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 […]

Hi John, It ‘s good to know your head is  better.We appeciate so much your visit.The classes are so deep , helpful and encouraging.I know it helped and encourage so much all the churches you’ve had been.We hope you can come back some day. We wish this trip could encourage Liz. We really want her […]

Hi John, It ‘s good to know your head is  better.We appeciate so much your visit.The classes are so deep , helpful and encouraging.I know it helped and encourage so much all the churches you’ve had been.We hope you can come back some day. We wish this trip could encourage Liz. We really want her […]

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On a recent visit to Rio de Jainero, John Oakes gave a talk on the question, “Who Is My Brother?”  Notes are included below Who Is My Brother? Editor’s Note:  The author of this outline is John Oakes, but in giving this talk he acknowledged that the inspiration for this outline comes quite directly from […]

Teaching Trip to Brazil by John and Elizabeth Oakes 8/15-8/26/08 Report on Teaching Trip to BrazilAugust 15-26, 2008 Rio de Jainero Aug 16-18              It took my daughter Liz and I 24 hours to travel from San Diego to Dallas, to Sao Paulo, switching airports in order to fly to Rio de Jainero.  We are pretty […]

John Oakes  June 20-July 14, 2008   Report on Missionary Visit John Oakes  June/July 2008 London and Scotland  June 20-30 This is my fourth visit to the UK, so by now I have many established friendships with which to be reacquainted.  My wife Jan and I traveled first to London.  We visited the South region […]

On Saturday June 7, 2008 a ground-breaking debate was held between Dr. Douglas Jacoby, Imam Shabir Ally and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.  Below is a review of that debate with commentary by Dr. John Oakes   Review of the Debate Judaism, Christianity, Islam:  Which is the True Legacy of Abraham? Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: author, scholar, TV […]

There has been a lot of hype in the Christian community surrounding the recently released movie Expelled.  Conservative Christians are thrilled to finally have a movie which tells the truth about how the Christian view of origins is treated by the intellectual elite in this country.  On the other hand, those excoriated by this movie […]

Dear John, I would like to send you a mail to say thank you for changing my life 20 years ago. I was a 1st year student in UCSD when you delivered a lecture on "Does God Exist?" on the campus in 1988. I was a Biochemistry major back then and logic (evidence) was very […]

John: Last year, a co-worker gave me this Newsweek article to read, Can God Love Darwin, Too? (Sep 17, 2007 Issue).  I have shared a few of Doug’s CD sets with him and I guess he expected me to be resistant to evolution because of my religious convictions. He was quite surprised to learn that […]

Dear John, As you are aware that here in Malawi we are thirsty about being taught and hearing the word of God. I read that you were in South Africa, but some of us were unable to come and attend. Can’t you make a program to come to Malawi to teach us also as you […]

Dear Dr. John Oakes, This note is simply to express my heartfelt thanks to you for making that incredible teaching trip to Douala-Cameroon last month. The truth is that disciples in Cameroon were greatly impacted by the deeper insights in to the Scriptures that came out of everything you taught and shared. The young Church […]

John, I just wanted to thank you for the absolutely EYE OPENING study of the Book of Hebrews on Saturday at the conference. I always enjoy hearing you speak and could sit for HOURS listening to your awe-inspiring perspectives. I was the one who asked the question about the one thing that could cause a […]

Dear John: Recently my Dad passed away and I made a trip to Guatemala for his funeral. During that trip I visited an Aunt. When I went into the room she had prepared for me, there was your book Reasons For Belief. I immediately started to "devour" it because that is an area that intrigues […]

In my mental list of evidences for Christianity, there are few things more powerful than the book of Isaiah. In my mental list of evidences for Christianity, there are few things more powerful than the book of Isaiah. I vividly remember discovering its messianic prophecies as a sophomore while flipping through a Bible in my […]

My son Ben and I left for Hong Kong on Jan 2. Hong Kong is a very modern and VERY crowded city of about seven million. My son Ben and I left for Hong Kong on Jan 2. Hong Kong is a very modern and VERY crowded city of about seven million. It is a […]

The most famous atheist in the world today is almost certainly Richard Dawkins (see the review of his book in the "What’s New" section). Up until three years ago, the honor probably went to Antony Flew. That is, until he publicly announced that he has become convinced of the Anthropic Argument and of the existence […]

Point Loma Nazarene College Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the Genome Project and author of “The Language of God,” gave a public lecture at Point Loma Nazarene College in San Diego on 4/11/2008. The talk was titled “The Language of God: A Believer Looks at the Human Genome.” I was privileged to attend a dinner […]

Question:   It says in Deut12:21 "…you may slaughter from your cattle and your flocks that the Creator has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it in your cities…".  The question is:  This verse explicitly says that animal slaughter shall be done in the manner "as I have commanded you", […]

Click below to open or download a power point presentation which is pictures from the mission/teaching trips of John Oakes  

Hi J.Oakes,   Thanks for the email. We were touched by your concern and "tears" for our welfare and that of our children as ministry staff. We cannot forget that. Thanks for the inspirational classes as well. Hope you will make Lagosthis year either during AFRICAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE or later in the year. Titi, Philip […]

ARS Evidence for Christianity Newsletter Letters to the Editors September 2006   John, I’m at AIM in Athens(Online course) and I just wanted to say "thanks" for the lesson today. It was very inspirational and it fueled my desire to study more so that I can get some evangelistic "Evidence" classes going when I get […]

Who are the Gnostics?   ?For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.?  If he had not given himself away before this, the writer of Judas makes it clear what his philosophical perspective is when he put these words into the mouth of Jesus.  This is a clear statement of the Gnostic idea.  It […]

Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 6:04 PM Subject: RE: Da Vinci code book   Thanks my brother – another great resource is the one put out by John Oakes’ wife in the form of the newsletter from last month – I just finished the Da Vinci code book last night, and it was fun to […]

Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 6:04 PM Subject: RE: Da Vinci code book   Thanks my brother – another great resource is the one put out by John Oakes’ wife in the form of the newsletter from last month – I just finished the Da Vinci code book last night, and it was fun to […]

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Question: Mark 16:16 says that signs would be with those who believe and John says that we can do greater work then Jesus Christ. What are these greater works? Answer: Although I can certainly see how one might make the connection, I would be cautious about using Mark 16:16 to interpret John 14:12. Let me […]