Is Jesus Alive?

Following the tradition of the famous 18th-century philosopher David Hume, skeptics will often accuse Christians of special pleading. We eagerly accept the resurrection of Jesus and other miracles reported in the Bible. But we’re just as swift to reject miracle claims made by other religions. Critics will say if you accept one miracle, you have to open up the floodgates to them all. But is that true? Could there be a way to sift through all the noise? Enter Charles Leslie’s terse yet powerful book A Short and Easy Method With the Deists. This booklet is around 40 pages, but it packs a punch. Leslie’s method is a religiously neutral test regarding how we can judge an event as undeniably historical. Here I summarize Leslie's book and show how it's still relevant hundreds of years later. A Short and Easy Method with the Deists (Free!) : https://books.google.com/books?id=0p0PAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:Deists+inauthor:Charles+inauthor:Leslie&lr=&as_brr=1&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/isjesusalive To read more on this topic: https://isjesusalive.com/leslie-short-and-easy-method-with-the-deists/ For more older works on historical apologetics: https://historicalapologetics.org/download-the-books/

Here’s a very simple proof for Christianity. I’m warning you though, you’re going to be tempted to dismiss it because it’s sneakily uncomplicated. Are you ready for it? OK, here goes: Premise 1: Paul converted. Premise 2: Therefore Christianity is true. OK, I’m kidding. Sort of. But I think that we sometimes fail to appreciate the evidential power of Paul’s conversion. Investigating Paul’s story is what turned a formerly self-proclaimed infidel into a believer and Christian apologist. His name is George Lyttleton. He poses a quadrilemma. Either Paul was 1.) a liar. 2.) crazy 3.) deceived by others 4.) Christianity is true.

The feeding of the 5000 is one of Jesus’ most popular miracles. If you grew up in church, you probably saw it depicted on many a flannel graph. You know the story: Jesus was in a deserted place where large crowds were hanging on his every word. When it started to get late, Jesus’ disciples asked him to disperse the gathering to the surrounding villages so they could grab a bite to eat. Rather than sending them home, Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed the multitude. The young lad who shared his food became famous that day and was sent home with 12 baskets full of leftovers. Critics of the Bible tend to laugh at this miracle story. It sounds like a pious fiction meant only to teach that God can do a lot even when given very little. Or maybe it’s meant to make Jesus look like another Moses. Just as the children of Israel were fed with manna and quail from heaven under Moses, so Jesus miraculously provides a big crowd some Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. But what if I told you that this story has some real evidential basis? No, seriously. Hear me out for a sec. The evidence for the feeding of the 5000 comes in the form of some internal evidence that goes by the funny name of ‘undesigned coincidences’.

Skeptics say that the Gospel writers were reporting events from far away long after the events. Therefore, they bungle their facts when it comes to the history of their time and they can't be relied upon. Here I demonstrate that the Gospel writers did, in fact, know their contemporary history extensively. There's an error made on my part in the recording: I said the Jews worship on Sinai, which would be in Egypt! It's supposed to be the Mount of Olives.

This is from my new YouTube channel Sunday School Apologetics. You can check it out at http://youtube.com/c/SundaySchoolApologetics What can we learn about Jesus and early Christianity from a Roman historian who hated Christians? As it turns out quite a bit. Some skeptics will even go so far as to dispute that Tacitus' testimony about Jesus is even valid. I address those concerns as well as 6 key facts we can learn about Jesus from Tacitus.

Skeptics say that the Gospel writers make serious geographical errors, making them unreliable. Here I answer several examples that the critics provide. I also make the case that the Gospel writers were intimately familiar with Palestinian geography. http://youtube.com/c/SundaySchoolApologetics

Do Matthew and Luke contradict each other when it comes to the names of the Twelve Apostles? Some skeptics say yes, but there's actually a very plausible solution that's rooted in the historical data we have about what people were named during Jesus' time. And as it turns out, the names actually provide good evidence that the Gospels were based on eyewitness testimony. YouTube https://youtu.be/A9NBvS7KpQs

In this podcast, I interview Michael Jones of Inspiring Philosophy. Skeptics say that the ancient Israelites were no different than their near Eastern neighbors, and Yahweh was just their tribalistic god among the pantheon. It was only until the time of the Babylonian captivity did the Jews become monotheistic. But is there any evidence for these claims? Jones takes on these arguments and makes the case for ancient Biblical monotheism.