Questions: Did Moses copy the Old Testament from another book or source? If the last statement is true then would that mean that the only reliable thing in the Bible are in the New Testament? Answer: First of all, Moses was only responsible for a limited portion of the Old Testament. Almost certainly he did […]
[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. […]
Question: I have 2 questions right now, I hope you can answer me. 1. Is the cosmological argument irrefutable? 2. Did the flood occur before prehistoric times, for example the ice age, or after it? Answer: Refutability is in the eye of the beholder! Here is the Kalaam Cosmological Argument: Premise: All things that […]
Questions: I have 3 questions to ask you. Why did God not do anything when Abraham has a concubine and when Solomon had multiple concubines? What did Jesus mean when he said that if your eye causes to see a women lustfully pluck it out and when a hand causes you to sin cut it […]
Question: What would you answer to someone that tells you that people believe in God because they are afraid of death? I hope you can answer me. Answer: I am sure that there are some people who believe in God, at least in part, out of fear of death. That is not why I believe […]
Question: How can I keep my faith strong when people of great faith are walking away from my faith? And if we have historical evidences for Jesus outside the Bible that are more convincing than any other religion, why is it that people who are Christians convert into other religions like Hinduism or Islam? If […]
Question: I am an undergrad at [unidentified prestigious American university] who has been having a discussion with some friends about the following question: Why is it so much better to be a Christian than a virtuous person in the world? Why is it better to acknowledge God and live an exemplary life rather than just […]
Question: My friend asks if Jesus is the only parameter to get to heaven. Not everyone gets to know Jesus like some do in their privilege. So she finds it hard to believe in a religion that doesn’t give everyone a chance. When she asks how the people prior to Jesus were saved, she was […]
Question: I have seen a line of thinking on social media that says “Christianity was made because people fear death/ was made for people who fear death. “ I don’t know if it’s because I personally fear death, but this view is really getting to me. Is there any insight or words you would like […]
[editor’s note: Tis is a pretty long, but nevertheless simple question. I hope you do not mind reading such a long question. My answer is below.] Question: In one of the articles at your web site someone was asking about how we can trust that the Bible came out correctly b/c it was written by […]
Question: Is faith in God and in the things of God reasonable? I mean do you believe with a reason? Answer Yes, certainly. Paul told Festus on Acts 26:25 that what we believe about Jesus is “true and reasonable.” Of course, this is just a statement and you should not believe it is true and […]
[Editor’s note: This is a series of two questions and answers] Question: Why do Muslims think that we worship the same God? Answer: The reason they say we worship the same God is because we worship the same God. Muhammad believed that the God of the Jews and the God of the Christians was the […]
Question: In one of your articles, you said you used to be an atheist, but now you believe in God. Why did you change your mind about the existence of God and why did you choose Christianity? Why not Judaism or Islam, Hinduism? Have you read the texts of other religions? If so, why do […]
Question: How do you convince people that Christianity should be the only religion/faith in this world? So many people make it seem like it’s impossible and ridiculous to think this and they make you feel like in a sense that you’re being intolerant. Answer: First of all, you cannot convince anyone of something they are […]
Question: What would you say to an atheist who is a complete materialist (who believes in only the things he can see) to convince him that Jesus is the truth? Answer: That would depend on the person. Not every materialist is the same. If the person is even an iota open, I might do a […]
Question: What is some evidence that you believe proves Christianity ? Answer: You cannot “prove” Christianity. In fact, to be honest, I am not sure what it would even mean to “prove” Christianity, because you would have to define which aspect of the religion you specifically want to try to prove. In any case, you […]
Question: I found this article particularly interesting due to the impact it may have on a historical interpretation of Revelation. I am not familiar with much of the evidence the author uses to support his perspective but I do understand the bottom line. In short the author claims that there was no Domitian persecution of […]
Question: What criteria do you employ in support of calling something evidence? I am curious because many people I meet only consider something evidence if it was written down and somehow correlates to physical observable objects. I think differently. For example, with regard to the Flavius Josephus, and various typology concepts being proposed/investigated by scholars, […]
