DAY 257

CHALLENGE

“The Catholic idea that there is more than one form of justification doesn’t make any sense. You are either righteous before God or you’re not.”

DEFENSE

This view doesn’t reflect the biblical data (see Day 228).

The key to understanding this issue involves the difference between the quality and the quantity of righteousness.

Along the axis of quality, people hypothetically could range from totally unrighteous (purely evil) to totally righteous (purely good). Viewed in these terms, justification (being declared, reckoned, or made righteous by God) would involve havin…

DAY 256

CHALLENGE

“Peter is not the rock Jesus is referring to in Matthew 16:18.”

DEFENSE

The structure of the passage clearly indicates that he is.

In Matthew 16:15–16, Jesus asks the disciples who they say he is, and Peter replies, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” In answer, Jesus gives a threefold response (Matt. 16:17–19), which may be diagrammed as follows:

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona!

1a. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, 1b. But my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter,

2a. And on this rock I will build my Church,

2b. And the…

DAY 255

CHALLENGE

“There were two Old Testament canons in Jesus’ day—the Palestinian canon and the Alexandrian canon. As Palestinian Jews, Jesus and his disciples would’ve accepted the Palestinian canon, which excluded the deuterocanonical books. Therefore, they are not Scripture.”

DEFENSE

This claim is based on outdated scholarship and is false.

In Jesus’ day different groups of Jews held that different collections of books were canonical, and some of these collections had fuzzy boundaries. It is more accurate to speak of there being different canonical traditions rather than differ…

DAY 254

CHALLENGE

“Isaiah’s prophecy of Immanuel (Isa. 7:14) doesn’t apply to Jesus. It doesn’t say ‘a virgin shall conceive.’ The Hebrew word ‘almāh doesn’t mean ‘virgin,’ but ‘young woman.’”

DEFENSE

Actually, ‘almāh can mean either.

Its basic meaning is a young woman of marriageable age. In Hebrew society, such women were expected to be and normally were virgins. The term thus was sometimes used to indicate virginity, though not always. After reviewing how the term is used in the Old Testament, John Watts concludes: “It is difficult to find a word in English that is capable o…

DAY 253

CHALLENGE

“Matthew misunderstands Isaiah’s prophecy of Immanuel (Isa. 7:14). It doesn’t point to Jesus.”

DEFENSE

Matthew understands the prophecy better than you think.

The biblical authors recognized Scripture as operating on multiple levels. For example, Matthew interprets the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt as a fulfillment of the prophetic statement, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” In its original context, it is obvious the “son” of God being discussed is Israel: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt, I called my son” (Hos. 11:1).

Matthew understood t…

DAY 252

CHALLENGE

“The doctrine of the Trinity is polytheistic; it teaches that there are three gods.”

DEFENSE

There is another word for belief in three gods: tritheism. The fact that trinitarianism has a different name indicates it is something different.

Of course, the concept of threeness is involved. The word “Trinity” is derived from the Latin root trinus (“threefold, triple”) and the suffix –itas, indicating a state or condition. “Trinity” thus indicates that God is threefold, but the question must be asked: Three of what?

The answer is not three gods but three Persons. Trinitari…

DAY 251

CHALLENGE

“Belief in mortal sin denies Catholics assurance of salvation, but God wants us to have it: ‘I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life’ (1 John 5:13, emphasis added).”

DEFENSE

We can have assurance of salvation if we fulfill God’s conditions for it, but self-deception and mortal sin are real possibilities.

We must be careful about the term “know.” Knowledge can mean different things. “I know physics,” “I know it’s raining,” “I know John,” and “Adam knew his wife” involve different senses of knowing.

W…

DAY 250

CHALLENGE

“Christmas is based on a pagan holiday.”

DEFENSE

There are multiple responses to this challenge.

First, which pagan holiday are we talking about? Sometimes Saturnalia—a Roman festival honoring the god Saturn—is proposed. But Saturnalia was held on December 17 (and later extended through December 23). It wasn’t December 25.

Another proposal is Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Latin, “The Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun”), but the evidence this was the basis of the dating of Christmas is problematic. The Christian Chronography of A.D. 354 records the “Birthday of the Uncon…

DAY 249

CHALLENGE

“Accounts of Paul’s conversion in the New Testament contradict each other.”

DEFENSE

The passages are easily harmonized.

At the time of his conversion, Paul (aka Saul) was traveling to Damascus when a great light from heaven shone around him and Jesus spoke to him. A contradiction is alleged between two verses describing the reaction of the men who were with Paul:

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing (akouontes) the voice (phōnēs) but seeing no one (Acts 9:7).

Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear (ēkousan) the voice (ph…

DAY 248

CHALLENGE

“The Bible contains many passages that say something close to the truth but are still not quite accurate.”

DEFENSE

This confuses truth with precision.

Perhaps you’ve seen the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy,” where the following exchange occurs:

Kirk: What would you say the odds are on our getting out of here?

Spock: Difficult to be precise, Captain. I should say, approximately 7,824.7 to 1.

Kirk: Difficult to be precise? 7,824 to 1?

Spock: 7,824.7 to 1.

Kirk: That’s a pretty close approximation.

Spock: I endeavor to be accurate.

This illustrates the different le…