In order to discredit the resurrection appearances of Jesus, skeptics often try to say that they were group hallucinations. In order to argue this point, they need to show an example of this happening in human history. One major example they try to use is when people claim that the virgin Mary has appeared to them. Since this happens to many people…

To argue the resurrection appearances of Jesus are merely hallucinations, the skeptic must provide examples of group hallucinations. In this episode we look at some of the best examples, and show they cannot work as examples of group hallucinations, and that they are incredibly dissimilar to the resurrection appearances. In other words, even the be…

One way skeptics argue against the resurrection is that they say the people during the time of Jesus didn't understand hallucinations, so they misunderstood their hallucinations as real-world experiences. In this episode we look at different sources to get a good understanding of how the ancients understood mental phenomena. For more from Jon Toppi…

In order to thoroughly evaluate the possibility of the disciples hallucinating the risen Christ, we should begin by getting a good definition of what hallucinations are, and how exactly they work. In this episode we take a psychological approach to understanding the nature of hallucinations, so that in future episodes we can see whether this can be…

One of the main counters against the resurrection of Jesus is the claim that the disciples were merely hallucinating the risen Christ. This explains why they claimed to have seen Jesus after His crucifixion, and it explains why they had such passion. In this episode, we'll go into the reasoning behind this argument, and we'll also look at its origi…

Here we go into what is probably the best secular explanation for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the idea that the disciples stole Jesus' body, and then spread the lie that Jesus had risen. We'll go into where this theory comes from, why it's probably the best secular explanation available, and then we'll look at the flaws the theory fal…

The empty tomb is a difficult historical fact to make sense of. There are a few different ways to try and explain why Jesus' tomb was found empty, and in this episode we go into each theory in detail. For example, maybe the women simply went to the wrong tomb, or the Roman or Jewish authorities moved Jesus' body, or perhaps someone stole the body. …

There is a group of secular arguments against the resurrection that all try to claim that Jesus' body went missing. They state that it was either stolen or lost somehow. These kind of theories are an attempt to explain the empty tomb. In this episode we go into the common problems that all these theories share. For more from Jon Topping, check out …

What kills a person when they are crucified? The answer is probably quite different than you imagine. To wrap up the Swoon Theory, we will look at what exactly killed Jesus by examining the medicine and science behind crucifixion. After showing exactly what kills a person in crucifixion, we'll be able to definitively say that, yes, Jesus did in fac…

Here we'll look at one of the best arguments for the idea that Jesus never died on the cross, so there was no resurrection. Two researchers published an article that uses modern medical science to explain how it could have been possible for someone to be crucified, and yet still live. For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his …

Many of the secular arguments against the resurrection of Jesus Christ actually relate back to a misunderstanding on what crucifixion was like. In this episode we look at various historical references to crucifixion, to see what the ancients thought of it. After getting a better understanding of how the people within that culture understood crucifi…

While academic historians haven't had respect for the swoon theory for many decades now, there are still those who try to bring back the idea that Jesus could have survived His crucifixion. One such argument is given by Bradley Bowen, who has done a better job than most at defending the swoon theory. In this episode, we'll evaluate Bowen's argument…

A popular counter argument people make against the idea that Jesus rose from the dead, is that they postulate that perhaps Jesus didn't actually die on the cross. What if Jesus only passed out, and the executioner that was crucifying Jesus "thought" Jesus was dead, so they put Him in the tomb before He died. If this was what happened, then the futu…

A main piece of evidence used for the "imposter on the cross" argument is the Gospel of Barnabas. Some think this text is even better than the four canonical Gospels. The text teaches that God made Judas look like Jesus so he could get crucified instead. With those things in mind, some argue that there really was an imposter on the cross, and there…

Probably the main way that Muslims try to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is that they claim Jesus was never crucified in the first place. How do they take that stance, when there's so much historical data for the crucifixion? They believe that someone else was made to look like Jesus, and this "imposter" was then crucified, instead of Him. …

Is there any reason to think miracles occur? In past episodes we've shown the arguments against miracles all fail, but is there any positive reasons to think miracles are real? In this episode, we hear from three friends of mine, who share their miracle stories with us, to see real world examples of God moving in people's lives. For more from Jon T…

