51017.1 Endnotes Was Jesus Really from Nazareth?

Was Jesus Really from Nazareth?

  1. Associated Press: First Jesus-era house discovered in Nazareth, December 22, 2009.
  2. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-12-21-jesus-house-nazareth_N.htm
  3. T. Cheyne, Encyclopedia Biblica, “Nazareth”, 1899.
  4. Rene Salm, American Atheist.org, “The Myth of Nazareth, Does it Really Matter?”, December 22, 2009,
  5. http://www.atheists.org/The_Myth_of_Nazareth,_Does_it_Really_Matter%3F
  6. From the Probing Mind column, “Why the Truth About Nazareth is Important,” American Atheist magazine (Nov-Dec. 2006).– Frank R. Zindler, Author, The Jesus the Jews Never Knew, editor American Atheist magazine.
  7. Salm, “The Myth of Nazareth, Does it Really Matter?”

51014.1 Endnotes The Gnostic Gospels: Are They the Real History of Jesus?

The Gnostic Gospels: Are They the Real History of Jesus?

  1. John McManners, ed., The Oxford History of Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 28.
  2. Darrell L. Bock, Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville: Nelson, 2004), 114.
  3. Bock, 119-120.
  4. Ibid.,13.
  5. Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998), 156.
  6. Quoted in Robinson, 126.
  7. Quoted in Lutzer, 32.
  8. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict(San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1999, 37.)

51015.1 Endnotes The Gospel of Barnabas: Secret Bible?

The Gospel of Barnabas: Secret Bible?

  1. Acts 13:1-3, 33.
  2. Gospel of Barnabas, 94:1.
  3. John 1:1-3, 14. NIV [See http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201:1-14&version=NIV].
  4. 1 John 5:11-13. 1 John 5:11-13.
  5. Norman Geisler & Abdul Saleeb, Answering _____ (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2002), 303-307.
  6. Geisler & Saleeb, Ibid.
  7. John Gilchrist, “Origins and Sources of the Gospel of Barnabas,”
  8. Geisler & Saleeb, Ibid.
  9. J. Slomp, “The Gospel Dispute,” ____ochristiana, 68.
  10. Norman L. Geisler and Paul K. Hoffman, eds., Why I Am a Christian (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2001), 150.
  11. Bruce M. Metzger, The Text Of The New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 86.
  12. This early reference might have been to one of the other books named after the apostle Barnabas: the Epistle of Barnabas or the Acts of Barnabas. Scholars question that it refers to the Gospel of Barnabas because there is no other historical document supporting it.
  13. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), 33–68.
  14. Metzger, 39.
  15. Ibid.
  16. Cited in Christian Post, Stoyan Zaimov, “Gospel of Mark Fragments Reportedly Found; Possibly Oldest NT Artifacts” February 17, 2012, http://www.christianpost.com/news/gospel-of-mark-fragments-reportedly-found-possibly-oldest-nt-artifacts-69778/.
  17. Paul Johnson, “A Historian Looks At Jesus,” Speech to Dallas Theological Seminary, 1986.
  18. William F. Albright, “Toward A More Conservative View,” Christianity Today, January 18, 1993.
  19. John A. T. Robinson, quoted in Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek, I Don’t Have enough Faith To Be An Atheist (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), 243.
  20. For a detailed analysis see http://www.errantskeptics.org/DatingNT.htm.
  21. John A. T. Robinson, Can We Trust The New Testament? (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 36.
  22. Luke 1:1-4, NLT.
  23. 2 Peter 1:16, NLT.

51016.1 Endnotes The Lost Gospel: Truth or Fiction?

The Lost Gospel: Truth or Fiction?

