Search — Theology Explorer

Atheism Nihilism Morality

Mike argues that atheism, consistently followed, leads to nihilism — no morality, purpose, beauty, love, personhood, free will, or meaning

Mike offers his counter-worldview assessment

Street Epistemology Doubt Psychological manipulation

The distinction between asking questions and using questions: SE uses questions as tools for instilling doubt, not seeking answers

Mike synthesizes the previous clip and explains SE's fundamental problem

Randal Rauser Is the Atheist My Neighbor

Mike declines book recommendation: Randal Rauser's "Is the Atheist My Neighbor?" — too many books already in queue

Q&A suggestion from Big Ideas Seeker

Evangelism Gospel Street Epistemology

Closing appeal: false intellectual barriers constructed by Street Epistemology prevent people from seriously considering the gospel

Mike's closing statement

apologetics truth discipleship

Holistic discipleship: the false dichotomy between relationships and truth must be rejected

McDowell and Mike discuss the thesis of the book

evangelism gospel Millennials

The problem with having a negative or contemptuous attitude toward a generation you are trying to reach with the gospel

Mike reflects on the pattern of older generations despising younger ones

evangelism love cultural engagement

Love communicates more than correct answers: valuing the person by taking their question seriously matters independent of whether the answer lands

Mike reflects on the principle of person-first engagement

apologetics Sam Harris parenting

Q&A: Advice for a homeschool mom — expose kids to real-world ideas rather than sheltering them; the principle of strategic exposure

Audience question from a homeschooling mother

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

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

Fourth of five critiques.

Resurrection of Jesus Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Special pleading

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

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

Mike drills into the specific error of applying natural-process probability to a theistic miracle claim.

Resurrection of Jesus Miracles Prior probability

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-01

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

Viewer heading to military training asks about evangelism strategies.

Greg Koukl Evangelism Tactics (book)

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

NT judgment is actually more extreme than OT judgment: Revelation's eternal punishment exceeds anything in the OT; love, mercy, and wrath are all escalated in the NT

Second counter-argument on whether God's judgment lessens over time

1 Peter Revelation 1 Thessalonians 1 Peter Revelation 1 Thessalonians

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

The Sabbath is Saturday; Gentile Christians are free to observe or not observe it; the Sabbath did not move to Sunday; early church gathered on both days for different reasons

Response to question about whether the Sabbath is Saturday or Sunday and whether it matters for Gentiles

Colossians Romans 14 Colossians Romans 14 Christian freedom

Matthew 5:20-48 Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5:20-48 antitheses

Matthew 5:20-48 shows Jesus intensifying the Law (anger=murder, lust=adultery) to reveal how far short everyone falls

Winger's reading of the antitheses in the Sermon on the Mount

John 13:34 Jeremiah 31:33 New Covenant John 13:34 new commandment

John 13:34 — Jesus gives a "new commandment" to love one another, which becomes the defining law of the New Covenant

The law of Christ defined

Galatians 6:2 Jeremiah 31:33 New Covenant Galatians 6:2 law written on the heart

The "law of Christ" in the New Covenant is the law of love — not the Mosaic Law written on the heart

Defining what Jeremiah 31's "law written on the heart" refers to

1 John 3:4 1 John 3:4 anomia lawlessness

Q&A: 1 John 3:4 — "sin is lawlessness" refers to transgression of God's commands broadly, not specifically the Law of Moses

Response to a Hebrew Roots proof text

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-16

Philosophical argument for the Trinity from God's essential love

McLatchie presents a philosophical argument that the triune nature of God is required by God's essential attribute of selfless love.

1 John 4:8 Trinity Islam Richard Swinburne

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-16

James the brother of Jesus — conversion from skeptic to martyr

McLatchie presents the conversion and martyrdom of James, Jesus's brother, as particularly strong evidence for the resurrection.

Acts 1 James the brother of Jesus John 7:5 Josephus resurrection of Jesus Acts 1

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-22

Q&A: strategy for reaching those deeply in Hebrew Roots movement -- speak truth in love, handle one issue at a time, use Acts 13-15 in Bible study format

Q&A response about evangelizing Hebrew Roots adherents

Acts 15 Acts 13 Acts 15 Hebrew Roots movement apologetics

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-05

What is the law of Christ? It is walking in love — the heart of the law as Jesus summarized it

Q&A: Josh Kretchmer asks about the law of Christ

Sermon on the Mount walking in the Spirit law of Christ

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-05

Why was Jesus bound to the law? God's holiness requires punishment for sin; Jesus satisfies both justice and mercy

Q&A: Christina Hunt about why Jesus had to die

Psalm 85:10 atonement Jesus under the law holiness of God

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-30

Fallacy of negative inference illustrated by Galatians 2:20

Winger uses Galatians 2:20 to illustrate that affirming Christ's death for one person or group does not imply he did not die for others.

Galatians 2:20 limited atonement fallacy of negative inference Galatians 2:20

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-30

Q&A: Does God's omnipotence and love require universal salvation? — No; free will and divine glory in judgment are countervailing factors

Viewer asks whether God's attributes logically entail that he must save everyone.

sin free will divine judgment

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-30

Q&A: Are the dead conscious after death? Are loved ones watching over us? — Believers go immediately to God's presence; watching over us is uncertain

Viewer Q&A about the state of the dead and whether loved ones watch over the living.