Question: I read a recent article about an ancient Roman document written by a Roman historian who says he witnessed Jesus performing the miracle of bringing a still born infant to life. Have you heard about this? Is this story credible? Answer: Sorry but this is a bogus claim put up by a satirical anti-Christian […]
Question: First I would like to thank you for taking the time to answer my question and you have been a light in the dark to this question of mine. I just can’t fathom how people can look at the world and say that there is no wondrous power behind it. I plan on advancing […]
Question: I know we have many prophecies of Christ in the OT, but I did not find one that says ‘He will rise from the dead’. Is there any verse that explicitly states this? Or is it as He said to the doubting people the only evidence He will give them is the sign of […]
Question: Should I have faith in the canonical Bible being reliable and inspired because of those who established it back then, or should I mix this with trying to see the biblical evidence for myself? It is tempting to want to find all the evidence myself, as if I am the one who determines what […]
Question: I believe that you have heard about the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Reading its historical background, I see that this was used by Bobby Henderson as a logical supportive argument why Intelligent Design should not have equal attention in science classes along with evolution. The argument is that a religious faith such as a belief […]
Question; I’m a faithful Christian. I believe with all my heart that Jesus died for my sins and He is the way, the truth and the life. But one question has been bothering me a lot. The question is- How can we say that Christianity is the true religion if there are many other religions […]
Question: How do we know the Bible, a collection of books and letters written of centuries, is the word of a deity? Answer: Given the amazing evidence for the inspiration of the Bible, the fact that it is a collection of writings written over many centuries makes it even more impressive. The Bible contains the […]
Question: These are the questions I have in mind. They stem from a discussion I had with a friend of mine who likes Christianity (especially Bart Ehrman and the Gnostic Gospels) [editor’s note: we are not sure what the questioner means by this comment] but rejects the idea that Jesus was resurrected because: a […]
Question: A friend of mine who left my church told me that she considers herself a postmodernist, which is why she left. I did some research and got to understand it a bit better. I also watched your video. I was wondering what I can say or ask that can help my friend reconsider this philosophical […]
Question: One philisophical principle is that in a set of hypotheses, the one with less assumptions should be validated. Most of my friends think that materialism is the worldview with the least assumptions since it only requires that we assume the physical world can be perceived, measured and understood by our human senses. These materialist friends say […]
Question: Thank you sir for answering my many questions. My Hindu friend insists that the Bhagavad Gita is the best book ever, and gives so many answers to the questions of life. Can you give me an answer as to why this book doesn’t solve the problem of the sin of mankind? Also, are there […]
Question: I’m a sophomore in a university. I’m part of a Christian fraternity on campus and my little is a Mormon. I’ve been doing as much research as possible to learn about Mormonism and to study the differences between Mormonism and Christianity, but I can’t seem to find a good way to effectively express to […]
Question: I’ve been studying out prophecies of the Old Testament and in studying out the prophecies of Isaiah I looked up what Wikipedia had to say about it. According to Wikipedia “The exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and any such historical Isaiah is complicated. One widespread view sees parts of the first half […]
Question: Where can I find a book geared to teaching children apologetics: to help them when they face criticism and mocking at school so they are able to provide a loving apologetic answer? I need a book that approaches the answer from the either the naturalistic, or post-modern perspective. Any advice would be greatly appreciated… Answer: […]
Questions: 1. What relationship exists between science and religion? 2. Can science prove the existence of God? 3. Is there any evidence of proof (aside from the Big Bang Theory) that will prove beyond any reasonable doubt that God truly exist? 4. Do all scientists today still believe in the Holy Bible, especially in the […]
Question: I need to bone up on battling a family member who is an agnostic. I want to refute his thinking, but at the same time to speak the truth in love. What do you recommend I read on this website? Thank you! Response: You can find a power point on the existence of God […]
