Church History – Evidence for Christianity

Catholics precede Protestants and their Bibles have extra books. Does this mean that Protestants removed part of the Bible and Catholics have the correct canon?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Versions of the Bible .

Question: I understand that Catholics came into existence first and then later the Protestants. The Catholic’s Bible has additional material such as extra chapters of Esther and extra books like 1 Maccabees, unlike the Protestant Bible with 66 books. This causes me to think that Protestants removed the additional books and chapters from the Bible […]

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

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 […]

Muslims deny Jesus died on the cross. Can you help respond to an article making this claim?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Other Religions, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Resurrection of Jesus .

[Editor’s note: This is a VERY long question, which is simply copied and pasted from a web site. There are far too many issues raised for me to answer all of them in limited time. What I do afterward is give a general response, rather than address all of the issues raised. If this article […]

Was Peter the first pope? If so, does this prove Catholicism?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A .

Question: Was Peter the first pope? If true, would this prove Catholicism: Answer: Catholicism can neither be proved nor disproved. You cannot “prove” a religious group. Catholicism has beliefs and practices which are biblical and Catholicism has beliefs and practices that are unbiblical. I am sure this is true of all Christian groups. One of […]

Can you talk about the Gnostics, the Gospel of Judas and the diversity of early Christian beliefs?

John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Church History, General, Q & A, Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible .

(Editor’s note: Questions are in italics and answers are in normal type) Questions: It is said that the Gnostic Gospel of the Judas shows a gospel where God (our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth) is the bad guy and a fascinating contrast from the theology of Nicean Christianity. Early Christianity was diverse, unlike how many […]

If the author of 1 Clement was born about AD 35, why did he not mention meeting Paul or any of the other apostles?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A .

Question: Since the early church father Clement who wrote 1st Clement was born in 35 A. D, why did he not talk about personally meeting the 12 apostles or meeting Paul? It is very obvious that Clement will have been a mature adult around 50s. During 50s , St. Paul was still alive plus all […]

Was Jesus born on Christmas? Why did God make antimatter?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Science and the Bible .

Questions: Was Jesus born on Christmas? Why did god make antimatter? Answers: Jesus definitely was not born on Dec. 25 (or on Jan 7, which is the Orthodox Christmas) No one knows the date of Jesus’ birth. Anyone who says they do is wrong, and should be ignored, in my opinion. The Bible gives us […]

Some first century people such as Marcion of Sinope or the Docetists did not believe Jesus was a real person. Where did this idea come from?

John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Church History, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question; Why was there so much confusion even in the first and second century about whether Jesus Christ of Nazareth even existed as a historical person or not. One example of someone who questioned the reality of Jesus was Marcion of Sinope, a 1st century historical person. Also there were the Docetists, Gnostics and others […]

Robert Price says a miracle-worker like Jesus should have mention in non-Christian writings in the first century, but there is none. He concludes Jesus is a fictional character. Your response?

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

Question: I want to ask one question. One skeptic New Testament scholar Robert McNair Price says that since our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth was a miracle working historical person who did many miracles like multiplying thousands of bread and fishes, raised the deaths, turning water into wine, healed the sick persons, resurrected, ascended and […]

Were the Jews in the first century aware that the Christians claimed they were responsible for the death of Jesus? If the OT prophecies of the Messiah came true, why did Jews not believe in Jesus?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I have three questions. 1. The New Testament says that non believing Jewish leaders were accused of handing Jesus over to be killed by the Romans. The first century Jews did not deny this historical fact, as they knew that they played a role in killing Jesus by handing him to the Romans soldiers. […]

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

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 […]

Are the mythicists right that the Testimonium Flavium by Josephus is a forgery and that the Jesus in the James passage is not Jesus of Nazareth?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, History, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Help me! Mythicists insist that Josephus’ account of Jesus of Nazareth in BK XVIII of his *antiquities* is a wholesale forgery. They also insist that the passage about “James the brother of Jesus who was called Messiah” is not, in fact, about Jesus of Nazareth but “Jesus, son of Damneus” They also insist […]

Many say that Paul was not a genuine Christian, including some influenced by N. T. Wright. What is your response?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: There are some people influenced by NT Wright, and some are even Christians, who have doubt whether Paul was a genuine Christian. It is said that one must study the second temple period of Jewish history if we want an unfiltered understanding of the first-century church and all things about Paul. More so, it […]

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?

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 […]

Is it true that Christianity endorsed Hermeticism at the beginning?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Other Religions, Philosophy, Q & A .

Question: Is it true that Christianity endorsed Hermeticism at the beginning? Answer; I am going to guess that you saw someone somewhere claim that Christianity borrowed its belief system in part from Hermeticism. The simple answer to your question is a hard no. No, Christianity never has endorsed Hermeticism and especially primitive Christianity certainly did […]

Is there historical evidence that supports the occurrence of the darkness and earthquake at the time of the death of Jesus?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, History, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I read a passage in the Bible where it said that there was a blackness and an earthquake after Jesus died. [Editor’s note: Luke 23:44 for the darkness, Matthew 27:51 for the earthquake] Is there historical evidence of people seeing this? Answer: Many people fail to recognize that we have very little information about […]

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?

