All Posts by Mike

Monkeys plus Eternity equals What?

Other Essays , Resources

 

You may have heard a defender of Materialism suggest the notion that random results plus enough time could easily produce order. 

This is a typical assertion, defending the idea that given enough time, it is reasonable to believe that the chemicals in the priobiotic soup could eventually form DNA…

They sometimes use an alliteration using monkeys and typewriters, that given enough time they could write the complete works of Shakespeare.

Well, it appears that someone has taken them up on their challenge.

Hilarious

http://www.arn.org/docs2/news/monkeysandtypewriters051103.htm

Anyway, one of my normal responses is: "Why wouldn't they just produce an infinite amount of gibberish?"  Not to mention that eternity in the cosmos is impossible, or that someone has to have a 'mind' above the fray to 'understand' that the works have 'value', but this is maybe more to the point

Enjoy

Grace and Peace

Christianity and The Truth

Other Essays , Resources

 

Here's a nice essay from Thinking Christian…

Called "The Truth Holds Us", it is a summary of how we as Christians must begin an apologetic, with the stance that 'we know the Truth and other's don't", which is very irritating to those we may be speaking with…

For your contemplation…

Grace and Peace

http://www.thinkingchristian.net/series/the-truth-holds-us/

JP Moreland – The Case for Christianity

Online Information , Resources

 

One of my favorite prof's at Biola – JP Moreland.  A 3 part video of him giving The Case for Christianity

Enjoy

Grace and Peace to all of you

Mike

 

 

 

Prayer for the Families of the Martyrs

Current Events

 

At Least 21 Killed and 80 Injured at New Years Mass in Egypt – al quaida suspected

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110101/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_church_attack

Merciful God – we pray for the families of those martyred because of Your name.  Thank you for their witness, and their love for you, but deliver them from as much grief and pain as possible for their loss.  We pray for the attackers, that they would come under the guilt of their actions, and lead them to forgiveness and repentance from You

Help each of us remaining believers in Your Kingdom to fill our roles in Your Kingdom to continue the witness and bring the everlasting message to a hurting and dying world

In Jesus the Christ, our Lord's name above all names – AMEN

Christian Doctrine and Apologetics Devotional

Curriculum

 

COMING SOON! 

A Yearly Devotional Focusing on Christian Apologetics and Doctrine!

 

 By popular request, we are developing a 52 week devotional focusing on basic Christian Doctrine and Apologetics.

Perfect for family, individual, or group use. 

So many people who have studied Apologetics 101 have asked us – "What Now?"  Well now one can continue the study each day, focusing on the Lord's command to us:

"Always be prepared to give an answer for the faith that you have…"  1 Peter 3:15

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independent Collaborations for the Bible

Christian Apologetics , The Bible

The existence of extra-Biblical documentations only helps to confirm the validity of the Bible, and provides incentive for the serious consideration of the Bible's messages.  

"Secular" Collaborating Information

 

