Archaeology and Apologetics

Apologetics, Archaeology, Black Obelisk, British Museum, Deanna Huff, stones, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Deanna Huff Upon entering the British Museum, the first display I encountered was the Assyrian section. The room was full of rocks voicing stories of the past. My breath was taken away as I realized I was standing in ancient history hearing the words of kings and their people. The stones that surrounded me were the same stones that stood during the times of the kings of the Bible. Stones testify as memorials even in the ancient time period. Joshua was commanded, Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.…When your children ask in time to come, ‘What…
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How We Got Our Bible: The KJV Only Movement

Apologetics, Bible, Holy Bible, KJV, Ryan Leasure, theology, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Ryan Leasure This final post will consider the short-comings of the King James (KJV) Only Movement. Nothing New Under The Sun In many respects, the KJV Only Movement is hardly novel. People have been propping up certain Bible translations since the time of Jesus. One early translation that received this exalted status was the Septuagint (LXX). After the Jewish people went into exile, many remained outside of Israel, even after they were granted permission to return and rebuild. Over the course of centuries, the Jewish people no longer had a grasp on the Hebrew language. Therefore, to make the Old Testament accessible to more people, Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew text into Greek. This translation happened sometime between the third and second centuries BC. Legend has it that seventy-two…
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Five Signs of Spiritual Maturity

Apologetics, Bible, christian, Melissa Dougherty, Spiritual, spiritual maturity, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Melissa Dougherty​ We all want to be wise in our spiritual walk. We want to grow and make good choices that are right in the long run. We want to exhibit wisdom in all areas of life and be able to be an example for others. But I find it isn’t always the easy road that gets us there. In my experience, I have witnessed what I would consider very mature Christians who exhibit these qualities. I have also seen others who lack them. I want to share what I believe to be five signs of spiritual maturity. These are areas that I see that are scriptural and can be shown by how some Christians respond to certain situations. 1.) They base their reactions on Scripture and God’s character…
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Are We All Born Children of God?

Theology and Christian Apologetics
by Melissa Dougherty Many believe that all humans are born children of God. Is this true? I want to examine the Bible’s words about this beautiful theological truth. Spoiler alert- It’s true. According to the Bible, we’re not born children of God. The belief that we’re all children of God is never taught in the Bible and has caused a lot of bad theology. Scripture teaches that though we are all created by God, we become children of God through spiritual adoption. However, we are all born in the image of God. All humans have worth, are creations of God, and He loves us. It’s because He loves us that He became His own creation to save us and redeem us. This is precisely why Jesus had to come in…
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Why The Bible Depicts God As Jealous

Al Serrato, Apologetics, Bible, Christianity, God, jealous god, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Al Serrato In my last post, I tried to make the case that God neither “needs” nor “demands” our praise. I acknowledged that he does, however, expect it, because praise naturally flows to a perfect being. But, the skeptic may counter, doesn’t the Bible describe God as “jealous?” Don’t the Ten Commandments include prohibitions on having “other gods” as well as threats of punishment for those guilty of “iniquity?” Does this not, in fact, amount to God instructing us to worship him, and explaining how angry he will become if we don’t? We come back to the question – why would a perfect being demand worship?” These are good questions, and they deserve an answer. But as we embark upon an answer, it’s worth noting that the questions themselves…
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Does Isaiah 9:6 Affirm the Deity of Israel’s Messiah?

Apologetics, Christianity, Isaiah, Isaish 9:6, Jesus, Jesus Deity, Jonathan McLatchie, Messiah, The Book of Isaiah, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Jonathan McLatchie  This past weekend, I had the privilege of participating in a moderated panel debate with my friends Dr. Shabir Ally, Yusuf Ismail, and Samuel Green. The topic was focused around the question of whether Isaiah 9:6 affirms the deity of Christ. Isaiah 9:6-7 reads, 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of…
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Fertility Matters

birth rate, Bob Perry, Christianity, Fertility, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, marriage, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Bob Perry Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute, is a demographic expert. He has identified some sobering trends that are cause for concern for the future of America. In his article, “Can America Cope with Demographic Decline?”, Eberstadt points out that the traditional attempts to address those worries through government policy and financial incentives “vastly underestimate the challenge they wish to address.” ​Going Lower The birth rate required to support a society’s population stability is 2.1 births per woman. Eberstadt’s research found that in 2019, the birth rate in the U.S. was 1.71, the lowest rate ever recorded up to that point. Then, COVID-19 hit. In 2020, the rate fell to 1.64. Projected estimates for the as-yet-unreported first quarter of 2021 point toward…
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What You Might’ve Missed About the Mount of Transfiguration

Apologetics, Bart Ehrman, Christianity, Erik Manning, Jesus, Mount of Transfiguration, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Transfiguration
by Erik Manning  Does John’s Gospel give us a much higher view of Jesus than what we find in Matthew, Mark and Luke? Bart Ehrman certainly thinks so. He says: If Jesus went around Galilee proclaiming himself to be a divine being sent from God…could anything else that he might say be so breath-taking and thunderously important? And yet none of these earlier sources says any such thing about him. Did they (all of them!) just decide not to mention the one thing that was most significant about Jesus? Almost certainly the divine self-claims in John are not historical. How Jesus Became God p 125 In other places, Ehrman admits that the Synoptic Gospels don’t depict Jesus as a mere man. But he isn’t pre-existent and he isn’t the same…
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Undesigned Coincidences in the Scriptures: An Argument for Their Veracity (Part 1) — Old Testament Examples

Apologetics, Bible, coincidences, Jonathan McLatchie, Old Testament, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Veracity
By Jonathan McLatchie The principle of undesignedness was first identified by the famed Christian philosopher William Paley (1743-1805), in his book Horae Paulinae. Therein, he highlighted example after example of undesigned integrations between the epistles of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles. The principle of undesignedness refers to cases where two or more sources dovetail with each other in a manner that cannot be attributed to the design of the author. In 1850, J.J. Blunt published his book Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences, in which he took Paley’s argument further, documenting examples in the Old Testament, as well as between the gospels, and between the gospels, Acts, and Josephus. The principle of undesignedness is a forgotten but brilliant argument which can be used to corroborate Biblical history. In this article, I…
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The Pendulum Problem: A Warning of Extreme Beliefs

Are Christians Extreme?, atheist, beliefs, Bible Thumper, Christian Pendulum, Hermeneutic, Melissa Dougherty, Pendulum, Theology and Christian Apologetics
By Melissa Dougherty I have a dog and a cat. Max is my dog whose personality is likened to a lovable, furry, hyperactive toddler. As an anxious dog, nobody is safe from his “watchful” eye. When the doorbell rings, my ferocious dog barks an explosive cry so loud that it vibrates throughout the entire house. His hair stands up, and he aggressively pushes his nose to the door to somehow intimidate his arch nemesis: the poor Amazon delivery dude. “Don’t you hoomans see the problem!? I’m protecting you from the bomb just delivered to our door!” Is a mom walking her baby down the street? A kid riding their bike? Oh, he must inform us about this potential threat by alerting us with all the gusto he can muster because…
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