Cold Case Christianity Cold Case Christianity with J. Warner Wallace

I’ve been writing lately about the “virgin conception” of Jesus. Is this an essential truth claim of Christianity? Is it reasonable Jesus could have been conceived in such a miraculous way? Was the “virgin conception” borrowed from mythologies that preceded Jesus? If the “Virgin conception” is true, why didn’t Paul mention it? Why didn’t Mark include it in his Gospel? Skeptics have assailed the claim on a variety of fronts. Some critics of the “virgin conception” argue that the earliest Christian authors of the Jesus “mythology” inserted this idea regarding His conception in an effort to give Jesus the “heroic” birth that was consistent with other Old Testament heroes. Remember that the first Christians were raised within the Jewish culture and religious environment, and these first adherents were familiar with the birth stories of Isaac, Moses, Samson and Samuel; these characters had irregular and unusual births. Were the early authors of the New Testament canon simply trying to create a new hero in the tradition of other Jewish heroes who had unusual birth narratives? There are several reasons to reject such an accounting of the birth story of Jesus: Most Birth Stories Were Not Heroic Not every Jewish hero from …

In this podcast, J. Warner Wallace talks candidly with Hank Hanegraaff on his wonderful podcast, Hank Unplugged. Of all the interviews J. Warner has conducted on radio, this is his favorite. Hank and Jim talk about a number of issues, including several observations about culture and Christianity, life and family. You can also subscribe to the Cold-Case Christianity Weekly Podcast on iTunes, or add the podcast from our RSS Feed.

J. Warner Wallace answers questions about Christianity in his “Think Like a Detective”series on RightNow Media, the “Netflix of Christian Bible Studies”. In this video, J. Warner addresses the question: Can we be certain that Jesus died on the cross? If he was only unconscious when they took him down from the cross, this might explain why the disciples errantly believed Jesus rose from the dead? Do we have any good evidence to demonstrate that Jesus was dead prior to his resurrection? In addition, if your church is subscribed to RightNowMedia, you can watch the Cold-Case Christianity Bible Study or the Forensic Faith Bible Study right now. You can also purchase the DVD set for the Cold-Case Christianity group study (it comes with a facilitator’s guide) along with the Cold-Case Christianity Participant’s Guide. To see more training videos with J. Warner Wallace, visit the YouTube playlist.