Regarding	Artifact	Date	Significance	Further Info
Dating of the Bible Documents	War Of The Jews / Antiquities Of The Jews  Flavius Josephus	77 or 78 A.D / 93 A.D.	Describes the horrendous torture and slaughter of the Jews by the Romans in 70 A.D.  Every historical writing after this period discusses this event.  The gospels are silent, however, providing rational circumstantial evidence that they were written prior to 70 A.D.
Confirming the Execution of John the Baptist	Antiquities Of The Jews  Flavius Josephus; Book 18, Chapter 5.	93 A.D.	Describes that "John, that was called the Baptist", was murdered by Herod.
Confirming Existence and Importance of Jesus	Antiquities Of The Jews  Flavius Josephus; Book 18, Chapter 3.  There is much controversy over the validity of this passage, whether is was entirely written by Josephus or added manipulated by Christians.	93 A.D.	"Now, there was about this time, Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, -a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure.  He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles.  He was [the] Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principled men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again on the third day, as the divine prophet had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him' ant the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."
Confirming Death of Jesus, and the Persecution of Christians	Tacitus – A Roman Historian (60 – 120 A.D.)		Refers to fact that "Chrestus…was executed at the hands of the procurator Pontius Pilot in the reign of Tiberius."  Also mentions that Nero put many of his followers to death	Chalmers; Evidences of the Christian Revelation Tacitus; Annales xv.44 Documents of the Christian Church
Confirming Persecution of Christians	Suetonius – A Roman Historian (TBD)		Refers to Jews who were 'continually making disturbances at the instigation of Crestus' were expelled by Claudius from Rome.
Confirming Death of Jesus, and the resulting Darkness That Fell Over The Land	Julius Africanus	221 A.D.	Refers to a work by Thallus, who wrote in ~52 A.D. mentions the crucifixion of Jesus.  Thallus describes the event as a solar eclipse, but Africanus disputes this, since the moon was full at the time of the Passover.  (Thallus' work has been lost, but its significance is confirmed by the mentioning by Africanus.	The New Testament Documents – Are They Reliable?  113
Confirms Existence and Execution of Jesus	The 'Mishnah', which is part of the Jewish Talmud.		"On the eve of Passover they hanged Yeshu (of Nazareth)."  This confirmation comes from a Jewish source (non-Christian), which was a record of events sanctioned by the Jewish Sanhedrin.	Habermas; Ancient Evidence For the Life Of Jesus, Pg 98

 

Online Bible Resources

Christian Apologetics , The Bible

Biblical Contradictions

Christian Apologetics , The Bible

 

 

 

One particularly favorite game of a skeptic is to find alleged discrepancies within the Bible, under the assumption that the existence of these discrepancies invalidate the claim of Divine inspiration – after all, if the Bible were truly inspired, then it would be perfect and have no contradictions or discrepancies – right?  In addition to this game, the issue can be of serious importance to a seeker who sees the difficulties, perceives intellectual issues and needs resolution in order to continue serious contemplation of Christianity.  It can be a significant stumbling block when not properly understood. 

Causes of the Perception of Discrepancy – All of the seeming contradictions can, when properly analyzed and understood and not just taken 'at the surface', become resolved.  Most are examples of mistaken assumptions by the reader, or of insufficient knowledge about ancient linguistic syntax or cultural interpretation, or simply a misunderstood perspective of the writers intent. 

The following are examples of some of these most common types of misunderstandings, and their resolutions:

 

Perceived Contradiction	Reference	Reference	Resolution
Judas' Death	So Judas threw the money into the temple and left.  Then he went away and hanged himself.  Matthew 27:5	With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out….they called that field…the field of blood.  Acts 1:18,19b,d	Both can be true, and not contradictory.  Judas may have hung himself alone, and then fallen headlong onto the field, etc.  One reference can simply be telling more details of the story than another.  An example of the requirement of a proper perspective for interpretation.
Jesus' Period Of Death	For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heard of the earth.  Matthew 12:40	After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week…he has risen.  Matthew 28:1a,6b	In Jewish custom, any part of a day is considered part of a full day.  We see this confirmed in Esther chapters 4&5, where 'on the third day' is equivalent to 'after three days'.  And, even now in Jewish custom, the new 'day' begins at sundown of the previous day.    An example of the requirement for cultural understanding for proper interpretation.
Jesus Curses The Fig Tree	He said to it, 'May you never bear fruit again!'  Immediately the tree withered.  Matthew 21:19	Then He said to the tree, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.'  In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.  Mark 11:14,20	Clearly a matter of timing.  The issue is in the implications however.  In Matthew, we assume that the object lesson on faith happened immediately afterwards, but we are not told this directly.  Mark may be more descriptive in the chronology of events, while Matthew was describing the event in whole, with breaks in time eliminated to round out the point.  An example of the requirement for proper syntax (structure) understanding for correct interpretation.

