Question: I recently read a report prepared by an archaeologist from the Israeli Antiquities Authority which stated that Bethlehem could not have been occupied during the Herodian Period (the time of the birth of Jesus Christ) because no ruins or other archaeological evidence from that period had been found in or around Bethlehem. He did […]
Question: I recently read a report prepared by an archaeologist from the Israeli Antiquities Authority which stated that Nazareth could not have been occupied during the Herodian Period (the time of the birth of Jesus Christ) because no ruins or other archaeological evidence from that period had been found in or around Nazareth. He did […]
Question: Why was the field called the field of blood (Matthew 27:8)? Is it because it was bought with blood money or because Judas died there? Answer: Because the Bible does not answer this question, we are left to make reasonable speculations. First of all, it is almost certainly not called this because Judas died […]
Question: Who is the person that invades all those countries in Dan 11:40-45? Is this event still in the future because the Angel says ‘and at that time’ and then talks about the waking of the dead to everlasting life or shame? Answer: I answer this in my book "Daniel, Prophet to the Nations." You […]
Questions: I have 3 questions regarding the interpretation of scripture. The first is in Esther 8:17 it states the following, "And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them." From my understanding in Jewish tradition, people from other nationalities (Gentiles) could not become or convert to Judaism. The […]
Question: My cousin is an atheist and I had high hopes that he would read your article "How do I respond to the claims of parallels between heathen god/man myths…" and have new insight. However, this was his response "This article is because he says so it’s true. He doesn’t really make an argument to […]
Question: How could Domitian subdue Galba if Galba was killed by Otho amd how could Domitian subdue Otho if Otho killed himself? I’m confused. Answer: I am not sure where you are getting your information. However, I assume you have read material critical of the prophecy in Daniel 7. This is the prophecy which predicted […]
Comment: In Jer. 51:27 it says that Ararat,Minni and Ashkenaz will attack Babylon. But the kingdom of Ararat(Urartu) was conquered by the Medes in 612-590. The Minni (Mannaeans) were conquered by the Medes in 612 and Ashkenaz is the ancestor of Germanic people they never attacked Bablyon. J Response: Do you have a question? What […]
Question: What are the ten horns/kings that came out of the fourth beast in Daniel 7:8? Answer: The ten horns in Daniel 7:7 are the first ten kings/emperors of Rome. I know this because the angel interpreted the vision for Daniel in Daniel 7:23-24. "The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, […]
Question: Is Jeremiah 33:18 literal? Does it mean that the Levites will always offer sacrifices. How can this be if we are under the New Covenant? Also in Ezekiel 26:12 is this a prophecy about Alexander or is it about Babylon plundering Tyre? If it is Babylon, how could that be if Nebuchadnezzar got no […]
Question: I have a question regarding Acts 7:2-8. There seems to be contradiction between Stephen’s speech and the Genesis account. Verse 3 quotes the words of God to Abraham given in Genesis 12:1 and implies by its juxtaposition with v. 2 that this message came to Abraham "while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he […]
Question: Can you explain the Baha’i prophecies in this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_prophecies Response: I have looked at these "prophecies" of Baha-ullah. To be honest, I am not all that impressed. For example, he predicted in the 1860s that the Ottoman Empire would fall apart. The reason this is not all that impressive is that by the […]
Comment: The Historia Augusta is an astonishing piece of bogus history. It is perhaps showing us a Roman sense of humour, but I think scholars are generally unaware of why it was done. There are 130 fake documents and they even invent sources that disagree with them. Sounds a bit like Christianity to me. The Flavians […]
Question: Are the 4 Gospels writen by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John historical documents? Can you send historical or any proof of Jesus from the first century when your N.T. claims the miracle worker, crucified and resurrected Jesus was here on earth? Answer: What do we know about Jesus from extra-Biblical sources? Let me list […]
Question: I have a question I hope you will kindly answer. I need an expert Bible opinion about the similarity of this Quranic passage that deals with the birth story of Jesus to that account we find in Luke. Thanks for taking my question seriously. Editor’s note: The passage from Surah 19 of the Qu’ran […]
