The Trinity may be a rather neglected doctrine in the church today, even seen as secondary by many. In this article, we'll consider some of the responses from Christians and non-Christians objecting to the importance of the necessary doctrine of the Trinity and evaluate them. … [Read more...]
Resurrection of Jesus – Answers to the Common Challenges
Like many ideas or systems, Christianity has a central theme to it, which without causes it to collapse. Whether it be a car, a watch or a refrigerator, there are critical components which if removed cause it to be something else. Moses seems to have recognized he was a contingent component in God’s plan, which could have gone on without him, when he said, "Send someone else…" … [Read more...]
Miracles and Science
I am privileged to be one of the general editors of the upcoming Dictionary of Christianity and Science (Zondervan, April 2017). Paul Copan, Tremper Longman, Michael Strauss, and I–along with our excellent team at Zondervan–have endeavored to create a reference work that tackles the most important terms, concepts, people, and debates at the intersection of Christianity and … [Read more...]
Analogies For The Blessed Trinity?
The doctrine of the blessed Trinity is very difficult to understand. A corporeal and finite human cannot absolutely comprehend an infinite and an incorporeal God. Hence, the human mind seeks analogies to aid in easing the comprehension of the Trinity, so that the Trinity does not remain a mystery or a logical paradox. But is there a viable analogy that best illustrates the … [Read more...]
Did Christianity Copy from Paganism? (Part 2 of 5: No causal influence)
In our previous article in this series (found here), we began by articulating the popular argument that Christianity stole its central themes from antecedent Pagan deities. There, we argued that even skeptics and critical scholars reject such a view. However, we didn’t explain why they do so. In the subsequent articles, we will outline the reasons scholars reject this specious … [Read more...]
The Least Popular Jewish Names
One of the more remarkable pieces of data in Richard Bauckham’s 2006 book, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, is the comparison of Palestinian Jewish names in the Gospel period to those recorded in the Gospels themselves. ¹ He draws on the work of the Israeli scholar Tal Ilan, who compiled totals of all the recorded name occurrences in Palestinian Jews from 330 BC to 200 AD. The … [Read more...]
An Introductory Defense Of The Blessed Trinity
The Bible reveals the distinctive and an essential Christian doctrine of the blessed Trinity. The Christian worldview makes this unique claim that God is one and yet there are three who are God. Although Natural Theology could posit God’s existence and HIS attributes, Trinity, however, belongs to revealed theology. Trinity is a unique nature of God, which can only be … [Read more...]
Did Christianity Copy from Paganism? (Part 1 of 5)
By James M. Rochford Many skeptics claim that the resurrection of Jesus originated from pagan myths about “dying and rising” gods—commonly called the “copycat theory” of Christianity. James G. Frazer popularized this view in his book The Golden Bough (1914),[1] though more recently, others have followed in his footsteps.[2] … [Read more...]
Heart Attacks and the Sovereignty of God
I recently had a heart attack - 100% blockage in left anterior descending (LAD) artery that runs down the front of the heart and supplies the front and main wall. That kind of heart attack is commonly called a Widowmaker, which is a nugget of information I am glad I didn’t know that at the time. Why did it happen? Plaque dislodged and moved; that is the only thing that is … [Read more...]
Did Jesus Exist? (Part 5: Mara Bar-Serapion & the Talmud)
It’s remarkable that many thinking people today deny the historical existence of Jesus. In this series of articles, we have been exploring the evidence for the existence of Jesus purely from extrabiblical sources, rather than by appealing to the NT documents (see Evidence Unseen “Part Four,” 2013). In earlier articles in this series, we have considered the works of … [Read more...]