<<< Click here to Email your question >>>

*Here’s a link to the questions already answered

Q: I’m very confused regarding a Jewish objection to Jesus as the Messiah which goes like this:

“The Bible says that the Messiah would be of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David. According to Christians, Jesus was born of a virgin. However, tribal affiliation is conferred through the birth father only (Numbers 34:14, Numbers 1:18-44, Leviticus 24:10). The mother’s tribal affiliation was considered irrelevant to what her children’s tribal affiliation was and tribal affiliation/genealogy could not be inherited though a stepfather; only property could be inherited. Because Christians believe that Jesus had no human father, he would have had no tribal affiliation and would be eliminated from messianic consideration.”

A: The Jewish arguments seem to be rather compelling. However there are several facts that they do not address:

1. When Joseph completed his marriage to Mary who was pregnant at the time rather than breaking it off he was in essence accepting the coming child as his own. On the eighth day after Jesus was born he was circumcised and later Joseph along with Mary took him to the Temple to be registered and consecrated as his ‘first-born’ son (LK 2:22-24). Therefore Joseph officially recognized Jesus as his son and first-born heir (not by adoption) in the line of David and the tribe of Judah.   Game, Set, & Match!

Continue reading »

Q: Adam & Eve were the 1st man/woman.  Able/Cain were were their sons.  Who were the people Cain thought might kill him, because he killed Able?  And where did they come from?

Were they not off spring of Adam/Eve, therefore brothers/sisters of Cain/Able?   -Chuck

A: Chuck, we actually dealt with that very question a couple of years ago. Here’s a link to the post:

“Who Was Cain Afraid Of?”

Here’s links to all of the Christmas related Q & A’s from our archives:

1.  First the Christmas story itself:

The Christmas Story: Where is it in The Bible?

2.  There seems to be a lot of interest in the ‘Wisemen’ (Magi) that visited Jesus:

-Re: The Wisemen and the First Christmas

-Who Were the Wisemen?

-Are the Wisemen Really Buried in Cologne?

-Were There Really Four Wisemen?

Q; I recently read somewhere that the bones of Paul the Apostle were found? Is that true, where?

A: There was a recent claim that ‘bone fragments’ of the Apostle Paul were found and confirmed. However I believe that the story is somewhat questionable and lacking in real proof. <<Here’s a link to an article I’ve written on the subject>>

Q: There was much to do about some sort of burial crypt of James the Brother of Jesus being found. Then Some scholars claimed it was a fake—what ever happened to that deal?

A:  The jury is literally still out on that issue. A trial over the authenticity of the James ‘the brother of Jesus’ Ossuary is still going on in Israel. The evidence against the Ossuary has been found to be suspect. However that does not necessarily mean that the artifact is authentic though for me the evidence is leaning in that direction.

By the way, it was not a crypt in question but an Ossuary with writing on the side designating it as containing the bones of James the Brother of Jesus. An Ossuary is a stone box where bones of the dead were traditionally deposited in ancient Judea. (See the picture above)

N.T. scholar Ben Witherington is one of the experts on this issue, here’s his most recent update: <<The Dead Shall Have Their Say– More on the James Ossuary>>

Q:  Is the Ark of the Covenant really in Ethiopia? Someone told me that last week.

A:  The Ethiopians have a long tradition that it is, however the Ethiopian Church authorities will not let scholars inspect the Ark in their possession or even look at it for that matter. You probably heard about it because it was recently in the news. <<Here’s a link to an article I wrote on this issue>>

Q: Dear brother, Where is in the bible, that Sabbath keeping change to Sunday keeping. Under whose authority is this change. Thank you. God bless.

A:  Here’s our article on the issue published a couple of years ago:

Sunday or Sabbath Worship?

*Top

The following are articles for the Easter season from our archives:

1. -Easter Question: Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?

Here’s a great article by William Lane Craig, professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California.

He looks at the facts concerning the resurrection of Jesus–a timely pursuit for the Easter season:

“To answer the question of Jesus’ resurrection from a historical standpoint, we must first determine what facts concerning the fate of Jesus of Nazareth can be credibly established on the basis of the evidence and second consider what the best explanation of those facts is. At least four facts about the fate of the historical Jesus are widely accepted by New Testament historians today.”

<Read the Whole Article>

2. -Who Really Killed Jesus?

3. -The Reactions of the Criminals Crucified with Jesus -Some Discrepancies?

4. -Jesus: “Today You Will Be With Me In Paradise”

5. -Still Celebrating Easter?

6. -Jesus- Who Do You Say He Is?

*Top

(-Shrine of the Three Magi via Wikipedia)

Q:  Is it true that the bones of the Three Wise Men are buried or supposedly buried in the cathedral in Cologne?  Thanks, Don

A:  Yes, a Cathedral in Cologne, Germany does claim to be the final resting place for the Wisemen– Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral. However, the origin and disposition of the relics can only be traced back to 344 AD at Constantinople, therefore the historicity can not be verified. It is an unlikely possibility since the first mention of the relics is in the 4th century and the real Wisemen undoubtedly would have died in the first century.

Bottomline- This tradition is uncertain at best with the lack of earlier documentation.

<Here is our previous article about the Wisemen>