The four gospels are anonymous, but are traditionally ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Were they written close to the events, or were they written a long time afterwards, based on Chinese whispers and accumulating legends? Brian Schroeder will discuss the debates over the authorship and dating of the New Testament gospels. This will include theories regarding
When was each gospel written?
Who wrote each gospel?
What sources did each author use?
Where was each gospel written from?
To whom was it addressed?
,apologetics,philosophy,science,H82-7wlIN-Y,UCIhfOJlwarFO8rPrdktOHyA, Religion, channel_UCIhfOJlwarFO8rPrdktOHyA, video_H82-7wlIN-Y,“Is faith belief without evidence?”
It is a common perception that Christian faith is belief without evidence or reason. Knowledge is justified, true belief. If it is not justified, then how do we know it’s true? Then it is just a subjective choice, often inherited from parents. In fact, Richard Dawkins claims that this notion of faith is
• intellectually irresponsible,
• potentially dangerous,
• incompatible with science,
• encourages people to hold beliefs without critical examination,
• discourages evidence-based thinking, and
• is brain-damaging and harmful to children.
Wow! Perhaps this is true, but only if faith is belief without evidence. Is this the Biblical meaning of faith and are any of these objections valid? The memes that are circulated in society may represent peoples’ perceptions, but ultimately, they are irrelevant. What matters is what the Biblical authors meant when they mentioned faith. Nothing else matters. So, what is the true nature of faith and why do the Biblical authors deem it so fundamental and important?
Dr Kevin Rogers is the director of Reasonable Faith Adelaide. After a 40-year engineering career, he was a Research Fellow and lecturer with the University of South Australia but is now mainly retired.
,apologetics,philosophy,science,x_Kd8kW0-Qk,UCIhfOJlwarFO8rPrdktOHyA, Religion,Society, channel_UCIhfOJlwarFO8rPrdktOHyA, video_x_Kd8kW0-Qk,This presentation describes eye-witness accounts of numerous healing and other miiracles that took place in Bungoma in Kenya, as investigated by Gordon Stanger. Here is his summary:
Some doubt the authenticity of Mark 16:17, 18:
And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
However, for those who act upon these words with child-like faith, this text is validated; these, and other miracles do occur. Some extraordinary miracles occurred in a Christian children’s ministry in a remote part of Kenya, as reported in a book by Jennifer Toledo. These included practical deliverance from the evils of witchcraft, which sound bizarre from our cultural perspective. Gordon happened to be working in that part of Africa, so he made a detour to check out the reality of these miracles, the results of which are reported here. We also discuss the purpose of such miracles.
God’s extraordinary miracles aren’t confined to places ‘far away’ in different cultures. Raf has been walking close to the Lord for many years, here in Australia as well as overseas. He relates some personal testimonies of remarkable healing, words of knowledge, and other modern-day miracles.
Dr Gordon Stanger is a geologist, hydrologist, water resources specialist, and a climate-change impact analyst. He also spent significant time in Africa, where he came in contact with many people who received miraculous healing or who had other experiences of the miraculous. He is an RFA committee member and is semi-retired.
,1,At the Global Christian Forum in Accra, Ghana, 16-20 April 2024, Dr. Gina Zurlo, co-director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, pointed to the surprising statistic that today 44% of Protestant Christians reside in Africa:
“The Pentecostal Charismatic Movement, originating in the early 20th century, has become a hallmark of Global South faith, encompassing diverse manifestations within classical Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Movement, and other charismatic movements. Wherever Christianity spread, and in the 20th century, the Pentecostal charismatic movement spread with it. It appears that the future of global Christianity seems to be Pentecostal."
The Pentecostal Charismatic movement hails back to the founding of the church on the Jewish Harvest Festival Feast of Weeks, 50 days after Passover (7 weeks or 50 days Pentecostal in Greek) when Jesus died and rose again. From that time many miracles were performed by the Apostles and other members of the church. The first one was speaking the gospel in languages understood by Jews from other parts of the world gathered for the festival.
In St Paul's first recorded letter to the Corinthian church, about 55AD, he lists the charismatic gifts and places some restrictions on how they should be used in orderly church meetings.
After the completion of the recognized New Testament books recordings of miraculous signs seemed to lapse until just over 100 years ago when they burst out at the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles in 1906.
Since then, the Pentecostal Charismatic movement has spread widely particularly in Africa and Latin America, as well as in Australia and the USA.
R.T. Kendall, former minister at Westminster Chapel in London, has said that the Word Churches and Spirit Churches have much to learn from each other, and both recent Popes have encouraged their flock to encourage the Charismatic movement in the Catholic church.
,1,Biblical prophecy demonstrates a truth about God and the future. It reveals that God is not defined or limited by time as we know it.
God said to Isaiah that he would declare “the end” from “the beginning”. Many biblical prophets were not welcomed by the populace in their lifetime, but their writings are found in the Scriptures because their truth was vindicated.
Trevor will discuss the following questions:
What does it mean that “The Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus”? (Rev 19:10)
What is the evidence and probability that these prophecies were fulfilled?
How many OT prophecies are found in the NT?
Why is there a swell in interest in modern times for prophetic topics?
Why are some people describing recent events as “end times”?
,1,Ken Samples, from Reasons to Believe (RTB), addressed Reasonable Faith Adelide on the 22nd November 2023 on the big world view questions. This presentation addressed the following questions:
1. What in the world is a worldview?
2. What does the Bible say about worldviews?
3. What are the four prevalent worldviews today?
4. How do we test worldviews for truth?
5. What makes the Christian worldview unique?
6. Are we experiencing a clash of worldviews today?
This is based "A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test" (Baker Books, 2007) by Kenneth Richard Samples.
Kenneth Richard Samples earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy and social science from Concordia University and his M.A. in theological studies from Talbot School of Theology. He is a senior research scholar at Reasons To Believe (RTB). He uses his knowledge to help others find the answers to life's questions and encourages believers to develop a logically defensible faith and challenges sceptics to engage Christianity at a philosophical level.
,1,The four gospels are anonymous, but are traditionally ascribed to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Were they written close to the events, or were they written a long time afterwards, based on Chinese whispers and accumulating legends? Brian Schroeder will discuss the debates over the authorship and dating of the New Testament gospels. This will include theories regarding
When was each gospel written?
Who wrote each gospel?
What sources did each author use?
Where was each gospel written from?
To whom was it addressed?
