Daily Defense Podcast

#366 What This Book Doesn’t Cover - Jimmy Akin Jan 01, 2024

DAY 366 CHALLENGE “This book doesn’t include my objection to the Faith!” DEFENSE A single book can only do so much. Therefore, let me recommend some more resources that may help. The Handbook of Catholic Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli: This is an excellent survey of the general evidences for the Christian faith, written by a pair of scholars who communicate in a manner easily accessible to all. Scaling the Secular City by J.P. Moreland: This was one of the first apologetic books I read when I began studying the field. Dr. Moreland is an outstanding scholar who carries …

#365 Ancient Scriptures - Jimmy Akin Dec 31, 2023

DAY 365 CHALLENGE “Why should I pay attention to the Bible at all? It’s an ancient book written by people of limited understanding. Besides, other religions have their own scriptures, too. Why are they any less important?” DEFENSE The Christian scriptures are unique and valuable. The mere fact that the books of the Bible were written a long time ago is no reason to look down on or dismiss them. To do so would be chrono-logical snobbery. Just because a person wrote before you doesn’t mean that person was wrong. If it did, we would have to dismiss all works written in the past, obliter…

#364 The Cosmic Teapot - Jimmy Akin Dec 30, 2023

DAY 364 CHALLENGE “As an atheist, I may not be able to prove God doesn’t exist, but I also can’t prove there isn’t, orbiting between Earth and Mars, a teapot too small to be detected by telescopes. If I don’t have to believe in the latter, I don’t have to believe in the former.” DEFENSE This argument is subject to a number of objections. First, it was originally proposed by the philosopher Bertrand Russell as an answer to believers who felt atheists have the burden of proof regarding the existence of God (see “Is There a God?” The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, vol. 11). From th…

#363 Antipopes - Jimmy Akin Dec 29, 2023

DAY 363 CHALLENGE “There can’t be an ‘unbroken line’ of popes going back to Peter. Look at the vacancies between popes, and at the antipopes.” DEFENSE The “unbroken line” claim may be found in the writings of individual Catholics, but it is difficult to find it in any official Church documents. Nevertheless, it expresses a truth: There is a line of popes (bishops of Rome) that we can trace in historical succession, going back to Peter. The statement that it is unbroken must be understood in the sense that those who make the claim intend, otherwise a straw man will result. This means …

#362 A Multiplicity of Gods? - Jimmy Akin Dec 28, 2023

DAY 362 CHALLENGE “Why can’t there be a multiplicity of gods?” DEFENSE The answer depends on what you mean by “gods.” In classical paganism, the gods people typically worshipped were not infinite, eternal beings. Instead, they were understood to be superhuman but finite beings who came into existence at some point. (Thus Osiris’s father was Geb, Zeus’s father was Chronos, Thor’s father was Odin.) It is possible for there to be multiple superhuman beings. That could be the case even in the natural world. There might be creatures in the physical universe who are more intelligent, more po…

#361 Homosexual Unions Not Marriages - Jimmy Akin Dec 27, 2023

DAY 361 CHALLENGE “Why shouldn’t people of the same sex be allowed to marry one another?” DEFENSE It’s not so much a question of what should be allowed as of what is possible. Marriage involves a reality that can only exist between a man and a woman. Marriage is a union of a man and a woman that is oriented toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring (CCC 1601). No other kind of union is a marriage. Since before recorded history, men and women have united to care for each other and to bring up children. That happens in every culture, no m…

#360 Evolution and the Benefits of Religion - Jimmy Akin Dec 26, 2023

DAY 360 CHALLENGE “If religion has benefits for individuals and groups, why can’t we say that evolution has favored the development of religion, even though it has no bearing on reality.” DEFENSE Religion does have benefits (see Day 283), but this doesn’t lead to the conclusion that religious beliefs are false. If it were possible to dismiss a belief as having no bearing on reality simply because adopting it has benefits from an evolutionary point of view (i.e., promoting the survival and reproduction of those who hold it), then we would have to dismiss a vast number of beliefs. …

#359 Keeping the Sabbath - Jimmy Akin Dec 25, 2023

DAY 359 CHALLENGE “Why do Catholics worship on Sunday instead of keeping the Sabbath? The (Saturday) Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments, which Catholics recognize as expressing the moral law (CCC 1962).” DEFENSE The Sabbath command is unique among the Ten Commandments in that it incorporates both moral and ceremonial aspects. The Catechism of Trent states: The other commandments of the Decalogue are precepts of the natural law, obligatory at all times and unalterable. Hence, after the abrogation of the Law of Moses, all the commandments contained in the [Ten Commandments] are ob…

#358 The Cumulative Case for God - Jimmy Akin Dec 24, 2023

DAY 358 CHALLENGE “There is no one argument that demonstrates the Christian God exists. At most, each points to only a single aspect of the Christian God.” DEFENSE The arguments are not meant to be used individually. They’re meant to be combined in a cumulative case. It would be possible to combine all the arguments into a single, highly complex argument, with many subarguments (similar to the way a computer program contains many subroutines). However, such an argument would be excessively difficult to follow. Consequently, apologists through the ages have broken the overall argument …

#357 Christianity and Pacifism - Jimmy Akin Dec 23, 2023

DAY 357 CHALLENGE “For Christians, violence is never permitted. Jesus teaches strict pacifism when he says, ‘Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also’ (Matt. 5:39).” DEFENSE What Jesus teaches in one passage must be read in light of what he teaches elsewhere. Jesus’ statement about turning the other cheek occurs in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7), but in the same discourse he draws a distinction between the natural, human response and a supernatural response that goes beyond it. The first is morally acceptable, but i…

#356 Appearance of Age? - Jimmy Akin Dec 22, 2023

DAY 356 CHALLENGE “The Catholic Church is wrong to express appreciation for scientific studies on the origins of the universe, life, and man (see CCC 283). Contrary to modern scientific ideas, the universe is only a few thousand years old. God created it with the appearance of age, just like he created Adam as an adult.” DEFENSE This view creates problems for God’s truthfulness. The challenge is based on an overly literal interpretation of Genesis (see Days 90, 290, and 339). However, if we assume for the moment God did create Adam as an adult, there would be a very good reason: Human …

#355 Legislating Religious Views - Jimmy Akin Dec 21, 2023

DAY 355 CHALLENGE “People shouldn’t legislate their religious views. We live in a democracy, and not everybody has the same religion.” DEFENSE This challenge is problematic on several grounds. First, it assumes people in a democracy shouldn’t vote according to their beliefs. This is false. Democracies exist precisely to allow people to express their will regarding how society should be governed. Saying that they should not vote their will simply because it is informed by their religious views and others disagree with those views, is contrary to the fundamental enterprise of democracy…

#354 Catholic Teaching on Merit - Jimmy Akin Dec 20, 2023

DAY 354 CHALLENGE “Catholic theology of merit is false. We can’t earn our place before God.” DEFENSE The Church does not teach that we can earn our place before God. Everything we receive from him is due to his grace. When we first come to God and are justified, it is entirely by his grace, for “none of those things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merit the grace of justification” (Trent, Decree on Justification 8). After our initial justification, God’s grace leads us to do good works (Eph. 2:10) and he rewards these (Rom. 2:6–7), but still, “with regard to God, th…

