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Did the brain evolve, or was it created?
“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV). The ability to develop thoughts and learn has to have come from God. The brain, where thoughts are developed, is far too complex to have evolved without design. Recent discoveries continue to give evidence of this.
“Scientists achieved “a milestone” by charting the activity and structure of 200,000 cells in a mouse brain and their 523 million connections.
A neuron extends an axon to make contact with other neurons. A team of more than 100 scientists recorded the cellular activity and mapped the structure in a cubic millimeter of a mouse’s brain.
Skeptics and critics of the Bible often claim that the gospel of John contradicts the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, in reporting Jesus died before, rather than after, the Passover. Did Jesus die before, or after, Passover?
Alleged contradiction:
Was Jesus crucified on the daytime before the Passover meal or the daytime after?
(a) After (Mark 14:12-17)
(b) Before. Before the feast of the Passover (John 13:1) Judas went out at night (John 13:30). The other
disciples thought he was going out to buy supplies to prepare for the Passover meal (John 13:29). When
Jesus was arrested, the Jews did not enter Pilate’s judgment hall because they wanted to stay clean to
eat the Passover (John 18:28). When the judgment was pronounced against Jesus, it was about the sixth
hour on the day of Preparation for the Passover (John 19:14)
Critics and skeptics of the Bible claim that Luke 2:2 contradicts history by saying that Quirinius was “governor of Syria” at the time of Jesus’ birth, because reliable historical records indicate that Quirinius held the position from 6 to 9 CE.
“In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria. all went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem . . . He went to registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child”—Luke 2:1-6 NRSV
“The Prayer of Nabonidus is a legendary account preserved in Aramaic that describes the punishment and healing of the Babylonian king Nabonidus. In the Prayer of Nabonidus, the recovery from the imposed illness is attributed to the recognition of the God of the Jews as the highest and only God. The text has only been preserved in fragments of a single manuscript, which was found together with numerous other scrolls by Bedouins in 1952 in Cave 4 near Qumran on the Dead Sea. It is now in the possession of the Israel Museum.”—Wikipedia
Critics and skeptics of the Bible have alleged many contradictions. One of their less common claims is that the gospels have a contradiction about the centurion’s words at Jesus’ death.
Alleged contradiction:
What did the centurion say when Jesus dies?
(a) “Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47)
(b) “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39)
The centurion made both statements. Gospel writers Matthew and Mark record one statement, and gospel writer Luke records another confession by the centurion. This is why we have four gospels. The alleged contradiction narrow-mindedly assumes the centurion could not have made both statements.
The Trinity is a doctrine in crisis these days.
The following article, entitled “Most Americans Don’t Believe In The Trinity”, was published on March 30, 2025 in The Christian Post:
“An overwhelming majority of Christians reject the basic Christian teaching of the Trinity, prompting new concerns that Americans are living without the influence of “the truths and life principles of God.”
The Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University released the latest installment of its American Worldview Inventory series which documents Americans’ views on the Trinity. The research is based on responses collected from 2,100 adults in January.
Overall, just 40% of respondents believe that God exists and affects people’s lives. That figure rises to 53% among self-identified Christians, 60% among theologically-identified born-again Christians, and 100% among Integrated Disciples. The latter term refers to those who have a biblical worldview. While a majority of those surveyed (59%) believe in the existence of Jesus Christ, a significantly smaller share of adults (29%) believe in the Holy Spirit.
Slightly more than 1 in 10 respondents (11%) believe in the Trinity, that the God of the Bible is “three distinct but inseparable and equal persons in one infinite Being.” The persons in the Trinity are God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Belief in the Trinity, characterized by the Cultural Research Center as a “fundamental tenet of Christianity,” increases to 16% among self-identified Christians, 24% among theologically-identified born-again Christians and 62% among Integrated Disciples.
“These results are further evidence of the limited or lack of trust Americans have in the Bible, the limitations we place on the authority and influence of God, and our refusal to cooperate with God by living in harmony with His ways and purposes,” said CRC Director of Research George Barna in response to the survey results. “Even the statistics for the groups that are most in-tune with biblical teachings, such as belief in the nature and impact of the Trinity, are shockingly low for a nation in which most people claim to be Christian.”
The gospels seem to contradict about who carried Jesus’ cross, which critics seize upon.
Seeming contradiction:
Did Jesus bear his own cross?
(a) Yes (John 19:17)
(b) No (Matthew 27:31-32)
THE PROBLEM
Who carried the crossbeam or pole?
· Matthew 27:32 – Simon
Mark 15:21 – Simon
· Luke 23:26 – Simon
· John 19:17 – Jesus
THE EXPLANATION
These divergent details, rather than being contradictions, actually are complimentary, and give powerful evidence the gospel writers are telling the truth, rather than copying from a single fictional account, or writing new fiction, in which the details are harmonized, or smoothed out.
Skeptics and critics have claimed the gospels contradict about what time Jesus was crucified.
Alleged “contradiction”:
Where was Jesus at the sixth hour on the day of the crucifixion?
(a) On the cross (Mark 15:23)
(b) In Pilate’s court (John 19:14)
The issue here is:
What was the time of day when Jesus handed over to be crucified and put on cross:
· Mark 15:25 – “It was the third hour when they crucified him” (ESV). “That is, 9 A. M.” – ESV footnote on Mark 15:25
· John 19:14-16 – “Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, ‘Behold your king!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your king?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus” (ESV). “That is, about noon” – ESV footnote on John 19:14
Since the 1860’s faked embryo drawings have been used by evolutionists to mislead many into believing that Darwinian evolutionary theory is scientifically true.
“Your eyes could see my embryo” (Psalm 139:16 NJB).
Georges Romanes’ 1892 copy of Ernst Haeckel’s fraudulent embryo drawings, from his book Darwin Illustrated.
“Watch out that no one deceives you” (Matthew 24:4 NIV).
But unsuspecting people, including schoolchildren, many have been deceived by such drawings purportedly representing actual biological embryos.