If you think defending the Christian faith is just a small discipline within theology, you might be surprised that there are several styles. These styles come with their own extensive literature. There are four main types of Christian apologetics: Classical, evidential, presuppositional, and fideism. In this video I would like to look with you at […]

I never really bothered about the extra books in the Roman Catholic bible. I always thought that this was just about a dispute in the early church. But is it? Let’s find out. Many of our more respectable Bibles, such as the King James Version, Revised Standard Version, and the New International Version, have just […]

Masculinity or manliness, is the topic I started to address in my last video. In that video we have discussed the moral duty of a man to be virtuous. Virtue is the habit of choosing what is good and right, despite our own inclinations. So, a real godly man will try to find out what […]

Article reposted with permission from ‘The Jesus Fandom’ Original can be found here and posted on 10 April 2023. Translated by Jurgen Hofmann. Introduction Globally, women are more religious than men. They see their faith as more important, tend to pray daily and attend church more than men. This is well reflected in church practice: […]

Masculinity or manliness, is a topic I wanted to address for a long time already. I have already did a video about the idea of ‘What is a man.’ Actually, I have been thinking about what it means to be a man ever since I became a Christian somewhere in 1994. When I was a […]

I grew up with the books of Roald Dahl. I wasn’t such a great reader myself, but the teachers were doing a great job during the read aloud. I loved the story of the Twits and the Big Friendly Giant. These stories were colourful and exiting! But not very politically correct. What did I know […]

You might have heard of the five ‘solas’ of protestantism. It is basically a summary of what the protestants believe to be true after the reformation. Sola is latin for ‘only’ or ‘alone.’ I will explain a bit more about these ‘solas’ in a minute. But I mostly want to think with you about ‘sola […]

Last month I received a question through my website about universalism, and whether I could say a thing or two about it. Universalism (Greek: apokastastasis) states that sooner or later all people will be saved for eternity. This position holds that the concepts of hell and punishment are inconsistent with a loving God. Early Church […]

We hear a lot about the ‘woke’ movement. Everywhere you come you’ll meet people who refer to themselves as being ‘woke.’ In the supermarkets, on our universities, in the big companies, and even within some churches. What is this idea of being ‘woke’ anyway, and why do some Christians embrace this idea? Definition of the […]

I guess this is the follow-up of the last video in which we tackled the doctrine of ‘once saved, always saved.’ Can a Christian lose salvation? Good question! What is a Christian? First, I think it will be smart to determine what a Christian is. A ‘Christian’ is not someone who sits in church every […]

Today, I would like to take a look at this doctrine of ‘once saved, always saved.’ Actually, I don’t think it is an official church doctrine today. The doctrine has been around for a long time already. This time, I think I am not going to give you just one answer. To be honest, I […]

Unity or Diversity… or Both? Last week we’ve had the annual conference with all the Missionaries from our organisation on Madagascar. My wife and I helped organising the week and that is nice because we get to plan when we have breaks and what kind of programme we have. We don’t really like the kind […]

I am going to do it again… That one thing that has brought me in trouble several times before. I am going to talk about raising children. Trouble So, why would this topic bring me in trouble? I think it is because it is a very emotional issue. I don’t know of any parents who […]

Atheist Experience 30-03-2008i This wager thingy was still on my mind when I came across a YouTube channel called the ‘Atheist Experience.’ This channel is already running 13 years, so you could say that these guys are pretty experienced in them being atheistic and all. One of the faces of this channel is mister Matt […]

You Wanna Bet on it? My kids love to climb trees. Overall, I’m okay with that, but I normally give them one very important but simple rule: You are not allowed to fall out! And whatta you know… They tend to break that one simple rule every time. One day, one of them came running […]

Related Articles: Dealing With Corona The Corona crisis was expected, but nothing was done. Christ, not Caesar, Is Head of the Church And the Church Said Nothing…

In this series, we will discuss the Christian Stance on abortion. Many Christians are mute on this topic. This is unfortunate and unnecessary because there are good theological and reasonable arguments to take a firm stand in this debate. In this first part, I’ll lay out the lines along I would like to tackle this […]

