I have felt for quite some time that there has been a gaping hole in popular apologetics, namely, accessible and contemporary material on ethical issues arising from the Old Testament. The New Atheists have held up the God of the Old Testament as tantamount to an evil tyrant. Is God a Moral Monster? addresses some of these accusations head on. Paul Copan begins by quoting Richard Dawkins, who says:
History
Posted on November 28, 2010
by Mark Hosmer
Categories: Bible, History, Jesus, Science
Scholars have been arguing over how to interpret the early parts of Genesis since at least the 3rd century (e.g. Origen c.185-c254), probably earlier. This is such an ongoing debate because it’s very difficult to come to concrete conclusions on certain aspects. Two common areas of uncertainty are creation, and the flood.
With the flood/Noah's ark, it might be helpful to break it down into a few parts and give a quick overview of each.
Is the flood described in the Bible using Global or Local language?
Did the flood cover the entire Earth, or just the region where Noah lived? For those that believe the Bible to be the word of God (myself included) this is an important question. It is very easy to come to conclusions based on particular words or phrases, but most of us rely on a translation of the original language. Does the intended meaning come across in the translation?
The flood account is one of the few areas in the Bible where this is unclear, experts in Hebrew are still debating subtleties in the language.
Posted on October 10, 2010
by Ruth Preston
Categories: Bible, History, Jesus
At face value it may seem strange that Matthew and Luke record different genealogies of Jesus. Many, including Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion, and Islamic apologist Shabbir Ally (Further Reading 4), have alluded to this comparison when accusing the Bible of contradiction.
However, these genealogies can be better understood with some general background information:
Biblical Genealogies
Biblical genealogies have different properties from the family trees that we are familiar with today.
Firstly, Biblical genealogies use the terms ‘son’ and ‘father’ loosely. They can mean either direct descendent or distant descendent. For example, we read in Luke 3:8 and John 8:39 that a group of religious teachers said to Jesus, ‘Abraham is our father’, which is absurd in the modern sense, since Abraham lived thousands of years before. Similarly, Jesus is described throughout the New Testament as ‘the son of David’ (Matthew 1:1), who lived hundreds of years before Jesus was born.
Posted on September 26, 2010
by Ruth Preston
Categories: History, Jesus
Introduction
In the last few centuries, there has been an attempt to relate the life, work and message of Christ to earlier mythology. Some of the arguments have led some to the conclusion that Jesus didn’t exist, but was mythological like the gods that came before him.
The most scholarly and influential works that champion the alleged similarity between Jesus Christ and pagan mystery religions and mythology are by Franz Cumont and Richard Reitzenstein, from the late 1800s and the first half of the 1900s. These theories today are thought inaccurate due to recent research:
‘In recent years, however, the critical discussion of principles and concepts have been advanced, especially by Italian scholars. As a result a gradual erosion of Cumont’s and Reitzenstein’s positions is taking place’ (10/p.2)
Yet, there has been a revival of Cumont’s theories in recent years, most of which has been produced on a popular level in the form of the Zeitgeist Internet movie, and works by Tom Hurpur and Achrya Sanning. These works claim similarities between Jesus and dieties such as Mithra, Horus, Attis, Dionysus, Adonis and Zoroaster.
Posted on March 08, 2010
by Rich Spear
Categories: Free Will, History, Suffering
In recent weeks we have seen the utter devastation that has come about in Haiti with nearly 230,000 people having been estimated to have died as a result of an earthquake. When you consider the million people who have been left homeless and destitute as well, it causes deep emotion and a very real sense of concern to rise up in us. We are left asking again why such a terrible disaster could happen, and perhaps why God could allow such a disaster to happen? Many have been quick to speak up and give their opinion. The ‘New Atheists’ such as Richard Dawkins have seen this as further evidence that God does not exist, that it is just ‘the blind happenings of nature’. However, as we saw in the first article there are major problems with this perspective. Just because you can give a geological explanation for an event does not mean that there is no law giver behind these events. This is a basic philosophical category mistake.