  1. Simon Jacobovici & Barrie Wilson, The Lost Gospel (New York: Pegasus, 2014), Preface.
  2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2827310/Jesus-married-prostitute-Mary-Magdalene-two-children-lost-gospel-reveals.html.
  3. Ibid.
  4. 2 Peter 1:16, NCV.
  5. Portion of 1 John 1:1-3, J. B. Phillips New Testament.
  6. http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/11/10/lost-gospel-claims-jesus-was-married-had-children/.
  7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/11/10/the-book-that-claims-jesus-had-a-wife-and-kids-and-the-controversial-author-behind-it/.
  8. Ibid.
  9. Jacobovici & Wilson, ending page.
  10. http://robertcargill.com/2014/11/10/review-of-the-lost-gospel-by-jacobovici-and-wilson/.
  11. Ibid.
  12. http://y-jesus.com/wwrj/4-are-gospels-true/.
  13. http://robertcargill.com/2014/11/10/review-of-the-lost-gospel-by-jacobovici-and-wilson/.
  14. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1999), 36.
  15. http://www.inquisitr.com/1606401/the-lost-gospel-wishful-thinking-expert-says-pious-folk-make-things-up/.
  16. http://robertcargill.com/2014/11/10/review-of-the-lost-gospel-by-jacobovici-and-wilson/.
  17. Portion of 1 John 1:1-3, J. B. Phillips New Testament.
  18. Peter Steinfels, “Jesus Died – And Then What Happened?” New York Times, April 3, 1988, E9.

51007.1 Endnotes Was Jesus the Messiah?

Was Jesus the Messiah?

  1. Terence Hines, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 2003), 193.
  2. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, 1999), 194.
  3. Prediction 3, Quatrain 2, 28.
  4. McDowell, Ibid.
  5. Quoted in McDowell, 12-13.
  6. McDowell, 164-193.
  7. Peter W. Stoner, Science Speaks (Chicago: Moody Press, 1958), 97-110.
  8. Stoner, 5.
  9. The Hebrew word netzer, appearing in Isaiah 11:1, is believed by many to refer to Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown.
  10. Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith.

51003.1 Endnotes Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?

  1. Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1999), ?203.
  2. Wilbur M. Smith, A Great Certainty in This Hour of World Crises (Wheaton, ILL: Van Kampen Press, ?1951), 10, 11
  3. The word Jesus uttered, “fulfilled” is tetelestai in Greek which is an accounting term meaning “debt paid in full.” It refers to the debt of our sins.
  4. Historian Will Durant reported, “About the middle of this first century a pagan named Thallus … argued that ?the abnormal darkness alleged to have accompanied the death of Christ was a purely natural phenomenon and coincidence; the argument took the existence of Christ for granted. The denial of that existence never seems to have occurred even to the bitterest gentile or Jewish opponents of nascent Christianity.” Will Durant, “Caesar and Christ,” vol. 3 of The Story of Civilization (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972), 555.
  5. Peter Steinfels, “Jesus Died – And Then What Happened?” New York Times, April 3, 1988, E9.
  6. Lucian, Peregrinus Proteus. Michael J. Wilkins and J. P. Moreland, eds, Jesus Under Fire (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 2.
  7. Josephus, Flavius, Antiquities of the Jews, 18. 63, 64. [Although portions of Josephus’ comments about ?Jesus have been disputed, this reference to Pilate condemning him to the cross is deemed authentic by ?most scholars.]
  8. Tacitus, Annals, 15, 44. In Great Books of the Western World, ed. By Robert Maynard Hutchins, Vol. ?15, The Annals and The Histories by Cornelius Tacitus (Chicago: William Benton, 1952). “What Is a Skeptic?” editorial in Skeptic, vol 11, no. 2), 5.
  9. Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone? (Grand Rapids, MI: Lamplighter, 1958), “What Happened Friday Afternoon.”
  10. Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor Part 3, Josh McDowell Ministries, 2009, ?http://www.bethinking.org/bible-jesus/intermediate/the-resurrection-factor-part-3.htm.
  11. Quoted in Josh McDowell, The Resurrection Factor (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1981), 66.
  12. Gary Collins quoted in Gary Habermas, “Explaining Away the Resurrection,” http://www.garyhabermas.com/articles/crj_explainingaway/crj_explainingaway.htm.
  13. Thomas James Thorburn, The Resurrection Narratives and Modern Criticism (London: Kegan Paul, ?Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1910.), 158, 159.
  14. Sherwin-White, Roman Society, 190.
  15. Even skeptical scholars agree that the creed in 1 Corinthians 15 is not an interpolation but was a creed formulated and taught at a very early date after Jesus’ death. Gerd Lüdemann, a skeptic scholar, maintains that “the elements in the tradition are to be dated to the first two years after the crucifixion of Jesus… not later than three years…”[17] Michael Goulder, another skeptic scholar, states that it “goes back at least to what Paul was taught when he was converted, a couple of years after the crucifixion”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1_Corinthians_15
  16. Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI: ?Kregel, 2004), 85.
  17. Habermas and Licona, 87
  18. Acts 10:39-41.
  19. Morison, 104.
  20. J. N. D. Anderson, “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Christianity Today,12. April, 1968.
  21. Morison, 115.
  22. Quoted in Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences (Chicago: Moody Press, 1957), 163.
  23. Quoted in Bill Bright, Believing God for the Impossible (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life, 1979), 177-8.
  24. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (New York: Pocket, 1961), 428.
  25. C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000 ), 159.