In the last video, and the videos before I asked you whether you have any topics you would like me to discuss. So far, I have several. One of you want to talk about deism and why it is or isn’t a flawed idea. And Nortega came up with also a good topic. He said: […]

What is good for you, isn’t necessarily good for me. Did you hear that one before? I did! It is called ‘moral subjectivism’, and it is very popular in our western society. But things seems to change if you start to talk about one’s conscience. I have met many who do not, or who refuse, […]

This argument from miracles, and others, like the argument from religious experience and the argument from change, are not designed to prove the absolute existence of God they only claim a strong probability. Still, I include these kinds of arguments because they, together with all the other arguments, form a strong cumulative case. Other arguments […]

This argument is closely related to the ontological argument. It starts from the idea of God. However, unlike the ontological argument, it does not say that real being is part of the content of that idea. Nope, it tries to demonstrate that only God Himself could have make this idea to develop in our thoughts. […]

The material world we know is a world of change. My oldest son is about 1.76 metre. But he was not always that height. When he was born, he was about 51 centimetres. Yes, he changed a lot during the last 15 years. General Sherman is the biggest tree in the world. According to estimates, […]

A Biblical Case for the Church’s Duty to Remain Open Christ is Lord of all. He is the one true head of the church (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23; Colossians 1:18). He is also King of kings—sovereign over every earthly authority (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14; 19:16). The Church should stand immovably on those biblical principles. As […]

We have discussed several arguments for God. Now we’ve come to the fifth argument and I think this one will tricker most resistance. The Religious Experience argument for the existence of God! A religious experience is when someone feels they have had a direct or personal experience of God. This argument basically says that if […]

A new video! On apologetics again. I promised in my last video to show you a bit of our road here in the countryside of Madagascar. So, stay tuned, because I will paste some of that footage at the end of this video. Anyway, let’s get started. I grew up in a time that knew […]

What do you think? Are we like orphans or are we citizens of our universe? Are we just an accident, a fluke, a product of mere chance? If we have to belief the secular world we are just a result of time, space, matter, chance and impersonal laws. No, the universe is just what it […]

Do you know mister William Lane Craig? This is a hugely smart man, and listening to him sounds like you’re reading an official academic essay. I’ve written a lot of essays and I wish I could write them as fast as he formulates his sentences. Mister Craig is well known for his philosophical way of […]

Introduction In his 1078 work Proslogion, Anselm of Canterbury came with the idea which is known as ‘the ontological argument’. In this argument God’s existence is not just possible or probable or very likely, but is logically ensured. Anselm defined God as “that than which nothing greater can be thought”. Anselm said that this being […]

What’s Next? See all videos below In previous videos, I have been talking that I wanted to do some videos on apologetic arguments. Until now, I have chosen different topics each time. Topics that some of you suggested and also topics suggested by my own family. The latest suggestion was that of the impact of […]

Part 4 — Compromise, Churches, and the Conclusion Welcome to the last episode of this series about the Christian stance on abortion. In part three we have discussed two dilemmas that so now and then happen. We’ve seen that good arguments to keep the unborn alive are abound. Basically, there are no philosophical nor rational […]

Part 3 — Dilemmas You might have heard at least one of the ‘what ifs’. What if the girl gets pregnant after being raped, what if the girl is still studying, what if the lady is a bit old. Many ‘what ifs’, and today I am going to discuss two ‘what ifs’ that might actually […]

Part 2 — Human or Not Introduction Hi there! Welcome to the second part of this small series on abortion. I on purposely mention abortion in the first sentence of this video. Why? So nobody can mistakenly watch this video and say they didn’t know the subject. In the first part I’ve talked about the […]

Part 1 — Clarifying the Terms Introduction Talking with my daughter is often an interesting experience. She is almost 17 and her view on the world isn’t much different from that of mine. However, the things that she reads, hears and discuss on the internet are pretty challenging. I kind of thought that the whole […]

What to do with Romans 13:1-7 Introduction And here we are! The last episode of this series. I knew this one would come, and I have been thinking a lot about the applications of Roman 13. I am slightly nervous about making this video (only slightly). Most of what we have discussed until now was […]

