Question: How do you respond to the claim that the gospels are just another embellished or fabricated story like Apollonius of Tyana and Honi ha-M’agel (the circle drawer)? What’s your knowledge of these two figures and their role in history and their relation to Christ? Thanks! Answer: At ARS we sponsored a debate on this […]

psalm 96

I read that the firmament in genesis 1:6 acctualiy means expanse(sky). Does that mean that there I water above the sky(expanse) as some atheists say? Also I have been reading about the genesis geneologys in genesis 5:1-32 and I found out that the old greek version of the old testament states that methuselah begot lamech […]

This is a presentation given by Dr. John Oakes in Hong Kong 1/11/2012. John acknowledges that, although all the notes and power point are his, many of the thoughts come from a similar presentation by Dr. Douglas Jacoby at the 2011 ARS Christian evidences conference. Audio will be in the ARS store soon. Download the […]

Hi John, Please shed light about "dating outside our faith" (icoc).Is it alright to have a relationship to a non-disciple? many of our brothers and sisters got stumbled because for past decade i knew personally that its leadership indignantly taught us about this issue. please show me some light on this, thank

What’s your response to this article on inerrancy? http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/08/16/the-inerrancy-of-scripture-the-fifty-years-war-and-counting/

Question: How do you respond when critics attack the Bible stating that Luke can’t be accurate because it put Quirnius as governor of Syria when Jesus was born.  Quirinius was governor of Syria in 6/7 AD yet Herod was also alive at the time as well, but he was thought to have died in 4 BC ? […]

Question: How would you interpret the formal contradiction in Mathew’s citation (Matt 2:6) of Micah 5:2? Matthew states that Bethlehem is by no means the least among the rulers of Judah, and Micah states that Bethlehem is small among the clans or rulers of Judah.Thanks! Answer: Here is a literal, word-for-word translation of the Greek […]

A National Geographic writer published an interesting and informative article about how Charles Darwin reached his conclusion with regard to natural selection.    http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/02/darwin/quammen-text/1?mid=53

Do you know any Scientific foreknowledge that is in the bible?

Hi John Have you heard Paul Washer’s shocking message. I found him very radical and uncompromisingly sound in his sermon biblically. I am just wondering and asking that possibly he might be a disciple of Jesus just landed in a Baptist denomination. Please shed light. Thank you

Is the impartation of the Holy Spirit biblical?

What do you think of the claim that Christ used a Cannabis based oil to anoint his disciples and the sick, explaining spiritual experiences ect… http://hightimes.com/news/ht_admin/139 hypothetical in my opinion, extremely so, but the gnostic literature does seem to refer to Cannabis. Help me out here?

Hi, Last night I was watching History Channel and they showed a one hour documentary about some stone they found with Gabriel’s Inscription which talks about that Simon of Perea was the actual Christ and not Jesus of Nazareth. Is there any truth to this?

How do we know we are instructed by God to commit an act? What is the proof that the spiritual feelings and sensations we experience isn’t all in our head? In essence, Charles Manson and many other men thought what they were doing was right and may even have believed that they were told by […]

How can the supposed “Genocide” all throughout the Old Testament be explained? Is it truly Genocide? If not, what is it? If so, is that not cruel of God? For instance, note how many tribes there are mentioned in the OT, yet how many of these tribes survive today? And another example, when God instructed […]

where do believers go after they die?

can you explain the concept of trinity?while muslims believe in the torah which we christians and jews do too,they believe in a indivisible God.How can God be one yet be called trinity?

hello,im a believer and i m recently having this doubt.As believers when we die we go to heaven directly right,then why should there be a resurrection of our body when our God returns so that our earthly body might be forever changed to a heavenly body while your soul is already there in the heaven?is […]

hello..is it wrong for a christian to watch horror movies that involve a lot of unnecessary portrail of bloodshed and slaughter?

