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 […]
[Editor’s note: This is a series of questions on Critical Theory, which is a philosophical method developed in Germany in the 1930s, but which has been mentioned much lately as a means to evaluate and propose solutions to the racial issues in the US today.] Question: I have a question for you. I have been […]
Questions: 1) Why does God need to sacrifice His only Son in order to forgive other people’s sins? He is God, so couldn’t He do this without sacrificing his son? 2) Is the trinity a contraction? (How can God sacrifice Himself to Himself?) Answers: You are asking some really big questions here. I am answering […]
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: Is human nature good or evil? For the majority of my life, I have been told humans are born evil. Evil humanity must choose God so they will completely alter the core of their being to ‘good’. Humanity then lives the rest of their lives fighting the true self so God can continue to […]
Question: I am confused with omnipresence of God and the theophany in Old Testament. My question is how the omnipresent nature of God can be consistent with theophany? Hope this helps. A similar question goes for the incarnation and the second coming of Christ. If God is omnipresent how then can theophany or incarnation makes […]
Question: This may require some speculation, but what do we know about how thought paradigms have affected beliefs about the Bible throughout history? For example, today people get tripped-up over things like how Noah got every animal on earth into the ark, which misses the moral point of the story, but would a first century […]
Question: My son has a “logical” but non-Biblical idea. He believes that God’s will is omnipotent, sovereign and therefore (because God is good) all obey His will and therefore are not responsible for what they do. Their actions are all predetermined. How do you respond to this quandary? Answer: This may be the single most common […]
Question: Once you allow the multiverse, is it not possible that life on earth just popped into existence kind of like Boltzmann brains? Answer: First of all, there is absolutely zero evidence for the multiverse. This is utter speculation. This speculation only exists, in my opinion, because atheists need a fall-back argument against the FACT […]
Question: How can free will exist if God is omnipotent? Answer: First of all, I assume you are asking about free will in light of God’s sovereignty, not his omnipotence. I see no logical problem in God being all-powerful preventing him from using his power to create a sentient being with free will. I know […]
Question: What is the way to respond to this question? Can God make a rock so big, he can’t move it? Answer: This is one of the classic “challenges” to the idea of the Christian God that atheists and agnostics throw out there. It is really a rather unsophisticated challenge, but for those who do […]
Question: I want to ask you some questions about quantum mechanics, cause I know that’s your specialization. 1. I’ve read about the many-worlds interpretation and am wondering if it is true, and if it’s true then would this interpretation deny God’s existence? 2. I’ve also read about many-minds interpretation, but I am still confused about […]
Question: I believe the Holy Spirit is a person and I believe Jesus was conceived through the Holy spirit, but someone who thinks the Holy Spirit is not a person could ask me this question and I cannot find an answer..please help me ! The reasoning is this: If the Holy Spirit is a person of […]
[Editor’s note: I received two remarkably similar questions within hours of each other, so am combining them below. I hope it is not confusing.] Question: I have few questions that have weighed on the back of my mind for a while. How is God in control when people have free will? They can sin against […]
Question: I just came across your answer to a question about the origin of Yahweh and usage of the name. Your info is lacking. Yahweh originates out of Canaan though he is described [sic] concerning his theophany with Baal. Both are storm Gods. The Israelites are an offshoot of the Canaanites so it’s no surprise […]
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: I have a theological question. I want to hear your thoughts on “open theism”, the idea that God is all-knowing and all-powerful but that He can’t “see into the future” because it hasn’t happened yet. The idea came up when discussing the nature of God with my son. He is a teen and is […]
Question: Can man be moral without God? What about atheists who claim one doesn’t need religion to be moral? Does every bit of morality we have stem from the Bible? What about cultural differences? Answer: Please forgive the slow response. I believe that it is possible to be moral without being a Christian, however it […]
Question: I had a question regarding the concept of the soul. It is currently my study in anatomy that has brought this topic back to mind. I looked for some resources on the site regarding the topic and gathered what I could from it. It has been a few years since I looked at this […]
Question: In 1 Samuel 19:9, it reads, “But an evil spirit from the Lord….”. How can there be an evil spirit from God, since there is no evil in Him? I’ve looked at several translations, and they are all the same. Can you explain this one? What is meant by this? Thank you. Answer: A […]
Question: I read a few articles on your website about God being the uncaused cause. I’m aware that this is more of a philosophical argument, with scientific evidence supporting it. However, if we just consider scientific evidence with philosophical thinking aside, can atheists argue then that the big bang itself is the uncaused cause? I realize you […]
Request: I am truly struggling with my Christian faith to the point that I am not sure about anything anymore. I was taught that “God is Love” and he created man NOT to sin, but told Adam and Eve there was ONE thing in the entire Garden of Eden that they could not touch, and […]
Question: Man’s creation has recently come up in my mind. I do not understand it exactly. My confusion comes up with the idea of love. I get that God is relational and he made us to be that way also. However, I feel confused about why he would let us endure so much pain here. […]
Question: My first question is about John 3:1-8. I was sharing this scripture with a friend and he said the water here is the same living water referred to in Jeremiah 2:13. Therefore the water is not literal but being born again by God who is the living water. I believe the scripture in John […]
Question: There is a quote by Voltaire which reads “All men were born with ten fingers and toes but no one was born with the knowledge of God.” This has a really good point to it, and if you could tell me what to say in defense to this. Answer: This is simply a rhetorical […]
Question: For a while I have been considering the relationship between man’s consciousness, free will, and his physical nature. This naturally brought me to questions regarding our free will. Namely, is there an intrinsic sense of randomness to our free will, an irrepeatable nature? Given the same circumstances repeatedly, would we make different choices or […]
