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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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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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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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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16Dec 2024 by Post

Historical Bias, Objectivity, And The Truth Of Christianity

4. Is the NT True?, Apologetics, bias, Brian Huffling, BrianHuffling.com, Christianity, Epistemology, Gospel, historical apologetics, knowledge, objectivity, Philosophy of History, Worldview
“Historians are biased and choose what they report. As such, history can’t be known.” That’s a typical objection to the ability to know history. If such objections prove that we can’t know history, then we can’t know that Christianity is true since it is known through history and historical claims. In his prologue, Luke says, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke…
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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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