181/16/ This comes from an anonymous Muslim apologist website written in 2006. He said that the New Testament is unreliable and the 99,5% number that Christian apologists used in their argument are not valid. He claimed that apologists just cite other apologists and only 50% of the gospel are […]

How do you explain content in the Bible by editors, superscriptions and even updates, if these books are inspired? What about books which do not even have a named author?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

[Editor’s note: In this one the questions are interspersed, in italics, between the four questions] Questions: I have some points to discuss: 1. The Major and Minor Prophets of the Bible contain a significant amount of data from other persons, namely, editors and others whose words were added without acknowledgement. Those additions include materials such […]

Is there any solid evidence that the prophecy in Isaiah 53 predates Christ?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Is there any proof of Isaiah 53 predating Christ? I’ve heard carbon 14 testing for the Isaiah Scroll could be inaccurate as the parchment could be reused and paleographic dating might be unreliable. David: There is a boat load of evidence for the Book of Isaiah predating Christ. Perhaps the most obvious is the […]

What are reasonable dates for the authorship of the Aramaic and Hebrew sections of Daniel?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Daniel, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, History, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I’ve written questions to you before about Jeremiah. I’m now studying Daniel and have found questions regarding the language. Daniel is written in Aramaic and Hebrew. There are different arguments about the Aramaic. Some say it is quite young – 300BC and later. Others claim it is much older. The Hebrew I think is […]

An [Muslim] author at a web site I was searching said that several entire books have been removed from the Bible. What is your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: This person claims that there have been entire books removed from the bible. https://quranicwarners.org/gospel They all seem legitimate. What’s your opinion? Answer: It is hard to know exactly how to respond to this article, because the author is not specific as to which “entire books” were removed from the Bible. If he does not specify […]

I have heard apologists say that the oldest manuscript of the Odyssey of Homer is from 2200 years after the original. Is that true?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I have heard apologists say that the oldest manuscript of the Odyssey of Homer is from 2200 years after it was written. I am preparing to teach a class on the reliability of the Bible in which I want to make the point that the biblical manuscripts are more reliable than any other famous […]

By the Bible’s own standard of false prophets, the Old Testament includes false prophets. Your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

[Editor’s note: This question is part of a series which are a believer passing along criticisms of Christianity from his Muslim friend] Question: My Muslim friend replied to me about your points that: 1) If presumably Daniel or Ezekiel talked about an earlier event, it doesn’t mean that whole book is reliable. Unless scrolls of […]

The writings of several of the prophets were destroyed by the ruling class of the Jews. What is your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: The writings of several prophets were destroyed by the ruling class of the Jews. According to Justin Martyr, the Jews have omitted sayings by Jeremiah and Ezra, as well as the words “from the wood” after “The Lord reigns” in Psalm 95(96):10 (Dialogue with Trypho, 71-73). It means Jews were NOT honest keepers of […]

Is there solid evidence that Old Testament prophecies such as those in Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Nahum and Jeremiah were given before the events prophesied?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Daniel, General Apologetics, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Is there evidence that Old testament prophecies like those in Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Nahum, Jeremiah etc. were made prior to the events they prophesied? Answer: Yes, of course. Many of the prophecies in the Old Testament certainly were fulfilled after the prophecies were written down. However, there are also Old Testament prophecies–especially in Jeremiah and […]

How do we know that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were actually the authors of those gospels? How does this relate to their reliability?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: How do we know that Mathew Mark Luke and John were actually written by the people whose names they were accredited to? I will grant that it was probably at least written by a member of the church because it was widely accepted as the holy word of God by the early church who […]

Skeptics say Jesus got it wrong because he said some with him would not die before he came back. An explanation?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

Question: Skeptics say that the Bible is at error because of verses that have Jesus saying that some of you standing here will not taste death until they see son of man coming in his kingdom, Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man […]

My friend says the Bible is inaccurate and has contradictions. He says this proves Jesus was not God. Your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Archaeology and the Bible, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Questions: My friend claims that the Bible is inaccurate and that means that Jesus was not God. Also because of the contradictions in the Bible, plus we do not have the original biblical texts, so Jesus is not God. By the way is there a way to get your book “Is There a God?” as […]

My Hindu friend says that Jesus taught pantheism, and that the original teachings of Jesus are all lost. He also says the God of Christianity is a disgusting God. What is your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, History, Other Religions, Philosophy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Questions: My Hindu friend asked 4 questions, please help me with how to respond i. Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda teach real Christianity. ii. Jesus taught Pantheism and Monism (as said by Swami Vivekananda). He claims that ultimately what is in the Gospels were written 40-100 years after Jesus’s death- and that’s why the real […]

If we date biblical manuscripts based on the type of script style, isn’t this circular reasoning?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Archaeology and the Bible, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A .