#353 Religion as a Human Universal - Jimmy Akin Dec 19, 2023

DAY 353 CHALLENGE “Okay, religion is a human universal—something that’s found in all cultures. That doesn’t mean that it’s true, and it certainly doesn’t mean that Christianity is true.” DEFENSE Nobody would argue that because religion is a human universal, Christianity must be true. That would be excessively simplistic. Instead, the argument is that the fact that religion is a human universal points to there being a religious dimension to the world. The starting point for this argument is recognizing the universality of religion in human cultures. There have been no cultures without…

#352 A Fallible Canon? - Jimmy Akin Dec 18, 2023

DAY 352 CHALLENGE “We don’t need the Church to infallibly settle the canon of Scripture; we have a fallible collection of infallible books. Further, the Catholic Church didn’t even attempt to define the canon for centuries.” DEFENSE There are several responses to this challenge. First, if you want to claim we have certain knowledge that all the books included in the canon belong there, then you do need an infallible authority. Although some Protestants have been willing to say our knowledge of the canon is fallible (“a fallible collection of infallible books”), many find this prospect …

#351 The Standard of Goodness - Jimmy Akin Dec 17, 2023

DAY 351 CHALLENGE “If something is good just because God says it is, then morality is arbitrary. But if there’s an independent standard of morality that even God is bound to, that means there exists something besides God that is eternal and that is able to bind God.” DEFENSE God is the ultimate standard of goodness. A version of this argument was proposed in Plato’s dialogue Euthyphro around 400 B.C. In it, Socrates debates whether piety is whatever the gods love or whether the gods love something because it is pious. In philosophy, this has become known as the “Euthyphro dilemma.” T…

#350 Objective Righteousness - Jimmy Akin Dec 16, 2023

DAY 350 CHALLENGE “Catholic teaching on justification is confused. Catholics hold that, when God justifies us, he gives us more than legal righteousness, yet we obviously aren’t fully righteous in our behavior.” DEFENSE This concern is caused by the categories used to look at the question. In the Protestant community, justification (here meaning the initial justification at the beginning of the Christian life) is usually thought to involve the bestowal of only legal righteousness (sometimes called “forensic” righteousness). On this model, God acts like a courtroom judge and declares th…

#349 Binding and Loosing - Jimmy Akin Dec 15, 2023

DAY 349 CHALLENGE “Peter didn’t have any special authority, because Jesus gave the power of binding and loosing to others. This simply refers to the ability to preach the gospel and admit people to the kingdom, as Peter did with Jews on Pentecost (Acts 2) and Gentiles with the household of Cornelius (Acts 10–11).” DEFENSE This interpretation does not fit the text or the context. First, while Jesus gave the power of binding and loosing both to Peter (Matt. 16:19b) and to others (Matt. 18:18), this wasn’t the thing that made Peter unique (cf. CCC 881). In addition to giving him this au…

#348 God Is Unscientific? - Jimmy Akin Dec 14, 2023

DAY 348 CHALLENGE “Belief in God is unscientific.” DEFENSE This challenge can mean different things, but none show that God does not exist or that it is unreasonable to believe in him. The statement that something is “unscientific” can mean different things. Taken in the most charitable sense, it would mean that the methodology used by science (i.e., scientific method) cannot establish the existence of God. Although this view is widely held among both scientists and theologians, it is not clear that this is the case. The scientific method involves proposing an explanation b…

#347 The Dating of Matthew - Jimmy Akin Dec 13, 2023

DAY 347 CHALLENGE “Matthew’s Gospel isn’t reliable. It was written long after the events by a non-eyewitness.” DEFENSE Matthew was written by an eyewitness within living memory of the events it records. We elsewhere cover that the names of the evangelists were not made up at a later date and that they indicate actual authors of the Gospels (see Days 109 and 146). Matthew’s Gospel was already called by that name in the first century, as shown by the testimony of the first-cen- tury figure John the Presbyter (Eusebius, Church History 3:39:16). The evidence thus points to Matthew the ap…

#346 Security and Sonship - Jimmy Akin Dec 12, 2023

DAY 346 CHALLENGE “Believers are eternally secure in their salvation. We cannot lose our salvation because when we come to God and believe, we become his sons (John 1:12–13; Rom. 8:14–23; Gal. 4:3–6; 1 John 3:1). And once you are a son, you can’t cease to be a son.” DEFENSE This presses the concept of sonship beyond its limits and fails to do justice to other things the biblical text indicates. First, the concept of Christian sonship involves a metaphor. We are not children of God the way we are children of our earthly parents. Furthermore, Scripture uses this metaphor in more than on…

#345 Religion versus Relationship - Jimmy Akin Dec 11, 2023

DAY 345 CHALLENGE “God doesn’t want us to have religion; he just wants us to have a relationship with him.” DEFENSE This is not the biblical way of thinking. Linguists are familiar with a phenomenon that occurs when a new way of talking about a subject is introduced. At first, it may be perceived as innovative and attention-getting. If it becomes popular, however, it loses these connotations and becomes a standard mode of expression. Eventually, it may become so rote that it loses its rhetorical punch and people start looking for a new, more arresting way to express the idea. We see …

#344 Purgatory in 1 Corinthians - Jimmy Akin Dec 10, 2023

DAY 344 CHALLENGE “1 Corinthians 3 isn’t a good text for purgatory: (1) Paul speaks of ministers, not ordinary people; (2) their works are being tested, not them; and (3) this happens at Judgment Day, not the end of life.” DEFENSE None of these objections deprive the passage of its evidential value. First, in 1 Corinthians 3:10–17, Paul uses a metaphor comparing the Corinthian church to a temple. He laid its foundation, and others are now building on that. In the surrounding context, Paul refers to other ministers (Apollos and Peter), but he doesn’t limit his remarks to ministers. He s…

#343 Non-Christian Miracles - Jimmy Akin Dec 09, 2023

DAY 343 CHALLENGE “Why should I be Christian when other religions report miracles? Why would God even allow non-Christians to have miracles?” DEFENSE There are several explanations for reports of miracles in non-Christian circles, but none undermine the value of Christianity’s central miracle, the Resurrection. There are reports of supernatural phenomena in religions all over the world, but most are minor and are not investigated, and so their actual status is unclear. Some may be misinterpreted natural phenomena, some may be imaginary, and some may be frauds. (This applies to phenom…

#342 Imprecatory Psalms - Jimmy Akin Dec 08, 2023

DAY 342 CHALLENGE “Some psalms contain violent and bloodthirsty language that calls down wrath upon (imprecates) one’s enemies.” DEFENSE The key to understanding these is recognizing their genre and the modes of language they employ. The psalms were written in a world in which people experienced many violent acts that were bound to stir up powerful emotions. Expressing an emotion, however, is not the same thing as literally performing an act, much less does it mean God would approve of literally performing the act. The psalms thus use hyperbolic language to express emotions without imp…

#341 How Many Good Works? - Jimmy Akin Dec 07, 2023

DAY 341 CHALLENGE “Catholics can’t have assurance of salvation because the Church teaches justification by faith plus works, meaning that they will always have to be wondering whether they have done enough good works to be justified and enter heaven.” DEFENSE This is not what the Church teaches. We elsewhere cover the fact that the Church does not use the phrase “justification by faith and works” (see Day 222). What the Church does teach is that “in those who are born again God hates nothing, because there is no condemnation to those who are truly buried together with Christ by bapti…

