Search — Theology Explorer

church history Reformation Q&A

Q&A: Martin Luther — valuable reformer, but his later writings about Jewish people were horrible and must be rejected; the Reformation is not reducible to one man.

Q&A on Martin Luther in the context of the 501st Reformation anniversary.

repentance forgiveness Q&A

Q&A: 'Forgive and forget' is imprecise; forgiveness is unilateral but restoration of relationship requires the other person's repentance and change.

Q&A on forgiveness and how to regard past offenses after forgiving.

Proverbs 15:1 self-talk prayer Q&A

Q&A: Applying Proverbs 15:1 inwardly — immediately turning to prayer when angry reorients perspective because addressing God changes the self-talk dynamic.

Q&A on using soft inner speech to de-escalate one's own anger.

repentance accountability Q&A

Q&A: Anger at oneself often masks avoidance of personal accountability — treating oneself as a victim of one's own actions.

Q&A on self-directed anger.

Ephesians 4:26 discernment sin Q&A

Q&A: It is okay to be angry about bad theology — Ephesians 4:26 permits anger, but you must then not sin and move through it.

Q&A on anger toward theological error.

Q&A: Malice toward God means you've gotten something wrong — Job's model is to acknowledge speaking without knowledge and pray for your own heart.

Q&A on feeling bitterness toward God.

Job prayer faith Q&A

Q&A: Dealing with malice toward someone who has died — pray for your own heart every time the feeling arises; direction toward good matters more than immediate resolution.

Q&A on unresolved bitterness toward a deceased person.

prayer forgiveness Q&A

Q&A: A wife navigating a husband's anger should maintain internal clarity about whether she sinned, and not accept blame she doesn't own.

Q&A on handling a spouse who struggles with anger and projects blame.

discernment marriage Q&A

2 John 1:9-11 1 Peter false teaching church discipline family

Q&A: 2 John 1:9-11 — disconnect from the false teacher's church and teaching, but distinguish that from family relationship; the two separations are not identical.

Final Q&A on whether to disconnect from a family member teaching false doctrine.

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-12

Zahnd claims Jesus 'edited' Isaiah 61 in Luke 4 — but Jesus stopped reading mid-sentence, he did not delete text

Winger examines Zahnd's most prominent proof-text for the 'Jesus edits the Bible' thesis: Jesus reading from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:16–21).

Luke-4 Isaiah-61 hermeneutics discernment apologetics

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-12

Zahnd consciously uses the 'vilify a common enemy' technique to generate emotional unity — and then does exactly that to his critics

Winger closes by exposing Zahnd's rhetorical self-awareness and the hypocrisy in his closing pages.

discernment hell apologetics

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-05

Why God cares about sexual ethics: sex is sacred and its distortion is especially dangerous

Winger addresses the common cultural objection — 'Why does God care about my sex life?'

sexual ethics marriage God's design

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-20

Jesus overturning tables in the Temple — anger is not inherently sinful, but it creates temptation to sin

Q&A: question about whether Jesus's table-turning in the Temple constitutes sinful anger.

Christian ethics sinlessness of Jesus Temple cleansing

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-23

Pre-Roe abortion death statistics were radically overstated — Scott Klusendorf cites approximately 70 deaths in the year before Roe

Q&A — claim that Roe v. Wade stopped women from dying from botched abortions

abortion Roe v. Wade Scott Klusendorf

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-23

High-risk pregnancy (lupus) scenario — saving the mother is a pro-life position, not abortion by definition

Q&A — question about a mother with lupus whose life is endangered by pregnancy

pro-life mother's life exception abortion definition

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-30

Pastoral counsel for those with family members in the Hebrew Roots Movement — distinguish unnecessary restrictions from the deeper spiritual danger

Q&A: a viewer's mother is deeply in the Hebrew Roots movement; asking if the movement is the way to be close to Jesus.

