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Apologetics: All Religions Lead to God Andy Bannister teaches an excellent presentation that not all religions are co-equal. Great Apologetics! Scientific facts in the Bible We have in the Bible a command to jump off the luxury liner of this world. Before you laugh at stupid Christians, ask yourself if there is any proof that its claims are true. The following is compelling evidence that the Bible is no ordinary book. We have in the Bible a command to jump off the luxury liner of this world. Before you laugh at stupid Christians, ask yourself if there is any proof that its claims are true. The following is compelling evidence that the Bible is no ordinary book. Earth’s Free Float in Space Job 26:7 (written 3,500 years ago): “He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.” The Bible proclaims that the earth freely floats in space. Some in ancient times thought that the earth sat on a large animal. We now know that the earth has a free float in space. The earth is round Isaiah 40:22 (written 2,800 years ago): “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth.” The Bible informs us that the earth is round. Though it once was commonly believed the earth was flat, it was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world. He wrote: “It was the Lord who put it into my mind...There is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures…” (from his diary, in reference to his discovery of “the New World”). First law of thermodynamics Genesis 2:1 (after creation): “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.” The Hebrew word used here is the past definite tense for the verb “finished,” indicating an action completed in the past, never again to occur. The creation was “finished”—once and for all. That is exactly what the First Law of Thermodynamics says. This law (also referred to as the Law of the Conservation of Energy and/or Mass) states that neither matter nor energy can be either created or destroyed. There is no “creation” ongoing today. It is “finished” exactly as the Bible states. Second law of thermodynamics Psalm 102:25,26: “Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment” (NASB). The Bible tells us three times that the earth is wearing out like a garment. This is what the Second Law of Thermodynamics (the Law of Increasing Entropy) states: that in all physical processes, every ordered system over time tends to become more disordered. Everything is running down and wearing out as energy is becoming less and less available for use. That means the universe will eventually “wear out”—something that wasn’t discovered by science until fairly recently. The hydrologic cycle Amos 9:6 (written 2,800 years ago): “He...calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the face of the earth...” The Mississippi River dumps over six million gallons of water per second into the Gulf of Mexico. Where does all that water go? That’s just one of thousands of rivers. The answer lies in the hydrologic cycle—something not fully understood until the 17th century, but so well brought out in the Bible. The Scriptures inform us, “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again” (Ecclesiastes 1:7). Psalm 135:7 tells us, “He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain.” Ecclesiastes 11:3 states that “if the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.” The science of oceanography Psalm 8:8: “...and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas.” The sea is just a huge mass of water; how could it have “paths”? Man discovered the existence of ocean currents in the 1850s, but the Bible declared the science of oceanography 2,800 years ago. Matthew Maury (1806–1873), considered the father of oceanography, noticed the expression “paths of the sea” in Psalm 8. Maury took God at His word and went looking for these paths, and his vital book on oceanography is still in print today. The origin of life Genesis 2:7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” While scientists in the 21st century admit they have “lots of theories, little science” about the origin of life, the Bible tells us clearly how life began, based on the word of the only One who was there at the beginning. “The likelihood of the spontaneous formation of life from inanimate matter is one to a number with 40,000 noughts after it...It is big enough to bury Darwin and the whole theory of evolution. There was no primeval soup, neither on this planet nor on any other, and if the beginnings of life were not random, they must therefore have been the product of purposeful intelligence.” —Sir Fred Hoyle, professor of astronomy, Cambridge University The Origin of Sexes Matthew 19:4: “He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female.’” Almost all forms of complex life have both male and female—horses, dogs, humans, fish, moths, monkeys, elephants, birds, etc. The male needs the female to reproduce, and the female needs the male to reproduce. One cannot carry on life without the