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.

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.

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

methodology apologetics atheism

Introduction: surprise livestream responding to a video by Jim Majors, CEO of Atheist Republic, to help atheists and skeptics who may be receiving bad information

Mike explains he was prompted by a Twitter tip to respond to a specific atheist leader's claims about Christianity

Matthew 2 apologetics historicity Herod the Great

Historical evidence that Herod the Great was extremely paranoid and murderous — he killed three of his own sons and executed hundreds on suspicion alone, making the Massacre of the Innocents entirely consistent with his character

Mike builds a positive case that Herod killing children in Bethlehem is historically plausible

sin ethics Christian living

Q&A: Having favorites is not the same as favoritism — favoritism is the sinful distortion of justice based on preference, not the innocent preference itself

Question from Christian Harold Harrison about favorites and favoritism in sports

Luke Matthew 2 hermeneutics Luke historicity

Q&A: The Massacre of the Innocents appears in Matthew but not Luke because Luke telescopes events and omits details that don't serve his narrative aims — absence from one Gospel does not imply it didn't happen

Question from Cam Spire about why the Massacre of the Innocents is not in Luke

intellectual honesty evangelism critical thinking

Closing challenge to skeptics: be critical of your own criticisms — if you laugh at Christians, make sure you have good reason to; you may have adopted the dogma of your own worldview uncritically

Mike's closing remarks to both Christian and skeptic viewers

discernment apologetics false-teaching

Zahnd's three-step method for dismantling orthodox Christianity and replacing it with his own version

Winger maps out the structural argument Zahnd uses in his book 'Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God.'

John-14-6 Luke-13-3 discernment salvation apologetics

Zahnd's idol: a universalist Jesus who saves devout Muslims regardless of belief, contradicting Christ's own words

Winger reads Zahnd's 'Becky and Belkis' thought experiment from page 142 of the book, in which a devout Muslim woman is contrasted with a mean American Christian woman.

Luke-4 Isaiah-61 hermeneutics discernment apologetics

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).

hermeneutics discernment Christology

Zahnd's claim that 'Jesus is the only perfect theology' and 'the Bible is not the perfect revelation of God' mirrors Bill Johnson's framework

Winger reads Zahnd's explicit statements from pages 14 and 30 of the book about the relationship between Jesus and Scripture.

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-05

Two reasons answering the homosexuality question feels hard: consequences and confusion

Winger identifies the two root causes that make Christians hesitate to state a biblical position on homosexuality.

persecution Christian witness consequences

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-05

Loving someone does not mean withholding truth from them — love requires honesty about sin

Winger addresses Daigle's first stated reason: 'I have too many people I love who are homosexual.'

truth love sin

Mike Winger idea 2018-12-05

'I'm not God' means we submit to God's declared standard, not that we withhold judgment

Winger addresses Daigle's second stated reason: 'I'm not God, so I can't say.'

Isaiah 5:20 authority homosexuality humility

Jeremiah 10:3-4 Christmas trees Jeremiah 10:3-4 Idolatry

Jeremiah 10:3-4: The craftsman detail rules out Christmas trees

Verse-by-verse examination of the passage

Jeremiah 10:5 Idolatry Jeremiah 10:5 Scarecrow analogy

Jeremiah 10:5: The passage explicitly calls the object an idol, not a tree

The passage self-identifies what it is describing

Jeremiah 10:5 Psalm 115:4-8 Idolatry Jeremiah 10:5 Psalm 115:4-8

Psalm 115 as a parallel passage: idols have mouths but cannot speak

Connecting Jeremiah 10 to a closely parallel text

Christmas trees Liberty of conscience Symbolism

Symbolism is assigned by the person, not inherent to the object — trees have no intrinsic spiritual meaning

Responding to the question about what a tree symbolizes

Galatians 4:4 Galatians 4:4 incarnation Paul the Apostle

Galatians 4:4 — Paul affirms Jesus was a human being born of a woman, born under the Law (i.e., Jewish)

First in a series of scriptures Mike walks through to show what Paul knew about the historical Jesus.

Romans 1:3 incarnation Messiah/Christ Romans 1:3

Romans 1:3 — Jesus was a physical descendant of David

Continuing the list of what Paul knew — Jesus's Davidic lineage.

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 Mark 14:22 Matthew 26:26 Last Supper independent attestation 1 Corinthians 11:23-25

Detailed Synoptic comparison of Last Supper: Paul, Mark, Matthew, and Luke all describe the same sequence

Mike does a detailed side-by-side comparison of the Last Supper accounts across Paul and the three Synoptic Gospels.

Gamaliel Paul the Apostle Pharisees

Paul was a Pharisee trained in Jerusalem under Gamaliel and likely encountered Jesus personally

Mike addresses the claim that Paul never met Jesus, arguing circumstantial evidence strongly suggests they crossed paths.

Matthew 10:23 Acts 1:8 Second Coming eschatology Matthew 10:23

Matthew 10:23 — 'Son of Man comes' refers to Jesus's first coming during the disciples' mission trip, not the Second Coming

Q&A: question about a verse that appears to predict Jesus would return before the disciples finished preaching in Israel.