What I Believe Romans 13:1-7 Means Introduction I am a bit doubtful whether I should name this episode ‘What I believe Romans means’ or ‘What it definitely means’. Let’s just begin, and we’ll find out the most appropriate title along the way, okay? There is no Authority Outside God We have discovered in the fourth […]

What Romans 13:1-7 Might Mean Introduction Sometimes you just want to see whether there are more possibilities than one. Welcome to episode 4 about Romans 13:1-7, in which we are going to do just that! Examining the text to see what else it might mean. We have looked at history and how our predecessors made […]

What Romans 13:1-7 isn’t saying Introduction This is part three of this series about Romans 13:1-7. In part two we’ve looked at the history around this passage. We’ve seen that it strongly depends on who is in charge how we interpret this text. It is also interesting to see that, as soon as the church […]

Throughout History of Romans 13:1-7 Let’s dive into the history and see what Christians throughout the ages made of this text. As I said in the introduction Romans 13 seems almost always be invoked by oppressing groups or governments. It is not often that you hear the ‘normal’ people say that we need to obey […]

Introduction to Romans 13:1-7 In my last video, I asked you what I should do next. I was thinking about explaining some fine but sometimes hard to understand apologetic arguments or some videos about Romans 13. One of you actually posted this comment: @anonimous What should we do if the government is oppressing people? Should […]

A short explanation of the Penal Substitution Theory These are just some notes a friend of mine took many years ago during our lectures. So they are not an extended explanation but just a brief overview. Penal (that Christ satisfied the penalty of the law, as the righteousness of the Father demanded) substitution (that he […]

A short explanation of the Christus Victor theory These are just some notes a friend of mine took many years ago during our lectures. So they are not an extended explanation but just a brief overview. History Developed by Gustaf Aulén (May 15, 1879 – December 16, 1977) the Lutheran professor and Bishop of Strängnäs […]

Here are the 124 sins listed in the new testament (in alphabetical order). Definitions will accompany those that are not self-evident. 1. Abusers of Self: Self polluters, having unnatural lusts 2. Adultery (Note: Only for those who have been married) 3. Anger 4. Backbiters: Those who speak evil of those who are absent 5. Banqueting: […]

How We Can Verify The Reliability Of The New Testament Narratives Of Jesus It is a common fact that the New Testament was written closer to the events than any other ancient event in history. More copies (24,593) of the New Testament manuscripts have survived time and decay, than any other manuscript copies in existence, […]

Available essays: It is ‘of the essence… of the church to be a missionary community’ Exegesis on Genesis 12 Salvation throughout the Old Testament Evangelism – From then to now (creative presentation on the history of British evangelism and mission) Exegesis on Mark 15:33-39 Trinity (Critical essay) Three theories of Atonement Research file on Islam […]

Our Apologise There is no English content for this page (yet?). I you like you can help by translating the Dutch content. However, before you get all enthusiastic, first contact Apologeet.nl. It might well be that somebody is al ready working on the translation of this page. Enquiries about translations Related Articles: Argument from the […]

Our Apologise There is no English content for this page (yet?). I you like you can help by translating the Dutch content. However, before you get all enthusiastic, first contact Apologeet.nl. It might well be that somebody is al ready working on the translation of this page. Enquiries about translations Related Articles: Christian Stance on […]

By Jurgen hofmann 05-11-2005 (last modified 13-02-2014, translated in English 06-12-2022) Introduction A study on hell? Now what is that for you might ask. This topic was chosen because relatively little is known about hell. There is a kind of taboo on the subject among Christians, not to mention what non-believers think about it. Church […]

Our Apologies There is no English content for this page (yet?). I you like you can help by translating the Dutch content. However, before you get all enthusiastic, first contact Apologeet.nl. It might well be that somebody is al ready working on the translation of this page. Enquiries about translations Related Articles: The Hell Het […]

Studies are an absolute requirement for an apologist. In this section you can find material to ponder on. The first eight studies are academic essays on interesting topics. NOTE! I might be that not all studies are mentioned on this specific page. For the other subjects, you can use the menu at the top of […]

