Search — Theology Explorer

Filter results by source database — Scripture Commentary, Theology, Mike Winger, or Pulpit. Click a tab to narrow to one database.

...more

All (54) Mike Winger (54)

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

Introduction: The slogan "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" as a reason people reject the resurrection

Mike opens by framing the entire talk around evaluating this popular skeptical slogan, which he says is the primary reason many people reject the resurrection of Christ.

Introduction: The slogan "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" as a reason people reject the resurrection

Origin of the slogan: Carl Sagan coined "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

Christopher Hitchens applied the slogan to God and the resurrection in debates with William Lane Craig

David Hume as possible earlier source of the idea behind the slogan

How the slogan functions in practice: a rhetorical device to dismiss evidence without engaging it

Mike Twitter-polled atheists to understand how they define the terms in the slogan

Personal sympathy for the slogan: the desire not to be gullible

Overview: Five problems with the slogan

Problem 1: The slogan is self-defeating — it does not meet its own standard

Problem 2: No clear definition of what "extraordinary" means — equivocation fallacy

Twitter respondents define "extraordinary claim" as low prior probability

Twitter respondents cannot define "extraordinary evidence" — shifting, subjective standard

Mike asks Twitter: what specific historical evidence for the resurrection would count as "extraordinary"?

Twitter response 1: Jesus appearing across the globe with stories from all nations as required evidence

Twitter response 2: Eyewitness testimony from various continents, plus written testimony from Pilate or Sanhedrin

Twitter response 3: Want documented accounts with originals protected — which is what we have

Textual criticism: the discipline that traces copies back to originals and why we can trust the transmission

Twitter response 4: Bible found on the moon, photos from 2000 years ago, predictions — absurd demands

Twitter response 5: Contemporary writings of life, death, resurrection with originals — we have near-contemporary documents, especially 1 Corinthians 15

Twitter response 5 continued: demands 12 angels, 12 prophets, 12 languages simultaneously — unreasonable historical expectation

Twitter response 6: Alien video recording of the resurrection — PhD-level absurdity

Twitter response 7: Signed first-century testimony from Pilate — Paul is a better answer

Summary: the Twitter examples reveal the slogan creates unreasonable expectations to dodge evidence

Problem 3: The slogan results in rejecting any claim you want — confirmation bias

Evidence for God's existence: design, morality, prophecy; God as necessary being

Problem 4: The slogan results in ignoring good evidence via double standards and special pleading

The slogan formalized as a syllogism — and why it fails at premise 4

Problem 5: The slogan misapplies prior probability — humans are bad at estimating probabilities

The prior probability of the resurrection cannot be assessed by counting how many people have naturally risen — category error

Richard Swinburne has done serious academic work on the prior probability of the resurrection

Evidence can overcome even extremely low prior probabilities — the question is "did it happen?" not "what are the odds?"

David Hume's confirmation bias: he used the prior improbability of miracles to refuse even examining the evidence

Hume's anti-evidential stance is the philosophical ancestor of New Atheist ridicule tactics

Practical illustration: reliable coworker Jeff missing work — evidence overcomes prior probability

The cumulative case for the resurrection: what evidence we actually have

Adding corroborating evidence: reasons to believe God exists and Scripture is reliable further overcome any prior improbability

Mike's positive replacement for the slogan: evidence makes a claim believable when data is better explained by the hypothesis being true

Intellectual clarity requires spiritual health — Romans 1 on the connection between spiritual state and clear thinking

Apologetics is useful and important but should not be overstated — it works differently for different people

Recommendation: Tim McGrew discussion on Capturing Christianity channel for deeper philosophical analysis of the slogan

Q&A begins; note on busyness and the importance of deliberate margin in life

Q&A: Tips for young first-time pastor doing outreach to youth/college-age in a congregation of older saints

Q&A: Have you asked atheists why they even care what people believe about God?

Q&A: Tips for evangelizing to peers before military training — Greg Koukl's Tactics recommended

Q&A: Is it wrong to approach a pastor who taught something theologically unsound?

Q&A: How to deal with coworkers who want proof of God's existence — resources recommended

Q&A: Is a particular heart condition needed to see the reliability of evidence? — Luke 10:23-24 discussed

Former atheists: some came to faith through argumentation, others through experiential transformation first

Q&A: Fire-breathing dragon analogy — why the resurrection is not analogous to fantastic claims

Jesus-as-myth parallels to dragon analogy — internet claims of mythological foundations are "hokum"

Bible Link Settings