In Defense of the Christian Faith

In April, I promised to write about the various theories that are used to explain away the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well, here it is, finally. I apologize for the long wait... Part 1: The Swoon Theory This view was popular in the eighteenth-century. It is less popular today, but certain aspects of it are still accepted among critics. This theory basically states that Jesus didn't actually die on the cross. He was still alive when He was placed in the tomb, and the cool, damp temperatures of the tomb revived Him. J. N. D. Anderson explains: "Their explanation runs like this: Christ was indeed nailed to the cross. He suffered terribly from shock, loss of blood, and pain, and He swooned away; but He didn't actually die. Medical knowledge was not very great at that time, and the apostles thought He was dead. We are told, are we not, that Pilate was surprised that He was dead already. The explanation assertedly is that He was taken down from the cross in a...

In honor of Resurrection Sunday (which I prefer to call it), I’m going to talk about what happened that “first day of the week” when Jesus rose from the dead. In particular, were there any contradictions in the four Gospel accounts as critics claim? Why is this important? Because if a critic can accurately claim that the accounts of the Resurrection of Christ are contradictory, they will then dismiss it as a myth, say that Jesus didn’t really rise from the dead, and so forth. And we, as Christians, know that the Resurrection is a very important component of Christianity, for the whole of it hinges on this: “And if Christ is not raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins…. If in this life only we hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” (1 Corinthians 15:17, 19) I am going to come at this with a list of objections, and after each one, I’ll give the Bible’s answer.   Objection #1 : Who really went to the tomb? Mark says, “Now when the Sabbath was past, Ma...

The following is my rebuttal to an atheist's claims, which you can find here . His quotes are not responses to me; this is part of a LONG debate which took place in the comments on the site linked to above. I felt it was worthwhile to share my thoughts with you all, and I wanted to reply specifically to the topic of the Resurrection and Christianity. My hope in posting this is to show that Christianity is a "sound doctrine" as the Bible says and can't be as easily dismissed as this atheist thinks. I also hope that it will help to strengthen your belief in Christ, and hopefully equip you with some ideas of how to respond to your non-believing friends. Be advised that this is long... Note: This is written in the second person; it is written to DL, the atheist, in dialogue form. Some of my responses may seem harsh, but this atheist was not budging and inch, and I responded how I felt it was best at the time. Since writing this, I have learned so much more, therefore, I ...

Antonio Ciseri's painting of Pontius Pilate presenting Christ to the crowd. For years, skeptics have claimed that Pontius Pilate, the one responsible for Jesus' execution, was nothing more than a mythical figure. Is this true? And whether or not it is true, what is the significance of this? The implications of this are simple: if Pontius Pilate, did not exist, then the critics are right in stating that the Bible is in error. However, if he did exist, then it proves once again that the Bible is accurate in its details. Let's begin by examining Matthew 27:2. It reads, "And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor." Was Pilate really a governor? Luke 3:1 seems to agree: "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea , and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias t...

"It takes no brains to be an atheist. Any stupid person can deny the existence of a supernatural power because man's physical senses cannot detect it. But there cannot be ignored the influence of conscience, the respect we feel for the Moral Law, the mystery of first life... or the marvelous order in which the universe moves about us on this earth. All these evidence the handiwork of the beneficent Deity... That Deity is the God of the Bible and Jesus Christ, His Son." ~ Dwight Eisenhower

During a debate, a young-earth Creationist once asked an old-earth Creationist, “Do you believe in a global Flood?” The old-earth Creationist responded, “I believe in a universal Flood.” “What do you mean by ‘universal’ Flood?” the young-earth Creationist asked. The old-earth Creationist replied, “It flooded Noah’s little universe – You know, the valley that he lived in.” To which the young-earth Creationist responded, “Then tell Noah to move!” Does the Bible favor a “local” flood or a global flood? Here are a few points to consider: The Bible indicates that the mountains arose, and the valleys sank down (Ps 104:5-9 ; Genesis 8:3-8), so the mountains were smaller until after the Flood. This means that the valleys in existence before the Flood were probably not very big either. How then could there be such a thing as a “local” flood? If that were the case, it would be more like a small lake, not a flood! Another point is that, if the earth’s surface were smooth, the water in th...

Many have argued over the interpretation of Genesis 8:4 - 5 which reads: "And the Ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen." The main argument used is based upon tradition -- the Ark landed on Mount Ararat. However, the Scriptures give it the plural "mountains of Ararat." The Greek actually denotes the whole mountainous region of Turkey, so the Ark could have landed on any one of the mountains. So when an areal view of a boat-shaped object in the mountains of Turkey appeared in Life Magazine , an amateur archaeologist named Ron Wyatt became intrigued, and decided to investigate. What he found is absolutely amazing! There have been many who have tried to downplay his research, so I thought it would be interesting to let the readers decide for themselves...