Search — Theology Explorer

salvation Orthodox Judaism Ben Shapiro

Introduction: Ben Shapiro asks Bishop Robert Barron whether he will go to heaven

Mike introduces the premise — an Orthodox Jew asks a Catholic bishop about his eternal destiny

Acts 26:4-6 Paul salvation sincerity

Paul before his conversion: a counterexample to Barron's 'sincere conscience' argument

Mike uses Paul's pre-conversion biography as a test case

Philippians 3:4-9 Paul righteousness Philippians 3:4-9

Philippians 3:4-9 — Paul counts his pre-conversion Jewish credentials as 'rubbish' compared to knowing Christ

Mike reads Philippians 3 as a direct biblical answer to Ben's argument

Matthew 5:20 righteousness Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5:20

Matthew 5:20 — righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees to enter the kingdom

Mike cites another teaching of Jesus directly applicable to Ben's case

gospel Messiah substitutionary atonement

Substitutionary atonement: Jesus pays the price so believers can be born again

Mike states the positive gospel solution after showing the problem

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-16

Hebrews 11:1 is a description of what faith looks like, not a definition of why or how we believe

Mike's core exegetical argument about the nature of Hebrews 11.

Hebrews 11:1 hermeneutics faith Hebrews 11:1

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: How to use the Bible as evidence with non-believers who don't accept it as God's word — the prophecy approach

Viewer question from Kate about apologetic method.

Isaiah 53 Bible as historical document Isaiah 53 Pontius Pilate

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-23

Critique of 'keep abortion safe, legal, and rare' — internal contradiction if the unborn is not a person

Mike uses Hillary Clinton's famous phrase to expose inconsistency in the pro-choice position

internal contradiction abortion safe legal rare

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-23

Contraception vs. abortion — the moral question is whether conception has already occurred

Q&A — question about whether normalizing contraception contributes to disregard for infant life

abortion zygote contraception

Mike Winger idea 2019-01-30

The Hebrew Roots Movement tends to involve a progressive radicalization through increasingly extreme positions

Mike describes what he observes as a typical trajectory for people who enter the Hebrew Roots Movement.

Torah observance Hebrew Roots Movement Paul rejection

YouTube content moderation content strike appeal

YouTube content moderation process requires two human reviewers

Mike explains the appeal process and the supposed two-reviewer requirement for content removal.

1 Corinthians 13 prophecy word of knowledge 1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13 "the perfect" does not refer to the completed canon — cessationism refuted

Q&A question about whether 1 Corinthians 13 latter half refers to the completed canon of Scripture.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 spiritual gifts eschatology cessationism

Face-to-face with God as the referent of "the perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13

Mike elaborates on why "the perfect" refers to the eternal state, using the internal logic of 1 Corinthians 13.

Romans 8 Revelation 2 Peter Romans 8 sons of God eschatology

Book of Revelation and the new heavens and new earth

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

Revelation eschatology Revelation once saved always saved

Open theological questions Mike personally still has

Q&A asking what theological questions Mike still has unanswered.

Job Job suffering and theodicy Elihu

Job's friends argued he deserved his suffering; God rebuked them at the end

Viewer asking for help understanding Job's friends in the book of Job

Genesis 1 Genesis 9 dominion mandate Mormonism Genesis 1

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

Daniel 11 Jehovah's Witnesses Daniel 11 fulfilled prophecy

JW interpretation of Daniel 11 king of the north as Russia is old Cold War theology they borrowed

Viewer asking about JW teaching that the king of the north in Daniel 11 represents Russia

1 Corinthians 15 2 Peter 1 Corinthians 15 Greg Koukl glorification

Free will in heaven: believers will have genuine free will but no desire to sin

Viewer asking whether we will have free will in heaven

Mosaic law Sabbath New Covenant

Sabbath observance: Mike does not believe Christians are required to keep the Sabbath

Viewer asking about proper Sabbath observance

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-20

Introduction: purpose of the stream and why the historicity of the Gospels matters

Mike opens the Tuesday livestream and frames the day's topic as important for faith retention.

Christian apologetics Gospel historicity reasons people leave the faith

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-20

Tal Ilan's Palestinian name database — confirming Gospel names match authentic first-century Palestinian onomastics

Statistical evidence from Jewish names scholarship supporting Gospel authenticity.

Richard Bauckham Gospel historicity Jesus and the Eyewitnesses

Mike Winger idea 2019-02-20

Names are geographically and temporally specific — foreign fabricators could not have replicated Palestinian name patterns

Implication of Ilan's name statistics for the community tradition view.

Gospel historicity community tradition view Tal Ilan

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

1 Timothy 2:12 — "teach" and "exercise authority" may be two aspects of the same role, not two separate prohibitions.

Exegeting the grammar of 1 Timothy 2:12.

