Question:  Can you please explain the Gabriel stone?  How will this affect Christianity?   Answer:   This is a good question.  The "Gabriel Stone" has now been around for a while and it is a good time to begin thinking about its significance.  I have learned from experience that when a new find comes out it is […]

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Question: How do we show those that think Jesus is Michael that he is not? How might you use Jesus’ prehuman existence to bring this out?  Answer: I do not think that "we" need to show that Jesus is not Michael the Archangel.  I believe that surely the burden of proof is on those who try to teach […]

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Question: Can you comment on the material about the "historical Jesus" at commonsenseatheism.com?  The featured video clips claim that many of the messianic prophesies were taken out of context to apply to Jesus.  Can you respond to particularly the claim that Psalm 22:16 is mistranslated particularly the word "pierced"?  Also, Matthew 27:9-10, a prophesy from […]

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Question: If someone leaves the church what can he or she do to return?  Another question:  Does a person who leaves the church lose thier salvation? Answer:  The Bible does not prescribe a fixed means by which those who have chosen to leave the church should be returned to the fellowship.   We could look to 1 Corinthians 5 […]

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Question:  If God understands my humanity and sin nature better than I do, why does He still hold me accountable for what I cannot help doing? Answer:  This is a very good question.  This gets to the heart of the question.  Is God truly fair and is he truly just to judge us for our […]

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Question: I often read articles from Christians and other Creationists in which most of their time is spent on disproving arguments which are put forward by scientists against Creationism. For example, a great deal of time and effort is dedicated to raising issues inherent in the theory of evolution. In fact, most Creationists have gone […]

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Question: If the bible was written so long ago and interpreted in many different ways and has been re-written so many times how can we be sure the version we read today is not complete fiction? Answer: I have answered this question a number of times and in various ways at the web site.  I […]

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Question:  I have a friend who believes that Daniel 11 gets Antiochus’ death incorrect. Is this true? I tend to believe he is wrong however I don’t know the history all that well.  Here is what he gave me http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_11  The second paragraph speaks about details of his death and how they do no match up with what […]

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I RECENTLY READ AN ARTICle WRITTEN BY A CHRISTIAN APOLOGIST EXPLAINING THE MEANING OF 1PETER.3:10-13. I ALWAYS ThOUGHT THAT THIS PASSAGE HAD REFERENCE TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WHOLE WORLD AT ARMAGEDDON. HOWEVER, THE APOLOGIST WROTE THAT 1 PETER.3:10-13 HAD REFERENCE TO NOT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ENTIRE PLANET, BUT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE OLD […]

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Question: What do you think about the convictions of Charles Finney about the power of Holy Spirit today?  It´s possible pray to receive a miracle? Answer The biblical evidence is that the events at Pentecost (Acts chapter 2) and when Cornelius and his friends were baptized (Acts chapter 10) were unique.   The apostles certainly saw […]

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Question:  Were the Elohim the Anunnaki’s?  Answer:  Many people try to claim that the Jews borrowed their idea about Jehovah from the neighboring peoples: especially from the religions in Mesopotamia.   This is certainly not a new claim.   I will admit that there is at least some marginal parallel between some of the concepts the Jewish […]

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Question: I read "Daniel, Prophet to the Nations" recently and was quite awestruck by the prophesies!  I’ve been reading online that the Christian persecution under Domitian was historically uncertain and debated. Although the early church fathers routinely mention Domitian, the persecution is seemingly absent from the writings of Tacitus and Suetonius (and other Roman historians).  […]

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Question:  I have a question about the idea of theistic evolution (I have been reading many of the articles under "creation" by you and John Laing).  This interpretation seems to resolve many questions such as: Why was Cain was afraid someone would kill him?  Who would be living in the city Cain built? etc… (Genesis 4:14-18) […]

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Question:  On the site http://bibleblunders.com, many claims are made based on failed prophecies and contradictions. Can you please address some of them, Dr. Oakes? Answer: Which ones do you want me to address?   I have already responded to most of these supposed contradiction at my web site.  If you go the question and answer section, then […]

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Question: I just read an article that puts forth some pretty convincing evidence that places the validity of Pliny the Younger, Tacitus, and Suetonius and a few other well known historians that many apologetics use to help confirm the existence of Chirst into question. Just wondering what the names of the other non-christian scholars are to […]

