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All (224) Mike Winger (224)
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

King Follett Sermon quote: Joseph Smith mocks orthodox scholars for teaching creation ex nihilo, claiming special knowledge via the Holy Ghost.

Direct quotation from the King Follett Sermon on creation, where Smith attacks the ex nihilo doctrine and claims superior knowledge.

Joseph Smith King Follett Sermon creation ex nihilo
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Joseph Smith's claim that 'bara' means 'organize' is inaccurate; traditional Jewish and Christian scholarship has consistently supported ex nihilo creation.

Mike briefly rebuts Smith's Hebrew argument, pointing to the scholarly consensus and encouraging viewers to research it themselves.

hermeneutics Joseph Smith creation ex nihilo
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-21

Q&A — New bodies and the New Earth: souls wait, bodies come later at the resurrection

Eschatology question on timing of resurrection bodies

1 Corinthians 15 Revelation 1 Corinthians 15 eschatology Revelation
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

Reason 1 refuted: Bible organization is not a valid test for inspiration

The skeptic argues the Bible is a 'hopeless mess' that is not well organized and should be arranged by topic (creation, relationships, parenting, prayer, etc.).

Song of Solomon Psalms Proverbs Sermon on the Mount biblical organization anachronism
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

Reason 6 addressed: Scientific foreknowledge in the Bible — prophecy is superior to scientific insight as apologetic evidence

The skeptic argues an inspired Bible would contain scientific knowledge humans couldn't have had (e.g., quantum mechanics, germ theory). Mike largely treats this as a restatement of Reason 5.

Genesis 1 Hebrews 11:3 Genesis 1 inspiration tests scientific foreknowledge
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

The 'God only acts in the Middle East' meme refuted as incoherent special pleading

Between numbered reasons, the article inserts a meme claiming all of God's actions in the Bible occur in a tiny geographic circle around the Middle East, ignoring Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

geographic objection special pleading meme apologetics
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-25

Mark 13:15-23 — unparalleled tribulation: Mike takes Jesus at his word, not hyperbole

Mike reads the tribulation section and defends a literal reading against those who dismiss it as exaggeration.

Mark 13:15-23 Mark 13:15-23 great tribulation R.C. Sproul
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-22

People deceived from childhood into false belief are still accountable, but God's judgment is calibrated to what they genuinely could have known — general revelation (creation, conscience) remains available to everyone

Q&A: question about accountability for someone deceived from before the age of accountability.

accountability general revelation judgment
Mike Winger idea 2018-09-05

God can speak through creation, but creation communicates general attributes (glory, power) not specific instruction — the written word provides far greater specificity.

Viewer question about whether God speaks through nature/creation outside the Bible.

Psalm 19 Romans 1 general revelation Scripture special revelation
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Can Christians use both evidential and presuppositional approaches? Winger says yes; Sye says you can use evidence presuppositionally but you cannot combine the two methodologies as co-equal

Audience question from 'apology of five'; key methodological clarification

presuppositional apologetics evidential apologetics classical apologetics
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Book recommendations for comparing apologetic methodologies; Sye recommends Bahnson's 'Always Ready' and 'Presuppositional Apologetics Stated and Defended'; Jason Lisle's 'The Ultimate Proof of Creation'

Audience book recommendation question

John Frame presuppositional apologetics Greg Bahnson Jason Lisle
Mike Winger idea 2018-12-19

Q&A: Can atheists be saved? — Romans 1 and the hardening process of rejecting God

Answering viewer Sarah Beauchamp's question about Barron's statement that even atheists can be saved

Romans 1 Romans 1:18-32 atheism conscience Romans 1
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-16

Romans 1:19-20 — creation itself is the evidence through which God is perceived; not faith without evidence

Mike addresses the second counter-passage sometimes used to support faith-without-evidence.

Romans 1:19-20 evidence-based faith cosmological argument Romans 1:19-20
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-16

Q&A: Personal testimony — Bradley Wilcox found God through science and history; Mike shares friend Travis's conversion testimony

Viewer comment on creation as evidence; Mike illustrates with a personal conversion story.

Romans 1:19-20 personal testimony Romans 1:19-20 natural theology
Mike Winger idea 2019-01-30

John 1 Logos — what it means for Jesus to be the Word: Jesus is God's self-revelation, not the Bible itself

Q&A: questioner asks Mike to elaborate biblically on what it means for Jesus to be the Word.