 Daniel Russian 17.65 Mb    Hebrews Russian 18.64 Mb

The You Tube video is in two parts:  http://youtu.be/O8pBpv7OY0c     http://youtu.be/CCFJfF7ftlw Also, notes for the presentation, including a number of useful references.   Spiritual Warfare Notes

Question:  I am a fairly new Christian and am just curious if being non demoniational is a sign of confusion. I was wondering of you could explain the difference between the Baptists, Pentecostals , Methodists, and Catholics. Answer: You are asking a lot here!!! The term non-deniminational is really not a very useful term because it […]

John Oakes describes his visit to churches in South and East Asia   Asia 2011 Missionary Teaching Trip  

Question:  I`m Reading your book  Reasons for Belief.  On page 148 you talk about frangments of the góspel of Mark found in Egypt recently that have been tentativley dated as aearly around 50 AD. Do you have more information or the complete article? Answer: Yes, this is the Magdalene Papyrus, known as P64.  The latest on this […]

Below is a report of a teaching trip by Dr. John Oakes to the Caribbean July 16-22, 2010.   Jamaica, Barbados, Trididad July, 2010 Kingston, Jamaica July 16-18 This is my first time in the Caribbean.  I was met by Sonia and Greg Baugh, the couple who lead the church here. Actually, the churches, as […]

June 23-July 12, 2010    Report East Africa East Europe

Compelling Evidence for God and the Bible: Finding Truth in an Age of Doubt.  A new book by Douglas Jacoby has just been released by Random House.  Because this is a major publisher you should start to see it in bookstores, but in the mean time, you can get info or a copy at the […]

 March 2010 ARS Newsletter

Question: I just heard the Interview From NPR "Fresh Air from WHYY with Terri Gross" Thoughts? If you have a chance.  http://www.bartdehrman.com/multimedia.htm Answer:   I have read a couple of books by Ehrman.  He is a very biased, angry person.  At the same time he is actually an excellent scholar–one of the best around.  You […]

Question: Why did Saint Cyril murder Hypatia and burn the library of Alexandria? Did he do this for God? Did he kill anyone who didn’t believe in God and burn everything that have nothing to do with the belief in God? Answer: Almost certainly Cyril did not murder Hypatia.  Carl Sagen wrote a speculative and […]

 Click or see below for the report.  SE Asia Jan, 2010   Report for Missionary Teaching Trip to Asia January, 2010   January 2-4 Singapore I spent New Year’s Eve flying to Taipei, completely skipping Jan. 1st, landing in Singapore on Jan 2nd.   Singapore is truly a unique country.  This is my second visit to […]

Question:  I was recently researching the historical reliability of the Bible and I got a tiny bit confused. The reason is that the Old Testament seems to be not very reliable (e.g. the Genesis account, many scholars thinking that the books are not written by original authors, ect.), but the New Testament seems to be […]

Question:  Who was the ransom paid to in regards to Jesus’ death on the cross? Many people claim that the ransom was paid to Satan since mankind was enslaved to evil after the Fall. I have a difficult time making sense out of why it was necessary for Jesus to have to pay the ransom […]

Dr. Oakes:  I have read through some of your pages (as an athiest) and have found many of them to be full of backwards-talk and fluff. The main page I’d like to indicate is this (https://www.evidenceforchristianity.org/index.php?option=com_custom_content& task=view&id=5033&Itemid=32) That is – proof of god.  What is necessary to convince me that god probably exists is repeatable, […]

Dr. Oakes:  I have read through some of your pages (as an athiest) and have found many of them to be full of backwards-talk and fluff. The main page I’d like to indicate is this (https://www.evidenceforchristianity.org/index.php?option=com_custom_content& task=view&id=5033&Itemid=32) That is – proof of god.  What is necessary to convince me that god probably exists is repeatable, […]

Question: Do you know where should I look for information on how old were the apostles when they joined Jesús?   Answer;   I am definitely not an expert on this question, but I have read a number of speculations by different authors on this subject.  Bottom line, the Bible provides no direct evidence for […]