Question: Hi, I was just reading your article from May of 2005 about how scholars date ancient manuscripts and I had a question. In the article, you lay out the different methods of determining the dates, like styles of script or types of paper. My question is, how did historians determine when each style was […]

Bart Ehrman claims that the Bible was changed and is unreliable. Can you comment on these claims?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

[Editor’s note: This is a long question with an even longer answer. The questioner makes some rather personal comments, so my response is more personal that I normally would use. Feel free to give me feedback. J. O.] Question: Bart Ehrman claims the Bible was changed and is unreliable in his book “Misquoting Jesus–The Story […]

If we use “copying errors” in the manuscripts to explain supposed biblical contradictions, doesn’t that open the door for people to claim the Bible cannot be trusted?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, General Apologetics, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

[Editor’s note: This question is a follow-up from the class Answering the Hard Questions which we have been teaching the past three weeks.] Question: Hi guys! Thanks for the great apologetics series! I left last session with two questions. One is regarding the use of the “copying error” as a tool for explaining discrepancies between texts. […]

Bible critics and atheists say that all nine of the non-Christian writers who wrote about Jesus of Nazareth are really just fabrications by Christians. Your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Bible critics and atheists say that none of the nine non-Christian writers like Thallus, Josephus, Tacitus and others actually wrote about Jesus of Nazareth of the Bible in their documents. They say those documents were all fabrications by a Christian. Your response? Response: This is quite simply a lie, and ought to be labeled […]

What is the name of God according to Exodus 6:2 according to the Hebrew and the Septuagint translation?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A .

Question: What is the name of God according to Exodus 6:2-3 based on the Hebrew Old Testament and the Septuagint? [Editor’s note: this is the early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible in the late third century BC] Answer: God has many names in the Bible, as I assume you know. He is called El, […]

Many of my Muslim friends tell me that Jesus did not die on the cross and that this came, not from Muhammad but from the second century. Your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, History, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I want to know about the reliability of the Bible because many of my friends who are Muslims tell me that Jesus did not die on the cross nor was he risen. They tell me that this is not written 600 yrs later but from 2nd century or the end of 1st century itself […]

Muslims, including Shabir Ally, say that Jesus was not crucified, and that Muhammad was only saying what had been said before. Your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, History, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Questions: I’m not being able to protect my faith because of Muslims and they are telling that the Bible I hold in my hand is corrupted and the original manuscripts are lost. They showed me the video of a debate of Micheal licona a Christian apologist and Shabir Ally who is a Muslim apologist. They […]

Acts 8:37 is in none of the ancient manuscripts, but it is in the King James Version. How can we trust this or any other version of the Bible?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: As for Acts 8:37 none of the most ancient manuscripts include this material. The King James Version is the one which got it wrong. You are telling here here that the King James Version of the Bible is wrong. So how can we trust the other versions of the Bible because KJV is the […]

How many Greek manuscripts in total do we have from the second and third centuries? How does this compare to all other non-biblical manuscripts?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: 1. How many Greek manuscripts we have dated before the 3rd century? I will be so happy if you give total manuscript numbers by century up to the 3rd century 2. How many copies do we have for the New Testament compared to secular ancient texts within the 3 centuries from the writing of […]

How to you deal with the fact that so-called Saint Peter was a cruel murderer?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Archaeology and the Bible, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

[Editor’s note: The answers from this Hindu gentleman are interspersed with the questions] Questions and Answers: Acts 5: 1-11 show that the so-called Saint Peter was a cruel murderer who murdered in cold blood both, Annanias & his wife Sapphira. I am sure Peter would be horrified to be falsely accused of murder. This is terrible false […]

A Rabbi claims on youtube that Psalms 22:16 (they have pierced my hands and feet) actually is a lion surrounded by dogs with paws upraised. Your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A .

