For Joseph's question on 1 Chronicles 20:3 and why it is translated such different ways here is some insight from the "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible" "cut them with saws, &c.-The Hebrew word, “cut them,” is, with the difference of the final letter, the same as that rendered “put them,” in the parallel passage of Samuel [2 Sa 12:31]; and many consider that putting them to saws, axes, and so forth, means nothing more than that David condemned the inhabitants of Rabbah to hard and penal servitude." Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1 Ch 20:3). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. It seems that it's a debate between whether he "put them" to axes in the sense of labor or in the sense of death. The different translations reflect different decisions about how to understand this. I don't know which is the more accurate one. I hope this at least clarifies the issue for you.

I'm from the Navajo tribe, and I really honestly tried to believe and test out my Native Religion. But it was evident that it wasn't true. So after I became a believer in Christ, reading and studying the Bible opened the truth to me. Additionally, other things like miracles, testimonies, and answered prayer...have all added to and built my faith in Jesus! Praise God.

15 years ago I would have been one of the argueing, taunting, sarcastic, cynical, and semi stuck up smart alecky mockers, on my high horse of agnosticism... and praise God and his mercy he touched me, through painful experiences, logic, and miracles, I was saved. Who would ever guess?? Me?? I was a mocker!! Praise God for his mercy and loving kindness. And the miracles he's shown in my life (escape from prison which i deserved, life after drug overdoses, life for my premature daughter, deliverance from addiction and abuse) praise the lord for your ministry mike!

Luke 16:31 "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."

As an atheist this was incredibly eye opening. I'm really interested in looking into the history of the time. I really want to hear what the Roman's had to say, and I'd love to dig into the eye witness accounts so I can see christ's resurrection objectively. Anyone got anything for me to read?

Man, so many comments are “You’re bad/dumb Mike.” I think you’re doing good work Mike! Don’t get discouraged!

Schizophrenics, from a medical viewpoint, don't just have mass hallucinations together....it is not like their illnesses just sync to each other and create one hivemind schizophrenic illusion. That's like saying a room full of anxious people just suddenly all become anxious about this one illogical concern.

Please let's remember that a very important part of presenting the gospel to unbelievers (including atheists) is for them to see Christians as truly authentic followers of Jesus Christ, i.e., that we model the love, compassion, kindness, self sacrifice, mercy, etc. for which Jesus was known. Many great principles are given in the NT, especially by Jesus, and especially in Matthew 5 and 6.(Love God, Love your neighbor, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, etc.) When I was an atheist, I truly enjoyed mocking Christians. Not seeing any difference in the way they reacted to mocking made me feel justified in my atheism. When I finished serving a hitch in the Navy in 1979, I moved up into the mountains to be able to party loudly and consume illegal substances without being bothered by anyone (including by the Law and Christians). After a pretty wild party one Saturday night (during which, both my stereo and my TV became broken), I was awakened the next morning by someone knocking at the door. I peered out and saw my girlfriend's sister, Betsy, knocking at the door. I did not want to let her in because I knew she was one of those outspoken Christians. Only because her sister, Sandy, lived with me did I get up and let her in. They sat down at the dining room table to talk, while I sat in the living room. It's generally pretty quiet in the mountains, especially when one's TV and stereo got broken the previous night, so, without even trying, I easily heard everything being said. As Betsy shared the Gospel with her sister (my girlfriend), Sandy, I became offended as I felt she was violating the "sanctity" of my home. My offense turned to anger when I heard Sandy agreeing to pray a prayer of salvation with her, as I knew it might mean the end of our sexual relationship. But I really hit stage 3 when I heard Betsy say that she was going to come into the living room to talk to me about Jesus. I prepared a litany of obscenities in my mind to share with her. When she asked me if I would like to know more about Jesus, I let go with a stream of obscenities, designed to make her retreat, even as far as leaving my home. She didn't. In fact, she stood there with a kind smile on her face, as if she had expected me to respond that way, and it didn't bother her in the least. Finally, feeling awkward, I sort of ran out of gas and sputtered to and end with "Well, that's just how I feel about that stuff." She responded with something like "Hey, I'm not here to threaten you (or harm you, or something like that). I just want to let you know that God loves you and Jesus died for you." She and Sandy hung around the rest of the day as they planned to go to church that evening. As they were leaving, Betsy handed me a gospel tract, asking me to read it while they were gone. I reluctantly agreed just to get her out the door. While they were gone, I was bored out of my gourd as my TV and stereo were broken, and it was many years until the Internet. And it strangely seemed like the Gospel tract was magnetically drawing me to read it. I finally gave in, justifying it by saying that I could honestly tell her that I read it so she would shut up. I'd read lots of Gospel tracts before, but for entertainment. I'd laugh after I read them and then tore them up and/or threw them away so no one else could read them. But this time I was genuinely open and interested in trying to understand it because of Betsy's kind response to my hateful, obscene speech (which really had me perplexed). I thought maybe she had something I couldn't explain. As I sincerely considered the Bible references, it seemed like it was the first time I had ever read the Gospel. It wasn't the "Be good and stop sinning and maybe, you might get to heaven if you're good enough" message that I'd always thought it was. I truly understood God being able to offer me forgiveness because of Jesus' sacrificial death. I don't think I could ever describe the depth of feeling that I had as I understood what the verses were saying, and suddenly realizing that it was all true. It really, really was like I had been in a totally dark room and someone had just turned on the light! I was in shock and looked up toward God and found myself saying "You're kidding me! THIS is what you've been trying to tell me this whole time??" An inexplicable joy filled me like I had never known (or even could have imagined)! I paced the floor trying to come to grips with the fact that, just minutes before, I was absolutely sure that none of this was true, and now I was even 'surer' that it WAS true! I went outside and stood there staring up at the stars. It was like I had never seen them before. What seems pretty funny in retrospect was what happened when the girls got home. They came in the back door and were in the kitchen chatting. I realized I had to go tell them what had happened, so I walked into the kitchen and I suddenly realized I had no idea what to say! I stood there staring at them, and I must have looked a bit strange because they began asking me "What's wrong? What happened?" Not knowing what to say, all that came out of my mouth was "I did it!" They asked "Did what??", as if they thought I had committed some crime. "That thing, in that piece of paper you gave me. I prayed." They thought that I was making fun of them again, as I had done a little during the afternoon. I had to convince them that I was sincere, that I had become a believer. I'm not sure at all what may have happened had Betsy not responded with kindness to my hostility to the Gospel. What if she HAD stormed out like I had expected her to?

