Here are some of the details that Luke gets right in Acts that cannot be derived from Josephus. Most of these can be found in Colin Hemer's magisterial work, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History. 1. A natural crossing between correctly named ports. (Acts 13:4-5) Mt. Casius, which is south of Seleucia, is within sight of Cyprus. 2. The proper port (Perga) … [Read more...]
Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 25
Dr. Richard Carrier is a well-known atheist who does not believe Jesus of Nazareth was a real person. Carrier is a leading proponent of the ‘origin of Christianity without a historical Jesus’ (richardcarrier.info). Carrier also believes that many of the most important biblical figures were also fictional. “The patriarchs are safely assumed now to be nonhistorical, and thus … [Read more...]
Who Wrote the Pastoral Letters Of The New Testament? Part 3 of 3
Part 1 | Part 2 E. THE IMPACT OF TIME: These letters are written over a period of 10 to 15 years. Time changes all of us. Can you remember what you were doing ten or fifteen years ago? Think about how you have changed since that time. If I ever find those seminary papers I've been mentioning, maybe I'll compare them to this article. I can only imagine the differences after … [Read more...]
Who Wrote the Pastoral Letters Of The New Testament? Part 2 of 3
Part 1 of 3 2. BASIC PROBLEMS WITH THIS ARGUMENT: Carson and Moo show some of the basic flaws with this statistical analysis: The arguments sound impressive, but they are not as convincing as they seem to be at first sight. Those who put them forward do not always notice, for example, that most of the words shared by the Pastorals and the second-century writers are also … [Read more...]
Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 24
We are looking at what archaeological evidence was available in 1971 to support the writings of the Hebrew prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible. That’s when I was conducting an investigation, as an atheist, into the truth claims of theism and Christianity. We’ve seen evidence for the men who prophesied during the years of the kings of Israel and Judah and the evidence … [Read more...]
Who Wrote the Pastoral Letters Of The New Testament? Part 1 of 3
Back in the early 1990s while pastoring in a mainline denomination, I attended one of their liberal seminaries. It was there that I first encountered the idea that some of the books of the New Testament were not written by the authors that they said they were written by. At the time, I thought that this idea would never be more than an academic concern--an annoying issue among … [Read more...]
Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 23
When a theist presents ‘evidence’ to an atheist for the existence of God, the atheist will often challenge the theist with whether the supernatural is ‘falsifiable.’ In other words, is a belief in God ‘testable?’ Atheists say that ‘religious beliefs,’ beliefs in the existence of a supernatural God, are not falsifiable because they cannot be verified or denied. That was one … [Read more...]
Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 22
“And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy. Therefore He brought against them … [Read more...]
Convince Me There’s A God – Archaeology 21
"Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah." 2 Kings 25:1-2 According to the Bible's description … [Read more...]
The Mysterious Magi of Matthew 2, Part Two.
In part one of this series, I briefly described the origins of Zoroastrianism, the religion held by the magi mentioned in Matthew 2, who left their homeland and traveled to Israel to worship Jesus. We noted the passages mentioned in the Old Testament where these monotheistic adherents of Zoroastrianism equated their deity with the God of the Jews. In contrast to the … [Read more...]