Question: Rabbi Dtovia Singer has a video on youtube saying the church is lying about christology. In this video he says when Isaiah talks about Jesus’ peirced hands it is actually spun by Origen and other church fathers. The Rabbi claims the verse says that King David is like a lion surrounded by dogs with […]

You say that the Council of Jamnia set the Hebrew canon, but scholars all agree that this supposed council did not even happen.

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: In some posts concerning Enoch, you have stated that determining the canon of the Old Testament belongs to the Jews. How is this possible if the Jews themselves had no Old Testament canon? The Sadducees, Pharisees, and Greek Jews all had different canons. I predict that you will appeal to the Council of Jamnia, […]

Scholars say Daniel 9 is a Jewish interpretation of Jeremiah and not a prophecy about Jesus. What is your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Daniel, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A .

[Editor’s note: This is a rather long question, but the answer is below!] Question: This is on Daniel 9 and what Wiki has been saying about it. First of all, they say this has nothing to do with Jesus and the temple but it is about Jeremiah. As stated here: “The seventy weeks prophecy is […]

Did Paul really write the 13 letters normally attributed to him? Is Ehrman right that most of the New Testament letters are forgeries?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Questions: Did Paul really write Ephesians, Colossians and the Pastoral Epistles? In other words, did Paul really write all the 13 epistles of the New Testament normally attributed to him? One scholar, Bart D.Ehrman says that only the seven books, the undisputed letters of St.Paul are authentic and the rest 20 books of the New […]

How can we know for sure that the Gnostic gospels such as Thomas, Philip, Mary and Judas were not actually written by disciples of Jesus?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: How can we really know for sure that the Gnostic gospels- The gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Philip, the gospel of Mary, the gospel of Judas, etc. were actually not written by the disciples of Jesus Christ? Answer: I suppose we cannot absolutely “prove” in the mathematical sense of proof that Thomas did […]

Is Bart Ehrman right that we have almost no evidence about Jesus?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Archaeology and the Bible, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, History, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Scholar Bart D. Ehrman says that we have very scanty evidence and documentation of Jesus’ life. Bart D. Ehrman says that Jesus is never mentioned in any Greek or Roman, non-Christian sources until 80 years after his death. There is no record of Jesus having lived in these sources. In the entire first Christian […]

Is it true, as I saw in a recent YouTube video, that the name Jesus is never used in the New Testament and that his followers are never called Christians in the Bible?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A .

[Editor’s note: The video in question is a lecture claiming that the most important manuscript of the Greek New Testament, Codex Sinaiticus proves that Jesus was never called Jesus in the New Testament (using Mark 1:1) and that his followers were never called Christians (using 1 Peter 4:16). Feel free to look at the video […]

If it is true, as is claimed, that Luke 23:34, John 7:53-8:11 and other New Testament passages are interpolations, why did these people add to the Scriptures? Didn’t they fear God? What if much of what Jesus says about himself in the NT is also interpolated?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I have heard that some early church writers interpolated several scriptures/verses into the New Testament: (For eg: Luke 23:34 was included by Irenaeus and Alexandrinus and others) Also, I heard it claimed that Luke 22:43-44, 22:19-20, 1 John 5:7-8, John 7:53-8:11, Mark 16:9-20, and 1 Cor 14:34-35 are all interpolated. Apparently, New Testament scholars […]

In your book Daniel, Prophet to the Nations you make the inaccurate claim that much of Daniel is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Why do you make this inaccurate claim?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Daniel, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

[Editor’s note: this is part of an interaction with a questioner who feels my treatment of Peter Enns’ book How the Bible Actually Works is not fair. The article is found here: https://evidenceforchristianity.org/a-review-of-peter-enns-book-how-the-bible-actually-works/ ] Question: I have worked my way through some fairly lengthy portions of your sermon at the Boston Church of Christ on […]

I read an article that claims John 7:53-8:11 in the KJV was not in the original John. Is that correct?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I read an article that claims that John 7:53-8:11 was not part of the original book of John. https://www.gotquestions.org/John-7-53-8-11.html Please comment on this article. Is today’s KJV bible accurate as to the original manuscripts written by the original gospel writers? Are there any additional example of material that has been added to the Gospels over the […]

Hosea 11:1 cannot be a prophecy about the Messiah because it speaks of Israel, not Jesus.

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Bible Interpretation, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Versions of the Bible .