#340 Reincarnation and the Bible - Jimmy Akin Dec 06, 2023

DAY 340 CHALLENGE “The Bible originally taught reincarnation, but the relevant passages were struck out by the Council of Nicaea.” DEFENSE This claim is not credible for numerous reasons. First, the surviving records of the First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) and the Second Council of Nicaea (A.D. 787), as well as the writings of those who took part in them, give no indication the topic of reincarnation was even discussed, much less was anything as dramatic as taking passages out of the Bible contemplated. Second, the fathers of these councils regarded Scripture as the inspired word of …

#339 The Use of Alcohol - Jimmy Akin Dec 05, 2023

DAY 339 CHALLENGE “Catholics are wrong to allow the use of alcohol. Jesus would never have approved of it. In the Bible, there were two types of wine—fermented and unfermented—and only the second, also known as ‘new wine,’ is ever endorsed.” DEFENSE The Bible contains multiple warnings against drunkenness (Prov. 20:1, Isa. 5:11–12, Luke 21:34, 1 Cor. 6:10, Eph. 5:18). But it does not condemn the moderate use of alcohol. In the biblical languages, as in English, the term “wine” (Hebrew, yayin; Greek, oinos) is used to refer to the fermented juice of grapes. Even “new wine” was ferment…

#338 Unanswered Prayer - Jimmy Akin Dec 04, 2023

DAY 338 CHALLENGE “Unanswered prayer disproves Christ’s teaching on prayer. Jesus said, ‘If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you’ (Matt. 17:20b). But experience shows that we can’t do such things by prayer.” DEFENSE Jesus’ teaching is more complex than this challenge suggests. It doesn’t involve a promise that we’ll always get what we ask. First, Jesus makes the statement when the disciples have just failed to exorcise a demon. When they ask why they were unable to dr…

#337 Extraordinary Claims, Extraordinary Evidence - Jimmy Akin Dec 03, 2023

DAY 337 CHALLENGE “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Religion makes extraordinary claims, therefore we must have extraordinary evidence for them.” DEFENSE This depends on what you mean by “extraordinary.” In its original sense, extraordinary refers to things outside of or different from the ordinary. It thus refers to anything uncommon. However, the term has acquired an additional sense, according to which extraordinary refers to things that are startling, overwhelming, or awe-inspiring. Used this way, the term becomes subjective, because different people find different…

#336 Practical and Evidential Reason - Jimmy Akin Dec 02, 2023

DAY 336 CHALLENGE “Belief without evidence is irrational. A rational man will proportion his beliefs strictly according to the evidence.” DEFENSE Actions are irrational if they’re done contrary to reason, but not all reasons are evidential. We sometimes have practical rather than evidential reasons. Suppose you are fleeing danger and the only way to escape certain death is to leap across a chasm. Suppose further that the chasm is wide enough you can’t tell whether leaping it is within your ability, but if you lose confidence you will certainly fail. In this situation, you have a practi…

#335 Solo Magisterio - Jimmy Akin Dec 01, 2023

DAY 335 CHALLENGE “Catholics may claim that they rely on Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium, but the Magisterium has the final say. What Catholics really believe in is solo magisterio (“by the Magisterium alone”). It could make up anything, and Catholics would have to believe it.” DEFENSE This claim does not stand up to analysis. First, the Magisterium is not itself a source of the Faith. Its function is to proclaim and clarify what is found in Scripture and Tradition, which together “make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God” (CCC 97). Scripture and Tradition thus re…

#334 Legislating Morality - Jimmy Akin Nov 30, 2023

DAY 334 CHALLENGE “People should not try to legislate morality.” DEFENSE Any degree of scrutiny causes this claim to fall apart. First, law deals with the ordering of human affairs—what people are and are not to do—and this has an inescapably moral dimension. This is obvious with laws prohibiting things like murder and rape, but it is true of legislation in general. Laws that redistribute wealth or raise public funds to be spent on certain projects imply a set of values. Even laws that seem completely arbitrary from one perspective (e.g., drive on the right side of the road rather than…

#333 The Limits of Science - Jimmy Akin Nov 29, 2023

DAY 333 CHALLENGE “Why shouldn’t science be the ultimate guide to truth in all matters?” DEFENSE Because some truths are inaccessible to science. First, there are many subjects in life where it would be foolish to try to apply the scientific method. For example, it would be foolish for a man who desires to know if his wife still loves him to subject her to a series of scientific tests. Even if such tests were well designed, they would be likely to crush her remaining affection for him. This is a case where the attempt to impose scientific method disturbs the very thing being observed …

#332 The Assumption of Mary - Jimmy Akin Nov 28, 2023

DAY 332 CHALLENGE “The Assumption of Mary isn’t taught anywhere in the Bible.” DEFENSE From a Catholic perspective, it doesn’t have to be. The idea theology should be done sola scriptura (Latin, “by Scripture alone”) is a distinctly Protestant idea not shared by most Christians. It also has numerous difficulties (see Days 5, 16, 311, and 352). In general, it is better to sort out how theology is to be done before engaging in apologetic discussions of issues, like the Assumption of Mary, that depend significantly on apostolic Tradition not recorded in Scripture. If a Protestant dialogue…

#331 God’s Hiddenness - Jimmy Akin Nov 27, 2023

DAY 331 CHALLENGE “If God really exists and wants us to know him, why doesn’t he make his existence more obvious to us?” DEFENSE This is a subcase of the problem of evil—specifically, why God would allow us to have less knowledge of him than we would prefer to have. Its solutions fall along the same lines as other aspects of the problem of evil. God could make it undeniably obvious that he exists, and it is commonly understood he will do so in the next life, paralleling the way he will vanquish evil in the next life in general. Why God remains partially hidden in this life is a myste…

#330 The Father Is Greater Than I - Jimmy Akin Nov 26, 2023

DAY 330 CHALLENGE “Jesus can’t be God if he said, ‘The Father is greater than I’ (John 14:28).” DEFENSE The divinity of Christ is consistent with Jesus’ statement. Jesus has the same nature as his Father: They are both divine, both God. This does not mean that the Son doesn’t hold a lesser place in other respects. To consider a human analogy, both a father and a son are equal in nature, but the father ranks higher in the relationships within the family. Further, if he sends his son on a mission, the son has a lower place with respect to the mission: He is the one sent, not the sender. …

#329 Why Isn’t the Bible Clearer? - Jimmy Akin Nov 25, 2023

DAY 329 CHALLENGE “If God wants us to know him, and if the Bible is his word, why isn’t it clearer?” DEFENSE Several answers may be given. First, much of the Bible is quite clear, including many of its main teachings (e.g., there is one God, who created the world, and who loves man enough to send his Son to die on a cross so we might be saved from our sins). So is the main sequence of events it narrates. For the most part, it tends to be the subsidiary points that are less clear. Second, the Bible was written in a certain period of time and in a certain culture. It therefore reflects…

