The Mileses

Paul and Olena Miles with Grace Abroad Ministries

Apologetics

Did Allah tell Muhammad about embryos?

​One common argument in favor of the Quran being legitimate revelation goes like this:

​In the Holy Quran, God speaks about the stages of man’s embryonic development, 1,400 years before modern day scientists ‘discovered’ important information on creation of man and his development:

We created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed. Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed-like substance)… [Noble Quran 23:12-14]

[…] How could Muhammad (peace be upon him) have possibly known all this 1,400 years ago when scientists have only recently discovered this using advanced equipment and powerful microscopes which did not exist at that time? (source)

There are two assumptions here: 1) that men did not know about the development of embryos and 2) that they could only know from revelation from the creator. But, here’s why this argument is rather weak.[Read More]

Soviet Encyclopedia on the Bible and Christ

I have recently come across the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia online (available here). It was an ongoing project over several decades in the Soviet Union, and gives insight to old Soviet mentality toward things. I looked up a few things and thought I’d translate some to give you a taste of Soviet propaganda. Here’s what the Ukrainian Soviets thought about the Bible:[Read More]

Pascal’s Wager vs The Biblical Wager

​If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.
-Blaise Pascal

But if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is empty […] and you are still in your sins […] we are the most pitiful of all people.
-The Apostle Paul

​Please stop using Pascal’s Wager to win people for Christ. Here’s how the argument works:
[Read More]

No, Jesus did not call God, ‘Allah.’

I have recently received a Qur’an in the mail along with a couple of booklets with some basic information about Islam. The booklet made an incorrect claim that stood out to me. It isn’t a fundamental doctrine to Islam, and I’m sure the author was not intentionally trying to mislead people, but he wrote:

Allah is the One and Only True God’s personal name […] It is interesting to note that Allah is also used for God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus, peace be upon him […]1

Arabic and Aramaic (along with Hebrew and a bunch of other languages) are Semitic languages, and have lots of similarities. One similarity that pops up across Semitics languages is their words for “god.” There tends to be “el” or “il” somehow related to the word for god in Semitic languages; some examples include ʾil in Ugaritic, ʾl in Phoenician, and ilu in Akkadian.
[Read More]

What was written above the cross?

T​he biblical authors neither invented nor changed history. It is claimed that there is a contradiction between the Gospels over what was written on the Cross. Here’s what the Gospels say:

Matthew 27:37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

Mark 15:26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”

Luke 23:38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

John 19:19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

​How can we believe that the Gospels are reliable when they have differences here? [Read More]

Does God condone raping and buying virgins? Part two.

Part Two

In part one of this post, we saw that the Law was set up to protect Israel, and we saw that Deut 22:13-30 contains laws to protect her from sexual debauchery. We looked at Deut 22:13-22, and are driving through vs 23-30 in this post. If you haven’t read part one, please do so.
[Read More]