Ecclesiastes resurrection soul sleep intermediate state

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-13

The Christian message holds two truths together: all have sin AND God loves and saves

Proper gospel balance

gospel God's love universal sinfulness

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-13

Two truths the world and Anderson each reject: all sin is terrible; yet God loves and saves

Symmetry of error between secular culture and Anderson

God's love sin Steven Anderson

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-13

Matthew 11:28 and John 3:16-17: Jesus's actual advice — come to me; God sent Son to save not judge

What Jesus would actually say to sinners

Matthew 11:28 John 3:16-17 salvation Jesus's mission Matthew 11:28

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

1 Thessalonians 4: Jesus will "bring with him" the dead in Christ, whose spirits are reunited with raised bodies — a transformer/transformative resurrection

Paul's 1 Thessalonians 4 passage on resurrection and the coming of Christ

1 Thessalonians 4 Paul eschatology intermediate state

1 Corinthians 12-14 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 1 Corinthians 12-14 prophecy word of knowledge

1 Corinthians 13:8-13 in context: the love passage is embedded within 1 Cor 12-14, a sustained section on spiritual gifts.

Winger reads the passage aloud (1 Cor 13:8-13) and establishes its literary context before presenting cessationist interpretations.

1 Corinthians 13:8 spiritual gifts prophecy word of knowledge

Verse-by-verse: v. 8 — love never ends; three gifts (prophecy, knowledge, tongues) will pass away; the context is clearly the spiritual gifts of 1 Cor 12-14.

Winger begins his own positive verse-by-verse treatment of 1 Cor 13:8-13.

1 Corinthians 13:12 1 John 3:2 1 Corinthians 8:3 eschatology glorification face to face with God

Verse-by-verse: v. 12 — "face to face" and "know fully even as I am fully known" point to the eschatological vision of God, not completion of Scripture; confirmed by 1 John 3:2 and 1 Cor 8:3.

Winger's positive exegesis of v. 12, identifying "the perfect" with the second coming/resurrection state. He cross-references 1 John 3:2 and 1 Cor 8:3.

1 Corinthians 13:13 spiritual gifts love 1 Corinthians 13:13

Main point of 1 Cor 13: love, not gifts, is the permanent priority; pursuit of love must exceed pursuit of spiritual gifts.

Winger concludes the exegesis by restating Paul's actual primary argument.

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-17

Four target audiences for BibleThinker ministry

Winger articulates the specific audiences he aims to reach through his online ministry.

discipleship apologetics biblical worldview

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-17

Q&A: 2 Corinthians 7:10 — godly grief vs. worldly grief, applied to lust

Question about the difference between godly and worldly grief and how to repent better from lust.

1 Corinthians 10:13 2 Corinthians 7:10 repentance sanctification lust

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-24

Calvinism is not a fellowship-breaking issue; call for brotherly engagement

Closing exhortation on tone and Christian unity.

James White James White Christian fellowship Calvinism

God's love God's wrath penal substitutionary atonement

God's wrath and love coexist; stripping either distorts the gospel

Mike addresses the theological error of removing wrath from God's character.

repentance God's love God's wrath

God's wrath and love can both be directed at the same person simultaneously

Mike addresses personal anxiety about being the object of God's wrath.

2 Peter 3:9 repentance divine patience 2 Peter 3:9

2 Peter 3:9 — God delays judgment because He desires all to repent

Mike uses 2 Peter to explain the delay between God's wrath and its execution.

Exodus 20:5-6 God's wrath divine holiness divine mercy

Exodus 20:5-6 — God's jealousy is analogous to His wrath: proper, not sinful

Mike extends the argument to God's jealousy as a parallel form of righteous emotion.

God's love God's wrath the cross

Consequence 5 of denying wrath: paradoxically diminishes God's love

Mike argues that wrath and love are mutually reinforcing, not competing.

sin God's wrath theological error

Consequence 6 of denying wrath: trivializes sin and produces narcissism

Mike draws on his counseling experience to illustrate the practical danger of removing wrath.

God's love divine judgment God's wrath

Critique of depersonalizing wrath: 'God hates sin but not sinners' is biblically insufficient

Mike critiques a popular pastoral slogan often used to soften the doctrine of wrath.

Romans 9 Psalm 11:5 election God's love Romans 9

Q&A: Does God hate the sinner? Psalm 11:5 and the complexity of divine attitude

Viewer question on whether God's attitude toward the wicked is hatred.

eschatology God's love divine judgment

Q&A: Does God's love have a time limit — does it turn to hatred at death for the damned?

Viewer asks whether God's love for the unrepentant ceases at death and becomes everlasting hatred.

atonement imago Dei incarnation

Christian worldview distinctives: personal God, imago Dei, sin, grace, salvation by faith

Comparison of Christianity's core claims against other religions

Revelation Islam salvation by works comparative religion

Islam's fundamental claims: closer to Christianity but built as a rejection of it — different God, no grace, no cross

Comparative religion analysis of Islam vs. Christianity

Ezekiel 33:11 John 3:16 Psalm 5:5 God's love Ezekiel 33:11 John 3:16

Q&A: Does God have divine hatred? — Yes, Scripture affirms it, alongside God's love

Viewer question from Johnny