18Jun 2025 by Post

The Miracles in Acts, and Their Evidential Value

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Book of Acts, Christianity, Early Church, Evidence for God, Gospel, historical apologetics, Jonathan McLatchie, JonathanMclatchie.com, miracles, natural, supernatural
The book of Acts recounts various miracles performed by Paul and the other apostles, as well as the deacons Stephen and Philip. If it can be shown that these miracle reports substantially represent the testimony of these individuals, then this is an important aspect of the testimony that must be accounted for. For reasons I have discussed at length previously, there is strong reason to believe that the apostles sincerely believed what they claimed. As William Paley puts it, “there is satisfactory evidence that many professing to be original witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labours, dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undergone in attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in consequence of their belief of those accounts; and that they also submitted, from the same motives,…
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16Apr 2025 by Post

33 Defenses for the Resurrection of Jesus

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Brian Chilton, Christianity, Easter, Gospel, historical apologetics, Jesus, New Testament, Resurrection, www.bellatorChristi.com
I told someone recently that Easter (aka., “Resurrection Sunday”) is my favorite holiday. It holds a greater prominence for the child of God than even Christmas. Up until the commercialization of Christmas, Easter was the central holiday for the Christian. One of my good friends recently stated that her pastor called Easter the “Super Bowl for Christianity,” and for good reason. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Are there, however, good reasons for believing that Jesus of Nazareth literally arose from the dead on that first Resurrection Sunday? The historicity of the resurrection and the Gospels were a major sticking point for me in my time of doubt. If the resurrection was only wishful thinking, then believers have no genuine hope for their eternity. Yet if the resurrection is…
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14Apr 2025 by Post

Do the Resurrection Narratives Contradict? A Reply to Dan McClellan

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, Dan McClellan, Easter, Gospel, historical apologetics, Jesus, Jonathan McLatchie, JonathanMclatchie.com, Resurrection
Dan McClellan is a Biblical scholar who has taken to creating YouTube content. He has a popular channel, with 127,000 subscribers at the time of this writing. He often produces short videos responding to conservative scholars and apologists. Unfortunately, McClellan often comes across as incredibly condescending towards conservative scholars, with a rhetorical tone that is, in my view, unbecoming of scholarly discourse. I know that other conservative scholars feel the same way. McClellan recently published a 17-minute video responding to a TikTok video by my colleague, Dr. Sean McDowell, on discrepancies in the resurrection narratives. In this article, I will address points raised in this video. McDowell begins by observing, correctly, that “even if there were contradictions in the Bible, this wouldn’t prove that Christianity is false.” I agree with McDowell. I do…
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09Apr 2025 by Post

Archaeology and Jesus’ Tomb

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, ApologeticsGuy.com, Archaeology, Christianity, Empty Tomb, Gospel, historical apologetics, Matt Spinelli, Mikel del Rosario, Resurrection
Every Easter, we Christians gather to remember and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. During the Easter Season, however, there are times when we tend to hear more skeptical portrayals of the resurrection story. For example, In How Jesus became God, Bart Ehrman argues that the empty tomb was just a created story by the first Christians to support their belief that Jesus had been physically raised. Is this probable? In this post, I share how six different pieces of information about the tomb of Jesus in the Gospel of John match up with archaeological investigations of tombs around Jerusalem. Because of this, it’s unlikely that John is completely making up what he says about the tomb of Jesus. Jesus’ tomb is located outside the city of Jerusalem In the Gospel…
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07Apr 2025 by Post

10 Historical Facts About Jesus From Non-Christian Sources

3rd Day, 4. Is the NT True?, Alisa Childers, AlisaChildersblog, Apologetics, Christianity, Easter, Gospel, historical apologetics, Jesus, New Testament, Resurrection
If you have ever been involved in religious discussion on Facebook or Twitter, you have probably come across some version of the comment below: I just think it’s interesting that the only book that even talks about Jesus is the Bible! I’m not even sure we can prove he actually existed. Although this assertion is largely rejected by scholars in all spheres of historical and biblical studies, it tends to pop back up on social media like a never-ending game of digital whack-a-mole. The truth is that Jesus is not only documented in the eye-witness testimony compiled in the New Testament, but He is mentioned as a historical person by several non-Christian sources within 150 years of His life. From those sources, we can learn 10 things about Jesus without…
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02Apr 2025 by Post

