What is the mushroom Jesus theory?
For those hard-set on denying the resurrection of Christ, there are few palatable options. Some alternative explanations are nevertheless sincere, if wrong. An example is mythicism: a conspiracy theory claiming Jesus of Nazareth didn’t exist at all, but even secular atheists almost universally reject mythicism. Other counterproposals are so bizarre and provocative they’re not likely…
Are Jesus and Satan brothers?
No, Jesus and Satan are not brothers. Jesus is God, and Satan is one of His creations. Not only are Jesus and Satan not brothers, they are as different as night is from day. Jesus is God incarnate—eternal, all-knowing, and all-powerful, while Satan is a fallen angel that was created by God for God’s purposes.…
What is Semi-Arianism?
Arianism is named for Arius, a teacher in the early fourth century AD. An important debate among early Christians was the subject of Christ’s deity. Was Jesus truly God in the flesh, or was Jesus a created being? Arius held that Jesus was created by God as the first act of creation, that Jesus was…
What is Nestorianism?
The Nestorians are followers of Nestorius (c. AD 386–451), who was Archbishop of Constantinople. Nestorianism is based on the belief put forth by Nestorius that emphasized the disunity of the human and divine natures of Christ. According to the Nestorians, Christ essentially exists as two persons sharing one body. His divine and human natures are…
Is salvation by grace plus works a false gospel?
The apostle Paul combatted those who taught a false gospel in Galatians 1:6–9: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion…
What is the Hallucination Theory?
For almost two thousand years, opponents of the Christian faith have proposed various theories in an attempt to explain away the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. From the “stolen body theory” proposed by the Jewish religious leaders in Matthew’s gospel to the “swoon theory” advanced by the 19th-century critic Friedrich Schleiermacher, skeptics have…
What is Ebionism?
Ebionism was a false view of the nature of Jesus Christ that arose in the second century. Ebionites (or Ebioneans) denied Jesus’ divinity and believed that Jesus was the Son of God only by virtue of His being “adopted” by God; according to Ebionism, Jesus was a descendant of David and a gifted man, but…
What is Docetism?
Docetism was an early Christian heresy that promoted a false view of Jesus’ humanity. The word Docetism comes from the Greek dokein, which meant “to seem”; according to Docetism, Jesus Christ only seemed to have a human body like ours. Docetism allowed that Jesus may have been in some way divine, but it denied His…
What is ultra-universalism?
Universalism, the belief that everyone will eventually be saved, can be subdivided into various theological types. One of those types is ultra-universalism, which expands on the teaching of universal salvation. In Christian theology, universalism is the idea that all humankind will eventually be saved through Christ—everyone makes his or her way to heaven because Jesus…
What is ultimate reconciliation?
The concept of ultimate reconciliation—the idea that God will ultimately reconcile every soul at some point so that they willingly spend eternity with Him—once again caused quite a stir in the theological world with the March 2010 release of Emergent Church leader Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. Decrying the historical theological position of a literal…