We can clearly see that things that appear at first glance to be difficulties, are not, yet need to be properly understood.  One minor lesson from this is that the Bible is to be studied, not 'glanced'.  When you come across a perceived difficulty, don't just simply write the Bible off as errant and therefore not inspired – delve into the facts of the context and pursue proper understanding.  In other words, give the Bible the benefit of the doubt!

Finally, when one considers the fact that the Bible has survived incredible persecution (from the abolition of Rome in A.D. 303 where scores of Christians were killed, and a massive 'book burning' of all Bibles that could be found occurred – yet just 10 short years after this Christianity was accepted as the 'official' religion of the Roman Empire, to Voltaire and Thomas Paine's vain predictions in the 18th century that the Bible will soon be forgotten) is evidence of seemingly supernatural intervention.  

Clearly, these supposed 'contradictions' and 'difficulties' have been worked through for a VAST amount of people for thousands of years.  The Bible is clearly meant to be taken seriously.

Which Bible Translation is the Best

Christian Apologetics , The Bible

Some are intended to provide strict translation and interpretation from the original (the source) language, and others are intended to relay meaning from the original into today's (the receptor) language.  To assure the most independent and unbiased translations and interpretations, in all reputable cases, a board of scholars is employed, along with specialists in history, grammar, etc.  Why interpretation along with translation?  Because the Hebrew and Greek languages are grammatically quite different from most all others.  

Just simply translating word to word would be difficult, and in some cases impossible, if the purpose is to relay coherent meaning.  For example, according to specialist Raymond Elliot:

The word 'of' is very common in English, and it is used to represent a wide variety of relationships between words.  In only the first chapter of the Gospel of Mark, nine different English translations use the word 'of' between eighteen and thirty one times.  The word represents such relationships as possession, kinship, location, names of geographical places and features, the material from which something is made, political jurisdictions, the doer of an action, and so on.  But there is no word 'of' in Greek at all!  Greek has other ways of expressing those relationships that are translated by 'of' in English…The problem for the translator is to find, in the receptor language, those forms that will appropriately represent the structures of the source language – first as to meaning, style, and naturalness, then as much as possible as to form."

Raymond Elliot; "Bible Translation"; in The Origin Of The Bible; Philip Wesley Comfort editor

 In order to translate and interpret for the masses today, specialists utilize (generically) two forms of strategy:

Formal Equivalence attempts to preserve the original language structure and vocabulary (the form).  While strictly preserving what was originally written, it may cause difficulty in understanding items such as a historically unique statement that has no close English parallel.  An example of a translation with Formal Equivalence intent is the New American Standard Bible.   This type of translation leaves it up to us to figure out what the original meaning is.

Dynamic Equivalence attempts to relate the structure to commonly understood terms in the 'receptor' language (the meaning).  For example, when Paul (Romans 7:18) speaks of the 'sinful flesh' (NAS)  we know that he is speaking of the 'sin nature' (NIV).  Tries to interpret the meaning for us, accurately and fairly. 

Examples of Translation and Interpretation

 

Reference	Literal Greek Translation	King James Version	New American Standard Bible	New International Version
Matthew 1:1	Book ancestry Jesus equals Christ son David son Abraham.	The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.	The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.	A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
John 1:13	who — not of blood nor of a will of flesh, nor of a will of man but — of God were begotten	Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God.	who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.	children born not of natural descent, not of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

Isn't The King James The Only 'Real' Bible?

There is somewhat of a controversy regarding the King James Bible.  Because this version is the 'oldest' English version, it is what many of us grew up with.  We are comfortable with it, despite the fact that it was written over 500 years ago, in a style of English that is no longer in use.  It is beautiful and poetic, and gives the Word of God a sense of style and class, as one would expect.  BUT, it is certainly not the only English interpretation that is accurate and reliable.  As has been said 'if the King James Version was good enough for Paul, then it's good enough for me' exposes the silliness of this debate. 

Are There Any 'Unreliable' Translations?

