Bill Pratt | December 21, 2012
Post Author: Bill Pratt Historical scholar Mike Licona, in his book The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, asks just this question. His answer is important to understand. A priority must be assigned to Paul because he is the earliest known author to mention the resurrection of Jesus, and there are numerous extant texts he wrote that [...]
Bill Pratt | May 30, 2012
Post Author: Bill Pratt Historical scholar Mike Licona, in his book The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, argues that the apostle Paul’s writings are critical to historical research on Jesus’ resurrection. But some skeptics disagree. Licona explains: Given the historical nuggets provided by Paul that can assist historians in their investigation of the historicity of the [...]
Bill Pratt | April 21, 2011
Post Author: Bill Pratt We celebrate Easter because it commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus was killed by crucifixion on a Friday and then actually came back to life on the following Sunday. Some may ask, “So what?” Why is it important that Jesus rose from the dead? There are many answers [...]
Bill Pratt | August 26, 2010
Post Author: Bill Pratt One of the most compelling apologetic arguments for the truth of the resurrection of Jesus is the fact that most of his closest followers were martyred for their beliefs. Since these followers would have had first-hand knowledge of whether he actually did come back from the dead, their willingness to be [...]
Bill Pratt | January 20, 2010
Post Author: Bill Pratt We pick up from part 1 of this post to see why Paul could not have invented a version of Christianity foreign to Jesus’ teachings. McFarland continues making his case: The point is this: the key teachings of the Gospel (Jesus is the sinless Son of God; He died for our [...]
Bill Pratt | January 18, 2010
Post Author: Bill Pratt Recently I’ve run across people who believe that the apostle Paul effectively hijacked Jesus’ teachings and invented most of what we today call Christianity. Even though this seems to be a view with few advocates, it is still an important charge that is being made. How do we answer this question? [...]
Bill Pratt | January 13, 2010
Post Author: Bill Pratt So we’ve seen that the Bible does teach that some sins are more serious than others and that some virtues are greater than others. There is a moral law hierarchy. But what does this practically mean? First, let’s look at debates over public policy. When determining where to focus your efforts [...]
Bill Pratt | January 11, 2010
Post Author: Bill Pratt In a sense, yes, but in another sense, no. Evangelicals often point out that all sins will send you to hell, that God demands moral perfection, so whether you steal a stick of chewing gum or murder your spouse, both sins will equally damn you. This is really just a way [...]
Bill Pratt | October 17, 2009
Post Author: Bill Pratt I’ve touched on this topic before, but it continues to interest me, so I thought I would cover some new ground on this important section of the New Testament. Context, when reading any passage of the Bible, is crucial to understanding it. When we look at the context of Romans 9-11, [...]
Bill Pratt | September 12, 2009
Post Author: Bill Pratt To be honest, we just don’t know. Let’s take a brief look at the evidence we have. First, we will summarize the evidence external to the actual words of Hebrews. According to D. Edmond Hiebert, there were three early church traditions about authorship. The tradition from Alexandria, Egypt held that the [...]