#328 Objections to Papal Infallibility - Jimmy Akin Nov 24, 2023

DAY 328 CHALLENGE “The pope is a sinful man who makes mistakes. Therefore, he can’t be infallible.” DEFENSE The premise of this challenge is true; the conclusion is false. The pope is a sinful man, but this does not lead to the conclusion that he can’t be infallible. Sinlessness—sometimes called impeccability—operates in a different sphere than infallibility does. Sinlessness is a quality pertaining to the moral order: It means not making a mistake in the sphere of one’s own moral behavior. Infallibility is a quality pertaining to the doctrinal order: It deals with not making a mistake…

#327 The Triumphal Entry - Jimmy Akin Nov 23, 2023

DAY 327 CHALLENGE “Matthew contradicts the other Gospels when he says that Jesus used two animals during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It also, absurdly, says he rode both at once.” DEFENSE There is no contradiction, and he didn’t ride both at once. When two things are involved in an encounter, the evangelists frequently simplify their recounting of the event by mentioning only one (see Day 37). This is within the level of descriptive approximation one expects (see Day 258). Here Matthew gives the fuller account by mentioning both animals (Matt. 21:2), while the others simplify b…

#326 Separation from God - Jimmy Akin Nov 22, 2023

DAY 326 CHALLENGE “We know we can’t lose our salvation by committing mortal sin because Scripture says we can’t be separated from God (John 6:37, 39, 10:27–29, Rom. 8:38–39).” DEFENSE None of those biblical passages show that we cannot separate ourselves from God. John 6:37 states: “All that the Father gives me will come to me; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.” Jesus will not cast us out, but that doesn’t mean we can’t leave Jesus voluntarily. John 6:39 states: “this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at t…

#325 The Individual and the Canon of Scripture - Jimmy Akin Nov 21, 2023

DAY 325 CHALLENGE “Why shouldn’t the individual decide for himself what books belong in the Bible?” DEFENSE God didn’t promise to guide individuals in this way. It’s also a dangerous thing to try. First, how would an individual decide what books are canonical? Some have claimed these books are “self-authenticating” or that the Holy Spirit will provide what amounts to a private revelation to the individual, but neither proposal works (see Days 229 and 236). An individual might establish that certain books are reliable historical records (e.g., that the Gospels reliably record the minis…

#324 Genesis and Ancient Texts - Jimmy Akin Nov 20, 2023

DAY 324 CHALLENGE “Genesis can’t be the word of God because it borrows from pagan texts.” DEFENSE God can interact with pagan works if he chooses. Proposed parallels between the Old Testament and pagan sources are often exaggerated. Other times they may be due to independent development. When a parallel is not coincidence, it is possible that both the biblical and the pagan authors are drawing from a common, lost source. In some cases, a pagan author may draw from a biblical one! However, there are cases where biblical authors respond to or borrow from pagan ones. The Catholic attitude…

#323 Why Sacraments? - Jimmy Akin Nov 19, 2023

DAY 323 CHALLENGE “If what is ultimately important is our faith in God, then there is no reason for the Church to have sacraments.” DEFENSE Interior dispositions like faith are not the only thing that is important. We are also physical beings. The Church has sacraments because they correspond to human nature and thus Christ instituted them. Every religion has certain rites it regards as sacred. Such rites are a human universal, found in every religion, in every culture, which means they are rooted in human nature. Thus God made use of them in Juda- ism and Christianity. In Judaism, t…

#322 Old Testament Laws - Jimmy Akin Nov 18, 2023

DAY 322 CHALLENGE “Jesus was a Jew. If Christians are really his followers, why don’t they keep Old Testament laws like circumcision, eating kosher food, and so on? Jesus said he didn’t come to destroy the Law and not a jot or tittle would pass away from it (Matt. 5:17–18).” DEFENSE Such prescriptions were only binding on Jewish people before Jesus fulfilled the Law. Everyone must obey the natural, moral law God has placed in the human heart (Rom. 2:14–16; see Day 291). The Law of Moses includes many aspects of this law (CCC 1961), but it also adds provisions of a non-moral nature. The…

#321 An Evolutionary By-Product? - Jimmy Akin Nov 17, 2023

DAY 321 CHALLENGE “If human nature has a predisposition to religious belief (see Day 313), why can’t we explain this as an evolutionary by-product?” DEFENSE We can’t dismiss our religious disposition so easily. Religion requires a robust set of cognitive faculties, which is why humans have religion and less intelligent species do not. According to the theory of evolution, the needed faculties would have developed over a long period of time, with different aspects appearing among the different species that led up to the human race. This is no different than other faculties humans posse…

#320 Past, Present, and Future Sins - Jimmy Akin Nov 16, 2023

DAY 320 CHALLENGE “Once we are saved, we are always saved. We don’t need to worry about mortal sins, because when we are justified, God forgives all of our sins—past, present, and future.” DEFENSE Scripture teaches the opposite. It is, of course, true that when we come to God and are justified that he forgives all of our past sins. However, this is not true of present and future sins. One of the requirements for coming to God is repentance. Jesus’ own message was, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Repentance involves an actual turning away from sin (see Day 53). This mean…

#319 Objections to Pascal’s Wager - Jimmy Akin Nov 15, 2023

DAY 319 CHALLENGE “Pascal’s Wager is open to objections: (1) It isn’t based on evidence; (2) Christianity and skepticism aren’t the only two options we can choose; and (3) how do you know that God won’t perversely decide to put you in hell for placing your faith in him?” DEFENSE None of these objections overturn Paschal’s Wager. First, as we observe elsewhere (see Day 318), Pascal’s Wager is designed to deal with situations where an individual feels unable to make a decision based on evidence, yet where a decision must be made because not to choose would be to accept one position by de…

#318 Pascal’s Wager - Jimmy Akin Nov 14, 2023

DAY 318 CHALLENGE “I am unable to decide between Christianity and skepticism, and it doesn’t help to review the evidence. My dilemma seems insoluble.” DEFENSE In his Pensées, the French philosopher Blaise Pascal proposed a practical solution that became known as Pascal’s Wager. He proposed that, if evidential reasoning cannot settle the question for a particular person, then practical reasoning may (see Day 336). Pascal’s Wager can be put different ways (in fact, Pascal himself put it more than one way), but here we will follow his main presentation of it. He compared the decision of …

#317 The Last Supper and Passover - Jimmy Akin Nov 13, 2023

DAY 317 CHALLENGE “The synoptic Gospels say the Last Supper was a Passover meal, but John indicates it wasn’t (John 18:28, 19:14).” DEFENSE There are multiple resolutions to this challenge. First, there were disputes about the calendar in first-century Judaism. Some have proposed Jesus used a different calendar than the temple authorities, so he ate the Passover meal a day earlier than the Jewish authorities mentioned in John 18:28. Second, it’s been proposed Jesus simply celebrated the Passover a day early because he knew he was going to die. He made other changes to the meal as well…

#316 Bishops, Priests, and Deacons - Jimmy Akin Nov 12, 2023

DAY 316 CHALLENGE “In the New Testament, Church leadership wasn’t divided up among bishops, priests (aka presbyters/elders), and deacons. In particular, the office of bishop and elder were the same (Titus 1:5–7).” DEFENSE The offices of Church leadership developed during the first century under the guidance of the apostles. Originally, the only office in the Church was apostle. Jesus appointed the Twelve to serve as apostles toward the beginning of his ministry, around A.D. 30 or 31 (Matt. 10:1–4). He appointed others to temporary assignments, but not ongoing offices (Luke 10:1). Thus …