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 […]

If the Catholics were the first denomination of Christians, why do they do everything contradictory to the Bible?

John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Church History, General, Other Religions, Q & A .

Questions: We know that the Bible prohibits idolatry. If Catholics were the first denomination of Christians, why then do they do everything contradictory to the Bible? Can we trust the additional books of OT in the Catholic Bible? Why did Protestants came years later after Catholics? It seems to me that they should have come […]

How can I respond to criticisms from the Muslim apologist Shabir Ally that the Bible contradicts itself and that the resurrection did not happen?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: In a recent debate Muslim imam Shabir Ally tells us that John’s gospel is contradictory to synoptics because in John Jesus said to the people who arrested him I am he without forcing his arrest but in synoptics it’s different. In John, Jesus carries his cross, indicating that he was strong, but in the […]

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?

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 can we trust the Bible? What are the historical records of Jesus outside the Bible? What about the fact that Jesus went to India?

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

Question: How can we trust the Bible? We know that Jesus existed for sure which every historian would agree but what about what he did ? If his miracles were true as gospels record them why don’t we have historical records of them outside the Bible?There were books that say that the 1st prime minister […]

Church History in 57 minutes

John Oakes wrote in Articles, Church History, Church History, General, Q & A .

Dr.John Oakes gave a lesson on an introduction to church history for the West region of the Los Angeles Church of Christ. This is a very short review, but it will be a good starting point for accessing this important topic. Dr. Oakes has a three volume series of books on church history, The Christian […]

Why is heresy punished by death in the Old Testament but the New Testament is so different about this?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Practical Christianity, Q & A, Social Issues .

Question: Why should Israel punish heretics with death? in the NT it does not seem to happen in the same way. Should a Christian country tolerate pagan philosophies and religions, or should you pursue for the good of all? Answer: First of all, let me acknowledge that the distinction you notice is certainly real. The […]

How did the priesthood in Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy come about?

John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Church History, General, Q & A .

Question: How did the priesthood of Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy come to be? Were there priests in the early churche from the 1st century, which Jesus is said to have instituted? Answer: As I am sure you are aware, the Jews had priests. They were a group of Jews set apart from their brothers […]

In an article you say that “original sin” is false doctrine, but was there not an original sin–that of Adam and Eve?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: In reviewing one of your Q/A online I saw you refer to “original sin” as a false doctrine? What is your basis for this statement? Are you meaning that you don’t believe that sin originated with Adam and Eve? Do you believe that creation was perfect before Adams sin–that mankind did not, sin creating […]

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

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 […]

When Jesus talked about the fall of Jerusalem, did he also warn the Jews? Is there evidence of the church fleeing to the mountains?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, Daniel, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, History, Q & A .

Question: When Jesus said the the Church of Jerusalem will fall, did he advise the Jews about the fall as well, or was it a prophecy and is there evidence of the church fleeing to the mountains? Answer: Actually, it was not the church in Jerusalem which fell in AD 70. It was the Jewish […]

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?

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 […]

Is there any evidence other than the Bible that shows that the twelve apostles existed?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Is there any evidence other than the Bible that show that the 12 disciples existed? Answer: Yes, there is plenty of evidence that the twelve disciples were real people. In fact, no one who knows the evidence can seriously entertain the thought that these men were not real people. We have evidence from both […]

If John was an “unschooled” man, then how could he write the book of John in Greek?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: How do I explain to someone who doesn’t believe in the inspiration of the gospels, how it is that John was able to write his gospel in Greek even though he was called “unschooled” Acts 4:13? “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they […]

Some say that good research will tell us that Jesus did not exist. What is your response to this claim?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, History, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I have three questions: 1. It is said by some who do a lot of research that Jesus Christ of Nazareth did not exist and all stories about Jesus Christ of Nazareth were retellings of older pagan myths by relatively well educated Greek-speaking (and writing) Christians during the 2nd half of the first century. […]

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

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 […]

Why would a sovereign God allow interpolations–in essence, errors–into the New Testament text? How reliable is Irenaeus on church history?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: I have learned that there are many interpolations of several Bible verses in the Bible. Even Irenaeus and other early church fathers interpolated the version of Luke 23:34 which says ” Father forgives them,for they do not know what they are doing.” Here,I have two questions: 1. If God is a sovereign God, why does He […]

Robert Price and others say that the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth is not a real person. Can we be sure 100% that he was a real person?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, History, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Skeptics like Robert McNair Price and others says that a historical figure Jesus Christ of the Nazareth of our Christian Bible did not exist. Is there any historical evidences to their claim that a historical figure Jesus Christ of the Nazareth of our Christian Bible did not exist? My question is: Did the historical […]

I heard it said that both the writings of Tacitus and Josephus are forgeries. Is this true?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, History, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: It is said that the writings of the historians Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Titus Flavius Josephus, born Yosef ben Matityahu were forgeries. Is there any historical evidence that the writings of the historians Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Titus Flavius Josephus were forgeries? How far it is true? Answer: About these authors, the answer depends […]

Do the writings of the early Church Fathers support the claims of the Roman Catholic Church as they claim (Ignatius for example)?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A .