‘The Qur’an does not accept that [Jesus] was crucified, but states that he was taken directly to heaven. This is the one irreducible “fact” separating Christianity from Islam’ (Seyyed Hossein Nasr). Jurgen Hofmann Total word-count: 1499 9th May 2015 Introduction Nasr’s comment is given (among other occasions) in his book in comparison of other doctrines […]

“How Might the Old Testament’s Concern for Justice Impact Contemporary Slavery?” Jurgen Hofmann Total word-count: 2468 7th May 2015 Introduction Slavery is not only a phenomenon of the past. It is estimated that 29.8 million people are forced to live in slavery around the world today. Modern slavery is present in almost every country. Wherever […]

Essay “What was Jesus’ Understanding of the Significance of the Healings and Exorcisms he Performed?” Jurgen Hofmann Total word-count: 2500 14th of August 2013 Introduction Reading the Bible, one can hardly ignore the presence of remarkable miracles. In the New Testament we find Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God and at the same time performing […]

“Christ is the Image of the Invisible God” Jurgen Hofmann Total word-count: 1242 5th May 2014 Introduction Humans are created in God’s image but Christ is the image of God. How do we approach this aspect of Christ? Can it be that it explains what human nature is supposed to be, or does the New […]

“The sacredness of life is in Christian eyes an absolute which should not be violated” (Lambeth Conference of Bishops, 1958) Can or Should One Apply This Statement to Abortion? Note: There is a postscript included after the bibliography.Please, read this to understand my point of view! Jurgen Hofmann Total word-count: 2479 20th January 2014 Introduction […]

Case Study on Ethics It is 3 am and you are late getting home. As you approach the intersection you notice that no one is around. Do you drive through the red light? Jurgen Hofmann Total word-count: 1248 20th November 2013 Introduction What to do when the traffic-lights are red but there is no time […]

Research File Consisting of three parts: PART 1: A Reflective Report on a Mosque Visit. PART 2: My Personal Reflection on Islam and Muslims. PART 3: Academic Essay on the Challenges of Communicating the Gospel among Muslims in the UK. Jurgen Hofmann Total word-count: 5299 21th June 2012 Note: Persons and institutions, who have given […]

Development of Christian Faith in History Exploration of the Links of Atonement and Faith and Practise Today (Maximum 1000 words) Jurgen Hofmann Word count: 1087 19th June 2012 Introduction The atoning work of Christ has been a vivacious debated doctrine throughout the centuries. What is the overarching metaphor to describe Jesus’ sacrifice? In this paper […]

Critical Essay Outline and comment on the development of the Trinity to the end of the Patristic era. (Maximum 2500 words) Jurgen Hofmann Word count: 2740 29th May 2012 Introduction The widespread doctrine of the Trinity is a well supported doctrine within the Christian faith. This was not always the case. The Trinity doctrine knows […]

Exegesis – Mark 15:33-39 Jurgen Hofmann Word Count: 2145 28td February 2012 Introduction Each of the four Gospels gives a portrait of Jesus Christ and his works. The writers used different styles and emphases—the message however is the same in each writing: the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ. In this paper a […]

Creative Presentation on the History of British Evangelism and Mission Jurgen Hofmann Word Count written paper: 1031 13td February 2012 Your browser does not support the video tag. »» Please click here to watch the intro before continuing to read. Introduction Your browser does not support the video tag. »» Please click here to watch […]

Critical Essay on the Theme of Salvation as it Emerges in the Old Testament (Maximum 3000 words) Jurgen Hofmann Word Count: 3039 16td December 2011 Introduction In this paper the theme of salvation will be explored, and how this theme emerges throughout the Old Testament (OT). When one is asked to say what the Bible […]

Exegesis on Genesis 12 (Maximum 2000 words) Jurgen Hofmann Word Count: 2078 14td November 2011 Introduction This paper will give an exegesis on Genesis 12. The exegesis will look in to the importance of the chapter within the Pentateuch. After this a short overview of the context will be given. The different events within the […]

It is ‘of the essence…of the church to be a missionary community’ (p85 Mission-shaped Church – a Church of England Working Part Report by Church House Publishing, 2004) Assignment: Illustrate this statement from the New Testament, church history, and the contemporary church. From your examples discuss the role of the Holy Spirit in a missionary […]