Search — Theology Explorer

Equivocation fallacy Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Epistemology

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

Part of the data-gathering from Twitter, illustrating the definitional problem with the slogan.

Resurrection of Jesus Historical evidence Prophecy

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

Fourth respondent's example of extraordinary evidence — illustrating how the slogan leads to unreasonable expectations.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Existence of God Epistemology

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

Third of five critiques of the slogan.

Resurrection of Jesus Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence Special pleading

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

Fourth of five critiques.

Epistemology Prior probability Confirmation bias

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

Mike uses an everyday scenario to illustrate how evidence should override prior probability.

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

Multi-step biblical strategy for overcoming lust: believe 1 Cor 10:13, make no provision for the flesh, remove high-value stumbling blocks, and fight temptation at its earliest stage not its peak

Response to question about being enslaved to the sin of lust

Romans 14 Romans 6 1 Corinthians 10:13 Romans 14 temptation sanctification

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-15

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

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

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 2019-06-13

Jesus in Matthew 5 intensifies the law — lust equals adultery in the heart, hate equals murder

Jesus's Sermon on the Mount expands the scope of sin

Matthew 5 Matthew 5 Sermon on the Mount 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

Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus argument from analogy

Analogy: Entertaining Jesus mythicism is like scientists debating Flat Earth, or historians entertaining Holocaust denial

Illustrating the scholarly view of Jesus mythicism's credibility level

historicity of Jesus argument from analogy dying and rising gods

Analogy: Parallel details in the B-29 Empire State Building crash (1945) and 9/11 do not mean 9/11 was copied — you need a causal connection

Illustrating that parallel details alone prove nothing without demonstrating causal connection

John F. Kennedy Abraham Lincoln Jesus mythicism Barack Obama

Analogy: Compositing Lincoln, JFK, and fictional David Palmer to "prove" Obama is a myth illustrates the fallacy of the mythicist composite method

Illustrating the logical fallacy in compositing pagan parallels

argument from silence Josephus historicity of Jesus

Argument from silence illustrated: Josephus omits his own capture by Romans from his autobiography; Grant's memoirs never mention the Emancipation Proclamation

Further examples showing argument from silence is a weak form of evidence

Acts 18 argument from silence Josephus extra-biblical sources

Suetonius's report of Claudius expelling Jews from Rome matches Acts 18 — illustrating how omissions in one source don't prove falsehood; Josephus doesn't mention this expulsion

Cross-referencing Suetonius and Acts; illustrating argument from silence

Plutarch Mike Licona historical methodology

Licona's book Why Are There Differences in the Gospels? required classicist review to avoid errors in Plutarch material — illustrating disciplinary boundaries

Personal example of the importance of disciplinary specialization

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-26

Rebuttal of the massive time-gap claim: the verse-by-verse flow of 1 Cor 13:8-12 is continuous; no gap is linguistically justified.

Second major objection. Winger argues the narrative logic of the passage runs uninterrupted from v. 8 through v. 12.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 cessationism to teleion exegesis

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-26

Verse-by-verse: v. 11 — the child/adult analogy illustrates that the gifts are a temporary measure, but the maturity in view is eschatological glorification (1 Cor 15), not canonical completion.

Winger grants that v. 11 sounds like it could support the church-maturity cessationist view, but locates its referent in resurrection/glorification.

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 13:11 cessationism 1 Corinthians 15 eschatology

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-03

Three biblical causes of natural evil: divine judgment, spiritual warfare, and the greater good

Mike surveys biblical reasons for calamitous suffering

Job John 9:1-3 spiritual warfare Job problem of evil

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-03

Q&A: Proverbs 16:33 and divine sovereignty — layered sovereignty model, not hard determinism

Audience question about whether God meticulously controls all things

Proverbs Job Proverbs 16:33 Proverbs free will Job

Romans 9 Leighton Flowers BibleThinker Romans 9

Ministry impact testimonies: Global reach and unexpected pastor influence

Winger shares concrete examples of ministry impact by late 2017 when he had ~9,000 subscribers.

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

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.

miracles cessationism continuationism

Q&A: Why did God stop doing big signs and miracles (burning bush, parting the sea)?

Question from a listener puzzled by the apparent cessation of large-scale miracles after the Old Testament.

repentance perseverance faithfulness

Closing exhortation: Be the tortoise, not the hare

Winger closes with a personal reflection and encouragement about long-term faithfulness.

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-24

Legal pardon analogy: a rejected pardon does not eliminate the sentence

Mike uses a legal illustration to support his double payment response.

divine justice unlimited atonement double jeopardy / double payment

Mike Winger idea 2019-08-07

Consequence 6 of denying wrath: trivializes sin and produces narcissism

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

sin God's wrath theological error

exclusivity of Christ religious pluralism analogy and illustration

Parachute analogy: three men jumping from a plane with a spacesuit, super suit, and parachute

Illustration to make vivid why "all religions work on their own terms" is nonsense

imago Dei comparative religion suffering

Buddhism's fundamental claims contradict Christianity: impersonal reality, illusion, no enduring self, cessation as goal

Detailed comparative religion analysis of Buddhism vs. Christianity

John 14:6 apologetics John 14:6 exclusivity of Christ

Slogan 2: "Jesus is the only way — how arrogant" — two analogies: wrong road and cancer doctor

Third slogan addressed (Winger addresses it second in ordering)

gospel proclamation exclusivity of Christ cultural Christianity

Fire alarm analogy: even if the messenger is a jerk, truth remains truth — cultural taboo vs. actual wrong

Further defense of proclaiming Jesus as the only way

Matthew 5:27-28 Matthew 5:21-22 lust inner life total depravity

Jesus raises the moral standard inward: lust as adultery, hatred as murder — God judges the inner person

Scriptural grounding for total depravity / the inadequacy of external goodness

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-31

Spurgeon's debate anecdote: using an irrelevant text proves nothing

Winger illustrates the Luke 18 exegetical error through the famous Spurgeon debate story.

Luke 18:15-16 Job 1:1 biblical interpretation infant baptism Luke 18:15-16

Romans 8 Romans 8 assurance of salvation epistemology

The witness of the Holy Spirit is the primary means by which Christians know Christianity is true

Application of the knowing/showing framework to Christian epistemology

atheism epistemology witness of the Holy Spirit

Internet atheism often operates by demanding unanswerable questions rather than engaging arguments honestly

Sociological and spiritual observation about common atheist engagement tactics

1 Kings 18 Elijah 1 Kings 18 Mount Carmel

Elijah on Mount Carmel: biblical example of knowing vs. showing — he knew God was real, he showed others through evidence

Old Testament narrative case study illustrating the knowing/showing distinction

Exodus 8:10 Moses miracles as evidence knowing vs. showing

Moses and the plague of frogs: God let Pharaoh choose the time so Pharaoh could know no one is like the Lord

Second OT narrative case study illustrating knowing vs. showing