Matthew 10 judgment Bethsaida sending of the twelve

Sodom and Gomorrah judgment comparison for towns rejecting Jesus's envoys

Part of the Matthew 10 discussion — Jesus says it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for towns that reject the disciples.

biblical authority gospel Catholicism

Mike's framing: this is not an attack on Catholicism but a search for what Scripture actually says

Mike sets ground rules before engaging the topic

salvation conscience grace

Bishop Barron's answer: Vatican II teaches a person can be saved outside explicit Christian faith through conscience or sincere law-keeping

Mike quotes and plays a clip of Barron's response to Ben

evangelism salvation missions

Implication of Barron's answer: evangelism of Jews becomes unnecessary if law-keeping + sincerity suffices

Mike draws out the logical consequence of Barron's position

Islam Christology monotheism

Mike's disagreement with Vatican II's claim that Muslims worship the one true God

Responding to Lumen Gentium's statement about Muslims

biblical authority Ben Shapiro Robert Barron

Mike's verdict: Vatican II is not actually clear on Ben Shapiro's specific case

Summing up the Vatican II analysis

Galatians 2:15-16 Paul justification works of the law

Galatians 2:15-16 — even Jewish believers know that justification is by faith in Christ, not works of the law

Mike adds Galatians to the scriptural case

Romans 11 Torah Tanakh Nevi'im

The New Testament is a Jewish book written by Jews about the Jewish Messiah

Mike contextualizes the gospel for Ben as a Jewish person

John 5:45-47 revelation Moses parables Torah

John 5:45-47 — if you believed Moses you would believe me: encountering Jesus reveals whether one truly believed Moses

Mike addresses the logical question: what about Ben, who has heard of Jesus but rejected him?

Romans 3:23-24 false gospel sola gratia justification

Summary verdict: the 'good person gospel' is a false gospel that does not save

Mike concludes his main argument

Ephesians 2:8-9 Ephesians 2:8-9 sola gratia sola fide

Ephesians 2:8-9 — saved by grace through faith, not of works; personal story of Catholic friend Tony

Mike illustrates grace alone with a personal anecdote

Romans 1 Romans 1:18-32 atheism conscience Romans 1

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

faith belief without evidence Christian apologetics

Opening thesis: defining faith as 'belief without evidence' is a disastrous mistake for Christianity

Mike opens the livestream by stating his core argument for the session.

faith Christian apologetics reasonable faith

The 'faith = belief without evidence' definition makes Christians appear foolish and concedes the epistemic ground

Mike explains the rhetorical and theological consequences of accepting this definition.

Acts 18:27-28 Apollos typology evidence-based faith

Acts 18:27-28 — Apollos vigorously refutes Jewish opponents using Scripture to show Jesus is the Christ

New Testament example of evidence-based persuasion in the early church.

Matthew 9:5-7 miracles as evidence Matthew 9:5-7 paralytic healing

Matthew 9:5-7 — Jesus heals the paralytic as evidence of authority to forgive sins

Mike uses Jesus's healing of the paralytic as another instance of miracles functioning as proof.

Hebrews 11:1 faith Hebrews 11:1 Amy Hall

Hebrews 11:1 — introduction and reference to Amy Hall's article at STR.org

Mike begins addressing the most commonly cited 'faith without evidence' passage.

Hebrews 11:8 Hebrews 11:11 Sarah Abraham faith

Abraham and Sarah in Hebrews 11: faith as trust in specific divine promises, not evidence-free belief

Further examples from Hebrews 11 illustrating that the characters had specific reasons to believe.

Hebrews 11 Moses Sarah evidence-based faith

The Hebrews 11 heroes had concrete reasons for their faith: direct speech from God, angelic visitations, inherited testimony

Mike argues that the faith-figures in Hebrews 11 are not examples of 'faith without evidence.'

evidence-based faith skepticism Christian apologetics

Skeptical objections to Christianity are often based on misunderstanding, misrepresentation, and bad scholarship rather than genuinely superior evidence

Mike's meta-level assessment of the state of skeptical arguments against Christianity.

personal testimony faith spiritual apprehension

Dictionary definition of faith: Google's two definitions — 'complete trust or confidence' vs. 'strong belief based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof'

Mike moves from Scripture to the dictionary to examine the secular definition of faith.

faith Christian apologetics definition of faith

Webster's dictionary definitions of faith: 'allegiance,' 'loyalty,' 'belief and trust in God' — the 'firm belief in something for which there is no proof' definition exists but does not represent biblical Christianity

Mike examines Webster's multiple definitions of faith.

Greg Koukl William Lane Craig apologetics resources

Recommended apologetics ministries and resources for Christians who want a robust, evidence-based faith

Mike provides a resource list for viewers who want to deepen their apologetics.

personal testimony evidence-based faith comparative religion

Evidence for Christianity spans multiple disciplines: Scripture, philosophy, history, science, and personal experience

Mike summarizes the scope of Christian evidential resources before moving to Q&A.