Jon Topping

Are Christians are welcoming to atheists, but mean to Mormons? Is there a reason for this?

A common complaint against Mormonism is that they believe a different Gospel. Is this an appropriate challenge? In this video I show the reasoning behind the claim.

Does Mormonism teach that there were good apostates? Part of the Mormon religion is their belief in "the Great Apostasy", which says that for almost 1800 years the Gospel wasn't available. However, there are moments where they say apostates could be morally good, and have good beliefs. Specifically, they say very positive things about the Protestant reformers like Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, Knox, etc. However, I think the Great Apostasy still causes a major problem for Mormonis

Mormon AllThoseInFavor said I had a terrible understanding of the Great Apostasy. So, let's look at the actual Mormon sources.

Should we call Mormons "Latter-Day Saints" since that's their preferred title? Personally, I think that's the wrong term for them, and if I called them Latter-Day Saints, I would be lying, merely to appease them.

Mormons recently got quite upset about not being given the designation "Christian" by the DoD. But isn't that hypocritical, given their doctrine of "The Great Apostasy"?

Since Bart Ehrman doesn't want to have to explain the empty tomb, he has to deny a lot of elements of the crucifixion of Jesus. For starters, he has to deny any evidence that shows crucifixion victims were buried at times. One great example is Josephus, who gives us historical evidence that the Jews would bury crucifixion victims. Ehrman simply asserts (without evidence) that Josephus is lying.

Archeology shows us the remains of a crucifixion victim, during the first century, in Israel, that was buried, in a tomb. This completely destroys Bart Ehrman's complete denial of crucifixion victims ever being buried. How does he respond to this evidence?

Bart Ehrman ripped into me, telling me I'm not doing good history, all because I critiqued his argument against the empty tomb and Joseph of Arimathea. Ehrman is demanding evidence, however, I already gave the evidence in the full video (which he didn't watch). Ultimately, Ehrman is ignoring the historical evidence, so that he can justify his skepticism about the empty tomb.

Arnobius of Sicca is the best example of annihilationist eschatology in the Early Church. That said, once we evaluate what he actually wrote, and study his life, he's not such a great example. In fact, I would argue he probably wasn't even an annihilationist at all.

Kirk Cameron argued for annihilationism (also called conditionalism). They gave quite a few arguments, but ultimately, their position is deeply flawed.

Because Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the council of the Sanhedrin, he ends up strengthening the historical reliability of different aspects of the story of the burial of Jesus Christ. However, scholars like Bart Ehrman try to downplay his importance, even to the point of denying the story altogether. But this type of skepticism doesn’t match with what we know about history.

Skeptics will argue that, if crucifixion victims weren’t buried, then Jesus probably wasn’t either. We’ll look at the historical sources showing the fate of crucifixion victims, the sorts of exceptions that were made, and whether Roman and Jewish history lines up with how the Gospels describe what happened to Jesus’ body after He was killed.

The earliest critics of Christianity admitted that Jesus did miracles, and they seem to have assumed the tomb was actually found empty.

Why couldn't God forgive humanity without Jesus' death? Why was Jesus' crucifixion needed in order to forgive sins?

Capturing Christianity has posted videos arguing that the apparitions of Mary at Zeitoun are better evidence for Christianity than the resurrection. I go through the data to show how ridiculous this is.

Alex O'Connor challenged Wes Huff's argument for the resurrection by appealing to Marian apparitions. He thinks the appearances of Mary are just as good of evidence as the appearances of Jesus. To evaluate, let's look at the actual data.

What about those who haven't heard the Gospel? Does evolution contradict Genesis? Christians dating non-Christians? And many more questions.

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Steve Harvey debate God's existence, and Tyson challenges Harvey with a question he "thinks" destroys his argument.

Why did Jesus have to die for us to be saved from our sin? Why can't God just forgive us, without a sacrifice?