Generally, there is minimal scholarly 'issue' with the English translations that we have today.  This is easily provable, first, since there is essentially no 'active' debate regarding the translations, and second, because the quantity and availability of scholars (Christian and non-Christian) to assure us is copious.  To confirm this in your mind, especially if you still have doubts, take any English translation to your local university Greek or Hebrew scholar, and have them confirm the translation's near perfect validity.

Currently, the only 'active' debate is more political than scholarly, regarding the 'gender-inclusion' translations of the TNIV, or 'Today's New International Version.'  In places where the original languages refers to (essentially) mankind as 'he' or 'him', this version has changed the terms to 'they' etc.  While troublesome to some traditionalists, this debate seems to miss the mark in practicality, since most parents of daughters explain to them that (in general) the blessings or curses attributed to 'man' means 'mankind', to assure their girls that they are not left out. 

The bottom line is, that our English translations of the Bible are assuredly trustworthy, and reliable.

Recommendations

Because of the reliable condition of the English translations, a version should be picked (generally) based upon your purpose and your preference.  For beauty and elegance, the King James Version is classic.  For readability and study purposes, choose the New International Version.  For serious contemplation and consideration, many prefer the New American Standard Bible.

Biblical Archaeological Evidences

Christian Apologetics , The Bible

As with the independent collaborations, archaeological evidences discovered confirming items and events in the Bible serve to provide reason to consider the Bible and its teachings seriously.  It has been remarked that NO archaeological evidence has been discovered that disproves anything mentioned in the Bible!

 

 

Independent Collaborating Information

 

Regarding	Verse	Confirming Artifact	Significance	Reference / Further Info
Roman Census Order	Luke 2:1,3  "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world….everyone went to his own town to register.	A census order from 104 A.D., requiring all to return to their homes to be counted was found in Egypt	Confirms that census' were a function of the Roman government.  An earlier census (dated ~6A.D.) was also found, although the dating is in dispute.	Jesus: The Evidence; Ian Wilson; pg 47
Quirinius (a ruler)	Luke 2:2 "(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was the governor of Syria.)"	An inscription describing Quirinius as a person of authority in Syria was found in Antioch	Confirms a historical aspect of Luke's Gospel	The Bible As History; Werner Keller; pg. 323
King David	2 Samuel 5:4.  'David was thirty years old when he became King, and he reigned forty years.'	A basalt stone monument dated ~900 B.C., discovered in Galilee, describes 'The House Of David' and 'The King Of Israel'	Until this find in 1993, a record of King David has never been found outside of the Bible, leading many scholars to improperly believe that David was a fictitious character.	Is The Bible True?; Jeffery Sheler; pg. 59
Nazareth, the Town In Which Jesus Was Raised	Luke 4:16a. 'He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up…'	Many farming community relics, dated to the first century A.D., discovered in the precise location Nazareth was supposed to be.	Until this find in the 1950's by Belarmino Begatti, no evidence of Nazareth was found, leading skeptical scholars to believe that the town was a Biblical fantasy.	The Archaeology Of The New Testament
Capernaum, a Town Which Jesus Visited	Luke 7:1b,3.  'Jesus entered Capernaum…The Centurion head of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant…"This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue."'	Captain Charles Wilson (1866) confirmed the location of the town.  Virgilio Corbo (1974) discovered a synagogue there, dated to the early first century .	Skeptics, once again requiring archaeological proof before they will believe anything, were again confounded at the discovery of this city.  Corbo believes that we are justified in believing that this synagogue was the very one built by the Centurion mentioned by Matthew, Mark and Luke.	The Archaeology Of The New Testament pg 99
A House In Capernaum, Where Peter and Andrew Lived, and Where Jesus Visited	Luke 4:38.  'Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon.'	The oldest Christian church yet discovered, attested by documentation dated ~350 A.D. describing a pilgrimage to the 'house of the first of the apostles [where] a church was made…Here the Lord cured the paralytic.'	Also described in 570 A.D. as a basilica that preserved the house of Peter.	The Archaeology Of The New Testament pg