1 Timothy 2:12 1 Timothy 2:12 Women in ministry Complementarianism

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Pre-trib rapture and early church fathers: Mike acknowledges not knowing the answer and references Brian Brodersen's book.

Ian Connolly asks whether the pre-trib rapture was a recent invention not believed by early church fathers.

Pre-tribulation rapture Early church fathers Brian Brodersen

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

Rapture and the Third Temple: Mike believes in a future Third Temple but sees no necessary connection to pre-trib rapture timing.

Christian Lubin asks about the connection between the rapture and the building of the Third Temple.

Pre-tribulation rapture Eschatology Third Temple

Christian apologetics Hemant Mehta atheist objections to Christianity

20-video collaborative series answering Hemant Mehta's atheist objections, one video per day

Mike describes the structure and goals of the joint project

resurrection of Jesus Tim McGrew Lydia McGrew

Tim McGrew and Lydia McGrew's paper on miracles and the resurrection as a sophisticated cumulative case for Christianity

Cameron recommends a freely available academic paper

John McCrae problem of evil John McCrae SIDS / sudden infant death

Personal account: two friends experienced SIDS (crib death/sudden infant death) and responded differently — one drew closer to God, one turned away

John shares a personal story illustrating different responses to suffering

Capturing Christianity Christian apologetics Cameron Bertuzzi

Cameron Bertuzzi's ministry goal: expose the intellectual depth of Christian belief; counter the cultural assumption that atheism has all the intellectual high ground

Cameron shares his goals for Capturing Christianity

atonement gospel apologetics

Closing message from Mike to skeptics: the evidence for Christianity is robust and surprising; Jesus really died for sins; God is personal and loves people; life is not purposeless

Mike's closing address to skeptic viewers

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 2019-03-27

Pages 44-45: Boghossian romanticizes the Street Epistemologist as a hero rescuing people from the faith "virus"

Mike reads from pages 44-45

A Manual for Creating Atheists Peter Boghossian Street Epistemology

Mike Winger idea 2019-03-27

The SE tactic in practice: be friendly, don't disclose your agenda, and ask "how do you know that?" repeatedly

Mike describes the practical method of Street Epistemology

Peter Boghossian Street Epistemology Socratic method

crucifixion of Jesus Pontius Pilate early Christian persecution

Tacitus (Annals, 109 AD) as non-Christian confirmation of early Christian persecution, crucifixion of Christ under Pontius Pilate, and the movement's origin in Judea

Mike quotes Tacitus as an external, non-Christian source confirming early persecution

Pliny the Younger Emperor Trajan early Christian persecution

Pliny the Younger's letter to Emperor Trajan (112 AD): institutionalized Roman policy of executing Christians who refused to recant

Second external Roman source confirming systematic persecution

Matthew 23:34 early Christian persecution Matthew 23:34

Matthew 23:34 — Jesus sends prophets and scribes who will be killed, crucified, and flogged as evidence persecution was an expected norm

Additional scripture confirming persecution as the anticipated norm for followers

James the brother of Jesus scholarly consensus Paul the Apostle Gary Habermas

Gary Habermas's scholarly consensus claim: early data report the martyrdoms of Peter, James the brother of Jesus, and Paul; few scholars doubt this

Citing the scholarly consensus on apostolic martyrdoms

Paul the Apostle apostolic martyrdom Peter the Apostle

1 Clement 5 (c. 95-97 AD) — non-apologetic, community-memory reference to Peter and Paul both suffering and dying for their faith

First extra-biblical source for Peter's (and Paul's) martyrdom

apostolic martyrdom 1 Clement Candida Moss

Refutation of Candida Moss's argument that "suffered unto death" in 1 Clement is not a reference to martyrdom, using Polycarp's parallel usage

Addressing a specific scholarly objection to the martyrdom reading of 1 Clement

Philippians Paul the Apostle apostolic martyrdom apostle sincerity

Philippians — Paul's pastoral management of his congregation's grief over his suffering as evidence that his persecution was a given, publicly known reality

Paul's suffering was so consistent and well-known that he had to repeatedly address the pastoral fallout from it

2 Timothy 4:6-8 Paul the Apostle apostolic martyrdom 2 Timothy 4:6-8

2 Timothy 4:6-8 — Paul describes himself as being poured out as a drink offering, anticipating his imminent death

Pauline text indicating Paul's awareness of and preparation for his own martyrdom

James the brother of Jesus James the Just apostolic martyrdom Hegesippus legendary development

Hegesippus's account of James the Just's martyrdom — legendary elements identified and evaluated; the historical core extraction methodology applied

Primary patristic source for the martyrdom of James, with critical methodology

James the brother of Jesus apostolic martyrdom James the brother of Jesus Stephen the martyr

Additional sources confirming James's martyrdom: First Apocalypse of James, Second Apocalypse of James, Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (c. 280 AD)

Multiple independent streams of tradition confirming James's martyrdom