What Winger Presently Gets Wrong With Genesis 1–3: ‘Was Women’s Submission Just A Curse To Be Overturned?’

Response to Mike Winger's Women in Ministry Part 2 on Genesis 1-3 and whether women's submission was just a curse to be overturned

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus

Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona — Kindle highlights from 'The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus'. 110 highlights.

Two egalitarian claims: Mary as apostle to the apostles, and Junia in Romans 16

Mike previews the two main egalitarian arguments he will address.

Proof text #2: Matthew 28:6 and the empty tomb

Evidence that the tomb was genuinely empty

Second fact (L): Women/ladies found the tomb empty — criterion of embarrassment supports authenticity

Second point of the ALIVE acronym

Wrong tomb theory: disciples went to the wrong tomb, found it empty, and triggered the resurrection belief

Fifth alternate theory introduced

Missing body theory: Jesus's body was never in the claimed tomb or went missing, explaining the empty tomb

Sixth alternate theory introduced

Conspiracy theory: the disciples deliberately stole or fabricated the empty tomb story

Seventh alternate theory — described as the oldest, going back to first-century opponents of Christianity

Twin theory refuted by facts L, I, and E: empty tomb implies no second body; intimate companions would have known; family members converted

Systematic refutation of the twin theory using the ALIVE facts

Wrong tomb theory refuted by facts I, V, and E: independent appearances, violence endured, and enemy conversions cannot be explained by a navigational error

Systematic refutation of the wrong tomb theory

The resurrection is the one rational explanation that accounts for all five ALIVE facts

Conclusion of the evidence survey section

After the Craig debate, Ehrman changed position and now denies the burial — Mike argues this is ad hoc motivated reasoning

Mike's analysis of Ehrman's intellectual development post-debate

A majority (though not full consensus) of scholars accept that Jesus was buried by Joseph of Arimathea and that the tomb was subsequently found empty. Winger treats this majority position as significant in building the resurrection case.

Jim's claims about crucifixion: we have only one ancient source for Roman crucifixion practices; the cross was a straight pole (stauros = stake), not a T-shape; and Romans never removed crucifixion victims — they left them to be devoured by scavengers, making burial and an empty tomb impossible

Sixth and final major claim Mike refutes

Refutation of 'Romans never removed crucifixion victims': Josephus explicitly records that in Jerusalem, Jews were permitted by Romans to take down crucified bodies and bury them before sunset — directly supporting the Gospel burial account

Mike counters the 'no burial possible' claim with Josephus

Empty tomb: majority scholarly agreement exists, but Mike doesn't know a compelling argument against it

Q&A: question about why the empty tomb is only majority (not unanimous) scholarly agreement.

Women as named eyewitness sources at the death, burial, and empty tomb of Jesus

The Gospel pattern of naming women at the passion events as eyewitness sourcing.

Second-century legends (Gospel of Peter) feature absurd embellishments absent from canonical Gospels

Contrast between canonical Gospels and known legendary accounts to illustrate the difference.

Multiple attestation of empty tomb across 4 Gospels plus Acts sermons

Establishing historicity of the empty tomb through independent sources

Early attestation - all NT documents are 1st century with sources within 7 years

Arguing for early date of empty tomb testimony

Rudolf Pesch's argument on Mark's omission of Caiaphas's name

Dating Mark's source material by historical details

Mark's Aramaic phrasing 'first day of the week' vs 'third day' formula

Evidence of pre-Gospel source material

Mark's unadorned narrative vs legendary Gospel of Peter's elaborate details

Contrasting early and late accounts of the resurrection

1 Corinthians 15 creed - pre-Pauline formula dated within 5 years of crucifixion

Earliest written testimony to resurrection appearances

Greek term 'historeo' - Paul's formal eyewitness inquiry in Jerusalem

Galatians 1:18 - Paul's investigative visit to Peter

Enemy attestation - Matthew 28, Justin Martyr, Tertullian acknowledge the empty tomb

Even opponents of Christianity conceded the empty tomb as historical fact

No competing Jewish or pagan tradition claiming the tomb was occupied

Absence of alternative explanations in ancient sources

Women as witnesses - criterion of embarrassment in male-centered culture

Why early Christians would not invent women as the first witnesses

Jewish practice of marking and remembering spiritual leaders' burial sites

Why Jesus's grave would be noted and remembered

Acrosolia tomb type - archaeologically confirmed matches Gospel descriptions

Physical archaeology of 1st century Jerusalem tombs

Burial on day of preparation before Sabbath - corroborated across Gospels

Internal consistency of burial timeline

Women observing the burial - multiply attested detail

Additional corroboration of historical memory

Roman crucifixion burial practice rebutted by Josephus and archaeological evidence

Addressing main historical objection to empty tomb

Joseph of Arimathea - multiply attested, named, testable, criterion of embarrassment

Joseph as historical figure validating burial account

Jerusalem location - worst place to fabricate the empty tomb legend

Why the location itself argues for historicity

Q&A: Shroud of Turin and evidence issues

Discussion of physical evidence claims

Habermas's 2005 scholarly consensus paper on resurrection appearances

Academic consensus on resurrection appearances

Rebuttal of swoon theory - physical evidence against resuscitation

Addressing alternative naturalistic explanations

Stolen body theory problems - requires all disciples to unanimously fabricate

Addressing 'hallucination' and conspiracy objections

Christianity's historical uniqueness in resurrection claims

Comparative religion - why Christianity's claims stand out

Q&A: If an atheist accepts that a creator God exists, why should that God be the Christian God? Answer: cosmological arguments narrow the field to monotheism; historical evidence for the resurrection identifies Christianity specifically

Q&A question from Emily Towler about identifying which God among creation stories

Refutation of Paulogia's claim that Romans denied honorable burial to crucifixion victims: Josephus explicitly says Romans made an exception for Jews

Mike provides a specific example of responding to a resurrection objection

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

Mike assembles the positive evidence for the resurrection after dismantling the slogan's objections.

Empty tomb evidence — women as primary witnesses

McLatchie presents the role of women as primary witnesses to the empty tomb as evidence for its historicity.

Earliest Jewish polemic presupposes the empty tomb — Matthew 28

McLatchie points to the earliest Jewish counter-argument to the resurrection as presupposing the tomb was empty.

Irreconcilable variation in empty tomb accounts — evidence for independence

McLatchie presents apparent discrepancies between Gospel accounts of the empty tomb as evidence for their independence.

Undesigned coincidence within Luke: women from Galilee thread through Luke 8, 23, and 24

McLatchie presents an intra-Gospel undesigned coincidence within Luke demonstrating the authentic, non-fabricated character of the resurrection narrative.

Endorsement circle comparison: Simmons is endorsed only within hyper-charismatic circles; the resurrection was affirmed even by hostile witnesses like Paul.

Second distinction in the Simmons-vs-apostles credibility argument.

The empty tomb was verifiable: women as witnesses (embarrassing to early church = authentic), the women are named (eyewitness identification per Bauckham), Roman guards monitored it

Responding to how anyone could be sure the right tomb was checked if Jesus was beaten unrecognizably

Q&A: How to deal with worry about death as a young Christian. The gospel IS the solution to death: Jesus's empty tomb means resurrection is real. Mike shares attending an atheist's funeral — no comfort, only empty cliches. Christian "cliches" about being with the Lord and seeing loved ones again are actually TRUE. Re-read the resurrection accounts and biographies of faithful saints.

Q&A — fear of death