One of the main reasons people disregard the resurrection of Jesus is because they don't believe miracles are possible. Whether they know it or not, their anti-supernatural worldview has been heavily impacted by a philosopher named David Hume, who gave a few arguments against miracles. Even today, many philosophers will say that Hume did such a goo…

We've all met someone who disbelieves in supernatural things because they're more "science minded", as though science has disproven the supernatural entirely. In this episode we look at the scientific reasoning against miracles, to see whether this debate really has been settled by the scientific process. For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jo…

A large reason people struggle to believe in the resurrection of Jesus is that they simply don't believe in miracles. In this episode, we look at the examples of miracles that aren't impressive, and see if this gives us reason to disbelieve in miracles in general. For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articl…

After hearing the argument for the resurrection, one of the first responses from people is that miracles don't happen, so there's no point in even having a discussion about whether Jesus was really resurrected. In this episode we look at some of the philosophical reasons people have against miracles, and we discuss how quite often this turns out to…

Here we review the historical data, and form an argument out of it, to show that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead. We've been building this case for a few episodes now, going through all the historical data, and showing what sorts of pieces of information are reliable about Jesus' life. Once we compile all that data, what's the best explana…

The idea that Jesus was buried, and then the tomb was found empty, is an incredible claim to make. In this episode we look at the historical pieces of evidence for this fact. If you're interested in the skeptical argument that Jesus was never buried, then check out the previous episode. This is our last episode on the evidences, and next time we'll…

If Jesus's tomb was empty, then we need to explain where the body went. One way skeptics try to avoid this difficult question is by casting doubt on the idea of Jesus even bein buried in the first place. In this episode we'll look at the arguments against Jesus' burial. For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, …

Imagine for a moment your sibling tried to tell you they were the Son of God, sent from heaven, as the messiah to all of humanity. You'd definitely think they were crazy. As it turns out, that's exactly what Jesus' brother, James, thought as well! In this episode we take a look at the evidence regarding James, and how all this data plays into the a…

One of the big mysteries of the New Testament for a skeptic is, why did Paul convert to Christianity? He had everything going for him, and traded it all, based on a supernatural experience he had. In this episode, we look at all the historical data about Paul's persecution of Christianity, his conversion, and then the persecutions he faced for his …

To begin evaluating the Minimal Facts approach of arguing for the resurrection of Jesus, we should look at the evidence that counts as "minimal", meaning, facts that all historians agree with. In this episode, we look at the historical fact of the crucifixion, and the fact that the disciples at the very least "believed" that Jesus had risen from th…

After evaluating much of the data surrounding the reliability of the New Testament, we can take a look at a famous argument called the "minimal facts approach". This method, developed by Gary Habermas, uses only the data that basically all historians agree upon, and shows that the best explanation is that Jesus rose from the dead. In this episode, …

The non-Christians who wrote about Jesus and Christianity can show us something quite interesting. We can see how Romans viewed the Christian concept of the resurrection. While they obviously disagreed with Christianity, evaluating their writings still help us learn about how the Early Church was viewed by the people during that time, and even help…

While we can definitely learn a lot from the Bible and early Christians about what happened in the first century, it's also very important to see what we can learn from non-Christian sources. First of all, we can learn far more than most skeptics realize, and also, it ends up shedding a lot of light on the situation of early Christianity. We even e…

One of the main requests skeptics make when discussing matters of religious history, is for the Christian to present non-Christian writings that support their beliefs. In this episode we go into some of the reasons behind this approach, and then we dive into our first non-Christian historian during the time of Jesus: Josephus. This first century Je…

When discussing the historical reliability of the Bible, a common complaint that comes up on the internet is the idea that Jesus might not even be a historical figure. In this series of the podcast, we've been looking at challenge against the New Testament, and the idea of the Jesus Myth fits nicely into that category. Joining me again is Wes Huff.…

A common question people have about the Bible is, why are these the books that made the cut? Who were the people that chose which books made it into the Bible, and what kind of criteria did they use? What about the books that didn't make it? To answer these questions and more, we are once again joined by Wesley Huff, who is an apologist with Power …

To continue evaluating criticisms against the New Testament, we take a look at Bart Ehrman, who is one of the most prominent New Testament skeptics in the world. Famous for casting doubt on the reliability of Scripture, Ehrman has published many books on New Testament studies, and is definitely someone we should learn more about if we are to adequa…

