Acts Knows Greece. It Also Knows Judea. Here Are the Receipts. (C.J. Cornthwaite Response)

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Acts gets tons of tiny historical details right. For instance, Luke keeps using the exact local titles for officials. At Philippi, he first calls the officials archontes, a general word for rulers, and then uses their proper Roman colonial title, strategoi (Acts 16:19, 22). In Thessalonica, they are politarchs (Acts 17:6). In Athens, a member of the ruling council is an Areopagite (Acts 17:34). Gallio is correctly called the proconsul of Achaia at Corinth, which places Paul there around AD 51–52 (Acts 18:12). In Ephesus, Luke gets three more local terms right: grammateus for the city clerk, neōkoros for Ephesus as temple keeper, and agoraioi for the court sessions held under the proconsuls (Acts 19:35, … Read more

Deen Responds Fails the Muslim Challenge

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Guys, I’m living in Deen’s head. The rent is free, but the view is terrible. Here’s his video response to me on the question no Muslim can answer. Here’s my original video for context: And finally, here’s another similar version of the argument: First, Deen Responds says I’ve “refuted myself” by using an argument from silence against Islam but not applying it consistently to the way I defend the New Testament. But let’s get this straight—not all arguments from silence are created equal. I’ve never claimed all arguments from silence are fallacious. See Dr. Tim McGrew’s 2013 peer-reviewed paper on the argument from silence. (Link) That’s what I reference when I discuss this topic. A … Read more

Deen Responds, I guess

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Deen Responds, the same guy who just spent two hours embarrassing himself defending child marriage and his disgusting false prophet in a conversation with my friend Michael Jones from Inspiring Philosophy, took a swing at one of my videos. Looks like Grandpa’s got to take this kid behind the wood shed. In a previous video, I showed how the Quran claims that Jesus’s disciples were Muslims (Surah 3:52). But what if the apostles actually rejected key Islamic teachings? Let’s break it down: Muslims might try to dodge this by saying the disciples were fooled or corrupted the message later on. But Surah 61:14 says Allah made Jesus’s apostles victorious, meaning their message had His approval. … Read more

What Would It Be Like for the Pastorals to Be Forgeries?

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In my recent video about undesigned coincidences between 1 & 2 Timothy and Acts, Dr. Kipp Davis, a biblical scholar (and someone I like and respect despite our differences), commented. He wrote: “In this video, @Testify demonstrates that he is just as clever as second-century Christian writers were in crafting their highly convincing forgeries. If you can connect a few of the same dots, Erik, then so could anyone familiar enough with early Christian writings, no?” Now I get that a blog reply seems like overkill for a single comment. Initially, I was planning to just leave a comment, but then I thought, why not dive deeper into Kipp’s theory and see where it takes … Read more

Recommended Books on Historical Apologetics

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I am often asked which books I recommend for defending the reliability of the Gospels/Acts and Christianity in general, so here is my list. It is not exhaustive, but it will definitely give you a good start. The categorized as “mandatory” are more basic, while some of those labeled as “recommended” or “supplementary” delve into more profound and scholarly content. Any item marked with a * can be accessed for free online as PDF files. A significant number of these works are downloadable from http://historicalapologetics.org, http://books.google.com, or http://archive.org. Mandatory Reading: Author Book Title Bennett, Edmund * The Four Gospels from a Lawyer’s Standpoint Lewis, CS Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism (Essay in Christian Reflections) McGrew, … Read more

Timothy’s Tale: Unveiling Undesigned Coincidences in Paul’s Journeys

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Because Paul crisscrossed paths with many folks, some repeatedly, it’s quite enlightening to compare how these people are portrayed in the book of Acts with what Paul hints at in his own letters. Among these characters, Timothy stands out as a particularly intriguing figure. In 1 Corinthians 4:17, Paul mentions sending Timothy, his “beloved and faithful child in the Lord,” to jog the Corinthians’ memory about Paul’s ways in Christ. Now, from this passage alone, it’s a bit tricky to figure out if Timothy was sent before the letter or with it. In 1 Corinthians 16:10-11, though, Paul makes it clear that Timothy was dispatched before the letter was penned. He talks about Timothy’s impending … Read more

What Does the Talmud Say About Jesus and Gospel Reliability?

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Christian apologists frequently turn to sources beyond the New Testament to support the existence of Jesus and verify historical aspects of his life. Among these sources, although less commonly cited than Tacitus or Josephus, is the Talmud. For those of you who don’t know, the Talmud is a central text in Judaism, consisting of rabbinic discussions and teachings on Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history. It comprises two main parts: the Mishnah, which presents legal discussions and principles, and the Gemara, which contains commentaries and analysis on the Mishnah by various rabbis. The Talmud was composed over several centuries, primarily between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, but its origins trace back to earlier oral … Read more

Matthew’s Massacre of the Innocents: HIstory, Not Fiction

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When we think about the Christmas story, we imagine warm and cozy scenes—Mary, Joseph, and the baby in a humble manger, angels, shepherds, and the wise men offering their gifts. But right in the middle of this heartwarming tale is a grim event. In Matthew 2:16, Herod, after learning about the birth of the Messianic king, orders the killing of all boys aged two and under in Bethlehem. It’s a disturbing part of Christ’s birth story, but not everyone believes Matthew’s account. Scholars and historians doubt this event for a few reasons. It’s not in Luke’s Gospel or any other historical records. Some think it was made up to fit a narrative, to portray Jesus … Read more

Did Luke Fabricate a Census to Get Jesus to Bethlehem?

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‘Tis the season for the same old skeptics trotting out those tired arguments about the birth narratives. Here’s biblical scholar and popular TikToker Dan McClellan rehashing the whole “Luke invented a census” spiel. The story of Jesus’s birth, as found in Luke 1 and 2, is not historical….According to Luke 1, Jesus would have had to have been born, if not during the life of Herod, within about a year of his death at the latest. So, Jesus would have had to have been born by 3 BCE if Luke chapter 1 is historical. But chapter 2 introduces two critical problems. The first is that the author needs to get Joseph and Mary from Nazareth … Read more

Rebutting Dan Mcclellan’s Attempt at Debunking the Virgin Birth

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You know it’s Christmas when you get your annual lump of coal with the whole ‘Matthew invented the virgin birth’ schtick. This time, it’s from TikTok’s favorite cynical biblical scholar, Dan McClellan: The virgin birth is a tradition that seems to have developed decades after Jesus’s death, primarily because of a poor translation of a passage from the Hebrew Bible…. The earliest writings we have about Jesus, the writings of Paul and the gospel of Mark, say absolutely nothing at all about any virgin birth. Paul’s really only concerned with the resurrected Jesus, and Mark’s story starts with the beginning of his ministry and his baptism. It’s not until after that that people are starting … Read more

Is Jesus Alive?