John 1:1 Revelation of God Logos Jesus as the Word Pre-existence of Christ
Mike Winger idea 2019-02-07

Book of Revelation and the new heavens and new earth

Q&A question about what Revelation says about the new heaven and earth.

Romans 8 Revelation 2 Peter Romans 8 sons of God eschatology
Mike Winger idea 2019-02-07

1 Corinthians 13 face-to-face language connects to the new creation

Mike links 1 Corinthians 13:12 to the new heavens and new earth discussion.

1 Corinthians 13:12 eschatology face to face with God 1 Corinthians 13:12
Mike Winger idea 2019-02-13

Image of God (imago Dei): grounds human value, authority over creation, and raises questions about communicable attributes

Viewer asking what it means to be created in the image of God

Genesis 1 Genesis 9 dominion mandate Mormonism Genesis 1
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Question: Does "repent" (metanoia) mean godly grief/sorrow?

Christopher White asks about a video by Creation Liberty Evangelism claiming metanoia means godly grief and sorrow.

Revelation 3:19 metanoia Repentance Revelation 3:19
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Hovind vs. Falk (BioLogos) debate moderated by Mike: the debaters talked past each other on different topics.

Justin Barnes asks Mike about the debate he moderated between Kent Hovind and a BioLogos evolutionist.

Kent Hovind BioLogos Young earth creationism
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Genesis establishes equal image-bearing of men and women; Galatians 3:28 establishes equality in salvation — different roles do not imply different value.

Broader biblical framework for gender equality and distinct roles.

Galatians 3:28 Genesis Galatians 3:28 Genesis Complementarianism
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-14

The Christian hope of eschatological restoration answers the problem of evil: God wiping away every tear, remaking of heaven and earth

Mike elaborates his response to the problem of evil using Christian eschatology

Revelation eschatology Revelation theodicy
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-14

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

monotheism empty tomb post-resurrection appearances
Mike Winger idea 2019-04-03

Q&A on John 14:2-3 "I go to prepare a place for you" — Mike's understanding of the intermediate state and the new heaven and new earth

Viewer question on the afterlife and the meaning of Jesus preparing a place

John 14:2-3 Revelation 21 eschatology new heaven and new earth intermediate state
Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Street Epistemology question about ranking faith in pin-falling vs. resurrection — Mike argues it is designed to produce doubt, not seek truth

Q&A: Doug (Street Epistemology type) asks if faith in pin falling and faith in resurrection can be ranked

resurrection of Jesus Street Epistemology faith and doubt
Mike Winger idea 2019-04-10

Romans 1:18-32 describes two divine judgments on those who suppress the evidence for God: sin and a debased mind

Q&A: Monica Poole asks how Street Epistemology relates to Romans 1

Romans 1:18-32 Romans 1:20 atheism Romans 1:18-32 cosmological argument
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-08

Biblical cosmology should not be assumed to match ancient Near Eastern flat-earth cosmology just because surrounding cultures believed it; Genesis radically demythologizes creation compared to the Enuma Elish

Response to question about Hebraic cosmology and the flat-earth interpretation

Genesis 1 hermeneutics Genesis 1 demythologization
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 2019-05-22

Q&A: Revelation 20-21 as the end of the Mosaic law -- Winger is uncertain; notes a real transition happens in new heavens/new earth but declines to definitively call it the end of the law

Q&A on eschatology and the law

Revelation 20-21 eschatology Law of Moses new heavens and new earth
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-05

Brief mention of Proverbs 8 and wisdom in creation as a potential future study topic

Q&A: Jesse Cheek asks about Proverbs 8 and wisdom/creation

Proverbs 8 creation Proverbs 8 wisdom Christology
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-30

Colossians 1:20 — 'all things' reconciled through the blood of the cross supports universal extent

Winger turns to Colossians 1:20 as a secondary passage confirming the universal extent of the atonement.