For our new series, we will be looking at some of the strongest arguments against the New Testament. For this episode, we invite Wesley Huff to join us and discuss the different problems we find in the manuscripts of the New Testament books. Some find it terribly upsetting to learn that there are problems and errors in some of the manuscripts of th…

For the past few weeks on the podcast we've been learning how to study the Bible for ourselves. I thought I would take a week to go through the steps I've been talking about with a specific passage, so that you can see how the process works. Hopefully you find this a helpful example of how to read the Bible, and get the most out of the process. For…

This week I had the treat of interviewing Dr. Ben Shin, who was my professor for Hermeneutics while I was in my grad studies. We discuss cultural context, how to step outside of our biases, and techniques for discerning when something is just a cultural difference versus when it's a moral issue. Check out more from Jon Topping at https://www.jontop…

The major problem people run into when reading the Bible is when they hit the books filled with laws. In this episode, apologist Jon Topping takes a look at how to appreciate the genre of law, and then finishes up by looking at a few extra tools to help appreciate the literary context of the passages we study. Republished with permission. Original …

One of the main sources of people pointing out contradictions in the Bible comes from poetry in the Bible. The person will find some poetic verse that "contradicts" another verse, and say that this means the Bible can't possibly be from God. The problem is, there hasn't been an appreciation for the genre in the literary context of the verse. In thi…

A crucial element to understanding any book is to know what the genre is. Imagine trying to read some modern popular book series about wizards, but you believe these are historical books. Or, imagine reading the news, but thinking it's an SNL skit. In this episode, apologist Jon Topping begins a new our look at the genres in the Bible, evaluating b…

Ever wonder why Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey and not a horse? Or why slavery in the Bible is different than we think of it? A common theme you'll hear from a lot of pastors and theologians is that, in order to understand a piece of Scripture, context is everything. In this episode, apologist Jon Topping looks at historical context, and how i…

Beginning a new series on how to study Scripture, apologist Jon Topping goes into some helpful tips on how to get started reading the Bible. Republished with permission. Original found at https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ultimate-questions/how-to-read-your-bible-0KMh-STBYc9/

What if differences in Gospel accounts actually favoured their reliability? In today’s episode of Ultimate Questions, apologist Jon Topping looks with a detective’s eye at some apparent Gospel contradictions. Republished with permission. Original found at https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ultimate-questions/the-human-element-of-scripture-JTPCm2r…

Names, dates, and places are usually the more boring side of history. However, in this episode, apologist Jon Topping shows us how some of these details found in the New Testament can actually help us evaluate whether the people writing these accounts were actually present for what they're describing. In other words, were they really eyewitnesses? …

Are the Gospels actually written by the people whose names are attached to them? How early are the Gospels? In this episode, apologist Jon Topping begins to look at whether the Gospels are pseudepigraphal, or whether they are written by their namesakes. Republished with permission. Original at https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ultimate-questions…

There is debate as to whether the Gospels and other New Testament books were written by eyewitnesses. In this episode apologist Jon Topping looks at some of the reasoning as to why we should consider these books to be eyewitness testimony, and that this gives them added credibility. Republished with permission. Original found at https://www.listenn…

Three new methods of historiography to look at. The motivation of the writers is crucial to seeing whether they're trustworthy. Other parts of history don't make much sense, so if we can find reasons for it, that helps us see it as worthy of believing. Lastly, when something doesn't match up to the cultural norm, that gives us a reason to think it'…

Continuing our examination of how to study history, apologist Jon Topping takes a look at three new methods. How the enemies of a view can accidentally support it, how the original languages help, and how multiple sources for a piece of info work for us. Reposted with permission. Original found at https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ultimate-quest…

Historiography is the study of how we go about doing history. Timing, coherency, and embarrassment are three historiographical methods used to determine the reliability of a document’s content. In this episode, apologist Jon Topping uses these methods to help us study the historicity of the New Testament. Republished with permission. Original found…

Why bother putting your faith in a 2,000-year-old book written by fishermen? In this episode, apologist Jon Topping looks at some reasons to think the books written in the first century about Jesus are actually reliable. Reposted with permission. Original found at https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/ultimate-questions/the-reliability-of-the-new-0j…

Apologist Jon Topping introduces the topic of the podcast - the believability and basics of the Christian faith. He tells us his personal story about how he started studying the reasonableness of Christianity, and became convinced that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Republished with permission. Original found at https://www.listennotes.com/pod…