David Hume didn't know that everything in our reality, according to the probabilities calculated to have them exist, is a miracle. EVERYTHING.

Mike Licona's book is called, "The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. I have that book!

Starting out I really have to commend you for your bravery cuz I just lose my temper when I'm dealing with Skeptics like "you're a believer in evidence but you're so quick to deny evidence that goes against what you believe" so good on you man.

A few things I might add: 1) atheists really make a big deal out of the "contradictions" in the biblical text. For example they'll say 'well how many horses did Solomon have'? As if that just proves the whole Bible is a lie, they don't even stop to consider any other reasonable explanation (e.g. it could have been different numbers due to the fact that each were taken from different years under his rule). Or even some of the minor details like hiw many angels were at the tomb. Witnesses don't remember every detail the exact same and if they did that would be a bit suspect (this reinforces the independent witnesses point). 2) atheists like to interpret things more liberally than most Christians. To put it bluntly they don't consider any of the original contexts of the passage and therefore completely misunderstand the vast majority of the biblical text. They also tend to cherry pick verses. One example is in Judges when a little girl is sacrificed to YHWH. The book of judges condemned such an action, but they don't care to actually read and follow along with the entire book. It's intellectual laziness.

Some skeptics are just into arguing - "You have not yet forced me to believe."

4:04 and 4:40 and 5:33 - Historian consensus 8:33 - Alternative explanations 12:45 - The swoon theory 15:38 - Spiritual Resurrection theory 16:35 - Wrong Tomb theory 16:56 - Missing body theory 17:16 - Conspiracy theory 18:05 - The rational explanation 19:03 - David Hume 20:35 and 22:15 - Bart Ehrman 24:30 - Richard Carrier 26:20 and 27:13 and 28:40 - Dan Barker 30:00 - Matt Dilahunty 34:50 - Is the Bible just one source? 38:20 - What about other religious claims?

Yes! Book of James cuts straight to the heart!

