jmclatchie, Author at Jonathan McLatchie | Writer, Speaker, Scholar

The Firstfruits Feast and the Case for the Resurrection

Given that Jesus was alleged, from the beginning, to have been raised on the Sunday following Passover, during the feast of firstfruits, this suggests that the choice of the Sunday as the day of the resurrection resulted from rational deliberation, or conscious design, whether on the part of human schemers or divine agency. It seems to militate fairly heavily against the hypothesis that the original apostles were honestly mistaken about Christ’s resurrection.

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Is Jesus the God of Israel? A Response to TenakTalk

1 Comment / Deity of Christ, Messianic Prophecy, Predictive Prophecy, Theology, Tovia Singer / jmclatchie

Most of the objections raised by McBride and Hall concern arguments other than those presented in my short remarks at the beginning of their broadcast. Rather than engage with the New Testament texts (that they asked me to present on) and showing that I had misinterpreted them, McBride and Hall chose instead to bring up objections to the deity of Christ based upon Old Testament considerations.

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The Argument from Martyrdom: A Response to Rabbi Tovia Singer

1 Comment / Biblical Reliability, Evidence for the Resurrection, Tovia Singer / jmclatchie

In a video published this week, provocatively titled “Why Would Paul Willingly Die for His Belief? Another Church Lie!”, Rabbi Singer makes a number of bizarre claims. One such statement is that “the notion that Paul was beheaded by Rome is complete nonsense. It’s an invention of the church, and it’s mentioned nowhere in the Christian Bible.”

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The Prior Environmental Fitness of Nature: An Argument for the Existence of God

Cosmic Fine-Tuning, Cosmic Fine-Tuning, Existence of God, Intelligent Design, Philosophy, Probability Theory, Science / jmclatchie

Over the past several decades, science has amassed considerable evidence of design in nature – evidences which may be drawn from both the physical and life sciences. This evidence suggests, contrary to popular wisdom, that the Universe was made with us in mind – that it was intended for beings like ourselves. In this article, we will consider a sample of evidences that force us to reconsider man’s place in the Universe.

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Let’s Help Harvard Understand Intelligent Design

1 Comment / Biological Design, Existence of God, Intelligent Design, Miracles and Epistemology, Philosophy, Probability Theory, Science / jmclatchie

Last week, my wife and I spent an afternoon at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, in Cambridge, MA, near where we live. We both were generally impressed by the exhibitions, particularly the dinosaur section, and would recommend the museum to anyone visiting Boston. I was, however, quite disappointed to see this notice at the entrance to the display on evolution.

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TalkAboutDoubts.com Offers Refuge & Reason for the Doubting & Deconstructing

1 Comment / Dealing with Doubts / jmclatchie

For some, the experience of losing faith is a feeling of liberation from the shackles of a repressive system of belief; for others, it is one of deep anguish and pain, as they are awakened to the uncomfortable reality that the premise upon which they have built their life and identity may in fact be mistaken. While for some, rejection of their former faith comes as a relief, for others it comes at great personal cost.

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The Treasury of Isaiah 53 — A Witness to Israel’s Messiah

1 Comment / Deity of Christ, Messianic Prophecy, Predictive Prophecy, Theology, Tovia Singer / jmclatchie

One of the most remarkable prophecies in the Hebrew Bible is to be found in Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Written some seven centuries before Christ, it depicts in graphic detail the passion of Israel’s Messiah. The discovery of the Isaiah scroll amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, together with the fact that the Hebrew Bible has been in the custody of both the Jews and Christians, leaves no room for doubt that the text of Isaiah that we read today predates the life and ministry of Christ.

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Is There a Progressive Embellishment Among the Gospels? A Reply to Rabbi Tovia Singer

2 Comments / Adoptionism, Biblical Reliability, Critics of Christianity, Deity of Christ, Development Theories, Theology, Tovia Singer / jmclatchie

Contrary to Rabbi Singer’s assertions, Mark does not affirm an adoptionist Christology (and in fact affirms Christ’s deity). Though there are undoubtedly more statements of Jesus’ deity in John, it is simply untrue that these claims are absent from the synoptic gospels. Singer’s development arguments regarding the resurrection and anti-Semitism also collapse upon further inspection.

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Are There Colossal Contradictions in the Gospels? A Reply to Rabbi Tovia Singer

1 Comment / Bible Contradictions, Biblical Reliability, Critics of Christianity, Tovia Singer, Undesigned Coincidences / jmclatchie

Though the alleged discrepancies offered by Rabbi Singer require some investigation to untangle, closer inspection — and more careful reading of the relevant texts — reveals the arguments to be unfounded. The solutions that I have offered to these challenges are not strained or forced harmonizations, but rather are suggested from within the texts themselves.

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Book Review: The Anatomy of Deconversion, by John Marriott

1 Comment / Apologetic Method, Book Reviews, Dealing with Doubts / jmclatchie

For many years, I have had a fascination for the reasons why people deconvert from the Christian faith. I was therefore interested to pick up The Anatomy of Deconversion: Keys to a Lifelong Faith in a Culture Abandoning Christianity, by John Marriott, a professor of philosophy at Biola University.

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JONATHAN MCLATCHIE

jmclatchie