Here we review the historical data, and form an argument out of it, to show that Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead. We've been building this case for a few episodes now, going through all the historical data, and showing what sorts of pieces of information are reliable about Jesus' life. Once we compile all that data, what's the best explanation?

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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The idea that Jesus was buried, and then the tomb was found empty, is an incredible claim to make. In this episode we look at the historical pieces of evidence for this fact. If you're interested in the skeptical argument that Jesus was never buried, then check out the previous episode. This is our last episode on the evidences, and next time we'll piece it all together to form a coherent argument.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

If Jesus's tomb was empty, then we need to explain where the body went. One way skeptics try to avoid this difficult question is by casting doubt on the idea of Jesus even bein buried in the first place. In this episode we'll look at the arguments against Jesus' burial.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

Imagine for a moment your sibling tried to tell you they were the Son of God, sent from heaven, as the messiah to all of humanity. You'd definitely think they were crazy. As it turns out, that's exactly what Jesus' brother, James, thought as well! In this episode we take a look at the evidence regarding James, and how all this data plays into the argument for the resurrection.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

One of the big mysteries of the New Testament for a skeptic is, why did Paul convert to Christianity? He had everything going for him, and traded it all, based on a supernatural experience he had. In this episode, we look at all the historical data about Paul's persecution of Christianity, his conversion, and then the persecutions he faced for his new faith.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

To begin evaluating the Minimal Facts approach of arguing for the resurrection of Jesus, we should look at the evidence that counts as "minimal", meaning, facts that all historians agree with. In this episode, we look at the historical fact of the crucifixion, and the fact that the disciples at the very least "believed" that Jesus had risen from the dead.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

After evaluating much of the data surrounding the reliability of the New Testament, we can take a look at a famous argument called the "minimal facts approach". This method, developed by Gary Habermas, uses only the data that basically all historians agree upon, and shows that the best explanation is that Jesus rose from the dead. In this episode, we go over the methodology, and why this method is useful.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

The non-Christians who wrote about Jesus and Christianity can show us something quite interesting. We can see how Romans viewed the Christian concept of the resurrection. While they obviously disagreed with Christianity, evaluating their writings still help us learn about how the Early Church was viewed by the people during that time, and even helps us see that the most foundational doctrines of the faith went right back to the earliest moments of the history of the Church.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

While we can definitely learn a lot from the Bible and early Christians about what happened in the first century, it's also very important to see what we can learn from non-Christian sources. First of all, we can learn far more than most skeptics realize, and also, it ends up shedding a lot of light on the situation of early Christianity. We even end up learning a lot about the context that isn't found in the Bible. In this episode, we continue to look at the ancient non-Christian sources of Lucian of Samosata, the Babylonian Talmud, and Mara bar Serapion.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

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Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.

One of the main requests skeptics make when discussing matters of religious history, is for the Christian to present non-Christian writings that support their beliefs. In this episode we go into some of the reasons behind this approach, and then we dive into our first non-Christian historian during the time of Jesus: Josephus. This first century Jewish historian has a lot of controversy surrounding his writings, and we go into the reasons for that, as well as what we can still learn from what he wrote.

For more from Jon Topping, check out www.jontopping.com for his blog, podcast, articles, and other videos.

Music from www.bensound.com.

Audio of the Ultimate Questions Podcast is found anywhere podcasts are available.