Category Archives: Bible

Biblical Teaching

Q.43 No one has any idea who wrote the Gospels

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The Gospel according to...

The Gospel according to…

For the average Christian, the statement: “no one has any idea who wrote the Gospels” is nonsensical. In every Bible, printed at the top of each Gospel account, is the name of the author:

The Gospel according to Matthew
The Gospel according to Mark
The Gospel according to Luke
The Gospel according to John

Sometimes it’s listed in a simplified version with just the name:

Matthew
Mark
Luke
John

Before Bibles were printed, the name of the author was included with the handwritten documents, and the name of the authors were well established from the beginning of their widespread circulation.[1] So it is not true that “no one has any idea who wrote the Gospels.” What this doubter means is he doesn’t believe that the Gospels were written by the people traditionally accepted to be the authors. He rejects what the first Christians believed from the time of initial receipt of these texts even though this belief was later confirmed by the early church. The question of authorship does not even occur to most Christians who believe the entire Bible. Continue Reading

Q.40 The Exodus – Does archaeology show it happened?

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The Split rock at Horeb - The Exodus

The Split rock at Horeb

After the resurrection, the Exodus and the miracles surrounding it are arguably the greatest miracles God performed. Indeed, before the incarnation of Jesus, God regularly identified himself as the God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt (Ex 20.2, 29.46, Ps 81.10, Jer 11.4, etc.) So this is a very important question. But like other questions in this series, it was given as a statement too long for the title. So let’s start with the original statement, point  out the implied questions, and take it from there. The original statement:

If the Exodus really happened we’d see more signs of it in archaeology. We don’t, so it’s not believable.

So let’s make explicit the implicit challenges and assumptions.
Continue Reading

Q.37 Only morons would believe in an invisible magic sky-daddy like God.

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"The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." Psalm 14.1 Like fools, like morons

“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Psalm 14.1

The first thing I notice about the person asking this question is the extreme disrespect on display in the question: “Only morons would believe in an invisible magic sky-daddy like God.” Like the ignorance of those who crucified the Lord and did not know what they were doing (Luke 23.34), this person does not realize that in his reference to God, he is insulting and blaspheming the person with the power to send him into everlasting condemnation. (Luke 12.5) Continue Reading

Easter – A Passover Journey For Christians

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From the Exodus to the Cross
A Resurrection Day Meditation

Most Christians are aware that Jesus, Yeshua, is our Passover lamb (1 Cor 5.7) and thus completes and fulfills the symbolism of the Passover. The Passover lamb was a type. Jesus is the fulfillment, the reality that the symbolism and the type pointed to. We often focus narrowly on the typology of Jesus being our Passover lamb, the sacrifice for our sins who “died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Pe 3.18) This is or course of paramount importance because it is Yeshua’s sacrifice that makes it possible for us to have peace with God (Ep 2.14-15)  and thus enables us to live with God. (John 14.23) But for this meditation I want to widen the focus and take a look at the bigger picture of what God is doing through the Passover and Easter and the ultimate purpose for both that we should keep in mind. Continue Reading

Creation and Inerrancy: Evaluating the Mortenson vs Ross Debate

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Wolf in Sheep's clothing in lab coat with bible surrounded by sheep.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (Mat 7:15)

There was a recent[1] debate on creation and inerrancy which addressed the question: “Does belief in inerrancy necessitate a particular view of the age of the earth?”[2] In contrast to U.S. political debates this election cycle where moderators prop up one candidate and challenge the other one, this debate was moderated fairly by apologist Frank Turek who holds to the old earth position[3], though you couldn’t detect it from the way he moderated. Debater Terry Mortenson holds to the young earth position, as do I, and the other debater, Hugh Ross, holds to the old earth position. Continue Reading

Q14 – Age of the Earth – The Bible vs Science – Is the Bible wrong?

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Blue Stars - NASA

Blue Stars – Image – NASA

Q14 – The Bible says the universe is just a few thousand years old, but science says it’s actually billions of years. The Bible is wrong!