Guards at the Tomb: Historical Inquiry and Resurrection Apologetics

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Christianity, Gospel, history, IsChristianityTrue.Wordpress.com, NT Apologetics, Resurrection, Roman Guards, Steve Lee
Scripture reports that there were guards at the tomb of Jesus (Matt. 27:62-66). This historical claim has been either much discussed by some apologists, but largely dismissed or ignored by others despite its potential significance in resurrection narrative. Dismissing the Guard Evidence For example, here is William Lane Craig answering a question about the guards at the tomb:   Craig doesn’t think much of this “guard” claim. Defending the Guard Evidence On the other hand, Dr. Timothy McGrew, professor of philosophy at Western Michigan University, has a thorough response to the challenge of Matthew’s veracity concerning the resurrection as it pertains to the guards narrative in Matthew 27:62-66. It is well worth the read as Dr. McGrew picks apart the claims of resurrection-critic V.J. Torley. He aims his critique here at the historicity of the…
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17Mar 2025 by Post

The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and its Evidential Value, Part 2

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Apostle Paul, Book of Acts, Christianity, Early Church, Galatians, Gospel, historical apologetics, https://jonathanmclatchie.com/, Jonathan McLatchie, Sir George Lyttelton
[Editor’s Note: In part 1 of this series on the evidential value of Paul’s conversion, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie established that (Proposition 1) The accounts in Acts substantially represent Paul’s own conversion testimony, and (Proposition 2) Paul was not plausibly sincerely mistaken. In this second installment, McLatchie tackles the remaining two propositions, showing that Saul’s conversion to Apostle Paul is a remarkably value line of evidence for historic Christianity] Proposition 3: Paul was not plausibly intentionally deceptive. Sufferings, Toils, and Hardships: There exists an abundance of evidence that Paul voluntarily endured significant hardships, dangers, persecutions, toils, labors, imprisonments and ultimately execution for the sake of the gospel. This goes a long way towards establishing his sincerity. For example, Clement of Rome, in his sole surviving letter, addressed to the Corinthian church, writes (1…
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12Mar 2025 by Post

The Conversion of Saul of Tarsus, and its Evidential Value, Part 1

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Apostle Paul, Book of Acts, Christianity, Early Church, Galatians, Gospel, historical apologetics, https://jonathanmclatchie.com/, Jonathan McLatchie, Sir George Lyttelton
An argument for Christianity that seldom receives adequate attention is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (also known as Paul) on the road to Damascus. There exist three accounts of Paul’s conversion in the book of Acts — in chapters 9, 22, and 26. The argument from Paul’s conversion has been laid out in most detail by Sir George Lyttelton (1709-1773), in his book Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul. The book is now in the public domain, and a free PDF copy can be obtained at this link. So strong and convincing is the argument from Paul’s conversion that Lyttelton wrote at the beginning of his book, addressing his friend Gilbert West [1], In a late conversation we had together upon the subject of the Christian religion, I…
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08Jan 2025 by Post

Archaeology Contributes to the Witness of the Bible

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Archaeology, bellatorchristi.com, biblical apologetics, Christianity, Deanna Huff, Gospel, historical apologetics, History of the bible, is the Bible true, JEDP theory
Can stones give you insights into the past? What do they tell you? When I encountered the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, I was surprised that a stone could say so much. Archaeological pieces like this provide a witness to a society in time. The Rosetta Stone contributes to the witness of the Bible. It also allows us to gain insights into how ancient cultures lived and experienced life. Archaeologist Randall Price states, “The Bible cannot be proved or disproved by archaeology. . . however, archaeology can bring historical confirmation to the historical statements in the text of the Scripture.” [i] Although archaeology cannot provide certainty of the Bible, it is a witness to the Bible, it contributes to its reliability, and it is a voice offering evidence to confirm…
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06Jan 2025 by Post

How My Son’s Confession of Faith (Nearly) Broke Twitter

3. Are Miracles Possible?, 4. Is the NT True?, Amy Davison, Conversion, Gospel, MamaBearApologetics.com, New Christian, Parenting, Reborn, salvation, Social media, Twitter, X
For almost a week in late 2020, my 11-year-old son practically went viral on the Internet, and he doesn’t even know it. Let me tell you why. You see, he had walked out onto our back deck and, cool as a cucumber, announced to my husband and me that he had accepted Jesus as his Savior. Needless to say, we were pleasantly caught off guard. “Oh? When did this happen?” I asked. “The other night. Yup,” he nodded in a very Young Sheldon-esq way, “I looked at the evidence and Christianity makes the most sense.” Then, away he went to build a new Lego creation. We had a good chuckle over his matter-of-fact confession. I thought my apologetics friends would, too, so I hopped on Twitter and shared the amusing scene.…
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