John the Baptist was not literally Elijah reincarnated, but he was the one who fulfilled the prophecies spoken by Malachi and the angel Gabriel about a future Elijah-like prophet who would come to prepare the way for the Messiah.…
Luke describes Herod’s initial reaction, while Matthew and Mark describe his later conclusion. In Luke he expresses his confusion, but in Matthew and Mark he concluded that Jesus must be John the Baptist raised from the dead again.…
This argument shows a simple ignorance of the way ancient authors used language. It’s called hyperbole, and it’s very common rhetorical technique used in ancient writings.
Everyone in Jesus’ day understood that he was not teaching literal hate, but rather “love less than me.”…
There are two ways to look at this. Some argue that Genesis is using the term “begot” and “father” in its wider Hebrew connotation of “grandfather,” and thus Cainan was the generation in-between.…
Jesus’ biological ancestry was not through Joseph’s line but through his mother Mary (the Luke genealogy), which is also through David but apart from Jeconiah.…
Critics of the Injīl like to misinterpret these words to challenge Jesus’ followers to understand all languages and drink poison based on this passage.…
Some critics of the Injīl point to passages like John 8:1-11 to “prove” that it has grave defects, since a few of the ancient Greek manuscripts do not include this passage.…
Mark 11:15-16 – “Why the emotional outburst of overturning tables at the temple?”
…On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
Mark 11:24 – “Jesus says you’ll get whatever you pray for, but we know that doesn’t happen”
Jesus was not casually telling everybody that all prayers are answered, he was talking to his disciples about what was possible for those completely surrendered to God and his will.…
Mark 11:12-14 – "Why did Jesus have an emotional outburst at the fig tree – couldn’t he just have made figs appear?"
This objection is rather a desperate attempt to find fault with Jesus. As Jesus so often does, he uses everyday objects and images as metaphors to teach his disciples a spiritual point.…