Note: See Part One Here: Introduction One of the most prominent themes throughout the Bible is the kingdom of God. The framework of Israel’s existence and self-understanding was formulated from God’s covenant with Israel and Israel’s servant to God the King. Israel is the people of the king, and the holy land is the land of the king’s rule. Given the Messiah is supposed to be … [Read more...]
Who is the One True God? A Look at Prophecy as a Verification Test
Introduction The skeptical issue in our culture mostly enters into the religious dialogue in the following way: “In the case of God, who isn’t some physical object but a divine being, what kind of evidence should we expect to find? [1] There is a tendency to forget that the Bible stresses that sin can dampen the cognitive faculties that God has given us to find Him. … [Read more...]
Did Jesus' Disciples Have Hallucinations? (Tolle Lege)
Most New Testament scholars, even non-believers and skeptics, acknowledge that Jesus' followers had experiences of Him being alive following His crucifixion.* But a common skeptical reply to this well-founded fact is that these experiences are best explained as hallucinations on the part of the disciples.** But how reasonable is this claim? In his recent book Can You Believe … [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...]
A Different Jesus? – Looking At The Mormon Teachings of Christ.
In the Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 25:26 says: And we atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our cchildren may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins. On Mormonism 101 a recent section on the Mormon Newsroom website stating Mormons beliefs, it says this about … [Read more...]
The Imperfections of the Quran – Part 1
Muslims generally believe that the Quran is perfect, meaning, it is complete and error free. However, a close examination of the evidence suggests that the Quran is incomplete and therefore imperfect. 1. Part of Quranic revelation was eaten by a goat Sunan Ibn Majah, Book of Nikah, Hadith # 1934 "Narrated Aisha 'The verse of stoning and of suckling an adult ten times were … [Read more...]
Malignant Demon, Atheism and Search For Truth
“Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey's mind,” rhetorically asked Charles Darwin, “if there are any convictions in such a mind?” (Darwin 1881) In Darwin’s July 3rd 1881 letter to William Graham, we encounter a problem of epistemological uncertainty of our cognitive faculties. Darwin believed that Graham had accurately portrayed his conviction that “the Universe … [Read more...]
The New Frontier in Apologetics – An Open Letter to the Apologetics Community
Dear Colleague: It’s time for Christianity to reclaim the intellectual high ground we once held. That means you and I have a lot of work to do. Chances are some of it will be different from what we've been doing. There is a new frontier in apologetics today. The big questions are no longer what they used to be. And most of us are just beginning to see it. It’s no longer … [Read more...]
Attack On Titan
Both the anime and manga of Hajime Isayama's Attack on Titan have been absurdly popular and widely praised. Last year, five of the books in the series were in the Top 20 graphic novels in the U.S., beating even The Walking Dead; 8.3 million copies sold in just the first half of 2014 to boost its total sales close to 22 million copies in just under five years. To give you an … [Read more...]
Can We Trust the New Testament?
Can the New Testament documents be trusted? Do the Gospels accurately report what Jesus said and did? In this presentation, I investigate the historical data bearing on the dating of the New Testament documents, and ask whether there is good reason to think the four canonical gospels are written by the individuals with whom they are traditionally associated, and whether they … [Read more...]