I hope you and Jan are fine.  After many months you leave Spain I’m still very happy of having received your classes and wisdom in God.   Let me tell you that I have read your books, Reason for Belief and Is there a God?, and I have it shared and preached to my agnostics and atheist […]

Question: In the case of Acts 2:2-4, is there any evidence supporting the events of the day of Pentecost?  Answer: As far as I know, there is no independent extra-biblical source for the events on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 2.  Bear in mind that this lack of specific extra-biblical support […]

Question: I enjoyed reading the PowerPoint "Who Is My Brother?" that is found on this website.  I imagine it is sometimes difficult to determine if a particular denomination or other Christian group belongs to the third or fourth layer of fellowship (the third layer being those who are saved Christians and the fourth layer being […]

Announcement:  Certificate program in Christian Apologetics has now been launched by ARS.  See attached announcement.  You can now sign up for classes.  The three classes available are 1. Prophecy and Christian Apologetics, 2. Science and Christian Apologetics and 3. Apologetics and the Christian World View.  For information or to register for these classes, contact Jan Oakes at joakes01@san.rr.com […]

Question: Does God have the power to choose evil?  Two conflicting theories are:  God DOES have the power to choose evil, but it is so contrary to His nature that He is incapable of actualizing that potential.  Other theory is God does not have the power to choose evil yet still has free will because […]

Quito, Cali, Lima and Santiago,  Summer, 2009 .   Quito, Ecuador July 20-24 Quito is a city of 1.8 million nestled in a high valley in the Andes.   Being at such high elevation situated exactly on the equator, it always has days exactly twelve hours long and virtually unchanging weather.  It is surprisingly cool-in the […]

June 18-July 6, 2009  John and Jan Oakes   Teaching Trip to Madrid and Berlin Madrid and Spain June 19-July 1 I am blessed to be able to travel with my wife Jan.  Part of the purpose of the trip is to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  Our first stop is Madrid.  Here we are met […]

 Teaching Trip to Monterrey, Mexico 1/30-2/1/2009    Teaching Trip to Monterrey, Mexico 1/30-2/1/2009 Jan and I traveled for a teaching weekend in Monterrey, Mexico.  Unfortunately, the airline cancelled our flights without informing us.  A last-minute standby flight got me to the city nearly on time, but left Jan behind in Tijuana, to fly through Guadalajara.  […]

Click for a review by John Oakes of the book Pagan Christianity by Viola and Barna     Pagan Christianity by Viola and Barna A Review Those who follow trends in Christianity will soon notice that ideas on how to do church come and go much like the fickle fads of fashion.  In the late nineties […]

A journal for John Oakes’ trip to teach in Korea and the Philippines 1/2-1/18/2009   Seoul/Manila 2009 Journal Seoul, Korea Jan 3-6, 2009 I arrived in Incheon Airport, one hour from Seoul.  Seoul is a city of 12 million + inhabitants.  It is a prosperous industrial city where everyone is in a hurry.  Korea appears […]

Review by Dr. John Oakes of a debate 11/13/08 between Rabbi David Wolpe and Richard Hitchins Debate Between Rabbi David Wolpe and Christopher Hitchens A Review On Thursday Nov 13, 2008 a debate was held between Rabbi Wolpe and Christopher Hitchins on the question Does Faith Matter at the Jewish Community Center in La Jolla, California.  Rabbi […]

Hi John, Excellent review of the debate. I think you summarized it all very well, and I particularly like your reflections on the “injustice” of God punishing the innocent Jesus for our sins. I thought about that a lot also, and we have to remember that Jesus volunteered to take the punishment for us. It […]

Hello John, I was so excited to hear about your visit. I am sure that you had heard from Vangjel how grateful he is, but still, here is what he wrote…(please read the forwarded message) p.s.: thank you again for all your effort and love. Love, Petra   Dear Petra! I am so happy to […]