Hebrew Roots Movement Paul rejection Dietary laws

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-13

There is no single "the one" person to marry — biblical principles guide spouse selection, not divine designation

Viewer asking whether there is only one possible spouse and how that relates to free will

Proverbs 2 Corinthians 6:14 marriage sanctification Proverbs

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-13

Christians should engage in politics as salt and light; political views must be biblically tested

Viewer asking whether Christians should get involved in politics, referencing Martin Luther King Jr.

Christian worldview abortion Christians and politics

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-20

Q&A: The historical-critical method — recommended response is Bauckham's Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Q&A for a student in an early Christian philosophy course using the historical-critical method.

Richard Bauckham Jesus Seminar Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Distinction between being wealthy and pursuing wealth; Matthew 6 "seek first the kingdom" as the proper framework.

Wrapping up the prosperity gospel question.

Matthew 6 Matthew 6 Seek first the kingdom Wealth and Christianity

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

1 Timothy 2:11-15 context: instructions to men (avoid anger/quarreling in prayer) and women (modesty, inner vs. outer beauty).

Lady D asks about 1 Timothy 2:11-15 regarding women being silent and not having authority.

1 Timothy 2:11-15 1 Timothy 2:8-10 1 Timothy 2:11-15 Modesty 1 Timothy 2:8-10

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Page 30: Boghossian's principal argument against faith is circular — it presupposes his false definition

Mike analyzes Boghossian's core argument structure

Circular reasoning A Manual for Creating Atheists Peter Boghossian

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

2 Corinthians 11:24-28 — Paul's own catalog of sufferings as direct first-person evidence of his willingness to endure persecution for Christ

Paul's own testimony as evidence of sincerity

2 Corinthians 11:24-28 Paul the Apostle apostolic martyrdom apostle sincerity

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

Near-death experience books should be tested against Scripture and not used to supplement or replace it; the danger is NDE narrators becoming gurus with insider knowledge

Response to a question about the theological accuracy of books like 23 Minutes in Hell and 90 Minutes in Heaven

Scripture authority spiritual discernment near-death experiences

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-15

Exodus 12:49 does not teach that all Gentiles were under the Mosaic Law—it refers to resident aliens within Israel

Response to a Hebrew Roots proof text about Gentiles and the Law

Exodus 12:49 Hebrew Roots movement Gentiles and the Law Exodus 12:49

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 2019-06-19

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

Acts 18 argument from silence Josephus extra-biblical sources

false dichotomy God's wrath righteous anger

False dichotomy: God is either petty or wrathless

Mike challenges a common framing used by progressive Christians and atheists regarding divine wrath.

God's wrath righteous anger moral intuition

Righteous anger exists in human experience as evidence for divine wrath

Mike uses human moral intuition to establish the category of righteous anger.

James 1:20 Ephesians 4:26 God's wrath righteous anger James 1:20

Distinguishing human wrath from God's wrath: selfishness vs. holiness

Mike contrasts man's anger with God's anger, using personal anecdote and Scripture.

Psalm 119 Psalm 119 God's wrath human sin

God never sins in His anger; the danger is our sin provoking it

Mike shifts the frame from God's nature to humanity's accountability.

God's wrath human sin divine perspective

God is angry at the wickedness of sin, not merely at how sin inconveniences us

Mike develops the nature and target of God's wrath.

God's wrath divine holiness Leon Morris

Leon Morris: God's wrath is consistent, not capricious — a divine reaction to evil

Mike cites Leon Morris's scholarly study of God's wrath in the Old Testament.

God's wrath righteous anger theological error

Consequence 2 of denying wrath: self-refuting — critics judge God with the very thing they deny

Mike identifies a self-refuting irony in those who are angry that God would have wrath.

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.

religious pluralism tolerance cultural Christianity

The emotional appeal of pluralist slogans: kindness, avoiding anger, hope, tolerance

Winger demonstrates empathy with why people hold pluralist views before critiquing them

Holy Spirit atonement grace

Conclusion: Jesus is the only way because he alone paid the full price for sin; Christianity makes real sense of human suffering

Final summary and invitation

apologetics false teaching gospel proclamation

Religious pluralism summarized as dangerous, not merely wrong: a false diagnosis that makes you feel good while killing you

Final evaluation of religious pluralism's impact