ARC Wiki

by Ken Ham, Bodie Hodge and Tim Chaffey
A two-volume paperback.

I found the book of no practical value in front-line apologetics. Although Ken Ham states in the foreword that “I hope this book will…(equip) you to stand on the authority of God's Word…without compromise.”, however, in practice the book solidly fails to live up to this statement. When the going does get tough, Ham & Hodge immediately back out. One example would be on page 86 where we examine whether or not Matthew 27:9 falsely atrributes a prophecy to Jeremiah. After a two-page examination of the standard apologetics, the author admits none of them are sufficient to justify Matthew's error and then states “If we look carefully at these two verses in Matthew and Zechariah…they simply do not match up: … So if Matthew, speaking with the Holy Spirit, quotes this and attributes it to Jeremiah, then it was indeed something Jeremiah said, and it was merely not recorded in his writings.” This is a very disappointing concession on the author's part.

Another brilliant example lies on page 127 where we find the question “How could Jesus be the Creator if he was the firstborn of all creation? (John 1:1-3 vs. Colossians 1:15). To this we are given the jaw-dropping answer “Off the cuff, the first thing that needs to be established is that Christ is the Creator God as these passages reveal. Otherwise, Christ would have been the uncreated creator of the resultant created being, which is obviously illogical!” This is the sum entirety of their argument – stating that the mere thought that Paul slipped up and made a mistake is illogical. At no point do we examine the history of John 1 or the cultural and theological context of Colossians. At no point do we discuss the underlying Greek texts. We don't even take the easy way out by saying that Paul, a human being, could have just made a mistake. Instead The reader is attacked by stating that they do not understand the terms being discussed, and the author slips in his own personal definition without reference to any major commentary except linking a page on Jehovas Witnesses at CARM, an online apologetics website.

In retrospect I would feel confident in saying that these two examples are representative of the amount of research put into the discussions and the overall level of scholarship present in the book. I therefore conclude this is a pop culture Christianity book, good only for the casual Christian reader who has never read anything about missionary work or apologetics and does not plan to get involved. But for anyone on the front lines who needs reliable and up-to-date information, don't bother with this book. If you are interested in serious Missionary or Counter-Missionary work, this book is not for you.

1/5

by Rabbi Tovia Singer
My copy is a two-volume hardcover.

A two volume set by designed to accompany Tovia Singer's “Let's Get Biblical” audio series, this book actually goes into much greater detail and covers more issues and provides more sources for his conclusions than in the Audio series.

I would have to say that this is without question the first book you should buy if you are in the position of leaving the Church and returning to God. There simply isn't anything like this available anywhere else. This book is an original and I have a feeling it will stand the test of time. We should all say thank you to God and to Tovia Singer for this book.

5/5