Mike, It's always a faith position. My wife's grandmother said a very profound statement. She said, "This man says this and this man says that, who is right?" This is a very good point. Many many people are saying to all of us, "listen to me." So for me the question isn't, why I should believe in Jesus but why I should listen to you(other then Christ), who are you that I should believe in what you tell me. Jesus said, "I am the only way, there is no other." This statement forces me to make a choice. So if your position is Christ is not the way, then you are telling me to believe you. So again, who are you that I should listen to you? Jesus said Love God with your whole heart and soul and love others like yourself. He practice this He also said turn the other check. Normally people don't practice what they teach however, Jesus did. He was the man he asked us to be. Jesus represents the best form of God. So all my hope is on Him.

Wow skeptics are so hostile on here I think you struck a nerve mike! Haha you're one of those... "Christians" (angry voice)

If I was a skeptic James and Paul would have done it for me. James was pious Jew who converted, and Paul was very loyal to Rome. Those two would have done it for me.

Thank you again for the daily bread mike!

I just found your channel and I have binge watching it! It would be great if all the videos can be included in different playlists. I know there are some, but how about all of them!!! 🙏🏼

So happy I found this channel. God bless you bro, thanks for this very insightful video

I heard that the passion of Christ was good but he didn't mentioned the resurrection. I agree with you

One need only review the comments section for more examples of exactly what Mike was talking about, haha. Keep it up, man! Love all of your videos.

Lots of great content. Thanks for putting in the work! God bless!

Love your work mike!

I simply marvel at Atheists faith. How can anyone examine the mountains of evidence and still proclaim there is no God were they not whole heartedly devoted to their beliefs.

Your Dillahunty representation is spot on

My husband and I just love watching your videos together. Thank you!

God bless you Pastor for equipping me on showing our atheist friends on the BEDROCK of Biblical Christianity the Resurrection of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ

If miracles dont happen..how did we win gold in 1980 on the ice?!

The mockers of this video are simply writhing and reacting from having to hear truth, logic and evidence that give answers to the skeptic’s doubts of the Bible’s authenticity. Mike does all this out of his love and obedience to Jesus, that is, to obey His commandments by loving his neighbour even strangers by sharing the gospel. It is our prayer that these skeptics will repent and come to Jesus. Thanks Mike.

Great presentation, thank you.

As I watch this 4 years later, it reminds me of a conversation I had just yesterday with a Ehrman-worshipping family member. To those who work to suppress the knowledge of God (Rom 1:18), there is really no gain asking them why they believe what they believe, or to concede actual historical fact and accept that they may be just flat wrong...they, like me, are sinners and the flesh hates God. Yes, I might be wrong, too, but what other explanation is even plausible for the events of Jesus' life as told in the NT, and, with this understood fully, what other possible, plausible explanation exists for the remainder of the writings of the entire Bible? Yes, I'm a grumpy old Calvinist, but the truth of God's Word keeps ringing true...nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:18-19). I will continue to pray for these folks, atheist/agnostic/resistor-of-Christ alike, that God will reveal Himself to them and they will yield to His truth. Keep those questions coming...I'll be answering them on my death bed, if God is willing.

“Paul, Apostle of Christ” was a good movie

Thank for the video. I'm going to use it as a reference for skeptics I come across on youtube

Thank you so much Mike, As a former Occultist, got called schizo a lot lmao I'm still bewildered how some Christians don't believe in Christ actually being resurrected, you're just Agnostic.

None of these guys are "skeptics". Except Ehrman

I believe in the resurrection because Jesus gave me eternal life when I confessed my sins, repented of my old life and submitted to Him as my Lord.

The consistency of translation im seeing with NASB, KJV, and JPS Tanakh, over NIV, have the people of those cities being slaughtered in 1 Chronicles. I would be interested to here your take, Mike

Great video Mike 👍

Incredibly well done video! You’re making a 40 year old atheist rethink EVERYTHING! I always struggled with the validity of the resurrection story until your video 🤯👏

Great content! One of my friends is a raving atheist, and after years of debating, his argument has been reduced to "I don't want to talk about it" or even better, "Christians are racist." I respect atheists, but their arguments fall flat under serious scrutiny. They never seem to run out of reasons to doubt. Once you address one argument, they move the goal posts. Which proves to me that most of them just don't want to believe for emotional reasons.