Colossians 1:20 Colossians 1:16-17 Colossians 1:21-23 reconciliation extent of atonement application of atonement
Mike Winger idea 2019-07-03

Good derives from God's nature; evil is the contrast to God's goodness, requiring permission not creation

Positive account of where good and evil come from

free will evil as privation origin of evil
Mike Winger idea 2019-07-03

Q&A: Were Adam and Eve created perfect? Free will is not an imperfection; sin through free will is

Audience question about the nature of Adam and Eve's creation

Genesis Genesis free will human nature
Mike Winger idea 2019-07-03

Q&A: If God had not created anything, would evil exist? — No, because evil requires free creatures

Audience question about counterfactual non-creation

creation free will evil as privation
Mike Winger idea 2019-09-04

The Watchtower did not always believe the torture-stake doctrine; the change occurred in 1931

Historical evidence shows the Watchtower itself used cross imagery and taught that Jesus died on a cross until 1931. The shift from cross to torture-stake was a doctrinal change introduced by Rutherford.

cross torture stake Watchtower
Mike Winger idea 2019-10-02

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

Revelation Islam salvation by works comparative religion
Mike Winger idea 2020-08-28

No one overcomes unbelief "on their own" — God uses general revelation, conscience, and the Holy Spirit to call everyone

Continuing the conditional election question — answering the specific sub-question of why a sinner must overcome unbelief "on their own."

Romans 1 Holy Spirit conscience soteriology
Mike Winger idea 2020-08-28

A childhood "blood pact with Satan" has no power over someone who trusts in Christ — the cross cancels all such claims

Question about a friend who at age 12 signed his soul over to Satan in a blood pact and now feels he cannot be saved.

2 Corinthians 5:17 salvation Satan spiritual warfare
Mike Winger idea 2020-08-28

Jeremiah 29:11 is often misapplied as a personal prosperity promise; properly applied, it points to eternal hope in the New Covenant

Question from Brandi about whether verses like Jeremiah 29:11, written to Israel, apply to Christians today.

Jeremiah 29:11 hermeneutics prosperity gospel Israel
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-04

Parallelomania: ancient Near Eastern parallels (flood, creation) do not prove the Bible borrowed; similarities are explained by common events or themes

Q from Folky about how to respond to claims that the OT is not true because the Bible copied surrounding cultures (flood, Exodus).

Genesis 1 Genesis 1 biblical inerrancy Enuma Elish
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-25

Proverbs 18:21 teaches the practical real-world consequences of speech, not speaking things into existence

Interpretation of Proverbs 18:21

Proverbs 18:21 Proverbs 18:21 word of faith tongue and speech
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-25

James 3 on the tongue: words start fires — practical impact, not metaphysical creation

Cross-reference used to support the interpretation of Proverbs 18:21

Proverbs 18:21 James 3 Proverbs 18:21 word of faith tongue and speech
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-25

Hebrews 1:1-2 — God created the world "through" his Son: economic Trinity and the agency of the Son in creation

Q&A from Ed Jacobson about the meaning of "through" in Hebrews 1:2

Hebrews 1:1-2 dia Trinity Hebrews 1:1-2
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-25

Symmetry of creation and salvation: both occur through the Son

Theological reflection on Hebrews 1:2 and its implications

Genesis 1 John 1 Hebrews 1:1-2 Genesis 1 soteriology John 1
Mike Winger idea 2020-09-25

John 1 — the Logos made all things; parallel to Genesis 1 and Hebrews 1

Cross-reference supporting the creation-through-Son theology

John 1 John 1 economic Trinity creation through Christ
Mike Winger idea 2020-10-02

Q (Quelle) is a hypothetical source document proposed in synoptic gospel studies; its existence is unproven and theologically non-threatening

Question from New Creation Coaching about the scholarly concept of "Q" and its reception among concerned Facebook users

textual criticism inspiration of Scripture synoptic problem
Mike Winger idea 2020-10-02

Romans 14: do not violate your conscience — if you cannot do something in faith before God, do not do it, even if it may be permissible

Question from Only in Antarctica about whether a Christian can work in the cannabis sector

Romans 14 Romans 14 faith and works Christian liberty
Mike Winger idea 2020-11-06

Genesis 1-11 allegorical interpretation does not necessarily violate John 5:44-47 or deny salvation

Responding to a question from Cat Chat about whether allegorical reading of Genesis 1-11 equals rejection of Christ per John 5

John 5:44-47 Genesis 1-11 salvation John 5:44-47 Genesis 1-11
Mike Winger idea 2020-11-06

Francis Collins is cited as an example of a Christian who holds evolutionary creation yet is genuinely saved

Mike illustrates that believing in evolution does not automatically equal rejection of Christ

salvation evolution creation debate
Mike Winger idea 2020-11-06

John Walton's temple language view and William Lane Craig's archetypal history view are named as options within Christian faith

Mike surveys distinct Christian interpretive positions on Genesis 1-11

Genesis 1-11 John Walton William Lane Craig Genesis 1-11 creation debate