Sunday, April 22, 2012
The Apologetics Page: Atheism Poster Fail
The Apologetics Page: Atheism Poster Fail: "I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up i...
The Apologetics Page: Tools for Effectively Debating with Muslims
The Apologetics Page: Tools for Effectively Debating with Muslims: As Christians, perhaps the biggest attackers towards your beliefs will not be atheists, but muslims. Most muslims will claim that the Bible ...
The Apologetics Page: Isaiah 7 and the Maiden Prophecy
The Apologetics Page: Isaiah 7 and the Maiden Prophecy: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel," ...
The Apologetics Page: About this Page
The Apologetics Page: About this Page: My name is Donald, and I'm a pastor-in-training in Central California. I was raised in a devout home and grew up to be a very strong believ...
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Atheism Poster Fail
"I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth
and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens
and say there is no God. " -Abraham Lincoln
This demotivational poster's been circling the internet for a while, now.
It shows such brilliant men and minds as Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin,
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Carl
Sagan. The point of this poster is to show that atheism has contributed some of
the most brilliant men in history. While I don't have a problem in saying there
have been some brilliant atheists, (and there have been many) I do have a
problem with this poster. Why? Because 5 of the 8 men portrayed on it weren't
even atheists!
Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were both deists. They believed in God,
but not necessarily in the Bible or in our construct of the Bible. A large stock
of our founding fathers were members of the deism movement, including Thomas
Paine and Ethan Allen. It was also the viewpoint which I adhered to for some
time.
Mark Twain was pretty much in the same boat. Technically, he was a
Presbyterian, but he often criticized God, the Bible, and Christianity. He did,
however, believe in God, but his critical light on the faith has often caused
him to be mistaken for an atheist.
Now for Abraham Lincoln. To me, this was the most ridiculous one of them
all! While Lincoln never subscribed to any religious titles, he was an avid
supporter of the church, the Bible, and the Christian faith, referring to God as
the Almighty and Jesus Christ as Lord.
Albert Einstein is a tougher one to diagnose. Technically, he is usually
classified as either a deist or an agnostic. He was raised Jewish, and stated
that he believed in a god, but not necessarily the God of the Bible. Many,
however, do classify him in the deist court.
I'm somewhat embarassed to admit that I can't identify the man in the
top-left corner. Carl Sagan was an atheist, however, and Charles Darwin was an
agnostic, losing his faith not with the evolutionary theory, but with the death
of his daughter.
Less than half of the people on this poster were atheist or agnostic, and
if anything, this poster should read: "DEISM/ A BELIEF IN GOD- Good enough for 5
out of 8 of these idiots."
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Tools for Effectively Debating with Muslims
As Christians, perhaps the biggest attackers towards your beliefs will not
be atheists, but muslims. Most muslims will claim that the Bible is corrupt, and
then they will throw out several verses from the Bible which show Jesus as
human, and then they will show verses which alledgedly point to Muhammad. Watch
out! Many an unlearned and uneducated Christian has fallen for this, but their
claims are groundless.
Truth is, these guys are full of hot air, and I'm about to show you how to
pop that balloon!
The first challenge to face is the muslim allegation that the Bible is
corrupt, something they assume because we don't have the original manuscript of
the New Testament. We do, however, have more manuscripts of the Bible than any
other work in ancient history! Not only this, but the Bibles show a consistency
of 99.5%, higher than any other work! As for another fun fact, we actually have
what may be the original Qur'an, and it's dramatically different than the ones
of today.
In addition, the Qur'an tells muslims that the Bible is the word of God!
Throughout Islam's holiest book, we find that it doesn't attack our book, but
rather it affirms and upholds it as demonstrated:
"O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and his Messenger, and in the scripture
He hath sent to him, and in the scriptures which He sent to those before
(him)."
-Sura 4:136
"...We believe in the revelation which has come down to us, and in that
which came down to you; our God and your God is one, and it is to him we
bow."
-Sura 29:46
Next is the matter of Jesus being shown as a human being in the Bible and
not as God. What most muslims fail to realize is that we do recognize Jesus as
being both human and divine! We find that he is prayed to, worshipped, sinless,
and given authority in Heaven and on Earth in the Bible. Truth is, most
Christians do get so caught up in his divine nature, that we forget his human
side.
