Search — Theology Explorer

Biblical inspiration Biblical epistemology Apologetics methodology

Proper epistemology for trusting Scripture: demonstrate Bible is from God, then trust it — rather than requiring external proof for every claim.

Mike's methodological note on the Exodus question.

Luke 16 (Lazarus and the rich man) Ghosts Luke 16 (Lazarus and the rich man) Demons / evil spirits

Are ghosts real? Mike's view: likely evil spirits, not the spirits of the dead.

Jim McGregor asks whether ghosts are real or evil spirits.

1 Samuel 28 Samuel Demons / evil spirits 1 Samuel 28

Witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28): the appearance of Samuel was an exception, possibly demonic; the medium herself was shocked it worked.

Continuing the ghosts discussion with a biblical example.

Apologetics methodology Evangelism Pantheism

How to evangelize pantheists: demonstrate Christianity is true rather than directly refuting pantheism.

Michael Gilbert asks how to evangelize to pantheists and polytheists and prove their views false.

1 Timothy 2:5 John 20:17 1 Timothy 2:5 John 20:17 Jesus as mediator

1 Timothy 2:5 mediator concept underlies John 20:17 — Jesus is the one mediator between God and man.

Continuing the John 20:17 discussion.

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-27

Multiple attestation of empty tomb across 4 Gospels plus Acts sermons

Establishing historicity of the empty tomb through independent sources

Empty tomb Historicity Multiple attestation

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-27

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

Why early Christians would not invent women as the first witnesses

Bart Ehrman Women witnesses Criterion of embarrassment

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Chapter 3: doxastic closure — Boghossian continues the assault on faith while romanticizing Street Epistemology

Mike transitions to chapter 3 of the book

A Manual for Creating Atheists Peter Boghossian Faith

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

The book assumes religious people have not thought through their beliefs — which Mike says is demonstrably false

Mike identifies a core assumption embedded in the book

Apologetics A Manual for Creating Atheists Peter Boghossian

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

Q&A: Hebrews 11:1 is a description of faith in action, not a definition of faith

Question from "search for truth" about Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11:1 Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11:1 Amy Hall

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

Focus narrowed to Peter, James the brother of Jesus, and Paul as the three central resurrection eyewitnesses whose sincerity needs to be established

Transition from general persecution to specific apostolic martyrdoms

James the brother of Jesus Paul the Apostle apostle sincerity conspiracy hypothesis

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

Catalog of additional sources for Peter's martyrdom: Apocalypse of Peter, Ascension of Isaiah, Acts of Peter, Apocryphon of James, Dionysius of Corinth, Tertullian, Muratorian Canon

Demonstrating that Peter's martyrdom is attested by multiple independent streams of tradition

Acts of Peter Acts 4 Tertullian apostolic martyrdom Peter the Apostle

Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

James the brother of Jesus as the leader of the Jerusalem church; Acts 15 and 1 Corinthians 15 as key evidence for his role and resurrection witness

Transition to James as the third focal figure

Acts 15 1 Corinthians 15 James the brother of Jesus Acts 15 1 Corinthians 15 James the brother of Jesus

Street Epistemology The Elephant in the Brain faith as loyalty signal

Reed (Street Epistemology YouTuber) argues that "belief without evidence" functions as a costly loyalty signal within religious in-groups

Examining another atheist's social-psychological theory of faith

forgiveness of sins paralytic lowered through roof faith grounded in evidence

Jesus healed the paralytic to provide evidence for his authority to forgive sins — faith is evidence-based

Biblical example of evidence-based faith

Romans 4 Genesis 15:6 David Abraham Romans 4

Abraham and David in Romans 4 as Old Testament examples of justification apart from works

Exegesis of Romans 4 on OT salvation

mustard seed faith disciples casting out demons little faith (oligopistia)

Disciples' failure to cast out demons vs. faith as a mustard seed — two distinct teachings not to conflate

Q&A: Haggar Vid asks about the disciples having little faith and the mustard-seed faith saying

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-15

Matthew 5 and Matthew 28 are from entirely different contexts and cannot be simply combined

First critique of the Hebrew Roots interpretive move

Matthew 10:5 Matthew 28:18-20 Matthew 5:17 hermeneutics Matthew 10:5 Matthew 28:18-20

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-15

Apostles were willing to die repeatedly for the resurrection—this demonstrates sincerity without needing proof they were offered a final recantation option

Brief apologetics note on the resurrection and martyrdom argument

resurrection apologetics apostolic martyrdom

Mark 2 Isaiah 63:7-10 Psalm 78:40 Holy Spirit Mark 2 Jonathan McLatchie

Isaiah 63 — Three persons of the Trinity in the Old Testament

McLatchie presents Isaiah 63:7-10 as containing all three persons of the Trinity within a single Old Testament passage.

undesigned coincidences eyewitness testimony Jonathan McLatchie

Undesigned coincidences — definition and how they demonstrate historicity

Winger asks McLatchie to explain undesigned coincidences as a distinct argument for the historicity of the New Testament.

biological fine-tuning intelligent design Antony Flew

Antony Flew's conversion from atheism due to biological complexity

Winger cites Antony Flew as a historical example of someone persuaded by biological complexity to abandon atheism.

Luke 8:2-3 Luke 24:10 Luke 23:55 Luke 8:2-3 Mary Magdalene Joanna

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.

