Following the birth of Jesus, Scripture indicates that Mary went on to have other children. I quote Mark 6:3 below: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him." (NASB) My question is, what would it have been like to grow up with a perfect older brother? Some of … [Read more...]
Handling an Objection: "But God Doesn't Have a Son!"
Introduction When I was a new Christian I lost count of the number of times that I told people that my new faith was based on the tenet that Jesus is the Son of God. I still do this to this day. In many cases, people ask me “How does God have a Son?” Or, the common objection from both Muslims and Jewish people is ”There is only one God and he has no Son!” In order to answer … [Read more...]
Did Jesus of Nazareth Fulfill Ancient Predictions?
This is another video in our series "Great Thinkers & Great Questions", where we examine and comment on articles in the Apologetics Study Bible. Here we will be taking a short look at what is called Messianic Prophecy, in which well over 100 predictions in the ancient document of the Old Testament Scriptures, predict a specific individual that will come onto the … [Read more...]
Witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses
As any Christian apologist knows, there are vast differences between orthodox Christian and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses) beliefs. The biggest difference that marks the Jehovah’s Witnesses (hereafter JW, or plural JWs) is their teachings on the nature of God. According to Dr. William Lane Craig from his “Defenders” (Series 1) podcasts the historic … [Read more...]
What’s Wrong With The Zeitgeist Movie?
The Zeitgeist movie has been circulating on the internet since 2007. In the video its director, Peter Joseph, seeks to persuade viewers that the authors of the New Testament essentially plagiarized the concept of the virgin birth, December 25 as Christ’s birth date, the twelve disciples, the miracles, the crucifixion, and the resurrection from astrological sources and pagan … [Read more...]
Stephen Law on the Non-existence of Jesus of Nazareth
Reprinted with the gracious permission of William Lane Craig. In his blog, atheist philosopher Stephen Law formulated the following skeptical argument against Jesus' existence: 1. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. In the absence of extraordinary evidence there's excellent reason to be skeptical about the claims. 2. There is not extraordinary evidence for … [Read more...]
Pre-Pauline and Post-Pauline Christology
The Apostle Paul often gets a bad rap in certain, non-Christian circles. Atheists, Muslims, and Pluralists all have it out for Paul. Everyone's got a bone to pick with Paul! He is (infamously) responsible for the idea that Jesus is God. Christianity started out as a nice, little group of hippies who shared their possessions and lived in close community while following the … [Read more...]
Reason #5 Christianity is Unique: It is Respectable
How do the founders of the world's religions compare with Jesus of Nazareth? Is Jesus Christ unique when compared with Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna, and Joseph Smith? (Part 5 of 5) In the last installment of this series "5 Reasons the Christian Worldview is Unique", today we will be examining the person and life of Jesus of Nazareth, when compared with the other founders of the … [Read more...]
Docetism: Jesus The Illusionist
A Docetist argues that Christ Jesus only seemed to be (Gk. δοκέω - dokeō) human. He appeared to be a Jewish man but he did not possess a true corporal earthly body. Swayed by Gnosticism, that assumes the material creation is innately evil, it is foolish and shameful, according to a gnostic docetist, to think that Logos, who was in form of God, would take upon Himself an … [Read more...]
In Defense of the Empty Tomb
Was the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth found empty three days after he was crucified? If not, then Christianity is the biggest lie and the biggest waste of time in history. While the historicity of the empty tomb does not, by itself, constitute a convincing argument for the Resurrection, it plays an indispensable role as Jesus could not have risen from the dead if his tomb was not … [Read more...]