Because the Qur'an claims itself to be a revelation from God, and claims to
affirm and be a confirmation of the Bible, it must not contradict the Bible's
teachings. Since it denies so many things, like the divinity of Jesus, or that
he is the son of God, and many other crucial aspects, we can conclude that the
Qur'an is not a revelation from God, and that Muhammad is a false prophet.
Still, they will try to use verses in the Bible (which they claim is
corrupt) to say Muhammad was foretold. Their logic then looks something like
this:
We believe the Bible is corrupted and unreliable.
We believe this because it contradicts the teachings of Muhammad.
We believe that Muhammad is a prophet.
How do we know? Because Muhammad is in the Bible!
Do you see the hole in their logic? It doesn't add up!
For the record, Muhammad is NOT foretold in the Holy Bible, and I'll make a
refutation of their claims in another post.
Also, you should be aware of some scientific and historical errors in the
Qur'an. Christians and Jews are more than happy with the belief that the Bible
is the inspired, not the literal word of God. But since muslims are adament in
their beliefs that the Qur'an is literally the word of Allah, it needs
to be absolutely flawless. A single error will topple their whole system of
belief!
Some of these errors are:
1. The sun revolves around the earth. (He has made the earth a fixed
abode)
2. A Samaritan built the golden calf in the time of Moses. (1,000 years
before Samaritans even existed!)
3. Stars were created to be thrown at devils.
4. There are seven earths.
5. Alexander the Great travelled to the setting place of the sun, and saw
it go down in a murky pond.
6. The Pharoah crucified criminals, a method of execution that wasn't
introduced to Egypt until the arrival of the Roman Empire 1,000 years
later.
The list goes on and on!
If and when you are confronted by a muslim, remember:
1. The Bible is the word of God. (the Qur'an says so)
2. Jesus both human and divine.
3. Muhammad is not in the Bible.
4. The Qur'an is riddled with contradictions and errors.
Keep in mind that they aren't to be chastised and hated. Treat them with
love and patience (you'll need a lot of it). Also, remember to pray for them,
and respect what they have to say, but don't fall for it. Every year, 6,000,000
muslims are becoming saved, and that number is only going to grow!
For more information on this subject, I'd recommend www.wikiislam.net and www.answering-islam.org.
be atheists, but muslims. Most muslims will claim that the Bible is corrupt, and
then they will throw out several verses from the Bible which show Jesus as
human, and then they will show verses which alledgedly point to Muhammad. Watch
out! Many an unlearned and uneducated Christian has fallen for this, but their
claims are groundless.
Truth is, these guys are full of hot air, and I'm about to show you how to
pop that balloon!
The first challenge to face is the muslim allegation that the Bible is
corrupt, something they assume because we don't have the original manuscript of
the New Testament. We do, however, have more manuscripts of the Bible than any
other work in ancient history! Not only this, but the Bibles show a consistency
of 99.5%, higher than any other work! As for another fun fact, we actually have
what may be the original Qur'an, and it's dramatically different than the ones
of today.
In addition, the Qur'an tells muslims that the Bible is the word of God!
Throughout Islam's holiest book, we find that it doesn't attack our book, but
rather it affirms and upholds it as demonstrated:
"O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and his Messenger, and in the scripture
He hath sent to him, and in the scriptures which He sent to those before
(him)."
-Sura 4:136
"...We believe in the revelation which has come down to us, and in that
which came down to you; our God and your God is one, and it is to him we
bow."
-Sura 29:46
Next is the matter of Jesus being shown as a human being in the Bible and
not as God. What most muslims fail to realize is that we do recognize Jesus as
being both human and divine! We find that he is prayed to, worshipped, sinless,
and given authority in Heaven and on Earth in the Bible. Truth is, most
Christians do get so caught up in his divine nature, that we forget his human
side.
Because the Qur'an claims itself to be a revelation from God, and claims to
affirm and be a confirmation of the Bible, it must not contradict the Bible's
teachings. Since it denies so many things, like the divinity of Jesus, or that
he is the son of God, and many other crucial aspects, we can conclude that the
Qur'an is not a revelation from God, and that Muhammad is a false prophet.
Still, they will try to use verses in the Bible (which they claim is
corrupt) to say Muhammad was foretold. Their logic then looks something like
this:
We believe the Bible is corrupted and unreliable.