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-22

Acts 21:23-24 -- Paul is asked to join four men under a vow and pay their expenses, demonstrating publicly that he walks orderly and keeps the law -- to refute the false rumor

Survey of Acts 21:23-24, Paul and the vow

Acts 21:23-24 Nazirite vow Paul the Apostle Law of Moses

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-05

Galatians 3:21-28 read in full: no Jew or Greek distinction in Christ undermines Hebrew Roots' position

Extended scriptural reading to demonstrate freedom from the law

Galatians 3:21-28 in Christ covenant Hebrew Roots Movement

Mike Winger idea 2019-05-30

2 Peter 2:1 — Christ bought even false prophets who deny him and face destruction, proving atonement extends beyond the elect

Winger uses 2 Peter 2:1 to demonstrate that Christ purchased those who are clearly not saved, refuting limited atonement.

2 Peter 2:1 false prophets limited atonement extent of atonement

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Bart Ehrman's statement: mythicist view has no foothold among modern critical scholars

Quoting agnostic/atheist scholar to demonstrate non-Christian scholarly consensus

scholarly consensus Bart Ehrman Jesus mythicism

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

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

historicity of Jesus argument from analogy dying and rising gods

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

John Dominic Crossan in debate with Licona affirmed the use of criteria — demonstrating that most historians still rely on them

Licona's debate with Crossan as evidence of continuing scholarly use of criteria

John Dominic Crossan Mike Licona criteria of authenticity John Dominic Crossan

Mike Winger idea 2019-06-26

Rebuttal: the inscripturation claim for prophecy and knowledge is unsubstantiated; New Testament prophets generally did not produce Scripture.

First major exegetical objection to the Masters Seminary argument. Winger demonstrates that NT prophets were not primarily Scripture-writers.

Acts 21:9 Acts 11 Acts 21:9 cessationism prophecy

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-03

Isaiah 41:23 and Lamentations 3:38-39 corroborate that God bringing evil/bad = calamity, not moral evil

Supporting passages examined to reinforce the interpretation of Isaiah 45:7

Isaiah 41:23 Lamentations 3:38-39 divine judgment ra calamity vs moral evil

Mike Winger idea 2019-07-24

Trinitarian harmony used as a theological trump card to override clear Scripture texts

Mike plays clips from White's video to demonstrate how Trinitarian harmony functions rhetorically in Calvinist argumentation.

James White James White limited atonement Trinitarian harmony in the atonement

Mike Winger idea 2019-08-07

Ezekiel 33:11 — God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked

Mike demonstrates Old Testament consistency on God's wrath and mercy.

Ezekiel 33:11 repentance Ezekiel 33:11 God's wrath

Mike Winger idea 2019-08-07

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

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

God's love God's wrath the cross

Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

Q&A: Polygamy is inherently sinful; one-flesh marriage precludes a second wife by definition

A viewer asks how to demonstrate that polygamy is sinful for Christians. Winger argues from the nature of marriage itself and from both Testaments.

1 Timothy 3:2 Genesis 2:24 Titus 1:6 1 Timothy 3:2 Genesis 2:24 Titus 1:6

Mike Winger idea 2019-10-02

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

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

religious pluralism tolerance cultural Christianity

Mike Winger idea 2020-01-29

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

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

Mike Winger idea 2020-01-29

God's severe OT judgments are iconic examples of how extreme sin is, not normative patterns; wrath is mostly being delayed

Q&A: explaining the apparent harshness of divine judgment in the OT vs. NT

Romans 1-2 Joshua 7 divine judgment Romans 1-2 wrath of God

Mike Winger idea 2020-08-28

Jesus did not teach salvation by works — Mark 10 (rich man) demonstrates the impossibility of works-righteousness and points to Christ's atoning sacrifice

Question from "A Pig with 100 Subscribers" about the apparent tension between Paul (saved by faith, not works) and Jesus (enter kingdom by following commandments).

Mark 10 atonement soteriology works-righteousness

Mike Winger idea 2020-09-18

Matthew 8:16-17 applies Isaiah 53 to Jesus's physical healings — physical healing is in the atonement

Continuing Isaiah 53 / healing discussion; a complicating text for those who deny physical healing in the atonement.

Matthew 8:16-17 Isaiah 53:4 healing atonement messianic prophecy

Mike Winger idea 2020-09-18

Mark 16:17-18 — the signs follow believers as a community/historically, not as individual mandates for every Christian

Question from Chretienis about Mark 16:17-18 and helping people escape the prosperity gospel.

Mark 16:17-18 Acts 28 textual criticism healing prosperity gospel

Acts 10 Acts 10 Jewish-Gentile distinction tongues and salvation

Acts 10 — Cornelius and the Gentiles speak in tongues

Second Acts passage cited by tongues-required proponents

Acts 10 Acts 2 Acts 19 Acts 10 Acts 2 Acts 19

Summary: the three Acts tongues episodes demonstrate the Spirit's work in different stages, not universal salvation proof

Summation of the main argument against tongues-required-for-salvation

Exodus 7 Satan Exodus 7 Pharaoh's magicians

Exodus 7: Pharaoh's magicians reproduced some of Moses's signs — two possible explanations: sleight of hand or demonic power

Q&A from Garrett De Jong about how the magicians duplicated the signs