05Jan 2026 by Post

How Does Paul’s Relationship with the Jerusalem Church Present a Problem for Islam?

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Christianity, Church History, Gospel, Islam, JonathanMclatchie.com, Paul, Were the Apostles Muslims?, World Religions
In a previous article, I offered a simple reason why the Qur’an cannot possibly be the word of God, since the proposition that the Qur’an is the word of God entails a necessary contradiction. Here, I am going to present an equally compelling reason to reject the Qur’an as the word of God. As I alluded to in my previous post, the Qur’an contends that the disciples of Jesus were Muslims. According to Surah 3:52, “…when Isa [Jesus] sensed disbelief in them, he said: “Who are my helpers in the way of Allah?” The disciples said:“ If The Apostles were Muslim . . . So according to the Qur’an, there is no question that the apostles were Muslims, under Jesus. But what if we could establish that the teaching of…
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24Sep 2025 by Post

Early Church Persecution, and its Evidential Value: Part 2

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Christianity, Church History, Evidential apologetics, Gospel, JonathanMclatchie.com, persecution
[Editor’s Note: This blog was originally a single article. For the purposes of reposting it at Crossexamined, it has been divided into two parts. Click here for part 1.  [Excerpt from Part 1:] In this article [series], I . . . discuss the evidence that the apostles did in fact encounter hardships, dangers and persecutions on account of their Christian convictions. [In part 1] I survey the evidence for a general context of persecution (what may be called the indirect part of the case). [In Part 2] I will . . . proceed to argue that the apostles in particular voluntarily submitted themselves to danger, hardship and persecution on account of their conviction of the gospel’s truth. The Persecution of the Apostles — Evidence from the Apostolic Fathers   We now…
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22Sep 2025 by Post

Early Church Persecution, and its Evidential Value. Part 1

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, Christianity, Church History, Evidential apologetics, Gospel, JonathanMclatchie.com, persecution
The argument from Christian persecution was developed most fully by William Paley, in his 1794 book, A View of the Evidences of Christianity.[1] Indeed, Paley devotes the first nine chapters of his book to defending the thesis “that 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, to new rules of conduct.”[2] This proposition, if true, goes a long way towards establishing that the early apostles — that is, those who were purportedly witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection — were sincere in their conviction that they had encountered the raised…
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19Feb 2025 by Post

Christianity and Abortion, Part 2: The Early Church’s View of Abortion

abortion, Apologetics, Christianity, Church History, conception, ethics, FreeThinkingMinistries.com, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Peter Rasor, prochoice, prolife, Sanctity of Life
In Part 1 of this series on abortion, we discussed that abortion has been practiced for millennia. It is nothing new although the means of destroying a child in the womb have varied. We also briefly looked at why abortion has been a human preoccupation throughout history. For philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, they firmly believed it was to ensure that the best progeny would be born and eventually be leaders of the state. It was also because they feared possible overpopulation. For these reasons and several others, they thought abortion was justified. Contrary to these pro-abortion views was the Christian view. Throughout the history of the church, abortion has been viewed as a wicked, sinful act, specifically because it was considered murder (i.e., the unjustified taking of an innocent life).…
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17Feb 2025 by Post

Christianity and Abortion, Part 1: A Brief History of Abortion in Antiquity

abortion, Apologetics, Christianity, Church History, conception, ethics, FreeThinkingMinistries.com, Gospel, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, Peter Rasor, prochoice, prolife, Sanctity of Life
It is always a temptation in an industrial and technological society such as America to fall into what C.S. Lewis called “chronological snobbery.” This is the belief that the present ideas and practices are superior to, or could never have been imagined by, those who went before us. This is no less true concerning the practice of abortion. Many believe abortion is a relatively new idea and that those who preceded our advanced age could never have imagined having the means to abort a human person in the womb. They did not, after all, have the biological and medical knowledge we have today. Right? Nothing could be further from the truth. Abortion, or some equivalent practice, is just about as old as humanity. Those in antiquity may not have had…
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29Jan 2025 by Post

What About the Crusades? Myths and Facts.

Apologetics, Christianity, Church History, Colonization, Crusades, Gospel, historical apologetics, history, https://ischristianitytrue.wordpress.com/, imperialism, Islam, Steve Lee, Theology and Christian Apologetics
Misinformation on the Crusades continues unabated in contemporary society. From former president Obama mentioning it in a prayer breakfast speech, to Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, to Clinton’s 2001 speech at Georegetown University which blames the current increase of Islamic terrorist activity, such as 9/11, as fallout from the Crusades. I wrote a short article for the Apologetics Study Bible for Students over this topic.  Here is a small snippet from that piece.  Following that is a list of resources that are from historical experts on the Crusades that expose many of the myths surrounding the event. Excerpt from the Apologetics Study Bible for Students “Ask any individual about the Crusades and you will probably get an answer like, ‘They were wars of unprovoked aggression by Christians against a peaceful Muslim world which…
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09Dec 2024 by Post

What Really Happened at the Council of Nicea?

Apologetics, Christianity, Church History, Council of Nicaea, Da Vinci Code, Gospel, historical apologetics, Jonathan McLatchie, JonathanMclatchie.com, Uncategorized
For many years, the Council of Nicaea has been the subject of much confusion among laypeople. The misapprehensions which have come to be associated with the council of Nicaea have, in part, been fueled by popular fictional novels such as Dan Brown’s notorious The Da Vinci Code. No matter what group you are dealing with in your apologetic exploits (including atheists, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Unitarians), you are almost guaranteed to encounter some of these misconceptions. For this reason, it is important for Christians to study and learn church history, so that they might correct common myths and falsehoods. Did Constantine Invent the Bible and the Deity of Christ? The Council of Nicaea was famously convened on May 20, 325 AD, at the request of Emperor Constantine (pictured above). What did…
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