The image above represents the views of the vast majority of Christian denominations, organizations and groups. The quotes below indicate how much belief in the Triune God is considered to be orthodox, or normal, for Christians.
“God is triune; there are within the Godhead three persons; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”—J J Packer
“The Holy Spirit, part of the Triune God Himself, lives in the hearts of each person who believes in the gospel of Jesus Christ—Billy Graham
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Today, critics often assert that the Gospel of John was written in the 100’s CE, not by the apostle John, but by someone, or even multiple writers, who weren’t even born until long after Jesus’ death. These critics, of course, deny the inspiration by God’s holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16), “as they do also the rest of the scriptures” (2 Peter 3:16 NKJV). Although the Gospel of John was written anonymously, it is important for us to know when, and by whom, was the gospel of John written, if possible. Every extant manuscript that includes the beginning of the book names John as the writer. Was this “John” someone other than the apostle John? This article investigates and analyzes the facts.
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN WAS WRITTEN AFTER THE OTHER GOSPELS
The writer of John apparently had the other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, before him as he wrote, and he tried to fill in some of the gaps, because about 92% of the book of John contains unique material. Clement of Alexandria, who lived in the late 100’s to early 200’s, reported that John wrote to supplement the accounts found in the other Gospels. “Last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain [in the other canonical gospels] . . . composed a spiritual gospel” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 6.14.7). This, of course, means that the Gospel of John was written after Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
The issue of whether Christians can be homosexuals is hotly debated today. Those who say “No” to this question are often labeled as “narrow-minded,” “bigoted,” “homophobic,” “hateful,” “divisive,” etc.
Make no mistake about it, God loves people! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NASB). But, does God’s love and concern for everyone mean that people have carte blanche to act any way they want without consequences? “The Lord . . . doesn’t want to destroy anyone but wants all people to have an opportunity to turn to him and change the way they think and act” (2 Peter 3:9 GWT). No, “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (Romans 14:12 NIV).
The BBC article below asks if physics can prove that God exists. In this BBC article (reproduced below), notice in the paragraph above the photo under the subheading “The Multiverse,” the statement that “our universe seems fine-tuned for life to exist”. We naturally ask, “How could fine-tuning occur without a designer?” Could a fine-tuned machine exist without a designer? Obviously not. This secular article gives some evidence that physics proves God exists!
Researchers are doing commendable work to try to eliminate disease and cancer. The BBC article below is an example of how Darwinism is assumed to be true in this context. There are innumerable living things on earth, and new ones are being discovered all the time. As the Bible says, “O LORD, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you made them all. The earth is full of your creatures” (Psalm 104:24 NLT). Do living things gradually change from one species to another species over the course of millions of years, as Darwinism claims? Notice Merriam-Webster’s definition of Darwinism:
ESA. The dark red represents the highest density of ice crystals, snowflakes and raindropsOur Introductory Comments
The BBC News article featured above (and below) focuses on clouds and new things scientists are learning about them. While clouds are common there is still a lot that humans don’t know. But, God fully understands them, because he created, and controls, them, as the book of Job illustrates with word pictures 3,500 years ago:
“He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight”—Job 26:8 NIV
“The clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind, Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds”—Job 36:28,29 NIV
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is said by many to be Almighty God, “God the Son,” the second person of the Trinity. However, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is mentioned in the Bible as being God’s “servant.” In view of the claims that Jesus is Almighty God, how can he be God’s servant? First, let’s look at some of the claims about him:
“Peter’s sermon identifies Jesus with the ‘I Am’ of Israel’s history”—The Word In Life Study Bible, page 1928, citing Acts 3:11-26 as “proof.”
Ancient long distance travelers were dependent upon having adequate water during their journeys, which could take days or months. This was especially true when traveling through deserts. In the case of caravans of animals carrying heavy loads, the need of large amounts of water was extremely important. That made the oasis of Tema a popular and indispensable stop for Sabean traders traversing across the major north-south in the Arabian desert. Notice the Bible’s passing reference to the oasis of Tema:
Susa (Shushan) was the city of the summer palace of ancient Persian kings. It is the setting of the Bible book of Esther. “At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa” (Esther 1:2 NIV). A team of French archaeologists working there during the 1970’s discovered some locations mentioned in Esther. One of these very interesting finds is was a large gate at Susa, known as “the King’s gate,” (also called the Great Gate), which is mentioned 11 times in Esther (Esther 2:19,21; 3:2,3; 4:2,6; 5:9,13; 6:10,12).
Who wrote the book of Zechariah? And When was it written? Before the sixteenth century, the writership of the book of Zechariah was unanimously believed to have been written by “the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo,” beginning “in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius” king of Persia, in 520 BCE (Zechariah 1:1 ESV).
Theories of Different Writers
So, who wrote the book of Zechariah? And when was it written? Let’s look at some of the viewpoints about this.