#315 The Limits of Infallibility - Jimmy Akin Nov 11, 2023

DAY 315 CHALLENGE “The Catholic Church claims a dangerous and sweeping power for itself when it says that it can teach infallibly. That means it can bind Catholics to believe anything.” DEFENSE There are limits to the Church’s ability to teach infallibly, and it is used far less frequently than many suppose. First, it is limited by topic. Christ didn’t give the Church the charism of infallibility so it could pronounce on just any subject. He gave it so the faithful could profess the Christian faith correctly (CCC 890). As a result, the Magisterium can infallibly teach truths that God…

#314 Omitting Doubted Books - Jimmy Akin Nov 10, 2023

DAY 314 CHALLENGE “If the deuterocanonical books were doubted by some early on, shouldn’t we err on the side of caution and omit them rather than risk adding to the word of God?” DEFENSE This is based on a faulty premise that would lead to dramatic consequences. First, the deuterocanonicals weren’t the only doubted books of the Old Testament. At least five additional books were disputed in the Pharisee tradition but later included in the canon of modern rabbinic Judaism (see Day 255). These books—Esther, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and Ezekiel—are sometimes referred to as…

#313 Born Believers - Jimmy Akin Nov 09, 2023

DAY 313 CHALLENGE “Religion is unnatural. Children are not born as believers but have to be indoctrinated into it.” DEFENSE On the contrary, children are naturally predisposed to religious belief. As scientists have shown using tests that measure the amount of attention babies pay to things, they are aware in the first year of life of the difference between beings with mind and intention (agents) and inanimate objects. Further tests have indicated that small children do not presuppose that agents are human or that they must be visible, and they are prepared to attribute superhuman le…

#312 Merit and Reward - Jimmy Akin Nov 08, 2023

DAY 312 CHALLENGE “Catholic teaching on merit is unbiblical. We can’t merit anything before God.” DEFENSE The term “merit” (Latin, meritum) refers to a reward. By extension, it has also come to refer to actions that God chooses to reward. The doctrine of merit is thus the biblical doctrine of rewards under another name. The Bible is clear that our actions in this life can affect the degree of reward we receive in heaven. Jesus told us: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is…

#311 Scripture as Final Authority? - Jimmy Akin Nov 07, 2023

DAY 311 CHALLENGE “We know that the Bible teaches we should do theology ‘by Scripture alone’ (sola scriptura) because Jesus and the apostles quote Scripture as their final authority.” DEFENSE This claim is demonstrably false. Although Jesus and the apostles quote from Scripture, all this shows is that they considered it an authority capable of settling questions it deals with, not that it was the only authority. Speaking of it as “their final authority” misleadingly assumes there was a single, final authority for them, but a person can have Scripture as an authority while also having…

#310 Historical Sins - Jimmy Akin Nov 06, 2023

DAY 310 CHALLENGE “Catholics have committed grave sins in history, including sins of avarice, intolerance, and persecution.” DEFENSE Yes, they have! Jesus did not come to make men sinless in this life but to make it possible for sinners to be saved. Sin is an ongoing reality (James 3:2; 1 John 1:8) against which we must struggle (1 Cor. 10:13). Jesus taught us to pray, on a regular basis, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12). We must also recognize that sins are not only committed against God; they affect those on earth, and their forgiveness must a…

#309 The Day of the Crucifixion - Jimmy Akin Nov 05, 2023

DAY 309 CHALLENGE “Jesus couldn’t have been crucified on a Friday. He rose Sunday morning, and he said he would be in the tomb “three days and three nights” (Matt. 12:40). There aren’t three days and nights between Friday and Sunday.” DEFENSE This fails to understand the modes of speech then used. In the most literal sense, “three days and three nights” means seventy- two hours. The Gospels agree Jesus died in the afternoon and was buried in the evening, just before the beginning of the Sabbath at sunset (Matt. 27:57; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54; John 19:42). If he remained buried for sev…

#308 Dunking, Pouring, or Sprinkling? - Jimmy Akin Nov 04, 2023

DAY 308 CHALLENGE “The only legitimate way to baptize is immersion.” DEFENSE There is more than one mode by which baptism can be performed. Different groups of Christians have baptized using three methods: imimmersion (dunking), affusion (pouring), and aspersion (sprinkling). There is misinformation in some circles about which the Catholic Church uses, with the claim being that it uses sprinkling and not immersion. However, Catholics do not use sprinkling, and they do use immersion. In fact, the Church acknowledges immersion as the most expressive way of administering baptism. The Cate…

#307 Devotional Use of Images - Jimmy Akin Nov 03, 2023

DAY 307 CHALLENGE “God may permit the use of religious images (see Day 179), but we should not kneel before or kiss them. The Bible says, ‘you shall not bow down to them’ (Exod. 20:5; Deut. 5:9), and it condemns those who have bent their knees to or kissed Ba’al (1 Kings 19:18).” DEFENSE These prohibitions apply to idols. If there is an idol—a statue of a pagan god—then you absolutely should not kneel before or kiss it! However, not all kneeling and kissing falls under this ban. Scripture contains innocent examples of kneeling (Judg. 7:5–6), bowing (Gen. 23:7, 12), prostration (1 Sam…

#306 Evolution and Faith - Jimmy Akin Nov 02, 2023

DAY 306 CHALLENGE “Faith and science are fundamentally opposed, as illustrated by Christians’ opposition to the theory of evolution.” DEFENSE The Catholic Church doesn’t have a problem with evolution. Some Christians have read the early chapters of Genesis in a way that would preclude evolution, but the Church recognizes these chapters as using significant symbolism (see Days 90 and 290). The statement God created man from the dust of the ground is understood as an affirmation that “the human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical …

#305 Referring to the Deuterocanonicals - Jimmy Akin Nov 01, 2023

DAY 305 CHALLENGE “If Jesus and the New Testament authors thought the deuterocanonical books were part of the canon, why doesn’t the Bible refer to them?” DEFENSE They do refer to them. The New Testament contains multiple allusions to the Deuterocanonicals. It does not contain clear quotations from them—or from many protocanonical books of the Old Testament (see Day 288)—but it does contain clear allusions. One of Jesus’ most famous teachings is that God’s willingness to forgive us is linked to our willingness to forgive others. This is expressed, for example, in the Lord’s Prayer: “A…

#304 God Hates Shrimp? - Jimmy Akin Oct 31, 2023

DAY 304 CHALLENGE “The book of Leviticus condemns homosexuality (Lev. 18:22), but it also condemns eating shrimp since they don’t have fins and scales (cf. Lev. 11:9–12). If we aren’t obliged to follow it when it comes to the latter, why should we follow it when it comes to the former?” DEFENSE Homosexuality is contrary to human nature; shrimp-eating is not. The Law of Moses (Gen.-Deut.) contains a variety of types of laws. Some, such as the prohibitions on murder, are based directly on human nature and apply to all cultures in all of history. Other laws, such as the observance of the …

