Erik Manning

Erik is the creative force behind the YouTube channel Testify, which is an educational channel built to help inspire people's confidence in the text of the New Testament and the truth of the Christian faith.

Killing the Canaanites: Why can’t atheists like Richard Dawkins tell the difference between genocide and justified capital punishment?

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Critics of Christianity (and Judaism) have said that the God of the Old Testament is worse than Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong put together. Richard Dawkins has famously wrote in his book The God Delusion: “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” Dawkins must have had his thesaurus handy when he wrote that, but I digress. It’s not as if Dawkins and other critics have no basis for these claims. Deuteronomy 20:16-17 reads “… in the cities of these … Read more

There are two kinds of skeptics. Jesus demonstrated how to deal with both types.

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We can gain knowledge about the subject of Christian apologetics until our eyes bug out of our heads. But knowing how to apply that information in our everyday lives is another animal. And a big part of learning effective communication is knowing our audience. I’m old enough to remember those cheezy WWJD bracelets from the ’90s. I’m sure they decorated the wrist of many a Newsboys concert-goer. They do raise a good question that we’ll apply here. What did Jesus do when faced with doubters? Let’s look at a couple of examples: The open-minded doubter – John the Baptist Yes, even a spiritual stalwart like John the Baptist went through a period of doubt in … Read more

3 intelligent former atheists who became Christians because of the Moral Argument

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There’s a dizzying array of arguments for the existence of God. For a newbie looking to get into apologetics, it can be intimidating trying to figure out where to start. You have the cosmological argument, but it helps if you know something about cosmology, physics, and even math. There’s the argument from the origin of life, but now you’re talking about chemistry, DNA, information theory and it can feel overwhelming. There’s the ontological argument, but that requires understanding modal logic and let’s be real here, has anyone in the history of the universe come to faith because of the ontological argument? Sorry, St. Anselm. If you’re looking either for ammo to argue against naturalistic atheism … Read more

Did the women at the tomb of Jesus see a man at the tomb, two men, or two angels?

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Here is a favorite ploy of skeptics and critics of the four gospels: Find two stories that use different words, give different details, name different people and emphasize different things. Throw a flag and cry ‘contradiction!’ But differences in the account aren’t necessarily contradictions. Bart Ehrman has made a career of claiming otherwise. Here is a snippet of Bart in his debate on the resurrection with William Lane Craig: Read one story in Matthew, then the same story in Mark, and compare your two stories and see what you come up with. You come up with major differences . . . Did they see a man, did they see two men, or did they see … Read more

Do the 3 accounts of Paul’s conversion in Acts contradict each other?

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There are three accounts of Paul’s conversion found in the Book of Acts. They’re all a bit different and because of that some critics say they’re at odds with each other. Comparing them, skeptical Biblical scholar Bart Ehrman writes: “the three accounts differ in numerous contradictory details…Clearly we are dealing with a narrative that has been molded for literary reasons, not with some kind of disinterested historical report.” If Luke can’t keep from contradicting himself while telling and re-telling Paul’s conversion, this would cast doubt on if he ever traveled with or even knew Paul very well at all. Let’s look at Bart’s complaints one by one and see if he has a good case against … Read more

Unless you’re 100% certain that the unborn are not human, there’s no possible justification for abortion

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When does human life begin? Pro-life advocates argue that life begins at conception. They’ll tell you this stance isn’t merely theological or philosophical – it’s just good science. To illustrate this, let’s take a look at some quotes found in actual embryology textbooks: “A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm…unites with a female gamete or oocyte…to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” – Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud “Although life is a continuous process, fertilization is a critical landmark because, … Read more

7 reasons why Jesus couldn’t have possibly faked his own death. The Swoon Theory is a dead explanation for the empty tomb and resurrection appearances.

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swoon theory

The swoon theory is still alive today, even if it’s on life support. It should have been pronounced dead on the table centuries ago. For those of you who don’t know, the swoon theory is the idea that Jesus faked his death on the cross. He just appeared to have died. Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds. This theory was popular back in the 18th and 19th century among German rationalists who felt compelled to explained the evidence for the resurrection without appealing to a miracle. In my ‘the explanations’ section on the site, I didn’t bother including it because honestly, the I thought the theory has been given a proper burial already. Pun … Read more

6 clear reasons why Psalm 22 can’t possibly describe anyone else but Jesus of Nazareth.

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“Psalm 22 isn’t about Jesus at all! Mark was familiar with the Psalm and deliberately fabricated stories about the mocking of the crowds and the distribution of his clothes. Not only that, Christians translators came in and changed the wording of one of the passages to make it say that the sufferer’s feet and hands were pierced. Plus, the Psalm was written by David or some other Jewish sufferer about their own suffering. Christians are just projecting Jesus backward into the Psalm to fit their own narrative. And there’s nothing about the resurrection in Psalm 22. Isn’t that the punchline of the whole story?” That’s the skeptical interpretation of Psalm 22 in a nutshell. To … Read more

9 Historical Facts About Jesus’ Brother James That Provide Evidence for Christianity

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Do you think that you could convince one of your siblings into believing that you’re the Son of God? Unless they were three years old, it would probably be a tough sell. After all, they’ve seen how you keep your room. So it’s a pretty amazing historical fact that Jesus’ brother James, who probably wore Jesus’ hand-me-downs, later as an adult converted to Christianity. And we know that he was sincere about his belief because he died for it. James’ martyrdom wasn’t just recorded in Christian sources (Hegesippus) but by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus. In his book Antiquities of the Jews 20.200, Josephus wrote: “But this younger Ananus, who, as we told you already, took … Read more

The Gospel of ‘Meh’: Why apatheism is more dangerous to the Christian faith than atheism or other competing worldviews

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Have you ever shared the case for Jesus with someone, only to be met with a resounding ‘meh.’ If so, you’ve met an apatheist. So what’s an apatheist? An apatheist is someone who is indifferent about the existence of God. It’s not a belief, but it’s more of a psychological state of mind. Whether God exists or any religion is true makes no difference to them. One writer in The Atlantic describes someone asking about his spiritual condition. He replied “I used to call myself an atheist,” I said, “and I still don’t believe in God, but the larger truth is that it has been years since I really cared one way or another. I’m”—that … Read more

Is Jesus Alive?