other. But if evolution were true, which then came first according to the theory? If a male came into being before a female, how did the male of each species reproduce without females? How is it possible that a male and a female each spontaneously came into being, yet they have complex, complementary reproductive systems? If each sex was able to reproduce without the other, why (and how) would they have developed a reproductive system that requires both sexes in order for the species to survive? Countless stars Jeremiah 33:22 (written 2,500 years ago): “As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured...” The Bible asserts there are countless stars (described here as the “host of heaven”). When this statement was recorded, no one knew how vast the stars were, as fewer than 1,100 were observable. That’s as many as Ptolemy was able to catalog in The Almagest. Now we know that there are countless billions of stars—an estimated 1025 stars in the observable universe—and that they cannot be numbered. Blood is the source of life Leviticus 17:11 (written 3,500 years ago): “For the life of the flesh is in the blood.” The Scriptures declare that blood is the source of life. Up until two hundred years ago, sick people were “bled,” and many died because of the practice. We now know that blood is the source of life. It carries water and nourishment to every cell, removes the waste material from cells, and maintains the body’s temperature. This vital element also carries oxygen from the lungs throughout the body. If you lose your blood, you will lose your life. Blood clotting Genesis 17:12: “He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations...” Why was circumcision to be carried out on the eighth day? Medical science has only recently discovered that blood clotting in a newborn reaches its peak on that day. That’s when the coagulating factors in the blood are at optimal levels: vitamin K doesn’t reach sufficient quantity until after day seven, and day eight is when prothrombin is the highest, reaching 110 percent of the normal level. Laws of hygiene Leviticus 15:13 (written 3,500 years ago): “And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean.” The Bible states that when dealing with disease, hands should be washed under running water. Until the 1800s doctors washed their hands in a basin of still water, leaving invisible germs and resulting in countless deaths. We now know to wash hands under running water. The Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis in Vienna was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who gave birth in hospitals. As many as 30 percent died after giving birth. Semmelweis noted that doctors would examine patients who died, then go straight to the next ward and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped to 2 percent. Laws of Quarantine Leviticus 13:46 (written 3,500 years ago): “All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is un clean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” Long before medical science discovered the importance of quarantining persons with infectious diseases, the Bible instructed it. In 1490 BC the Scriptures tell what to do if someone has a skin condition like leprosy. Laws of quarantine were not instigated by modern man until the seventeenth century. “During the devastating Black Death of the fourteenth century, patients who were sick or dead were kept in the same rooms as the rest of the family. People often wondered why the disease was affecting so many people at one time. They attributed these epidemics to ‘bad air’ or ‘evil spirits.’ However, careful attention to the medical commands of God as revealed in Leviticus would have saved untold millions of lives. Arturo Castiglione wrote about the overwhelming importance of this biblical medical law: ‘The laws against leprosy in Leviticus 13 may be regarded as the first model of sanitary legislation’ (A History of Medicine).” —Grant R. Jeffery, The Signature of God The disappearing dinosaur Job 40:15–24 (written 3,500 years ago): “Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; he eats grass like an ox. See now, his strength is in his hips, and his power is in his stomach muscles. He moves his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. His bones are like beams of bronze, his ribs like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God; only He who made him can bring near His sword. “Surely the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there. He lies under the lotus trees, in a covert of reeds and marsh. The lotus trees cover him with their shade; the willows by the brook surround him. Indeed the river may rage, yet he is not disturbed; he is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth, though he takes it in his eyes, or one pierces his nose with a snare.” Why did the dinosaur disappear? This is something that has modern science mystified, but the Bible may have the answer: This was the largest of all the creatures God made. It was plant-eating (herbivorous). It had tremendous strength in its hips and belly. Its tail was like a large tree (a cedar). Its bones were as strong as bronze and iron. Its habitat was among the trees. It could stand unmoved in the midst of a raging river. It was impervious to snares. There Is More: Apologetics