51008.1 Endnotes Is Jesus God?

Is Jesus God?

  1. Quoted in Robert Elsberg, ed., A Critique of Gandhi on Christianity (New York: Orbis Books, 1991), 26 & 27.
  2. Joseph Klausner, Jesus of Nazareth (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1946), 43, 44.
  3. Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy (New York: Washington Square, 1961), 428.
  4. inda Kulman and Jay Tolson, “The Jesus Code,” U. S. News & World Report, December 22, 2003, 1.
  5. Ravi Zacharias, Jesus among Other Gods (Nashville, TN: Word, 2000), 89.
  6. Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1994), 150.
  7. John Piper, The Pleasures of God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000), 35.
  8. Bono, quoted in, Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (New York: Penguin Group Publishers, 2008), 229.
  9. John 17:3.
  10. John 14:9
  11. John 8:58.
  12. John 11:25
  13. John 8:12
  14. John 14:6
  15. Ibid.
  16. For the meaning of “ego eimi.” See, http://www.y-jesus.com/jesus_believe_god_2.php
  17. John 10:33
  18. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco: Harper, 2001), 51.
  19. Lewis, Ibid.
  20. A Deist is someone who believes in a standoffish God—a deity who created the world and then lets it run according to pre-established laws. Deism was a fad among intellectuals around the time of America’s independence, and Jefferson bought into it.
  21. Lewis, 52.
  22. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 57.
  23. Philip Schaff, The Person of Christ: The Miracle of History (1913), 94, 95.
  24. Lewis, 52.
  25. Schaff, 98, 99.
  26. Bono, Ibid.
  27. Lewis, 52.

51009.1 Endnotes Did Jesus Claim to Be God?

Did Jesus Claim to Be God?

  1. Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods (Nashville: Word, 2000), 39.
  2. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 189.
  3. The Hebrew Scriptures sometimes join Yahweh (Jehovah) with an additional word to emphasize God’s dealing with man. “Yahweh Elohim” and “Adonai Yahweh” are translated “Lord God,” and “Yahweh Sabaoth” is translated “Lord of hosts.” (C.I Scofield, The Scofield Reference Bible  (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 6, 983.
  4. Ray C. Stedman, Adventuring Through the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Discovery House, 1997), 479.
  5. Ego eimi is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Isaiah used to describe God in Isaiah 43:10, 11. Dr. James White notes, “The closest and most logical connection between John’s usage of ego eimi and the Old Testament is to be found in the Septuagint rendering of a particular Hebrew phrase, ani hu in the writings (primarily) of Isaiah. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew phrase ani hu as ego eimi in Isaiah 41:4, 43:10 and 46:4.” (http://www.aomin.org/EGO.html)
  6. C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2,000), 157.
  7. Packer, 198.
  8. Why I am a Christian, Norman L. Geisler, Paul K. Hoffman, eds, “Why I Believe Jesus is the Son of God” (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2001), 223.
  9. Packer, 57.
  10. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1972), 51.
  11. John Piper, The Pleasures of God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000), 35.
  12. Christians believe that there is one God who exists in three distinct, equal Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (trinity). No earthly analogy can adequately explain how one God can exist as three Persons. However, two scientific examples illustrate how one entity can exist in multiple forms. 1. Light exists as a duality, appearing in nature as both a wave and a particle. 2. The H20 molecule is one essence, yet exists as steam, water, and ice. The God of the Bible, however, is beyond our full comprehension, being infinite, eternal, immutable, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent.
  13. Lewis, God in the Dock, 80.

51010.1 Endnotes Did the Apostles Believe Jesus Is God?

Did the Apostles Believe Jesus Is God?

