What about when the words of Jesus in red in one Gospel, describing a one-time event do not EXACTLY match other accounts? The temptation of Christ, for example. I am not upset about this for some reason, and it doesn’t shake my faith in Christ, but is there a reasonable answer? Just different ways the […]
Who wrote the book of Hebrews? That is an easy question. The answer is that no one knows who wrote this book. It is one of my three or four personal favorite books in the Bible, but, bottom line, the book is not signed. We can assume that the very early church considered it to […]
There is increasing argument that many of the sayings of Jesus (the Lord’s, prayer for example) had already been recorded in early historical manuscripts. They suggest that Jesus simply borrowed them. Is this true? In order to answer this question, I would need specific examples. If you have some specific claims about Jesus repeating the […]
When did Christianity begin? Public Christianity began on the day of Pentecost, as described in Acts Chapter two. One could debate this date. For example, one could say that Christianity began the day Jesus rose from the dead, or one could say that Christianity began the day Jesus was born, or the day he began […]
I was wondering if you could provide me with a list of the New Testament books in chronological order. I’m trying to prepare for an upcoming discussion about the reliability of Bible texts so if you could point me in any specific direction…that would be great Do you mean chronological order of when they were […]
I was just reviewing that article you wrote about people believing God isn?t real. When you try to explain how God is or isn?t real, you can’t use the Bible because the Bible is a human written book. There is absolutely no proof that any of these actions occurred, well little if any. There is […]
I have a question for you. I was wondering if you could give me advice on helping people who argue that the Bible we have today cannot possibly be the original Bible. I obviously cannot tell them that I believe by faith that it is the inspired word of God and that He protects His […]
Do you have information on the changing of the Sabbath Day by Constantine? I have no information on this because it never happened. One of the most persistent false claims about the early history of the church is that somehow Constantine was able to change Christian doctrine of even the scriptures of the New Testament. […]
The way I understand the compilation of the NT Canon is that the books that were accepted by the church and said to have apostolic authority, were the books put into the canon. However, this doesn’t make sense to me, because some gospels were not written by apostles… likewise we have no idea who wrote […]
I’m writing to ask if you have any explanation for one apparent discrepancy that I have often wondered about: “three days and three nights”. I have read that the “days” part of that statement was due to the Jewish tradition of counting any part of a day as a whole day in the description of […]
It’s been a while since I posed any questions however I’m currently reading several of your articles and in your article Biblical Prophecies Fulfilled you state the following: While the writings of John preceded the persecutions of Domitian and his successors by less than a generation, they nevertheless show the continuity of the New and […]
Who was the author of Ecclesiastes? The general consensus of conservative scholars is that King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. The introduction certainly implies this. It describes the author of the book as “the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.” There is only one person who we know was described in his own time as the […]
My question revolves around the true role of the Council Of Nicea. Some have argued that the council canonized certain texts to fit their purposes. I have heard the counter argument that the council merely canonized what was already widely accepted as Inspired Word, but even this wide acceptance does little to guarantee that the […]
The Bible is generally used as the primary reference for Christians. Even if I accept that the Bible is actually God’s word, you have to admit that it was put on paper by humans. And since humans are imperfect, how do you put such faith in the Bible? Also, what about the books of the […]
What evidence do we have that the stories on Christianity are real? Unfortunately, this is a rather vague question. I will give a fairly vague answer in response. If you have a more specific question in mind, please send me another question. I am not sure what you mean by “stories” in Christianity? Do you […]
My question revolves around the true role of the Council Of Nicea. Some have argued that the council canonized certain texts to fit their purposes. I have heard the counter argument that the council merely canonized what was already widely accepted as Inspired Word, but even this wide acceptance does little to guarantee that the […]
The Bible is generally used as the primary reference for Christians. Even if I accept that the Bible is actually God’s word, you have to admit that it was put on paper by humans. And since humans are imperfect, how do you put such faith in the Bible? Also, what about the books of the […]
The Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and is credited (by some) as being responsible for Christianity flourishing. But, Constantine chose one form of Christianity and killed anyone who practiced any of the other forms. What about these other forms? Combine this with the crusades and we get the classic line “history is written by the […]
I have studied the word Amen. What does it mean and what is the origin of the word? I have read it in the Egyptwebsite that Amen is the ancient name of their god Please Check if it is true. The word amen simply means, so be it or I agree. The etymology of the […]
In the story in the gospel of John, Jesus with the adulterous woman was not found in the most reliable sources such as Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus. Why is the story in our Bible’s today if it was not in what is considered the most authoritative documents on biblical manuscripts? It kind of bugs […]