#303 The Church’s Infallibility - Jimmy Akin Oct 30, 2023

DAY 303 CHALLENGE “Why should I think the Church can teach infallibly?” DEFENSE Reflection on Christ’s teaching reveals why. Christ did not reserve teaching authority to himself but established a teaching authority (Latin, magisterium) in his Church (see Day 281). This authority was originally vested in Peter and the apostles, and when they passed from the scene it was inherited by their successors, the pope, and the bishops (cf. 1 Tim. 3:2, 2 Tim. 2:2; Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3:3:1; CCC 861–62). Christ willed his Church to endure to the end of the world (Matt. 16:18), and teachin…

#302 Mortal Sin - Jimmy Akin Oct 29, 2023

DAY 302 CHALLENGE “There is no such thing as mortal sin.” DEFENSE The concept of mortal sin is clearly taught in Scripture. First, the language of the doctrine is drawn from Scripture itself: “If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrong-doing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal” (1 John 5:16–17). The phrase here translated “mortal” (Greek, pros thanaton) literally means “unto death.” It can be underst…

#301 The Church: Visible or Invisible? - Jimmy Akin Oct 28, 2023

DAY 301 CHALLENGE “Catholics are wrong to believe that Christ’s Church is a visible, hierarchical institution; it is the invisible union of all believers.” DEFENSE This does not fit the scriptural data. First, if Jesus wished to found an “invisible” Church, he wouldn’t have instituted baptism. As the Christian equivalent of circumcision (Col. 2:11–12), baptism is the Christian initiation ritual. It thus gives the Church an identifiable membership. Second, if Jesus didn’t wish to found a hierarchical Church, he wouldn’t have established a hierarchy. Yet he did. He appointed lead…

#300 The Dating of Mark - Jimmy Akin Oct 27, 2023

DAY 300 CHALLENGE “Mark’s Gospel isn’t reliable. It was written long after the events, and by a non-eyewitness.” DEFENSE Mark was written within living memory of the events it records, and it’s based on eyewitness testimony. We elsewhere deal with the fact that Mark wasn’t an eyewitness (see Day 44). Biographies are written all the time by people who aren’t eye- witnesses, and Mark was in an especially good position as a biographer because he based his Gospel on the testimony of an eyewitness: Peter. Thus the first-century figure John the Presbyter stated: Mark, having become the inter…

#299 The Timing of Christmas - Jimmy Akin Oct 26, 2023

DAY 299 CHALLENGE “Christians are wrong to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Jesus could not have been born then—it would have been too cold for the shepherds to keep their flocks outdoors (Luke 2:8).” DEFENSE There are several problems with this challenge. First, the Catholic Church celebrates Jesus’ birth on December 25, but this is a matter of custom rather than doctrine. It is not Church teaching that this is when Jesus was born (note that the matter isn’t even mentioned in the Catechism). Second, although most Christians today celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25, this was …

#298 Many Religions - Jimmy Akin Oct 25, 2023

DAY 298 CHALLENGE “When you look at all the different religions in world history, the odds of yours being the right one are low. We should conclude that religious truth, even if it exists, is unknowable.” DEFENSE This overlooks both the way religious views are structured and the role that evidence plays. Consider a parallel: Throughout history there have been many scientific theories about the way the world works, but they contradict one another and can’t all be true. The odds of a single theory being correct are thus low and we should conclude that, if scientific truth exists, it is u…

#297 Peter in Rome - Jimmy Akin Oct 24, 2023

DAY 297 CHALLENGE “The pope cannot be the successor of Peter as the bishop of Rome. Peter was never even in Rome.” DEFENSE The evidence indicates that Peter was in Rome at the end of his career, and that he was martyred there, along with Paul, around A.D. 67. In 1 Peter 5:13, Peter writes, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark.” This is commonly understood as a greeting on behalf of the church in Rome to the churches to whom Peter was writing (1 Pet. 1:1). The term “Babylon” is understood as a code word for Rome, based on the fac…

#296 “Adding” the Deuterocanonicals - Jimmy Akin Oct 23, 2023

DAY 296 CHALLENGE “Catholics violate the prohibition against adding to Scripture (Rev. 22:18–19) by including the Apocrypha (what Catholics call the deuterocanonicals) in their Bibles.” DEFENSE The passage in question does not mean what is supposed, and if it did, it would create a problem for Protestants. The passage in Revelation states: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in t…

#295 The Time of the Crucifixion - Jimmy Akin Oct 22, 2023

DAY 295 CHALLENGE “The Gospels contradict each other on the time of the Crucifixion. Mark says Jesus was crucified at ‘the third hour’ (Mark 15:25), and all three synoptics record the darkness from ‘the sixth hour’ to ‘the ninth hour’ while he was on the cross (Matt. 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44), but John indicates that Jesus wasn’t yet crucified at ‘the sixth hour’ (John 19:14).” DEFENSE John uses a different way of reckoning hours than the synoptics. There are four natural points where one could begin counting hours: midnight, sunrise, noon, and sunset. Each has been used by diff…

#294 Church Councils - Jimmy Akin Oct 21, 2023

DAY 294 CHALLENGE “Why should I listen to what a Church council says?” DEFENSE “Because Scripture supports the role of Church councils.” Jesus did not reserve teaching authority to himself, but assigned it to the leaders he put in charge of his Church (see Day 281). He thus created a Magisterium (Latin, “teaching authority”) within his Church. Usually this Magisterium is exercised personally—by individuals (originally by the apostles and later by the bishops who succeeded them). However, it is also God’s will that, when the occasion calls for it, the Magisterium be exercised in a coll…

#293 Historical Polytheism - Jimmy Akin Oct 20, 2023

DAY 293 CHALLENGE “If monotheism is true, why have most people historically been polytheists?” DEFENSE Several factors play a role in this. First, the relationship between monotheism and polytheism is more complex than often assumed. As we cover elsewhere (see Day 153), many classical polytheists acknowledged the existence of an ultimate Creator, who was not typically worshipped. Instead, they worshipped lesser supernatural beings (Zeus, Apollos, Hera, and so on.). The Judeo-Christian view agrees there is a single Creator and a multiplicity of lesser beings (angels). It disagrees whe…

#292 Why Isn’t Everything Infallible? - Jimmy Akin Oct 19, 2023

DAY 292 CHALLENGE “If the Church can teach infallibly, why doesn’t it go ahead and teach everything infallibly?” DEFENSE Because it is not God’s will. Consider a parallel: The New Testament authors wrote under the charism of inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16), which is greater than and includes infallibility. If it was God’s will, he could’ve had them write a single, systematic theology textbook with every proposition he wished to reveal to man carefully explained, yet he chose not to. We can speculate on why, but it is clear he chose not to or it would have happened. If that was God’s will whe…

#291 Appealing to Natural Law - Jimmy Akin Oct 18, 2023

DAY 291 CHALLENGE “Christian appeals to natural law are futile. In nature we see animals committing all kinds of acts—such as rape, homosexuality, and purposeless killing—that Christianity considers immoral.” DEFENSE This misunderstands the concept of natural law. Confusion on this point is understandable. We see many “laws” in operation in nature. Some of these are studied by sciences such as physics and commonly referred to as laws (e.g., the laws of gravitation, optics, or thermodynamics). The field of ethology studies animal behavior and, though its findings aren’t as often refer…