We believe this because it contradicts the teachings of Muhammad.
We believe that Muhammad is a prophet.
How do we know? Because Muhammad is in the Bible!
Do you see the hole in their logic? It doesn't add up!
For the record, Muhammad is NOT foretold in the Holy Bible, and I'll make a
refutation of their claims in another post.
Also, you should be aware of some scientific and historical errors in the
Qur'an. Christians and Jews are more than happy with the belief that the Bible
is the inspired, not the literal word of God. But since muslims are adament in
their beliefs that the Qur'an is literally the word of Allah, it needs
to be absolutely flawless. A single error will topple their whole system of
belief!
Some of these errors are:
1. The sun revolves around the earth. (He has made the earth a fixed
abode)
2. A Samaritan built the golden calf in the time of Moses. (1,000 years
before Samaritans even existed!)
3. Stars were created to be thrown at devils.
4. There are seven earths.
5. Alexander the Great travelled to the setting place of the sun, and saw
it go down in a murky pond.
6. The Pharoah crucified criminals, a method of execution that wasn't
introduced to Egypt until the arrival of the Roman Empire 1,000 years
later.
The list goes on and on!
If and when you are confronted by a muslim, remember:
1. The Bible is the word of God. (the Qur'an says so)
2. Jesus both human and divine.
3. Muhammad is not in the Bible.
4. The Qur'an is riddled with contradictions and errors.
Keep in mind that they aren't to be chastised and hated. Treat them with
love and patience (you'll need a lot of it). Also, remember to pray for them,
and respect what they have to say, but don't fall for it. Every year, 6,000,000
muslims are becoming saved, and that number is only going to grow!
For more information on this subject, I'd recommend www.wikiislam.net and www.answering-islam.org.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Isaiah 7 and the Maiden Prophecy
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel,"
-Isaiah 7:14
This is a somewhat heavily disputed verse in the Holy Bible. Why? The word for "virgin" in Hebrew is "almah", and this is the word that appears in the Great Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Documents. The problem with this is that "almah" in Hebrew can also mean "maiden", "girl", or even "young woman." In fact, the Jewish Tanakh reads that a young woman or maiden will conceive.
An important part of Christian theology is the idea that Yeshua was conceived in Miryam's womb by the Holy Spirit, and that she birthed the Messiah as a virgin. Many atheists and non-believers, however will say that while she was an "almah", she wasn't necessarily a virgin, and this wasn't necessarily a prophecy.
It's important, however, that we look at the context surrounding the verse. The prophet Isaiah says that the Lord will give them a sign. I don't need to tell you that if something is a sign, it will almost definitely be something out of the ordinary. So how is a maiden or a young woman getting pregnant a sign? After all, millions of young women conceive every day!
A pregnant virgin, however, is something out of the ordinary. If God were to show the world a sign of the Messiah, then he would conceive a virgin. Context clearly supports the idea of the Virgin Birth, otherwise it wouldn't be a prophecy. Signs and wonders are the message here, so something as simple as "A maiden will conceive" just doesn't fit the verse.
-Isaiah 7:14
This is a somewhat heavily disputed verse in the Holy Bible. Why? The word for "virgin" in Hebrew is "almah", and this is the word that appears in the Great Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Documents. The problem with this is that "almah" in Hebrew can also mean "maiden", "girl", or even "young woman." In fact, the Jewish Tanakh reads that a young woman or maiden will conceive.
An important part of Christian theology is the idea that Yeshua was conceived in Miryam's womb by the Holy Spirit, and that she birthed the Messiah as a virgin. Many atheists and non-believers, however will say that while she was an "almah", she wasn't necessarily a virgin, and this wasn't necessarily a prophecy.
It's important, however, that we look at the context surrounding the verse. The prophet Isaiah says that the Lord will give them a sign. I don't need to tell you that if something is a sign, it will almost definitely be something out of the ordinary. So how is a maiden or a young woman getting pregnant a sign? After all, millions of young women conceive every day!
A pregnant virgin, however, is something out of the ordinary. If God were to show the world a sign of the Messiah, then he would conceive a virgin. Context clearly supports the idea of the Virgin Birth, otherwise it wouldn't be a prophecy. Signs and wonders are the message here, so something as simple as "A maiden will conceive" just doesn't fit the verse.
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