Question: Are Richard Dawkins points valid in his response against faith as the only way to morality? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgHoyTvyh4o [note: in this youtube video Dawkins claims that secular humanists have created a better kind of morality than religion] Answer: As usual for Richard Dawkins, he resorts to pure rhetoric and chooses to simply […]
Question: Is thinking a physical process, or is it spiritual? Answer: I believe that the answer is that thinking is both physical and “spiritual.” One thing we can be sure of is that thinking is a physical process. This has been shown by experiment and our experience agrees with experiment. MRI (magnetic resonsance imaging) experiments […]
Question: I watched a recent debate (online) between Theist Dr William lane Craig and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss. Krauss’s favorite example seems to be the divine command in the Old Testament for the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanite men, women and children (Deuteronomy 20:7). I would say Krauss and most other atheists use this brilliantly to […]
Question: It is becoming a more and more accepted theory that humans have no ability to truly make “willful decisions.” Under this assumption, how can one come to salvation? Wouldn’t this render John 3:16 useless, because we cannot choose to believe in God? I understand the argument that this just points to predestination, but as […]
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: If God is so wonderful and knows everything, why did he create Satan ? I am created to the image of God, so if i am gay, God is gay, if i am a psychopath, God is psychopath, if i am a rapist God is a rapist, if i am a murderer God is […]
Question: I have a question for you that sparked while going through one of the lessons in the ARS Apologetics Certificate Program. In terms of suffering – I understand most of the arguments/material in terms of our sin, humans causing suffering, humans choosing to suffer, Joy existing because of suffering, etc; however, there is one thing […]
[Editor’s Note: I posted an article in response to a question about the philosophy/theology known as pandeism. A blogger posted a critique of my article, and this is a rebuttal by me. The critique is fairly long, and my response is below that.] Comment: From time to time, people do come along and write things […]
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: Someone asked me “With all other religions in circulation why do you feel that only Christianity is the way?” How can you prove that it is the only way? I couldn’t prove this with scripture because this was a man who didn’t believe in scripture. So I ask how can a young man show […]
Question: For my philosophy class, I am writing a paper on God and free will. I am trying to prove that free will exists, and that having free will supports the existence of God. Because of this freedom, evil and God can coexist. Therefore, God can be omnibenevolent while evil exists because of free will. […]
Question: I have of course been exposed to a lot of apologetic “reasoning” and would like to know what your thoughts are on a moral world without religion. Do you feel morality can’t be derived from secularism? Or is religion the only way? I look forward to your response. What about gap arguments? Answer: Atheists […]
Question: I hope this email finds you well. I am a Christian and have a friend who is going through some unbelief, and he sent me this video to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pOI2YvVuuE which illustrates his thought process. He doesn’t believe in God anymore, and doesn’t believe Christianity is any more right than any other religion. My […]
Question: How does the view on suffering in Christianity differ from other religions? Does Christianity have a better answer? Answer: A great question. Before I describe the different worldviews and their view of suffering, let me note that individuals may not act according to the worldview that they appear to believe in. Although atheists, […]
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’ve been thinking a lot about why God created us in the first place because it doesn’t really make sense to me. I have been researching and trying to find scriptures that explain it but haven’t really found what I’m looking for. I know the Bible says we were created to glorify him and […]
Question: I’ve been discussing different god and the bible with an atheist friend of mine and there were two points which I felt really unsure of. 1. The first was the problem of suffering; I explained the idea that creation was corrupted at the fall of man, but he pointed out that this in no […]
Question: Hello, I have a couple of questions concerning our souls. If consciousness can be determined to depend on the physical brain, does this mean our consciousness ceases to exist after death? Isn’t it obvious that if the brain is damaged in any way that it directly affects our consciousness immediately. Also, if we have […]
Question: I am finding it difficult to accept the concept that one could actually have an intimate relationship with God. God in His most simplistic definition is invisible and an immaterial being, additionally why would the very creator of the universe speak a human language. Isn’t that a hint the mankind has formed and molded […]
Questions: I have a couple of general questions below I wanted to ask: 1.) How can Jesus be a Divine Person when He had a literal human body made of flesh. Wouldn’t His fleshly body violate His divine nature and status? 2.) Why did Jesus have to be a male in physical terms to begin […]
[Editor’s note: The comment and response below are a follow-up to an earlier question and answer in which some terminology produced a bit of a miscommunication. For completeness, the original exchange is below this comment and response.] Comment: I was at a roundtable discussion that included Denis Lamoreaux. I definitely aggree with his thinking on evolution. But […]
Question: I have been guilty of skipping over the Old Testament but am reading it now with renewed vigor. I love that I can now search for Jesus in the old testament as well. My problem comes in with Jesus’ teaching about the greatest commandment being that we must “love God with all our hearts”. […]
Question: If evolution and abiogenesis have simply naturalistic explanations behind the origins and development of life itself, then wouldn’t this replace any need for a god? Abiogenesis for example gives forth purely scientific and naturalistic reasons behind how life came into existence, why at this point would there be a need for such a deity? Same […]
Question: I was so grateful for your sermon yesterday in the Cape Town church. I was wondering how you would assist someone who comes from the quantum physics background to believe the Bible. In particular my friend adheres to the teachings of Bruce Lipton “The Biology of Belief”? Answer: Bruce Lipton is a well-qualified molecular […]
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