Posted on December 21, 2009
by Rich Spear
Categories: God, History, Jesus, Religion
Mulled cider & Love actually
In the last few weeks I have (like everyone else) been preparing for Christmas, and been doing my best to avoid going into Brighton. I have been enjoying that wonderful phenomenon known as online shopping, or more specifically Amazon.com. My wife Jac has also started to fill our home with those classic Christmas tunes again, Band Aid, Mariah Carey and others.
Christmas is a time of year that is associated with many different things for different people. It is often thought of as time to spend with our families and close loves ones. Many others will also crack out ‘Love actually’ on DVD yet again, have a few glasses of mulled wine (or cider ideally), and of course buy one another presents, some of which will no doubt be subtly making there way onto ebay in early January. If any of my family are reading, don’t worry I wouldn’t dream of it!
Posted on December 04, 2009
by Edward Rhodes
Categories: Bible, Faith, History, Jesus, Religion
Introduction
Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and not merely a human teacher. This central idea has long been challenged by opponents of Christianity, and opposition has again, in recent years, come to prominence with the appearance of books such as The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
Jesus was a man
Of course, at the very outset of this discussion, it is worth remembering that Christians also believe that Jesus was a real flesh-and-blood man. There were some early teachers (such as the “Docetists” and “Gnostics”) who denied this, arguing instead that Jesus merely appeared to be human (see, for example, section 93 of the Acts of John). It is curious to see such documents being referred to as evidence of early Christian belief in a merely human Jesus (see, for example, pages 231 and 234 of The Da Vinci Code), when this is something that their authors denied.
The Council of Nicaea of 325 A.D.
Posted on November 26, 2009
by Rich Spear
Categories: Bible, Faith, Free Will, God, History, Jesus, Lifestyle Issues, Morality, Religion, Science, Suffering
If you consider yourself a sceptic about Christianity or a Christian who is looking for honest answers to some of the toughest questions, then this book was quite simply written for you. Tim Keller is a pastor in New York, who has put into writing the kinds of questions that he is asked on a regular basis about Christianity such as ' How can a good God allow suffering?', 'Hasn't science disproved Christianity?' and 'How can a loving God send people to hell?'
Posted on November 23, 2009
by Ruth Preston
Categories: Bible, History, Jesus
One of the key things to note about the era of 1st century Palestine, is that it was primarily an oral culture. This means that information was rarely written down about things that we might today consider to be highly significant ( let alone every single minor event; a stark contrast to 21st century western society). The main way that information was passed on was through verbal communication. However, we do still have a good number of documents which help to verify information about Jesus and the origins of the early church.
The primary sources for Jesus’ life are the Gospels in the Bible. The main two sources are Tacitus and Josephus. These two records are very important because they verify the death of Jesus at the hand of Pontius Pilate, which collaborates the Gospel records (Mark 15:1-15, Matthew 27, Luke 23, John 18:28-40).
Cornelius Tacitus (born A.D. 52-54)
A Non-Christian Roman historian, in A.D. 112, Governor of Asia, son-in-law of Julius Agricola who was Governor of Britain A.D. 80-84. He wrote in the reign of Nero, making reference to Christians in Rome, and to Jesus’ death:
Posted on November 17, 2009
by Yohaan Philip
Categories: Bible, Faith, God, History, Jesus
There has been a lot of speculation (and prediction in some cases) about the exact day when Jesus would come back to the world. For instance, Nostradamus predicted that "from the sky will come a great King of Terror" in 1999. This was interpreted by some as a prophecy about the second coming of Jesus. When this did not occur, some of his followers claimed that Jesus was conceived in 1998, born in 1999, and is currently living on Earth as a reincarnated person.
How do we know Jesus will return?
In all 4 of the Gospels (the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in the Bible, Jesus says that he will come again and bring in His Kingdom.
The apostle Paul, in his letter to the church in Thessalonica, Greece, writes,
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thess 4:16-17)
When will he return?