Do the books referred to in the OT exist? For example, I read about the “Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?” (1 Kings 14:19), the “Book of the Wars of the Lord”, “Book of Jashar”, “Book of the Annals of Solomon” and so forth… The answer is that none of these books […]
I had a question regarding Numbers 3. Why does there seem to be an inconsistency between the sum of the males counted in the Levite clans (7,500+8,600+6,200=22,300) in ch3, vs. 21-34, and the amount listed in ch3, v. 39 (22,000)? It would seem to pose a problem when (in vs. 40-51) the people of Israel […]
1) The natural amino acids are L and D, and in proteins are only L. So in any hypothetical primordial soup, surely there would have been an equal proportion of both. The problem for the materialist is to answer how did the first proteins become just L amino acids (since racemic proteins can’t exist). If […]
The NIV and some other Bibles leave out verses. Take for example, Matthew 18:11 is missing in the NIV. I know that it may not have the verse, and that it does cross refer it to Luke. But in Rev 22:19 it says And if any man shall take away from the words of the […]
Let me try to answer the question I think you are asking, and feel free to ask a follow-up question. Let us first consider the use of the word sin in the Bible. The principal word in Hebrew translated as sin is the word chatta’ah and its derivatives such as chata and chet. The word […]
I have a question about your website article on the NT canon. You said that the Muratorian Fragment is the earliest list of NT letters, but that it did not contain Hebrews, James or 1 John. Since Origen was also skeptical about these, should we be? Is there any proof to believe that these are […]
Did the gospel writers borrow material from one another? Dozens of books and hundreds of ThD’s have been written on the subject of the sources of the gospels. Much of this is pure speculation–often an unfounded, biased attack on the veracity of the New Testament. It is fashionable to mention a supposed document Q, possibly […]
Is the Old Testament plagiarized from the Zoroastrian scriptures? Quite simply, no. Many wild theories are thrown about by theologians looking for something to put into their ThD theses, and this is one of these ideas. The Zend Avesta is the principle scripture of Zoroastrianism, the pseudo-monotheistic sun-worshiping religion which began in Persia in about […]
What evidence do we have that points to the fact that the gospels were written by the apostles themselves? The first one who believed that they were written by them was Irenaius in 180 AD. It is impossible to prove absolutely that the apostles wrote the letters of the New Testament. Actually, you should be […]
I was looking for some credible evidence for the historicity of Jesus. Two main historians who wrote about Jesus, Thallus and Josephus, are controversial. It is not clear if they wrote it and when they wrote it. Are there records which date to the 1st century which we know where scholars are sure that they […]
Why are the Dead Sea Scrolls important? The Dead Sea Scrolls are a large number of manuscripts which have been found in a series of caves in the general area site of the ruins of the desert community of Qumran. Qumran was a settlement in the steep and arid hills at the Northwest end of […]
How do scholars date the ancient manuscripts and written records from the past and are there methods accurate? Scholars use a number of methods. You might think that carbon-14 dating, which gives an objective date for when the papyrus or vellum or other material was produced, would be the principal method, but actually it is […]
I understand that the Greek of the NT testament was Koine Greek. What can you tell me about this? I am not an expert on this subject, and would encourage you to do your own research into the style of Greek used by the writers of the New Testament. If you have a good commentary […]
I’ve heard different information about the earliest NT manuscript. Is the ms from John (125 AD) the earliest? And what about the Magdalene manuscripts and of these from Mark (46 AD) found in Egypt are these the earliest MS? The manuscripts you refer to are the Rylands Papyrus and the Magdalene Manuscript. The Rylands Papyrus […]
How can I tell the OT of the Bible is the real OT (ie the original Hebrew Bible) or if it is really just a more modern day Jewish OT? They claim the Bible’s OT is rewritten and has mistakes. Can you please clear things up for me? I believe I give a pretty thorough […]
What is the difference between the Hebrew name Yeshua, Yahweh and God, Jesus? The bible says that it is through his name that we are saved. Then why do we call him Jesus instead of his Hebrew name, Yeshua? First, let me be humble and confess that I am absolutely not an expert in either […]
Q-Source, Do you believe that there was a Q? If so, then was God’s inspired word lost? The Q-Source is a hypothesis contrived to explain both the similarities and the differences between Matthew, Mark and Luke. Was there a written source of sayings and acts of Jesus available before Mark or Matthew wrote their gospels? […]
I understand that Thomas went as far as India, but I am not so sure whether he is the one who wrote ?The Gospel of Thomas.? Should this book be in the Bible? Indeed, tradition is strong that the apostle Thomas established the church in India sometime in the ?40s. Although I started out skeptical […]
The book of Jashar is one of the many books cited in the OT. Following is a list (possibly incomplete) of sources cited in the O.T. books. The list omits references to other O.T. books. These works are “extrabiblical”-outside (extra, Latin) the Bible. The Book of the Wars of the Lord-Numbers 21:14The Poets-Numbers 21:27The Book […]
I recently read of books called ‘Q’ and the Gospel of Thomas. Interesting reading! I was wondering what you thought of them and their authenticity. Why are they not included in the Bible? Actually, much of “Q”-the hypothetical source of material common to Matthew and Luke-is in the New Testament. Let me recommend you read […]
If one can assume that this question is about the additions to the Old Testament which are included in the Roman Catholic Bible, then the bottom line answer is simple. The canon of the Old Testament was set by the teachers of Judaism. The Old Testament Apocrypha was never accepted by any of the Jewish […]
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