Let’s start by understanding the entities we’re discussing. The Bible is the written word of an almighty, omniscient, omnipresent God who brought into existence every created thing—in the heavens and on earth. The Bible is the word of this God who knows everything. This brings us to an interesting question. Do you know everything? If you don’t know everything, how do you know what you think you know is correct? How do you know whether or not that you, in your lack of knowledge, are missing a key piece that could change everything you think you know now? How do you know your knowledge, which is incomplete, is not unlike the picture you get of suspects during a mystery movie? You look at all the evidence you’re given and all of the suspects. For an hour and forty-five minutes of a two-hour movie it’s clear that the butler did it. Then, at an hour and forty-six minutes, a new clue is revealed. All of a sudden it’s clear that the butler didn’t do it. It’s the [insert your new obvious suspect here]. Maybe your new suspect is guilty, maybe not. You’re still not sure until they do all the revelations and resolutions in the last five to ten minutes of the movie. Continue Reading

Left Behind: The Biggest Sign after the Eclipse

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Total Solar Eclipse, April 8th, 2024, NASA

Total Eclipse April 8th, 2024, NASA

In 2017 we traveled down near St. Louis to be in the path of totality for the eclipse that year. It was such a wondrous, awe-inspiring event that, when my wife asked if we were going to do it again this year, I thought, “How many more chances are we going to get?” (It turns out that the next one viewable in the States is in twenty years). So, with no further debate needed, I said, “Yes, we’re going.” No matter that hotels were doubling and tripling their fees for the occasion, traffic was predicted to be horrendous and Indiana, our destination for viewing, declared a state of emergency to make sure they had enough emergency services available.

The free solar glasses the hotel gave upon arrival, knowing why most people were there, didn’t make up for the highly overpriced room, but the event itself more than compensated for it. At the moment of totality I was once again filled with awe, wonder and amazement. The moon, appearing to be the exact same size as the sun, smoothly slid in front of the disc of the sun and perfectly covered it. This allowed the sun’s corona to be viewed with the naked eye, eclipse glasses off, with the sun no longer a blindingly bright light but a dark circle. I’m no photographer, and my phone and camera are a few years old, but here is the modest picture I took: Continue Reading

Risen – A Reflection on the True Messiah

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A Resurrection Day Meditation
Risen -2016

From considering false messiahs, a type of the Antichrist in the previous article, to this article which, for this resurrection day (a holiday commonly called Easter), we move on to considering the true Messiah.  On Easter day Christians commonly  say to each other:

Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!

So we will consider the true messiah in the context of the 2016 movie Risen, a movie that explores the question: what would you do if you had personally seen both the death of Yeshua [1] and then, a number of days later, saw him alive and well and spoke with him, whose touch you felt and in whose presence you ate  and asked him questions. Would that finally move you to faith? Though that question is aimed at skeptics, doubters and unbelievers, the movie also provides encouragement for believers which we’ll get to.

Without going into all the tenets of the Christian faith, like the gospels, this movie gives you ample evidence to believe this section of the Nicene Creed, which is at the heart of the Christian faith and what we’re considering today:

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;

Continue Reading

Q11 – Why are Christians so stuck on believing their Bibles instead of science?

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Science Research

We now consider the question, “Why are Christians so stuck on believing their Bibles instead of science.” This is a false dichotomy because Christians do not reject all science. The question either reveals a profound ignorance of the nature of science and the scientific process or implicitly denies that science, by its very nature, is constantly rejecting things as false that were previously thought to be true. Tenets, previously accepted as good science one day, can be rejected as foolish and obsolete the next.

Regarding the nature of God, the question reveals either ignorance concerning God or a denial of the nature of God and the Bible. God is omniscient. He has perfect knowledge (John 21.17, Heb 4.13). He never learns anything because he already knows everything. The Bible is the word of God, breathed out from the omniscient God (2 Tim 3.16) and all it affirms is true (Ps 119.160). Therefore, as expected of knowledge coming from God who is perfect in knowledge, the Bible is wholly true and without error in all it affirms. This is known as the doctrine of inerrancy. Continue Reading

Q2 Why are Christians opposed to equality in marriage?

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marriage - definitioin

This question, “Why are Christians opposed to equality in marriage?” again shows the poisoned well thinking common in this culture and age. I’m tempted to give a quick, accurate answer to this, but it is such a loaded question, a quick answer will not address the errors implicit in this challenge which is fraught with many antibiblical assumptions. So, as Fräulein Maria tells the von Trapp children when they need to learn the basics, “Let’s start at the very beginning.” Let’s get the assumptions out in the open. We’ll start with definitions.

What is meant by “equality”?
What is meant by “marriage”?

On Equality

Christians believe that everyone has the right to marry any eligible person of the opposite sex of marriageable age who will willingly marry the person in question. That is “equality” for all, but already I hear objections because clearly this definition imposes limitations. But having limitations does not mean there are “inequalities” because everyone is under the same limitations. It would only be “unequal” if some people were under restrictions and others were not, but that is not the case. Everyone is under the same restrictions. (Except for one case I’ll discuss below.) So let’s look at the restrictions. Continue Reading