Reliability of the Bible

Acts Knows Greece. It Also Knows Judea. Here Are the Receipts. (C.J. Cornthwaite Response)

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Acts gets tons of tiny historical details right. For instance, Luke keeps using the exact local titles for officials. At Philippi, he first calls the officials archontes, a general word for rulers, and then uses their proper Roman colonial title, strategoi (Acts 16:19, 22). In Thessalonica, they are politarchs (Acts 17:6). In Athens, a member of the ruling council is an Areopagite (Acts 17:34). Gallio is correctly called the proconsul of Achaia at Corinth, which places Paul there around AD 51–52 (Acts 18:12). In Ephesus, Luke gets three more local terms right: grammateus for the city clerk, neōkoros for Ephesus as temple keeper, and agoraioi for the court sessions held under the proconsuls (Acts 19:35, … Read more

Castor, Pollux, and the Historical Accuracy of Acts

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Here is one of those tiny details in Acts that is easy to read right past. After Paul is shipwrecked on Malta and spends three months there, Luke writes: “We set sail on an Alexandrian ship with the Dioscuri as its figurehead.”Acts 28:11 The Dioscuri were the pagan twin gods Castor and Pollux. And then Luke just moves on. He does not explain who these gods were. He does not tell us why their image appeared on the ship. He does not stop to turn the detail into some big theological object lesson. It reads like the casual memory of someone who was there: “Yeah, this was the ship we boarded.” But once you compare … Read more

Did Luke Botch the Census? A Historical Look at Luke 2

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Manuscript Illumination with the Evangelist Luke

Critics love to point out that Luke’s Christmas story is riddled with contradictions and historical goofs. That there’s a 10-year gap between Matthew and Luke’s timelines. That there was no census. That Quirinius wasn’t in charge. That Rome wouldn’t have done a census under a client king. That nobody traveled for registration. And that Luke was just making stuff up to get Jesus to Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy. As usual, Bart Ehrman leads the charge, claiming “Luke’s Christmas story is filled with historical problems” and laughing off the idea of people returning to their ancestral towns. Let’s walk through the charges against Luke and see if they stick. 1. Luke is not confused. His chronology … Read more

The Historical Challenge of Surah 3:55 and 61:14: Who Were Jesus’ True Followers?

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an open koran book

The Quran makes several claims about the fate of Jesus’ followers after his departure. Two particularly striking verses are Surah 3:55 and Surah 61:14, which state that those who followed Jesus were made superior or dominant over disbelievers. This raises a historical question: Who were these true followers, and when did they achieve dominance? While these verses are often interpreted by Muslim scholars to affirm Islam’s eventual victory, they present a major historical challenge: there is no clear record of an Islamic-style monotheistic movement among Jesus’ followers that was both dominant and continuous until Muhammad’s time. Instead, the overwhelming historical evidence shows that the dominant followers of Jesus were Trinitarian Christians who affirmed his divinity … Read more

Who Actually Did Miracles—Paul or Muhammad?

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a statue of saint paul

Paul’s followers believed he worked miracles. His own letters say it. Acts records them in detail. Even skeptics admit the early church believed it. Muhammad? The Quran flat-out says he did no miracles. The only place you’ll find them is in Hadith—written over a century later. So if miracles are a sign of a true prophet, and we’re going by actual historical evidence, let’s be real—Paul has way more proof than Muhammad. Let’s break this down. Paul didn’t just claim to work miracles—he actually used them as proof that he was a real apostle. In 2 Corinthians 12:12, he tells the Corinthians: “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, … Read more

The New York Times and Ivy League Professor Team Up To Debunk Christmas

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Hate to barge in on your Christmas joy as you reflect on the miracle of the Incarnation, but The New York Times is back with its annual dose of skepticism wrapped in tinsel. This time, it’s an interview with Elaine Pagels, a famed Ivy League biblical scholar. You’d expect some highbrow insights from the Times, but instead, we get baseless speculation that Jesus was a rape baby, dressed up as serious scholarship. Kristof of the NYT starts with this question: So let’s go back to the Nativity. Of the four gospels, two describe the virgin birth of Jesus and two don’t mention it. The Gospel of Mark has people of Galilee referring to Jesus as … Read more

No, DeenResponds. Muhammad Ain’t the Paraclete.

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A while back, I dropped a video breaking down why Muhammad isn’t the Paraclete Jesus promised in John 14-16. Fast forward a few months, and now DeenResponds and his buddy are trying to hit me with a rebuttal. Spoiler alert: it’s… well, let’s just say creative is putting it kindly. Let’s take a look at some of his “top-tier” critiques and claims. Sorry this isn’t a video—edited response videos aren’t really my thing. Maybe I’d do one live, but honestly, I don’t have tons of spare time, so you’re stuck with this for now. For context, here’s Deen’s video and my original breakdown: Here’s my original video: The Paraclete would be a Prophet like Moses? … Read more

Rational Muslim: Still Confused About Islam’s Biggest Contradiction

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So, Rational Muslim is back at it again, calling me a “liar” and “delusional” and questioning my ability to read the Quran. Let’s see if his response is more impressive than his previous attempt, where he totally missed the mark. Here’s my original video: And here is his “response” video: First up, Rational Muslim’s big accusation: I’m being dishonest for suggesting that Surah 3:3-4 hints at the inspiration and trustworthiness of the Gospels. But his accusation doesn’t even hold water. Here’s the āyah: 3:3  He has revealed upon you this Scripture with the Truth, confirming that which was before it; and He revealed the Tawrât and the Injîl, 3:4  in the past as a guidance … Read more

What Would It Be Like for the Pastorals to Be Forgeries?

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In my recent video about undesigned coincidences between 1 & 2 Timothy and Acts, Dr. Kipp Davis, a biblical scholar (and someone I like and respect despite our differences), commented. He wrote: “In this video, @Testify demonstrates that he is just as clever as second-century Christian writers were in crafting their highly convincing forgeries. If you can connect a few of the same dots, Erik, then so could anyone familiar enough with early Christian writings, no?” Now I get that a blog reply seems like overkill for a single comment. Initially, I was planning to just leave a comment, but then I thought, why not dive deeper into Kipp’s theory and see where it takes … Read more

Recommended Books on Historical Apologetics

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I am often asked which books I recommend for defending the reliability of the Gospels/Acts and Christianity in general, so here is my list. It is not exhaustive, but it will definitely give you a good start. The categorized as “mandatory” are more basic, while some of those labeled as “recommended” or “supplementary” delve into more profound and scholarly content. Any item marked with a * can be accessed for free online as PDF files. A significant number of these works are downloadable from http://historicalapologetics.org, http://books.google.com, or http://archive.org. Mandatory Reading: Author Book Title Bennett, Edmund * The Four Gospels from a Lawyer’s Standpoint Lewis, CS Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism (Essay in Christian Reflections) McGrew, … Read more

Is Jesus Alive?