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All (17) Mike Winger (17)
Mike Winger idea 2017-12-27

Q&A: Scientology is not Christian — it is a dangerous, money-driven cult involving alien mythology

Live chat question from 'Pac-Man' about Scientology.

comparative religion Scientology cult
Mike Winger idea 2019-02-20

The genre of the Gospels: from assumed mythology to recognized Greco-Roman biography

Historical shift in scholarly understanding of the literary genre of the Gospels.

Jesus Seminar Gospel genre demythologization
Mike Winger idea 2019-02-20

Difference between biography and history as genres — and why biography is a historical genre

Clarifying what it means that the Gospels are ancient biography rather than history.

ancient historiography Gospel genre Greco-Roman biography
Mike Winger idea 2019-02-20

Summary conclusions: multiple lines of evidence converge against community tradition view

Mike draws conclusions from the four major evidence streams.

apologetics Gospel historicity community tradition view
Mike Winger idea 2019-03-13

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.

Luke 16 (Lazarus and the rich man) Ghosts Luke 16 (Lazarus and the rich man) Demons / evil spirits
Mike Winger idea 2019-05-16

Objection: Jesus's deity borrowed from pagan deities — and response

Addressing the popular online claim that the deity of Jesus was borrowed from pagan mythologies.

deity of Christ Jonathan McLatchie pagan deity parallels
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

The dying and rising gods parallel argument fails because Paul and non-Christian sources still have to be explained independently of the Gospels

Initial response to the Greco-Roman dying/rising gods parallel argument

Paul Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

First-century Christians were pious, Torah-observant Jews who debated minutiae of Jewish law — making wholesale borrowing from pagan myths implausible

Cultural argument against the pagan parallels theory

early Christianity dying and rising gods pagan mythology
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

Historians are unpersuaded by pagan parallels because the parallels are not actually that similar; Asclepius is the closest pre-Jesus parallel and only heals/occasionally raises dead

Examining specific pagan parallels to Jesus

historicity of Jesus dying and rising gods pagan mythology
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Apollonius of Tyana, the closest post-Jesus parallel, did not believe in resurrection and has only one account of an after-death appearance — in a dream to one disciple

Examining the post-Jesus pagan parallel most cited by mythicists

resurrection Apollonius of Tyana historicity of Jesus
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Mythicists must composite multiple figures (Dionysus, Horus, Asclepius, Apollonius, Hercules) to approximate Jesus — historians reject this method

Exposing the composite methodology of Jesus-myth parallels

Apollonius of Tyana Jesus mythicism historicity of Jesus
Mike Winger idea 2019-06-19

Audience Q on mimesis: pagan parallels fail for the same reasons, plus early Christians were Torah-observant Jews who would not borrow from pagan myths

Audience question about mimesis / pagan parallel arguments

historicity of Jesus dying and rising gods pagan mythology
Mike Winger idea 2019-08-07

Contrast with pagan gods: biblical wrath is moral, pagan wrath is capricious

Mike draws a contrast between the God of Scripture and ancient pagan deities.

Genesis flood God's wrath divine holiness Leon Morris
Mike Winger idea 2020-12-04

Genesis 1-2 and the age of the earth: Winger is no longer confident in young-earth creationism based on exegesis alone; plans a full research project.

Question from Ethan Tucker about whether early Genesis is mythology or history.

Genesis 1-2 Genesis as history vs. mythology Genesis 1-2 Young earth creationism Old earth creationism
Mike Winger idea 2022-02-11

Do Modern Translations Hide Mythology?: Why do modern translations hide so much mythology? Leviathan and Behemoth are animals. Isaiah 34: 14, Lillith is an owl. Psalm 96: 5, Gods are idols and not demons. I fear this leads to materialism.

Q&A question: Do Modern Translations Hide Mythology?

Isaiah Isaiah demons
Mike Winger idea 2024-11-15

“The River” = Heaven?: Is there a biblical basis for songs about “crossing the river” into Heaven, or is that just Greek mythology? Is the Jordan River a legitimate biblical metaphor for dying and going to the Promised Land/Heaven?

Q&A question: “The River” = Heaven?

heaven