Question: In discussing creation with a friend, we focused our discussion on the fact that the oceans are salty. According to science, where did the salt come from? When earth was first created, was the water that originally covered the earth fresh? Could salty oceans be a result of “the fall” (making the largest source […]
Question: What proof is there that the Bible is true? Answer: To tell you the truth, this is a rather broad question. My first answer is please just start looking around the web site. We have more than 2500 articles, each of which is intended to answer your question! But you asked, so […]
Questions: I have a couple questions that are generally vague concerning God. 1.) Why is it that when I pray it seems as if I am talking to no one? Usually during prayer in a private space there is just silence and no indication of any connection with some sort of immaterial creator being of the […]
Question: In Gal.3:16 it says, “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made, He does not say, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, “And to your seed”. Who is Christ.” Did God make a promise to himself? Answer: In Genesis 12:7 and Genesis 13:15 God is making a promise […]
Question: How do you know for sure that the Bible and Jesus is really the truth of God? – I was a Christian for a long time , not just religious. I thought I was a born again and experienced things but nowadays some things (Objective info from psychology, learning about suffering, etc.) brought doubts […]
Question: Hello Dr. Oakes, I am studying the bible with a friend of mine that is Hindu. He is not very devout in his faith (he grew up in America most of his life and has never really grown into his beliefs). He was introduced to Jesus about a year and a half ago as […]
Question: If miracles are to be considered divine singularities, is the scientific method appropriate for evaluating the occurrence of miracles? Does recognizing the occurrence of miracles halt scientific progress since doing so would require recognizing the miracle as a divine singularity instead of a repeatable regularity, and also result in the scientist’s giving up being […]
QUESTION: Why would non-Israelites want to take Yahweh seriously? He’s the god of Israel, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Each nation had its own god: Dagon, Chemosh,Molech, the Baals and Astartes etc. Yahweh is just one among many gods. A local god. A God of War. Because victory in battle was what they were preoccupied […]
QUESTION: 1. What is a good resource for learning more about Calvinism and how to refute it. 2. How do you best defend the Word of God with someone who says “the Bible is not perfect.” We obviously know of a few clerical errors but he uses those mistakes and others to justify his own […]
Question: Have you ever heard of the Doctrine Molinism? I haven’t studied concerning the process of salvation in awhile. The last place I essentially left off was being convinced of the ideology of this doctrine. And as of now I still hold to Molinism. Thanks much. Answer: I am copying and pasting an article from Google […]
Question: Dear Dr. Oakes, while Googling the use of maritime drogues (a storm drogue is “a device external to a boat, attached to the stern and used to slow the boat down in a storm and to keep the hull perpendicular to the waves”), I found a link to a page at your site entitled […]
QUESTION: I listened to your lesson on Baptism (thank you, it helped me to better understand this aspect of our walk in Christ). However, I am not able to find any scriptural passages where it mentions the followers of Jesus were baptized? (The 12 disciples) Scripture mentions they did baptise others. Can you help with […]
Question: I had a recent debate with an atheist friend who claimed that those who believe in God have the burden of proof to support their claim. I would like to hear your thoughts on this question. Also, I came up with my own response shortly after debating my atheist friend. It attacks the prolific misuse […]
Question: I want to ask about a particular apologetics strategy know as Presuppositional Apologetics. What do you think about it? Do you believe that you presuppose that God exists and that everything the Bible says is true off the bat? Or does it take reasons to reach this conclusion? I recently heard a good explanation […]
Hi John, Question: I have a question about the father in law of Moses. I have found an argument about this on the net, I am not sure why the Bible mentions both Jethro and Reuel as the father in law of Moses. For example, Exodus 2:18 claims it was Reuel Exodus 18:2 claims […]
Question: I was reading the question and your response to Mr. Atwill’s claim about Christianity. My question is, why are other religions not attacked like Christianity? Why don’t Mr.Atwill, and others like him, do the same to Buhdah, Muhammed,etc. To me, this proves even more the validity of Jesus and Christianity. Answer: I am not […]
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