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with gentleness and respect" 1 Peter 3:15 The Bible Says Jesus Was Real. What Other Proof Exists? Some argue that Jesus wasn't an actual man, but within a few decades of his lifetime, he was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians. Within a few decades of his lifetime, Jesus was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians in passages that corroborate portions of the New Testament that describe the life and death of Jesus. The first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who according to Ehrman “is far and away our best source of information about first-century Palestine,” twice mentions Jesus in Jewish Antiquities, his massive 20-volume history of the Jewish people that was written around 93 A.D. Thought to have been born a few years after the crucifixion of Jesus around 37 A.D., Josephus was a well-connected aristocrat and military leader in Palestine who served as a commander in Galilee during the first Jewish Revolt against Rome between 66 and 70 A.D. Although Josephus was not a follower of Jesus, “he was around when the early church was getting started, so he knew people who had seen and heard Jesus,” Mykytiuk says. In one passage of Jewish Antiquities that recounts an unlawful execution, Josephus identifies the victim, James, as the “brother of Jesus-who-is-called-Messiah.” While few scholars doubt the short account’s authenticity, says Mykytiuk, more debate surrounds Josephus’s lengthier passage about Jesus, known as the “Testimonium Flavianum,” which describes a man “who did surprising deeds” and was condemned to be crucified by Pilate. Mykytiuk agrees with most scholars that Christian scribes modified portions of the passage but did not insert it wholesale into the text. READ MORE: Doctor breaks down the complexities of human body that prove God JULY 05, 2019 “When you stop and really consider the complexities of the body — whether it’s the homeostatic mechanisms that allow the temperature to remain constant, or the acid-base levels to remain within very tight limits, or the way the kidney helps regulate the blood pressure and the fluid balance, or the blood-clotting proteins and they all have to be in exactly the same place at exactly the right concentrate or a small cut on your finger will cause you to bleed to death [it is compelling],” Mitchell said. Watch This Great Video: World-Famous Scientist: God Created the Universe ‘The final resolution could be that God is a mathematician.’ Michio Kaku has made a name for himself as a world-leading theoretical physicist unafraid to speak his mind. Kaku, the Henry Semat Chair and Professorship in theoretical physics at the City College of New York, has published more than 70 articles in physics journals on topics such as supersymmetry, superstring theory, supergravity, and hadronic physics. His latest claim is likely to make waves in the world of science. “I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence,” Kaku said, as quoted by the Geophilosophical Association of Anthropological and Cultural Studies. “To me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created, shaped by a universal intelligence and not by chance.” READ MORE: Isaiah the Prophet, Man or Biblical Myth: The Archaeological Evidence Finding seal marks ostensibly from Isaiah the Prophet and Hezekiah within mere feet of each other in Jerusalem is intriguing; so are other seals of other non-visionary Isaiahs found in Israel from that time Mar 18, 2018 A 2,700-year-old seal impression on clay unearthed in Jerusalem this February piqued enormous interest, after its finder, the leading Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, said it may have been the personal seal of Isaiah the Prophet himself. Biblical scholars have been quarreling ever since. The ancient Hebrew script, engraved with a sharp point, says Yeshayahu NBY, Mazar deciphered. Yeshayahu is the Hebrew form of Isaiah: that much is clear. The question is about the three letters following the name: nun-bet-yod, "NBY". That could spell the start of the four-letter Hebrew word navi, meaning "prophet," if we assume that there was a fourth letter, aleph, which broke off. Mazar thinks that could well be the case, and that they may have found proof that Isaiah the Prophet, contemporary King Hezekiah, really existed. https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-isaiah-the-prophet-man-or-myth-1.5912273 Three Quran Verses Every Christian Should Know (David Wood) These are 3 important “verses” that a Christian should know to defend the Christian truth against them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5Nu6EabQD8 Deepak Chopra vs Christian Apologist (Chopra loses) The most prominent teacher of mysticism and New Age philosophy in the West Deepak Chopra goes toe to toe with Christian apologist Greg Koukl on Lee Strobel's show "Faith under Fire". This episode called "The Future of Faith" aired in 2005. Chopra, who has written two books on the topic of Jesus, seems to be at loss for words as the well-researched Koukl keeps correcting him on his false view of Jesus and the historicity of the Gospels. Chopra's Eastern/secular interpretation of Jesus does not seem to hold water when confronted with someone who defends the faith for a living. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meYHmFz33NE The Eyewitness Testimony That’ll Make You Never Doubt the Resurrection Again 04-14-2017 Jesus Isn't Just in the Bible "Investigating the Resurrection is a historical question that you can do with eyes wide open; it's not a blind faith kind of thing, like believing in the Easter Bunny or a lucky rabbit's foot. This is real world kind of stuff. And you can investigate the data for it. So when it comes to the Resurrection, we say 'Well, how do we know Jesus existed?' Some people even doubt that. The fact is, we have far more sources for Jesus of Nazareth than we do for many historical figures in the first century. We have at least 18. Twelve of those are non-Christian sources." There's more evidence Jesus existed than Julius Caesar. Anyone doubt Caesar existed? Watch many videos and examine the evidence presented in this very informative article: http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2017/april/why-you-can-believe-in-the-resurrection Intelligent Design - Stephen C. Meyer, PhD The evidences of intelligent design… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJNMJef-gqU Evolution or Intelligent Design March 3, 2017 Is Chance Precise and Predictable? What kind of faith is required to believe that all the orderly processes of nature were produced by chance and not by design? Almost every plant and animal exhibits amazing adaptations that can only be described as miraculous. If these highly complex functions had no intelligent Creator or Designer, then our reasoning powers are staggered by the millions of "coincidences" that operate with infinite precision to produce perfect beauty, function, and reproduction on the earth. When I look at the universe and see the amazing fact that it is in perfect balance, that life in this world has been perfectly adapted to the conditions we find here, I know that some great intelligent power is behind it, making it operate in such an accurate manner. The Genesis account of the Bible has been completely vindicated by all the findings of true science. The writings of Moses have been found to be scientifically as well as historically accurate. By studying the mysteries of land and sea, we will see how wonderfully they support the biblical story of Creation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dSgdHpRRyI&list=TLGGSBpNImh19b0wNDAzMjAxNw SCIENCE? GOD? ATHEISTS VS. CHRISTIANS IN INTELLIGENCE SQUARED DEBATE 25 FEB 2017 Intelligence Squared, a non-profit organization that works to create an environment of reasoning and constructive discourse conducted a debate on the topic of “Science Refutes God.” The debate saw Michael Shermer and Lawrence Krauss arguing on the topic. On the other side of the debate were Ian Hutchinson and Dinesh D’Souza. The former is a Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT, while the latter is a conservative political commentator, former president for Manhattan’s King’s college, and the director of the film, 2016: Obama’s America. Krauss began the debate by introducing his team as having “evidence, reason, logic, rationality, empirical methods” to carry out the debate, while he credited the opposing duo as being armed with “vague hopes and fears.” http://www.worldreligionnews.com/?p=35495 LEE STROBEL (Case For Christ Full Documentary) Former Atheist puts together a very enlightening apologetic in this special presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abLATf6Q9Ls How do you know that Christianity is the one true worldview? Are Christians making a claim they can’t back up? Or - do other religions propagate exclusivity? Ravi Zacharias explains the similarities of exclusivity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWY-6xBA0Pk Learn How to Do Apologetics in the Twenty-First Century with Ravi Zacharias How can we be relevant in a culture that has dismissed God as some far away concept of the weak and limp wristed? According to Daniel the prophet, in earth’s darkest hour there will be “those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12:3 World renowned defender of the Christian faith – Ravi Zacharias helps us with an insight of how to reach lost people disconnected from any sense of absolute truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2zrHxbucOM The Atheist Delusion Movie A very well put together apologetics for Creation against the atheist religion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChWiZ3iXWwM&t=534s |