Mike you are so kind. I've watched several videos by these skeptics. Ehrman flat out has some sort of emotional issue. He's irrational and often just attacking people in debates. He's embarrassing. Carrier is just a joke. He makes logical fallacies constantly, regardless of his position. I wouldn't follow his food recipies he's so confused. Mike, you have such faith in people. Sadly, most are just not capable of following an arguement, and they aren't capable of realizing it. There is literaly nothing you can do to get a deaf man to hear a sympony, they aren't capable. Atheists mostly just repeat nonsense as if it is gospel, not seeing that the positions are garbage thinking, false comparisionns, cherry picking, strawmen. Even the well meaning athiests don't apply thier own standards to thier own thinking. An example, most athiests will believe in the multiverse, yet deny Jesus claiming "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" There is literally zero hard evidence for the multiverse, it's inferred, which btw I think the multiverse might exist. Athiests don't see that the "extraordinary claim/evidence" arguement is just a massively circular way to deny anything you subjectively don't agree with. If you believec something already, your standard for it goes down? If you disbelieve your standard goes up, lol really? You nailed this fallacy in people like Humme. Anyway, keep up the good work. You are an amazingly smart, patient, and kind person. I couldn't do what you do.

Great post, as always, Mike, thanks. The single greatest rebuttal to the arguments for a resurrection is simply that it's supernatural. As Christians, I think we don't fully appreciate how powerful that rebuttal is.

To say, that there is no evidence for the resurrection is pure intellectual dishonesty and they know it. The truth of the matter is, they don’t want to believe based on moral grounds which they will probably never admit to. They love their sin And refuse to depart from it.

He mentioned from a question of other mythical figures having the same life, death, and resurrection as Jesus that came before him. But all these stories if you look into them just simply don’t have anything similar to Jesus. Mike did the Apollonius video debunking that but look at Steven bancarz zeitgeist debunked video. It walks through the other so called legends that parallel Jesus.

thanks from India. i love ur videos

The times I have told people about Paul's conversion, they have said that he must have come to believe so strongly in the principles of Christianity that he thought it was worth lying and die for. It does not compute for me, but I must admit, it is a better explanation than mass hallucination, not resurrection though.

The facts are often, "Yes, it says this in the gospel, you can read it for yourself." People often want other places to look that corroborate what they are reading, such as sources or citations. That's why we tell people not to rely on Wikipedia, as they are likely not checking the sources and just accepting the data on the page as fact.

Almost any alternative hypothesis is probably a more PLAUSIBLE option.

Mike, what software do you use? I want to start a channel but don't know anything haha! How do you make the scripture/ slide show pop up on your screen?

I hope you are feeling better. The last live stream was canceled due to you, Pastor Mike having a headache. Felt bad that you were hurting, and praying that you have recovered and can be at the next live stream. I'm struggling with the belief in reincarnation, and confused as to Resurrection, in specific , will people be coming out of graves and such, confusing that regard. And how about a Christian say who might have been consumed by a cannibal, sorry if this sounds like a bad joke but a realistic question.

I like your work in Christ, but I was thinking in response to people like doubting Thomas; the proof he is looking for is Jesus' words. By seeking to hear, know and understand we spiritually grow and the Holy Spirit reveals all understanding. And we become spiritually changed and have our proof of God.

Mike saying "I don't know" is superior to pretending to know things you don't know.

Hey, Mike, do you have a quote from Ehrman about what he taught his students about not coming up with an alternate theory? Not doubting you, I'd just love to have that documentation available!

What videos have you done on the subject of the Westcott & Hort Text? This is a Gnostic Greek rewriting of the original Greek manuscripts, which have been foisted on the faithful. We were made to believe the sources for the Westcott & Hort Text were more ancient than the Textus Receptus but, in fact, are late redactions of that original text. How did Westcott and Hort die? Was it sudden and unexpected?

Be encouraged! I saw Cam and Doug's KZfaq video of a fake Christian vs. Atheist debate. I was not impressed. I appreciate your hope in the human spirit.

Thank you for studying the Word and giving us the cliff notes. Thank you for your time and hard work.

I like how you're in the thumbnail 🤣

Keep up the good work!

I love your videos SO MUCH you convinced me to change some of my views (especially about the trinity). Thank you for helping me in my journey to Christ!

Oh, bless you, my dear brother, Mike! Or should I say, Rabbi Winger! My brain feels exceedingly fresh, like the wind of heaven just cleared out all the stale air & shined a great beautiful light from heaven. Clearly & succinctly exposing these atheists attempt at “arguments” is a thing of beauty!

