Resurrection of Jesus

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

Farhan Ahmed Zia’s Low Evidential Bar

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Okay, this is part three in a series of responses to YouTuber Farhan Ahmed Zia, who generously throws around words like “ignorant” and “liar” when discussing me, yet curiously refuses a public conversation with yours truly, an inexperienced debater and utter jahil. Honestly, I’m sure Farhan is a decent person at heart. He’s simply trying to defend his beliefs, which is understandable to a degree. However, I believe his faith is misguided, his personal attacks are unwarranted, and I sincerely hope he eventually discovers the truth. My door is still open to him to have a public conversation. Anywho, this time, I’ll be responding to his claims about Muhammad and miracles. Here’s my original video: … Read more

Farhan Ahmed Zia Ignores the Point Entirely

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Farhan Ahmed Zia, huh? Seems our friend has a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Here’s his original video: Farhan tries to poison the well right out of the gate, claiming I’m making stuff up without any knowledge. He says: “Testify is a Christian YouTuber that has recently started to upload videos about Islam. I’ve already made a refutation of one of his videos. You can go check it out. The brother can upload anything without any knowledge or make up lies, and everyone will still hype him up no matter what he says.” Okay, dude. I’ve offered to have a discussion with him from another video he made in response to me several … Read more

Analyzing Resurrection Discrepancies: Post-Conversation Musings with Hartke

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During my recent friendly and enjoyable conversation with skeptic Matthew Hartke, I mentioned that I might have some “shower thoughts” after our discussion. We were talking about contradictions in the resurrection stories, and while I think I did an okay job defending my points, I got a bit stuck at one spot. We were discussing a chapter in Lydia McGrew’s book Testimonies to the Truth called “Unexpected Harmonies,” which explores the concept of reconcilable variations. In the 19th century, the apologist T.R. Birks (there I go quoting another long-deceased apologist) defined a reconcilable variation as follows: “The entire sameness of the narrative, in two or three distinct works, would weaken, and almost destroy the authority … Read more

The Apostles and Suffering: A Response to Paulogia’s Skepticism

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In his videos, the skeptical YouTuber Paulogia questions how strong the evidence is for the suffering and deaths of the apostles, even if we assume that the book of Acts is historically accurate. He points out that we have limited information about their suffering, mostly just about Peter, John, and later, Paul. We don’t know much about what happened to other apostles like Simon the Zealot, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thaddeus, Thomas, and more. It’s like they disappeared from pages of reliable history, so we’re not sure about the dangers they might have faced or what risks they really took. In his response to Catholic apologist Trent Horn, Paulogia says: In (Acts) chapter 5, Peter and the … Read more

Miracle Claims and Alleged Double Standards: Jesus vs. Apollonius

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Miracle claims from ancient times are all over the place, and relying on them as proof for religious beliefs can be a real puzzle. You don’t want to be a stubborn Humean skeptic and just brush off every miracle story you hear, but you also don’t want to fall for just any wild tale. It’s all about finding that sweet spot between skepticism and openness, so you don’t get sucked into wasting your time investigating any and every old miracle claim out there. Anyway, in a recent video, I discussed the DOUBTS filter—a concept coined by philosopher Tim McGrew and utilized in his debate with Zachary Moore. Here’s a concise overview of the criteria: These … Read more

A Brief Response To Atheologica’s Doubts About DOUBTS

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So, I finally got around to watching Atheologica’s video response to me on why I think atheists should reconsider Christianity. It seems like he misses the mark on a couple of key points: First, Derreck appears to want to diminish the significance of the criteria, basically saying it commits the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy. For a quick review, these are the criteria: Yeah, I don’t understand why a skeptic would dislike this filter unless they’re just completely closed-minded when it comes to miracles. It’s obvious that these criteria serve to reduce the likelihood of a genuine miracle occurrence, and I fail to see how anyone could argue against that, or why we should dismiss the criteria … Read more

Yes, You Can “Prove” the Resurrection, Actually (A Reply to The Non-Alchemist)

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So The Non-Alchemist apparently didn’t like my take on Reverend Brandan Robertson’s challenge to Christians to stop claiming they can prove the resurrection. Instead of engaging in a back-and-forth of responses that could go on indefinitely and potentially lose our audience’s interest, I’ve decided to share my thoughts on the matter in a blog post. The Non-Alchemist can choose to have the final word in any format he prefers or simply ignore this. It’s entirely his decision. My original video is here. His response is here. Here’s how he starts off: Here’s critically acclaimed Bible scholar Erik Manning getting upset at a pastor on TikTok: Brandan Robertson: Christians, stop claiming that you can prove the resurrection. … Read more

Derek Lambert and the Very Clever Burglars (MythVision Response)

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In my refreshingly friendly discussion with Derek Lambert from the MythVision Podcast, my biggest takeaway was that I don’t see how his mythic theory is falsifiable. Please bear with my post-discussion shower thoughts here. I wish I had this clarity during the conversation but I think we’ve all been there when the light bulb turns on in our heads and we think “oh, right. This is what I should’ve said to X! Ugh!” Anywho, Derek is willing to admit that the Gospel authors display historical knowledge about the geography, customs, and culture of the times, but he doesn’t see this as counting towards their historical accuracy. Derek essentially argues that even if many factual items … Read more

Why Didn’t Jesus Christ Appear to His Enemies After His Resurrection?

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“Mr. Woolston argues that Jesus’s failure to appear to the chief priests and rulers of the Jews after his death is a significant objection to the truth of his resurrection. This objection has been emphasized by deistical writers, particularly the author of “The Resurrection of Jesus Considered,” and Mr. Chubb, who has discussed it extensively and confidently in his posthumous works (Vol. I, p. 337 and following pages). However, there are good reasons why Jesus did not appear to them. Given their cruel and deeply ingrained malice toward Jesus, and the power of their prejudices, it is unlikely that they would have submitted to the evidence. They had already attributed his miracles to the power … Read more

Is Jesus Alive?