#290 The Early Chapters of Genesis - Jimmy Akin Oct 17, 2023

DAY 290 CHALLENGE “Genesis 1–11 contains many things that don’t correspond to the modern, scientific understanding of the world (such as talking snakes, a universal flood, and so on).” DEFENSE These chapters pertain to history in a true sense, but they are written according to a set of literary conventions that conveys truth using more symbolism than later passages. The Magisterium has indicated this for Genesis 1, stating, “Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine ‘work,’ concluded by the ‘rest’ of the seventh day” (CCC 337). It has…

#289 Eternal Life - Jimmy Akin Oct 16, 2023

DAY 289 CHALLENGE “Christians can’t lose salvation. Scripture says, ‘He who believes in the Son has eternal life’ (John 3:36a), and if life is eternal, it can’t end.” DEFENSE This fails to understand both the biblical concept of eternal life and other things Scripture says. A basic truth of linguistics is that you can’t define a term simply by looking at its parts; you must look at how it’s used in practice. To violate this principle is to commit the etymological fallacy (e.g., the word awful is a combination of awe and full; it originally meant something full of awe and that thus insp…

#288 Quoting the Deuterocanonicals - Jimmy Akin Oct 15, 2023

DAY 288 CHALLENGE “Jesus and the authors of the New Testament never quote from the deuterocanonical books, so they do not belong in the Bible.” DEFENSE The absence of a quotation does not prove that a book is noncanonical. Jesus and the authors of the New Testament sometimes introduce quotations in a way that makes it clear they regarded the source as a book of Scripture. This is indicated when they use formulas like “scripture says” (John 19:37; Rom. 9:17, 10:11, 11:2) or “it is written” (Matt. 4:4; Mark 1:2; Luke 7:27, etc.). When these formulas are not present, it is not always clea…

#287 Being Born Again in the Church Fathers - Jimmy Akin Oct 14, 2023

DAY 287 CHALLENGE “The idea we’re born again or regenerated in baptism is an invention of men that the early Christians would never have heard of.” DEFENSE The writings of the Church Fathers reveal that they believed in baptismal regeneration. We elsewhere cover the scriptural basis for this teaching (see Day 286), and the writings of the Church Fathers confirm that they believed it too. In fact, despite searching, I have been unable to discover any Fa- ther who denied that Jesus’ statements regarding being “born again” and “born of water and Spirit” (John 3:3, 5) referred to baptism…

#286 Being Born Again in Scripture - Jimmy Akin Oct 13, 2023

DAY 286 CHALLENGE “People don’t need to be baptized, just born again.” DEFENSE Scripture teaches people are born again in baptism. The phrase translated “born again” occurs in John 3:3, where Jesus tells Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (KJV). In Greek the phrase involves a pun. The word for “again” is anōthen, which can mean either “again” or “from above.” The point is one must receive a second birth and this birth must be from God. Context reveals how the second birth occurs. Clarifying his initial statement, Jesus tells Nicodemus, “unless on…

#285 Can Science Eliminate God? - Jimmy Akin Oct 12, 2023

DAY 285 CHALLENGE “Science has progressively explained more and more of the world, leaving less room for God. Why can’t science one day explain everything, eliminating the need for (and possibility of) God?” DEFENSE This objection makes several mistakes. First, it commits the fallacy of “God of the gaps” thinking by supposing that scientific explanations somehow take something away from God. They don’t. God is the ultimate explanation for the world, including those things that science is capable of investigating (see Day 246). Second, it assumes that science will continue to explain …

#284 Justification in James and Paul - Jimmy Akin Oct 11, 2023

DAY 284 CHALLENGE “James says we’re justified by faith and works (James 2:24), but that contradicts Paul, who says we’re justified by faith without works (Rom. 3:28, Gal. 2:16).” DEFENSE A careful examination shows the two are using key terms— faith, works, and justification—in different senses. James uses faith to refer to intellectual assent to the truths of faith. Thus he says, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder” (James 2:19). But Paul refers to what theologians call “formed faith” or “faith formed by charity.” Thus he says what counts is …

#283 The Benefits of Religion - Jimmy Akin Oct 10, 2023

DAY 283 CHALLENGE “Religion is a destructive force that harms people.” DEFENSE This is not supported by the evidence. Every institution—churches, hospitals, schools, governments—makes mistakes and harms people on occasion. However, to claim an institution is fundamentally harmful, one needs to provide evidence it does more harm than good. Further, one would need to show not just that individual examples of an institution do more harm than good (individual churches, hospitals, schools, or governments may, in fact, be destructive). Instead, one would need to show that the institution i…

#282 Petros versus Petra - Jimmy Akin Oct 09, 2023

DAY 282 CHALLENGE “Peter can’t be the rock that Jesus refers to in Matthew 16:18. He uses the word petros (small stone) for ‘Peter’ but petra (large rock) for ‘rock.’ Why would he change the word if he was referring to Peter both times?” DEFENSE This challenge has several problems and does not prove its case. Protestant scholar D.A. Carson notes: Although it is true that petros and petra can mean “[small] stone” and “[large] rock” respectively in earlier Greek, the distinction is largely confined to poetry. Moreover the underlying Aramaic is in this case unquestionable; and most prob…

#281 Cafeteria Christianity - Jimmy Akin Oct 08, 2023

DAY 281 CHALLENGE “Why can’t I, as a Christian, simply choose the beliefs I think are right? Why should anybody else tell me what I should believe?” DEFENSE This may be an attractive proposition in our individualistic age, but it wasn’t Jesus’ view. If you’re going to be a Christian, that means listening to Jesus Christ, and he set up a Church, not a cafeteria. We aren’t allowed to pick and choose our beliefs like we pick and choose dishes in a serving line. This is evident from the way Jesus teaches. In the Sermon on the Mount, he repeatedly takes on common interpretations of Jewish…

#280 The Role of the Church Fathers - Jimmy Akin Oct 07, 2023

DAY 280 CHALLENGE “Why should I care about the Church Fathers? They aren’t inspired like the New Testament authors.” DEFENSE The Church Fathers were writers in the early centuries who were notable for their holiness and soundness of teaching. They are important for a number of reasons. First, they were closer in time and in culture to the New Testament authors, and their writings provide context needed to understand aspects of the New Testament. The writings of the Church Fathers— together with ancient Jewish sources—are the two most important groups of writings for this purpose. Ancie…

#279 Does Mary’s Perpetual Virginity Matter? - Jimmy Akin Oct 06, 2023

DAY 279 CHALLENGE “What difference does it make if Mary remained a virgin? Couldn’t God have continued Jesus’ mission if she had other children?” DEFENSE God is omnipotent and can do anything he chooses, but this doesn’t mean his choices are arbitrary. This objection is a subcase of a broader one: Why should Mary be a virgin in the first place? Couldn’t God’s Son be born of a woman who wasn’t a virgin? He could have. Being omnipotent, God could do that. He even could have had his Son born of a prostitute if he chose. It isn’t intrinsically required that Mary be any special kind of wo…