Question: (note, this is actually a series of two questions and responses) We’ve been studying the book of Daniel here in Athens, GA. I’m teaching a lesson to the women, primarily using information from your book. In studying what information I could find online about Domitian, I could not find anywhere that he demanded disciples […]
Question: Speaking with a Jewish acquaintance about Jesus and this was his response…..not sure how to respond just yet but will research it more. Would love your thoughts. Note: Answers are interspersed with the claims of this person. Criticism/claims are in black italics, responses are in blue. "Romans. They recorded all kinds of insignificant details […]
Question: I am a student at Florida Christian College writing a paper on Chapter 3 of Richard Dawkins Book "The God Delusion." In his book he makes a claim that there is no historical evidence for the divinity of Christ. I was wondering, as I read from your article, that Quirinius had two different office […]
Question: I was reading some Wikipedia articles about early Israel and came across and interesting section regarding the origin of Yahweh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_ancient_Israel_and_Judah#Religion Ill let you read it but I’m adding quotes from it that I was hoping you could respond to. "It is generally accepted among modern scholars that the narrative of […]
Question: I’m am reading your book,"Reasons for Belief" and I had a question on p.38… Can we be sure about Babylonia Sandhedrin 43a in the Talmud is refering to Jesus of Nazareth? Do we have any Jewish sources confirming that it is Jesus of Nazareth? The Talmud certainly fits very well with what we know […]
Question:A lot of anti-Christian biblical skeptics often use this objection to the Bible: “The Bible tells the story of Jesus being born when Herod was king (Matthew) and traveling to Bethlehem (Luke) for the census as if the two accounts were compatible but, they are actually ten years apart. Luke has Jesus born at the […]
Question: Catholicsm is a tradition which has been passed for a long time. Where was its origin and the approximatly when did it begin? Answer: I will assume you are talking about the Roman Catholic Church. There is also the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church and the Coptic Catholic Church. These names are in a sense […]
Question: What is the underlying issue that influenced the formation of the Essene religious group? Answer: It is hard for us to trace the roots of the Essene group. As far as I know, its history is not well known at all. We know quite a bit about the history of the Pharisees, a bit less […]
Question: Are there any strong extra-biblical sources for the life/works of Jesus of Nazareth? Can you give me the authors/sources? The answer is an emphatic yes. We have at least nine non-Christian sources on Jesus in the first and early second century. There are, of course, dozens of Christian sources on the life of Jesus […]
Question: A friend sent me this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNf-P_5u_Hw, about this movement Zeitgeist, I was looking for information about them. They believe that Jesus is a mythical story. What do you think about this? Is there any information that I can read and give to my friend that suport the existence of Jesus versus this video? Answer: I […]
Question: Hello, I had recently been in a discussion with someone who doubts the historicity of Jesus. When I tried to tell him that his facts were wrong by pointing out to videos on youtube about his historicity, he tried to counter with this: "I’ve seen plenty of those videos before. They never have all […]
Question: 1. Regarding foreshadows, how much historical evidence is there for existence of many of the early prefigures and foreshadows; and for the accuracy of the biblical accounts? For example, are there any other known accounts regarding Moses and the Exodus, the existence of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Melchizedek? Obviously I realise these are very early […]
Question: Is contemporary evidence required to establish the historicity of a person from ancient history, such as Jesus Christ or Alexander the Great? I was wondering if contemporary evidence (besides the Bible) is required to establish authenticity of an ancient historic figure. Answer; I suppose that whether contemporary evidence is required will depend on the […]
Question: Hey, I love your website…I’ve found it very resourceful. I have a couplequestions that have been brought up that I can’t seem to give an answerfor. First, I’ve heard and read what Josephus had to say about Jesus. Hementions him, true. But, someone asked me, "If Josephus took the time toaccount to mention Jesus, why […]
