DAY 197

CHALLENGE

“Solomon’s temple held a metal basin or ‘sea’ used for ceremonial washings. According to Scripture, it was ten cubits across and ‘a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference’ (1 Kings 7:23; 2 Chron. 4:2). This implies that the value of π (pi) is 3, but that is incorrect. We know that π is an irrational number slightly greater than 3.14159.”

DEFENSE

Thank you, Mr. Spock. This confuses an approximation with an error.

If the sea was exactly ten cubits across then it would have a radius (r) of 5 cubits, and if it were perfectly circular then its circumference (C)…

DAY 196

CHALLENGE

“The book of Tobit contains numerous implausibilities—for example, a woman being married seven times yet each husband dropping dead on the wedding night, how Tobit is presented as the uncle of the legendary figure of Ahiqar, and the phenomenally long life

spans of Tobit and his son.”

DEFENSE

The alleged errors are clues to the audience telling them what kind of book they are reading.

Like Judith (see Day 181), Tobit is a literary work that functions as an extended parable rather than a historical account, and various aspects of the text signal the audience that this i…

DAY 195

CHALLENGE

“Luke 2:7 says Mary ‘gave birth to her firstborn son.’ This implies that Joseph and Mary had other sons; therefore she didn’t remain a virgin.”

DEFENSE

In ancient Jewish culture, the term “firstborn son” did not imply that other sons came later.

The first male child to be born to a woman was regarded as her first-born, regardless of whether she had other children. The firstborn son had a special role that applied as soon as he was born. It was not a role he assumed when later children were born.

All life was seen as a gift from God. This applied to human children, t…

DAY 194

CHALLENGE

“The Bible does not teach that the Holy Spirit is God.”

DEFENSE

The Bible may not contain the words “The Holy Spirit is God,” but various passages in Scripture do imply this truth.

One of the most important passages in Scripture concerning the doctrine of the Trinity contains the formula that Jesus indicates is to be used in baptism: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). This passage places the Holy Spirit alongside the Father and the Son.

Other passages also asso…

DAY 193

CHALLENGE

“Mary should not be given special honors. Jesus certainly didn’t show her any. In fact, he abruptly called her ‘woman.'”

DEFENSE

At the time, “woman” was a respectful form of address, like ”ma’am.”

Jesus refers to his mother as “woman” (Greek, gunai) in two passages— the wedding at Cana (John 2:4) and the Crucifixion (John 19:26–27). In the first, Mary informs him their hosts have run out of wine and (translating literally from the Greek), he says, “What (is that) to me and to you, woman?” Notice he puts Mary in the same category as himself—asking …

DAY 192

CHALLENGE

“The Church Fathers sometimes used language implying the Eucharist was symbolic, so they couldn’t have believed in the Real Presence.”

DEFENSE

The concept of a symbol means something different today from what it did in the time of the early Church.

We have already seen that the Church Fathers were realists in their understanding of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist (see Day 120). How- ever, Protestant historian J.N.D. Kelly writes: “Occasionally these writers use language which has been held to imply that, for all its realist sound, their use of the terms ‘body’ and …

DAY 191

CHALLENGE

“Catholics shouldn’t oppose abortion. Nobody really knows when life begins.”

DEFENSE

We know exactly when life begins, but this isn’t the real question.

First, if it were ambiguous whether the unborn are alive, that would not make it permissible to kill them. You can’t kill something just be- cause you don’t know it is a living human being. If a hunter sees something moving in the woods, he can’t shoot it unless he is sure it is not a human. He must err on the side of caution, and the same principle would apply if the status of the unborn were unclear.

Second, their…

DAY 190

CHALLENGE

“The Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon.”

DEFENSE

The whore of Babylon is described in detail in Revelation 16:19–19:4.

Babylon was a city in ancient Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), but scholars recognize the use of “Babylon” in Revelation as a symbolic designa- tion of another city (cf. 11:8; also cf. 1 Peter 5:13, where Peter, who is known to have been in Rome, refers to being in “Babylon”):

The whore is depicted persecuting Christians (cf. 17:6, 14).

She is seated on a beast with seven heads, which are identified as seven hills (17:9) and seven kings (17:10).

The …

DAY 189

CHALLENGE

“Jesus purposelessly destroyed another man’s property by allowing demons to enter a herd of pigs, causing it to drown in the Sea of Galilee.”

DEFENSE

Jesus had reasons for this act; it was not a purposeless destruction of property.

First, Jesus did not destroy the pigs. In freeing a man from demonic possession, he allowed the demons to enter a herd of pigs. These de- mons had caused self-destructive behavior in the possessed man (Mark 5:5), and they apparently began tormenting the pigs, which tried to flee and unintentionally stampeded downhill into the sea (Mark 5:…

DAY 188

CHALLENGE

“We don’t have evidence Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus.”

DEFENSE

The New Testament indicates that Mary did remain a virgin.

One passage that suggests this occurs during the Crucifixion, where we read, “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” (John 19:26–27).

If Mary had other children, then Jesus would never have entrusted her care to an outsider. It would have bee…