[Editor’s note: I received a long and somewhat rambling set of comments and questions from someone. I asked for a more succinct set of comments and questions so that I could respond. You will see below that the shorter version is still a bit unfocused, but this person asks sufficiently important questions that I felt […]

I have heard people say most of the New Testament could be reproduced from early quotes, even if we did not have manuscripts. Is this true? Is there a list to prove it?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I have heard it said that if all the New Testament manuscripts were lost, the entire NT could still be replaced merely by the quotes from the church fathers…except for a scant few verses. My questions: 1. Who all has done a study to verify this? 2. How accurate were the quotations by the […]

Who is right? Those who say Luke was written about AD 62 or those who say AD 70-90? Also, what was Jesus’ Hebrew name?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible, Uncategorized .

Question: I have three questions: 1- I have searched and found that there is division between scholars about dating the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Although some believe that they were written before 62 AD because there is no mention of Paul’s death or destruction of Jerusalem, most scholars believe that they […]

Do we know how many children Joseph and Mary had? How were the books of the Bible chosen?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A .

Question: How were the books of the Bible chosen? Do we know how many children Joseph and Mary had? Answer: I answer your first question in great detail in my book “Reasons for Belief” which is available at www.ipibooks.com. I am also attaching a shorter version of notes on canon to this e-mail. HOW WE […]

Jehovah Witnesses claim that Constantine made the Bible Pagan. What is your response?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Uncategorized, Versions of the Bible .

Question: Jehovah’s Witnesses state that Constantine made the Bible pagan, Hence their New World Translation. Do you have any evidence against this as nobody yet has been able to provide me something that backs up their claim. Thanks very much. Answer: This claim is so blatantly unfounded that for anyone to make the it they […]

Robert Price claims that 1 Cor 15:3-11 is an interpolation. Can you prove that this passage is genuine?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Robert Price claims that 1 Corinthians 15 : 3 – 11 is an interpolation https://depts.drew.edu/jhc/rp1cor15.html How can you prove the authenticity of this important text? [Editor’s note: this passage is a key one with regard to the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus] Answer: I did some research and found that, as far as I can […]

Please respond to some “evidence” used by an atheist to prove that Jesus never lived.

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

[Editor’s note: This is a follow-up to a question just posted a couple of days ago. I asked the questioner to send specific examples from a rather long article by an atheist who claims that Jesus did not even live at all. The material in italics is the material he asked me to comment on […]

In Habakkuk 3:13 is the correct translation Anointed One or anointed ones?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Q & A .

Question: Is habakkuk 3 13 anointed one or anointed ones please? Answer: I am not a Hebrew scholar, but I did sufficient research, by going to the original Hebrew and many translations and I am very confident that the Hebrew word is singular. Therefore, the correct translation is Anointed One. Therefore this is a messianic […]

Is the Codex Vaticanus of Daniel 9:26 right, so that our translations are wrong?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Daniel, General, Q & A .

Question: I found a claim that in the Codex Vaticanus, “Messiah the Prince” is instead ” anointed place.” Also a Dead Sea Scroll states that Messiah is to come after the seven weeks instead of 62 sevens. Can these be proven wrong or is our translation incorrect? Answer: I did a bit of research and […]

The early Church accepted very strange things from the Apocrypha to be true and the Bible is not supported by other historical documents.

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

[Note: the second of a series of three sets of comments from a site user] Claims: 3. The versions of events that didn’t make it into the Bible [Apocrypha] are very strange – ie: Jesus slaying children & blinding their parents. The early Church [up to 400 years after the life of Jesus] accepted this […]

The gospels were written well after the purported events and there was much dispute in the early Church over the contents of the New Testament.

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, Church History, General, Q & A, Resurrection of Jesus .

[Editor’s notes. I received a six-part set of claims from a visitor to the site. I will answer them in a series of responses Claims: 1. The Bible [Gospels] were not written until well after the purported events. 2. There was much dispute over the contents of the Bible. The early Church had many conflicting […]

Can you respond to a video I saw recently in which a Muslim claims that the gospels were not written by disciples of Jesus?

Dr. John Oakes wrote in Bible Manuscripts and Textual Questions, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Request: Please, can you refute this video, I’d really appreciate it (considering Islam). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R27Kb__1Ko&feature=youtu.be Response: I cannot refute a video. I can attempt to refute particular things said in a video. What you ask I cannot do. In fact, a number of the things said in this video are actually true. I certainly cannot refute […]