  1. Will Durant, “Caesar and Christ”, vol 3 of The Story of Civilization (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972), 563.
  2. A. H. McNeile, Introduction to the New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955), 463, 464
  3. The title Lord is freely used in both Testaments to refer to God and Jesus. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for Lord was Adonai. In the Septuagint and the New Testament the word translated “Lord” is Kurios. Both Adonaiand Kurios were used for God by the Jews.” Josh McDowell & Bart Larson, Jesus: A Biblical Defense of His Deity(San Bernardino: Here’s Life, 1983), 33.
  4. Paul L. Maier, Ed, Eusebius, The Church History (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1999), 149.
  5. Although most early Christians believed in Jesus’ divinity, the church didn’t clarify what that meant until the Council of Nicaea in 325 A. D., when the Roman emperor Constantine convened church leaders together to deal with Arius’s view that Jesus was a created being. However, after an intense debate over the meaning of the apostles’ words about Jesus in the New Testament, all but two of 318 church leaders reaffirmed the majority Christian belief that he is fully God, co-eternal, co-equal and with the Father and Holy Spirit (See “Mona Lisa’s Smirk” at http://y-jesus.com/wwrj/2-da-vinci-conspiracy).
  6. See “Jesus.doc” at http://y-jesus.com/wwrj/4-are-gospels-true/ to discover the reliability of the New Testament
  7. Martin writes, “Contrary to the translations of The Emphatic Diaglott and the New World Translation (of the Jehovah’s Witnesses) the Greek grammatical construction leaves no doubt whatsoever that this is the only possible rendering of the text….Jehovah’s Witnesses in their New World Translation Appendix 773-777 attempt to discredit the Greek text on this point, for they realize that if Jesus and Jehovah are “One” in nature their theology cannot stand….” Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults (Minneapolis, Minn: Bethany, 1974), 75.
  8. F. F. Bruce, The Deity of Christ (Manchester, England: Wright’s [Sandbach] Ltd., 1964
  9. F. F. Bruce, “The ‘Christ Hymn’ of Colossians 1:15-20,” Bibliotheca Sacra (April-June 1984): 101.
  10. D. Guthrie & J. A. Motyer, The New Bible Commentary: Revised (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1973), 1144.
  11. Bruce, ‘Hymn’, 101-102.
  12. Although the author of Hebrews is unknown, some scholars believe it was written by Paul.
  13. The Amplified Bible, Zondervan
  14. Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Vol. II (Grand Rapids, MI:, Eerdmans, 1986), 41.
  15. John Piper, The Pleasures of God (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000), 33.
  16. Norman Geisler & Peter Bocchino, Unshakable Foundations (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 2001), 297.
  17. J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press), 54.
  18. Peter Kreeft & Ronald K. Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 152.
  19. “The Granville Sharpe rule of Greek grammar states that when two nouns are join by kai (and) and the first noun has the article and the second does not, then the two nouns refer to the same thing, Hence, great God and Savior’ both refer to Christ Jesus.” (The Moody Handbook of Theology, p. 225).

51011.1 Endnotes Is Jesus the Only Way to God?

Is Jesus the Only Way to God?

  1. Ravi Zacharias, Jesus Among Other Gods (Nashville, TN: Word, 2000), 14.
  2. Paul E. Little, Know Why You believe (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1973), 131.
  3. See Jesus’ claims in “Did Jesus Claim to be God”
  4. http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Wolves/oprah-fool.htm.
  5. C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1970), 101.
  6. John 14:1-4.
  7. John 14:6.
  8. Acts 4:12.
  9. 1 John 5:11, 12.
  10. Romans 6:23. NCV
  11. Cited in, Swami Bhaskarananda, The Essentials of ____ (Seattle, WA: Viveka Press), 190.
  12. Ibid. 7.
  13. Ibid. 89.
  14. John 3:16.
  15. Romans 6:23.
  16. Ephesians 2:8, 9.
  17. Matthew 11:28.
  18. Isaiah 53:1-15.
  19. Isaiah 9:6, KJV.
  20. Zacharias, 163.
  21. http://y-jesus.com/wwrj/6-jesus-rise-dead
  22. Cited in Josh McDowell, Skeptics Who Demanded a Verdict (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1989), 85.
  23. Zacharias, Ibid.
  24. Ibid. 6.
  25. John 1:1-3, 14.
  26. Philippians 2:5-11; Romans 5:8.
  27. D’Souza, 286.
  28. John 1:12.
  29. Ravi Zacharias, Light in the Shadow of Jihad (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2002), 108.
  30. Matthew 11:28.