Is Mormonism Christian? (Part 1)
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--Someday it will happen to you. You are about to sit down for a late breakfast on a Saturday morning. The French toast smells delicious. A glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee will make the start of a great day.
FIRST-PERSON: Has the family tomb of Jesus been found?
| Mike Licona |
Supposedly, in the tomb also were found the remains of his family, including his mother Mary, his "wife" Mary Magdalene, his "son" Judah, his brother Joses and another possible family member named Matthew. The remains were found in burial bone boxes called ossuaries.
FIRST-PERSON: What are we to do about Islam?
| Mike Licona |
-- 28 percent wanted to see Great Britain become an Islamic state
-- 68 percent held that Brits who insult Islam should be arrested & prosecuted
-- 25 percent had either never heard of the Holocaust or contended it never happened
-- 45 percent held that 9/11 was a conspiracy between the U.S. & Israel (another 35 percent said “don’t know”)
FIRST-PERSON: Should Christians see ‘Da Vinci’?
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--"The Da Vinci Code" has arrived in theatres, and Christian leaders offer various messages: “Don’t see the movie, since doing so places money in the pockets of the Hollywood elite and encourages them to make more movies of this sort;” “Go see the movie, since doing so gives you credibility for discussing with nonbelievers why the movie is gravely mistaken.”
FIRST-PERSON: Who selected the books in the New Testament?
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--"More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John among them.... The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great ... [who] omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ’s human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned."
FIRST-PERSON: Is our Bible what originally was written?
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--In "The Da Vinci Code," one of the main characters, Sir Leigh Teabing says, “The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a more definitive version of the book.”
FIRST-PERSON: Did Christianity ‘borrow’ from other religions?
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--I recall reading in 1988 of an ancient religion older than Christianity in which a pagan deity was said to have been crucified between two thieves, wore a crown of thorns while on the cross, was regarded by his followers to be the good shepherd and savior of the world, and then rose from the dead three days later. The story shocked me. The details were too similar to have been a coincidence. Had Christianity copied from another religion?
FIRST-PERSON: Making evangelism good news again
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--You're talking with a nonbeliever who brings up a few of the claims in "The Da Vinci Code" and you haven't a clue how to answer him.
FIRST-PERSON: Was Jesus’ divinity an afterthought?
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--One of the more important claims in "The Da Vinci Code" is the position that Jesus was regarded by the early Christians as a mortal man who was a great prophet, but nothing more.
FIRST-PERSON: Was Jesus married?
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP)--In Dan Brown’s book "The Da Vinci Code," Jesus is said to have been married to Mary Magdalene. Is it possible to know Jesus’ marital status? The historian will need to consider any evidence suggesting Jesus was married as well as evidence that he was single.