#278 Lest Any Man Should Boast - Jimmy Akin Oct 05, 2023

DAY 278 CHALLENGE “Doesn’t Paul’s statement that we are saved ‘not because of works, lest any man should boast’ (Eph. 2:9) show he teaches justification by ‘faith alone’?” DEFENSE This misunderstands the kind of boasting in question. Paul never uses the phrase “faith alone,” and we elsewhere cover how the context of this passage shows it’s about the Jewish-Gentile question found elsewhere in Paul’s writings, meaning the “works” are actions done to obey the Law of Moses (see Days 63, 136, and 204). This is also indicated when, in the next verse, Paul praises “good works” as part of the …

#277 The Jewish People and the Old Testament Canon - Jimmy Akin Oct 04, 2023

DAY 277 CHALLENGE “Scripture says that the Jews were ‘entrusted with the oracles of God’ (Rom. 3:2), so we should look to them for the Old Testament canon. They reject the deuterocanonicals, and so should we.” DEFENSE There are multiple problems with this argument. First, not all Jewish people have the same canon. Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) have a canon including deuterocanonical books. It was rabbinic Jews that Protestants were familiar with in the 1500s, and their canon that the Reformers borrowed. Second, as we cover elsewhere (see Day 255), there were multiple canonical traditions in t…

#276 Who Is the Greatest? - Jimmy Akin Oct 03, 2023

DAY 276 CHALLENGE “During the Last Supper, the apostles argued over who was the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus shamed them, indicating that none of them was the greatest—not even Peter.” DEFENSE This misreads the text. Jesus gives a threefold response indicating that Peter was the disciples’ leader. Responding to the dispute, Jesus says three things. These form a single, continuous quotation of Jesus (they aren’t even interrupted by breaks like “then he said”). It’s all one block, indicating all three parts form his answer to the dispute about greatness. First, he tells them the principl…

#275 Between Two Robbers? - Jimmy Akin Oct 02, 2023

DAY 275 CHALLENGE “The Gospels say that Jesus was crucified between two robbers (Matt. 27:38; Mark 15:27), but this is inaccurate. We know that the ancient Romans only crucified people who committed acts of rebellion.” DEFENSE Romans did crucify robbers, but these two were likely rebels. Robbery isn’t the same as theft. Theft is taking someone’s property, but robbery is taking it by force. There’s an inherent element of violence in robbery that differentiates it from theft. When robbery is committed on water, it’s called piracy. Pirates are robbers who travel by water, and we know the …

#274 Justification in James 2 - Jimmy Akin Oct 01, 2023

DAY 274 CHALLENGE “Catholics misunderstand James 2. When James talks about faith, he’s referring to dead faith, and when he talks about justification, he’s referring to justification before men.” DEFENSE This isn’t supported by a careful reading of James 2. James says “faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26), but it does not follow from this that he is talking about “dead faith.” Read the passage and substitute the phrase “dead faith” where James says “faith.” This will result in absurdities. Thus James 2:18b would read, “I by my works will show you my dead faith,” and 2:22a would…

#273 The Canonicity of the Deuterocanonicals - Jimmy Akin Sep 30, 2023

DAY 273 CHALLENGE “Why should we think the deuterocanonicals are Scripture?” DEFENSE Multiple lines of evidence support this conclusion. The deuterocanonicals are seven books (Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, Wisdom, 1–2 Maccabees) and parts of two others (Daniel, Esther) considered canonical in the Catholic Church and many Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern Christian Churches but not in the Protestant community. They were included in the canonical tradition represented by the Septuagint, the major Greek translation of the Old Testament. Where the Septuagint was translated is unclear. …

#272 The Use of Religious Images - Jimmy Akin Sep 29, 2023

DAY 272 CHALLENGE “Catholics use statues and pictures, but the Ten Commandments prohibit such religious images (Exod. 20:4–6; Deut. 5:8–10).” DEFENSE The Ten Commandments prohibit making idols, not religious images. Idols are manufactured objects that people falsely believe to be deities. Their use was commonplace in paganism, and God rightly prohibited the Israelites from making them. However, not all religious use of images is idolatry, and God commanded the religious use of images in the Old Testament. At one point the Israelites are being bitten by serpents, and God had Moses make …

#271 Jesus the Rock - Jimmy Akin Sep 28, 2023

DAY 271 CHALLENGE “Peter can’t be the rock in Matthew 16:18 because Scripture says God is the rock (Isa. 51:1). Further, Peter describes Jesus as a stone (1 Pet. 2:4–8). Therefore, Jesus must be the rock.” DEFENSE This challenge does not understand the way metaphors work. Although Isaiah does refer to God as “the rock from which you were hewn,” there is nothing about this passage indicating that only God can be described as a rock. If only God could be described as a rock then Jesus could not have given Simon bar-Jonah the nickname Cephas/Peter/Rock (John 1:42; Matt. 16:18). The fact…

#270 The Concept of Sola Scriptura - Jimmy Akin Sep 27, 2023

DAY 270 CHALLENGE “Catholic apologists misrepresent the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura (‘Scripture alone’). It merely means that Scripture contains everything necessary for salvation.” DEFENSE This is not how the teaching is understood by most Protestants, who apply it to all Christian doctrine. Salvation-based explanations of sola scriptura are sometimes found in popular-level writings of Protestant apologetics, but they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Anglican Articles of Religion state: “Holy Scripture containeth all things neces…

#269 Judging Others - Jimmy Akin Sep 26, 2023

DAY 269 CHALLENGE “Christians shouldn’t criticize others’ lifestyles or actions. Didn’t Jesus say not to judge?” DEFENSE Jesus didn’t tell us that we should close our eyes to moral evil in the world. The exhortation not to judge is found in Jesus’ major ethical discourse (Matt. 5:1–7:29, Luke 6:17–49). The point of the discourse is to give moral instruction. In it, Jesus discusses what conduct counts as good and bad, and he expects his followers to acknowledge the difference. Not only does he expect them to distinguish between good and evil in their own behavior, he also expects them…

#268 Praying to the Saints - Jimmy Akin Sep 25, 2023

DAY 268 CHALLENGE “Catholics shouldn’t pray to the saints. Prayer is an act of worship, which is due only to God.” DEFENSE This involves a confusion of terms based on how the English language developed. In contemporary American English, “pray” indicates an act of worshipping God. However, Catholics do not give divine worship to the saints. The root of the confusion lies in the fact that the English word “pray” is derived from the Latin word precare, which meant “to ask/ implore/entreat.” By the 1300s, the English phrase “I pray thee” was used as a way to make a polite request—i.e., “I …

#267 Immersion Only? - Jimmy Akin Sep 24, 2023

DAY 267 CHALLENGE “People should be baptized only by immersion: (1) In Greek the word for “baptize” (baptizein) means ‘to dip’; (2) immersion better fits the symbolism of Jesus’ burial (Rom. 6:1–4; Col. 2:12); and (3) when Jesus was baptized, he ‘came up out of the water’ (Mark 1:10) and the Ethiopian eunuch ‘went down into the water’ (Acts 8:38).” DEFENSE These arguments do not show immersion is the only means of baptizing. First, baptizein doesn’t simply mean dip: “The word that invariably means ‘to dip’ is not baptizein but baptein; baptizein has a wider signification; and its use…

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