God bless you, mu friend. You are a true follower of Christ. What you are doing is a REAL hole job. May our Lord Jesus Christ gives you even more knowledge and may He protect you and your loved ones from any danger and harm. We love you with the love of Our Savior. You are a great man Mike. I hope you know that;)

This is AWESOME! only 253 upvotes??? People, give this man credit for his work. I am amazed at the teaching and the fire of his convictions.

I think easy-believism is used to mean you you can be saved without repentance (which obviously isn't the case)

If people died for the belief that Christ was risen, and they all saw Him alive, and they had the choice to tell their executioners that they were lying, and they didn't, that's good enough for me. You don't die believing in a lie.

Mike - can you let me know what historical sources outside the NT there are for the empty tomb and it being visited by ladies? What is the historical position, again outside NT, as to the tomb being guarded. That seems to be not mentioned in some of the gospels. Wouldn't that be worth mentioning in any account?

Point 2 is saying the resurrection happened because the people who would be looking after the dead at a tomb, discovered an "empty tomb" well darn, who would have thought a sailor found something on the docks?

Ehrman really doesn’t give an explanation for the minimal facts argument in his book how Jesus became god’

You're making one big mistake throughout this. Many of them (sam harris in particular) are saying that any amount of testimonials are insufficient evidence for such a big claim. You then say they don't acknowledge ANY evidence. Testimonials of all sorts can be lies, other types of evidence cannot be, and there is none of the second type.

22:20 I understand Ehrman’s explanation to be that all he could find to read about crucifixion suggested the bodies were left to rot on the crosses, not taken down and given proper burials. What about that point?

Where can I find this list of historians that agree on all of your claims? I've looked but had no luck.

Could someone please point me to the polling that shows that a majority of qualified worldwide historians believe those things. I'd not heard that before and find it frankly unbelievable. But certainly willing to change my mind with sufficient evidence.

Thank you Mike, I appreciate your advice, keep up your great work, us Brits need some decent preaching, love it!

I love this my brother 👍🙏🏻❤️

The Twin Theory doesn't work because "Brov, I know we don't see each other eye to eye and I've been hanging out with my apostle mates alot. The thing is I need to ask you of a really! really! really! big favour."

Non believers are not on a truth quest you're on a happiness quest. And they know the truth quest will interfere with their happiness quest. And so that's why they deny it.

Folks look up the word ad hoc theory if you dont know what it is because this tecnique is used all over science. Thanks Mike for introducing me to that new word :)

In Pauls letters (the oldest account of the resurrection) he understands it as a spiritual resurrection.

"you cant ask a question, you're not allowed to answer, and then pretend like you answered the question" quote of the day.

Best part of this video is when you quoted Hume.

This is so disingenuous, that I couldn''t make it half way through the video. And it is insultingly easy to check for everybody, atheist and christian alike. Just watch the debate between WLC and Bart Ehrmann. Ehrmann does *not* grant WLCs historical facts in that debate. It is an obvious and deliberately misleading straw man to claim otherwise. In fact, in his first rebuttal he explicitly critizises the biblical sources from which these "facts" can only be established. Furthermore, it is next to impossible to characterise Ehrmanns position on miracles more unfavorable. You are not even trying to fairly represent the argument Ehrmann makes, before argueing against it. And it is not a complicated argument: Historians try to find the most probable explanation, given certain facts. Probability can only be measured when you look at things that happen regularly and in accordance with laws (like the laws of nature). For instance, you can measure the probability of a coin toss, because you can flip a coin a thousand times and check the results. But you can't measure the probability of a coin toss that results in neither heads or tails, but in some miraculous event (the upper side of the coin shows the entire movie "Spiderman"). That is because such a miracle would be a one-off events that don't happen by any measure of probability. Therefore, the historian cannot establish a miracle as the most probable explanation. It does not mean that miracles have never occured, it just means that by sound historical reasoning they cannot be established as the most likely explanation. Now, you can argue with Ehrmann's position. But you just misrepresented it, basically showing everyone that you did not really understand it, and dismissed it without tackling the issue.

Thanks Pastor Mike

Mike, I wish you spent more time on that Michael Licona book answer. It wasn't a small question it's a big one. I'm definitely gonna buy the book now, but brother I would have loved a more detailed answer to physical evidence question. I know that there is plenty and you could have answered his question better. I'd like to point out things like place names mentioned in the bible that were later excavated and confirmed. Love you man

Great work mike . Keep up the good work. Fight the good fight , keep the faith . 🔜✝KZN South Africa🇮🇱🌹🇿🇦👍🇮🇱🔥🇿🇦😁🇮🇱👊🇿🇦🎶🇮🇱👏🇿🇦

38:45 - 39:06 is a mic drop moment. I love this. Thank you Mike!