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Question: A couple of my buddies always ask about God in the Old Testament: especially about how harsh he can seem to be at times.  Have any advice or recommended reading about the topic?   Answer: Clearly this is a good question.  I have gotten one version or another many times.  If you do a […]

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Question:  I am not a Christian and had no kind of guided religious upbringing, though I have admittedly felt drawn towards Christianity at times.  I never really thought about my origins or the reason for my being.  However, lately I have been nearly consumed by those "big questions."  The idea that the universe and our […]

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Question: I have come across a statement which a 7th Day Adventist claims. They say Jesus and the Archangel Michael is one and the same person. Their reading is in Daniel and also revelation with the war in heaven, I think its chapter 12. I find this hard to believe.  What are your views in this? Answer: No, […]

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Question: I wonder just how much evidence some scholars need.  What reasoning is required to decide that these two men (Imhotep and Joseph) were not one and the same?  What are the odds that any two of the facts are about these two would be identical?  What about three, four or five? Well there are even […]

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Question: I’m a Christian but I’m finding it hard to rebutt some contradictions of the Bible I believe atheist are taking their questions from this website. http://humanknowledge.net/Philosophy/Metaphysics/Theology/Christianity.html Can the Bible challenge his theories? Answer: It is obviously not possible for me to respond to all the criticism of biblical Christianity at this web site.   However, […]

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Question:  If there is so much evidence supporting the validity of the Bible. Why do some Biblical scholars still remain so skeptical? Answer:  Those who do not accept the validity of the Bible ought to speak for themselves.  It is not my place to determine the motives of other people.  Obviously, the reasons people choose […]

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Question: What do you think about the time factor explained by Dr Zakir?  He says that Christ did not complete the three days & three nights in the heart of the earth. Please, enlighten me on that issue.  Answer; I looked around for a while but could not find the specific Youtube video you are talking about.  […]

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Question: Daniel chapter two talks about the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. I understand the statue as the timeline of the world empires and through the establishment of Gods Kingdom. What empires did those parts of the statue represent, and what was the historical time frame of those empires? Answer; The four  kingdoms prophesied by the […]

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Question:  My question is about the relationship between brain and soul, and how damage to the brain can damage the soul. Say if I am a careful Christian who does everything the Bible asks of me and takes all its lessons to heart. But say if I have an accident that damages my brain and disrupts […]

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Question:  Would you help me?  I see many answering the questions:  Is the Bible true?  Is the Bible inspired?  Is the Bible the Word of God?  I have a different question that I do not find answered anywhere — at least, not answered in so many words.  Those other questions start with the Word of […]

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Question: I wanted to know your opinion about the flood being a somewhat localevent in which the Caspian sea started as a much smaller lake in a valley that was flooded. At least at first glance, it seems to fit the science and the Bible. Here’s an abstract of about the same idea: http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2003AM/finalprogram/abstract_63243.htm Answer:  Here is […]

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Question: The work that I have been reading a great deal about is that of Christina Hayes, who is absolutly brilliant. Also, the work of Naham Sarna is another of my favorite biblical scholars. They both are finding many examples of symbolism and contridictions. You say that these things are simply not true, but I […]

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Question: I learned that the Pentatauch is attributed to Moses was, in fact, a compilation of 4 very different sources, which reflect the interests and biases of the author. This is a highly accepted theory and can be found everywhere in the Pentatauch if you know where to look. Like the story of the ark, […]

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 Note;  Each of four questions is followed by an answer, so there are four separate Q & As below.  Question #1:  I noticed on your power point concerning prophesy that when talking about Daniel’s vision of four beasts you referred to ancient kingdoms I thought this vision referred to the end times or does it have a […]

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Question/Comment: Your interpretation of Sura 19:32-33 is a little inaccurate. This is a quote from Jesus, not about Jesus, about what he knew of his life. He could not see the future, and therefore made a statement about what everyone knows, we live, we die. He didn’t know that his life would bring about uncommon […]

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Question:  I have a question about Theistic Evolution, which clearly puts death before sin. Evolution would state that many organisms died in the intermediate steps leading to man, which then sinned. How would you reconcile death before sin to Romans 5:12? "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, […]

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Question:  My question is do we have any answer to the question of the Pharaohs in Genesis/Exodus that some say no names so no way to verify. and because of no names no reliability. Any help on this? Answer: A good question.   For whatever reason, the fact is that Exodus does not name the Pharaoh […]

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