Apologetics Without Apologies

• Apologetics: Explaining and defending the reasons for belief in God and in the Bible.

John Oakes, PhD

Jonathan Swift:

“It is impossible to reason a person out of a thing which they were not reasoned into in

the first place.”

William of Ockham:

Nothing is assumed as evident unless it is known per se, is evident by experience, or

is proved by authority of scripture.

Epistomology

Michael Faraday;

“The man who is certain he is right is almost sure to be wrong; and he has the additional misfortune of inevitably remaining so.”

Medical Evidence

Papyrus Ebers

The Ebers Papyrus:

“To prevent hair from turning gray, anoint it with the blood of a calf which has been boiled in oil or with the fat of a rattlesnake.”

“A mixture of six fats, namely those of the horse, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cat, the snake and the ibex.... to prevent hair loss.”

“For the generations to come every male among you who is

eight days old must be circumcised.”

(Genesis 17: 12)

Why on the eighth day?

Here is How it Works

1. Blood Clotting Proteins (Prothrombin) are continually produced in the liver.

2. The Liver needs Vitamin K to make clotting proteins.

3. Vitamin K is produced in our intestinal tract. 4. When a baby is born the Vitamin K levels

are similar to that of the mother.

5. Infants are born without the required bacteria in their intestines to produce Vitamin K

6. It takes about five days for the bacteria to build up in order for the baby to start producing its own Vitamin K

7. As a result Prothrombin drops to 30 percent of normal

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

days

% o

f n

orm

alClotting Protein Peaks on Day Eight

Available Prothrombin

Day Circumcised

Number of Hebrew Boys

Number of Deaths

1 823 4

3 759 6

5 693 8

7 855 3

9 770 2

11 698 4

Abraham’s Experiment

A Jewish medical text:

“The snail trailing a moist streak after it as it crawls, and so using up its vitality serves as a remedy for boils.”

“The sting of a hornet is healed by the house-fly, crushed and applied to the wound.”

“The gnat, feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it is a specific against the poison of the viper.”An ancient Hebrew medical manuscript.

“Whoever touches the dead body of anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on the third and seventh day...take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and furnishings and the people who were there.”

Numbers 19

Semmelweiss

Death Rate falls from 18% to 1%

Thymol

Archaeological Evidence

The five-city league with Abraham:

Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar (Genesis 14:2).

One of the Tel El Amarna Letters

From a Tel el Amarna Letter:

“The Habiru plunder all lands of the king. If archers are here this year, then the lands of the king, the lord, will remain; but if the archers are not here, then the lands of the king, my lord, are lost.”

The Tel Dan InscriptionMentions “The House of David”

Messianic Prophecies

Psalms 22

I can count all my bones

They have pierced my hands and my feet

Divided and cast lots

Zech 11:12,13

30 pieces of silver

The potter

Daniel 9:24-27

seventy sevens

458 – 490 = - 32

Typology:

Prefigures

Foreshadows

Types and antitypes

Parallels Between Moses and Jesus 

Moses 

Jesus

Pharaoh tried to kill him 

Herod tried to kill him

Called by God to leave Egypt

Carried out of Egypt

Forty years in the wilderness to prepare for his ministry

Forty days in the wilderness to prepare for his ministryLeft his position with the

king of Egypt to dwell with the Jews

Left the right hand of the Father to life with the JewsLed Israel out of slavery in

EgyptLeads Spiritual Israel out of sin

Aaron prepared the way 

John the Baptist prepared the way

Baptized Israel in the Red Sea in order to free them

Commands baptism in water for freedom from sinGave manna in the

wilderness (sort of)

Gives spiritual bread to all who hunger

Gave water to the people in the desert

Gives spiritual water: the Holy Spirit

Spoke to God on Mt. Sinai

Spoke to God on Mt. Hermon