We appreciate your strong defense of the faith through scholarship and conviction for our sacred beliefs. PTL

How solid are the independent appearances of Jesus? I would like to know more about this. The Bible is clear, any other sources? Thanks for reading and answering!

Happy to have found this title. But was looking fwd to better information, Mike. The title was promising, but I think your explanations of skeptics' positions were pretty much just a strawman. I am very familiar with all the skeptics mentioned. You treated their explanations only minimally and created a strawman at best. I am a former Christian (from age 14 until about 55) but am now an atheist. But I watch vids & read from both sides. My hobby, in fact--and it has been since my teen years)--is studying NT history and early Church history and the historicity of the Bible, etc. I love the Bible (as literature, I no longer take it as God's Word) and am interested in both sides, as I said. I think you offered a bum critique of the skeptics. Some truth, but a lot of straw. Still, now that I found your channel, I will be tuning in more as long as I find value and convincing refutation--a little more convincing than this vid. Best wishes.

The dishonesty shown here is appalling.

Mesopotamia is a region of southwest Asia in the Tigris and Euphrates river system that benefitted from the area's climate and geography to host the Beginnings of Human Civilization. The civilization is majorly known for is Prosperity, City Life and its Rich and Voluminous Literature, Religion, Mathematics and Astronomy. They believe Sumerian civilization first took form in southern Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE-or 6000 years ago-which would make it the first urban civilization in the region. Mesopotamians are noted for developing the first written Religious Scripts around 3000 BCE: wedge-shaped marks pressed into clay tablets. Scholars' worked, and published in the international journal of Nature, said the Civilisation predates Egypt's ancient people (7,000 BC to 3,000 BC) and could mark a significant shift in the study of ancient societies. The Literature Written can be Traced through out all other Civilizations Literature after that. Religions Through out time has used this Literature to create there own Religions how they see fit. Basically Misleading People for 1000's of Years. Telling Lie's to Benefit There Agendas and Control. That's why there are 1000+ Religions. And there story's are so similar. SO MAN DID WRIGHT THE BIBLE... If you Can't Understand this, It's Not My Problem.

You forgot Aliens :D

Mike, You reference a consensus of historians a few times and that made me wonder. Would you still believe in the resurrection of jesus christ If historians didn't agree on those 5 points? Lets say only 10% agreed on the 5 points you mentioned. Would you still be convinced that the resurrection happened?

Please Mr. Winger, allow us the video or book reference where Ehrman says what you claim he says. Thank you.

Apologetics would sound about 25% more plausible if apologists just stopped treating the word "evidence" as if it were a count noun instead of a mass noun. "Evidences" just puts my teeth on edge (and I'm a believer).

A Princess Bride reference!!! I love you Mike!

Hey Mike: you have asked a couple times about what you got wrong about Dillahunty. One example is you say it seems he leans towards mysticism. He moderated a debate between Price and Ehrman and stated that he actual leans thw other way. I would also advise caution about making statements or speculating on the mental states and motivations of others. For example you say Ehrman probably changed his tune as a result of the Craig debate. That may be true but then again maybe not. The problem is these speculations are not without rhetorical effect. They seem to me like efforts to score a point for your side without actually demonstrating the truth of your claims. While ultimately I think you are mistaken to believe in God, I appreciate your content. Best of luck

even if the swoon theory was true it would still be a miracle in the sense Hume meant it and you could still have a case for the divinity of Jesus if the premise was granted. (he would be the first person to survive crucifixion

“Religions are divisive and quarrelsome. They are a form of one-upmanship because they depend upon separating the “saved” from the “damned,” the true believers from the heretics, the in-group from the out-group… All belief is fervent hope, and thus a cover-up for doubt and uncertainty.” ~ Alan Watts *Alan Watts was protestant minister, but left the religion to pursue the beautiful Eastern philosophy (Truth) of nondualism, such as found in Advaita Vedanta.

These days you can have physical evidence, a multiple videos from various angles of an event & you'll still have "experts" deny in any which way. They will get up on a stand in front of a crowd and try to convince you it never was real but all an illusion. That kind of logic seems to fall on many, not all atheists. If something doesn't align with your feelings, the illusion card gets used. Keep up the good work Mike Winger may God Bless.