Question: Do early Church Fathers support Catholic doctrine, as the Catholics claim? For example, St Ignatius writes: “Make no mistake, my brothers, if anyone joins a schismatic he will not inherit God’s Kingdom. If anyone walks in the way of heresy, he is out of sympathy with the Passion. Be careful, then, to observe a […]

Paul saw a bright light on a dark desert highway. Why should we believe his or any other testimony about the resurrection of Jesus?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Resurrection of Jesus .

Question/Comment: If Paul can see a bright light on a dark desert highway and believe that he has seen the physically resurrected Jesus then it is entirely plausible that this is what happened to Peter, James, the Twelve, and the “Five Hundred”. They all saw a strange bright light and believed it was an appearance […]

Bart Ehrman claims that there is evidence from Papias that a different Mark wrote Mark and a different Matthew wrote Matthew. Is this true? What is your response?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Is it true, as said by Bart D. Ehrman, that the early church father Papias of Hierapolis ,who lived around 120-140 A.D , is not referring to our Mark or our Matthew of the gospels of the/our Christians Bible? He (Bart D. Ehrman) said that there are very solid reasons that Papias of Hierapolis […]

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?

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 […]

Help! Is Bart Ehrman right and the four gospels are forgeries?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Bart D. Ehrman says that the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) of the Christians Bible don’t have names attached to them. The early church fathers who quote these gospels don’t say anything about them being Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Here is what Ehrman claims: 1.The gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) don’t […]

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that we need to be sinless to enter heaven, and need Purgatory to remove our sin. What is a biblical response?

John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Church History, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: The Catholic Church says that we must be perfectly sinless before we can enter heaven. So we can’t go directly to heaven after death if we have sin in us because God does not allow imperfection to enter heaven. Therefore the Catholic Church invented purgatory as a place to cleanse ourselves before we go […]

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

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 […]

How do I respond to the allegation that the Jesus of Christianity was invented by the Flavian Roman imperial family?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: How should I respond to the false allegation that Jesus and Christianity were invented by the Roman imperial family, the Flavians (or by Titus Flavius) as claimed in a book Caesar Messiah by the scholar Joseph Atwill? He also claims that the religion (Christian religion) was headquartered in Rome. Can you explain this to […]

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?

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 […]

Why does meeting on Saturday matter to Christians?

John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Church History, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Request: I had a conversation with someone who knocked on my door from a “nondenominational” church. They meet on Saturdays. Can you point me in the right direction to figure out why meeting on Saturdays matter? Response: The answer is that meeting on Saturday does not matter. Christians can meet on Saturday or on Sunday […]

Does God intend that Christians observe a seventh-day Sabbath?

John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Church History, General, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: I am trying to understand how the early Christians viewed the Sabbath, how the non-Sabbath keepers justified a neglect of the fourth commandment and particularly if we can really be clear that God doesn’t intend for us to continue upholding the seventh day as a day of rest (doing no work, also taking into consideration […]

Why did the Council of Nicaea discuss whether Jesus was God or human?

John Oakes wrote in Apocrypha, Church History, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Questions: 1.Why did the council have to meet to discuss if Jesus was the Son of God or if he was human or a spirit? 2.If God inspired man to write the Bible and he lives in me, why do I need the Bible or Jesus to tell me how to live when I can […]

Did Paul really write the pastoral epistles?

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible .

Question: Did Paul really write the pastoral epistles? Most scholars refuse this opinion and say that they were written later after Paul’s death. They say that the vocabulary and style are different from that of the seven undisputed epistles. Some have suggested that Paul used a secretary to write these epistles, probably Luke, because he […]

I totally disagree with your article on the Roman Catholic Church tracing back to Pentecost and to Peter!

John Oakes wrote in Church History, General, Q & A .

[Editor’s note: The one sending this comment read a Q & A at the site and took great exception to the article. My reply is below. The original article is here ] Comment: I am in absolute disagreement with your article on the Roman Catholic Church being able to claim its roots back to Pentecost, […]

Did Jesus become the Son of God at his resurrection as Bart Ehrman claims?

John Oakes wrote in Bible Interpretation, Church History, General, Historical and Messianic Prophecy, Q & A, Reliability of the Bible, Theology and Doctrinal Questions .

Question: Some people think that Jesus was begotten by the father only at his resurrection because the apostle Paul said about Jesus that he was appointed Son of God by His resurrection ( Romans 1 – or the speech of Paul in the Act of the Apostle). I’m currently reading the Bart Erhman’s book “How Jesus […]