Question: How can historians be sure about specific years in history? For example, how did you find the decree of Artaxerxes (the king to issue first instruction to rebuild Jerusalem) to have taken place in 458 BC specifically? I don’t think the Bible mentions these dates. Is there a special way or a tool for this? Answer: There are some […]
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 […]
Question: I am studying the timelines in the Bible regarding the lifetime of both Daniel and Esther for a school project and I’m hoping to get all my facts straight. I am confused about the dates from my research and was hoping for some clarity. When I research the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, I find that […]
Question: What evidence for Jesus is there outside the Bible? Answer: Let me supply a set of notes I just put together for a class I am teaching on the subject this weekend. They may not be fully edited, but the notes are fairly complete. John Oakes Extra-Biblical references to Jesus: 1. Tacitus, Roman historian […]
Question: The Philistines did not come to Palestine until circa 1200BC at the time of the invasion of the Sea Peoples. How did Abraham & Isaac come to meet them? Answer: I do not know. Believe it or not, I had never noticed this, which is surprising to me. The evidence, as you point out, […]
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). […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Question: (a very long one!!!) The books of the Bible are written by people claiming inspiration from God. Many people claim inspiration from God or supernatural forces. Muslims claim the Koran is divinely inspired, Mormons claim their Book of Mormon is divinely inspired, and I am sure many pagan sects say that their "book of […]
Question: What year did Jesus get baptised? Answer: We cannot say with absolute certainty the year Jesus was baptized, but using biblical data we can give a date with an uncertainty of one year or, at most two or three years. To establish the date of the baptism of Jesus, one must first establish the […]
Question: Is there any evidence outside of the Bible that Jesus was real? Answer: A number of non-Christian historical sources mention Jesus of Nazareth, from as early as the late first century AD. This includes Jewish historian Josephus, the Jewish OT commentary known as the Talmud, and Roman historians, especially Tacitus and Seutonius. These writers […]
Why is it that the latest book published on the archeology of Palestine, namely "The Bible Unearthed" by Finkelstein & Silberman flatly declares that the Exodus and the conquest of Canaan never happened ? Answer: You will have to ask them. I have enough trouble explaining why I say what I say, never mind taking […]
Editor’s note: Since this article was written, a new paper which appears to identify Darius the Mede as Cyaxares II the Mede has been published. This appears to more or less settle the question. We recommend you read this paper. It is at http://www.academia.edu/9787699/Darius_the_Mede_A_Reappraisal Question: Why is it that “The Cambridge History Of Judaism” knows nothing […]
Question: How, John, can you state so confidently that hostages were taken and that some items from the temple were taken." This clearly is what you would like to be able to establish in order to be able to clear up the conflict between 2 Kings 24:1 and Daniel 1:1. The author of Daniel transfers things that […]
Question: 1. I was looking a little at a book called "A History of the Jews" by Abram Leon Sachar. He seems to suggest that the Bible’s account of Solomon is incorrect, exaggerated, and biased. He says his genius was never of a moral or spiritual quality, but the Bible says otherwise. He also says […]
Question: I want to know from when or which nation the Muslim religion started. Is it from Ishmael son of Abraham? Answer; Islam as a religion was established by Muhammad, a member of the Arabic Quraish tribe from the West-Central part of the Arabian Peninsula in the region of present-day Mecca. Muhammad is a real person […]
Question: I read an article by a Christian scholar who believes the Egyptian God Imhotep to be none other than Joseph in the Bible, deified and exaggerated to fit Egyptian beliefs. The step pyramid, which was the first pyramid to ever be built in Egypt, is historically credited by the Egyptians to be the work […]
Comment: The actions reported of Pilate in the Gospels bear no relation to the character of the Roman official depicted in Josephus. All you need to do,is look up every passage in Josephus where Pilate is involved and then compare the difference in personality and action between the man in Josephus and the Gospels. When […]
Question:,I read an article by a Christian scholar who believes the Egyptian god Imhotep to be no one else than Joseph in the Bible, deified and exaggerated to fit Egyptian beliefs. The step pyramid, which was the first pyramid to ever be built in Egypt, is historically credited by the Egyptians to be the work […]
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