One of the world’s top-rated podcast hosts, Joe Rogan, recently had Christian apologist Wesley Huff on his program for an interview who provided significant evidence to support the existence and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most of us as believers are already sold on the truthfulness and accuracy of Jesus rising from the grave. Heck, it’s what made many of us believers in the first place.
During the interview, Rogan asked Huff a series of questions about the possibility of miraculous events, evidence that supports Jesus coming back from the dead, and if it is possible Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. He also asked Huff why he didn’t just believe Jesus was a good moral teacher. These are similar questions that many of us have faced from our unbelieving family and friends, so it’s fantastic to hear them asked to an apologist during a friendly conversation instead of something scripted.
According to The Christian Tribune, Rogan popped things off by asking Huff, “So what is your personal belief when it comes to the resurrection? What do you think happened?” Before going further, Huff currently serves as the Central Canada director for Apologetics Canada, holds a Master of Theological Studies from Tyndale University, and is in the process of obtaining a Ph.D. in the New Testament from the University of Toronto’s Wycliffe College.
Huff responded to Rogan’s question saying, “Well, I always say that, when people ask me about the miracles in the Bible, “I say, ‘Well, you know, if the first miracle happened, if…nothing became everything, then Jesus turning water into wine…’” Rogan quickly interjected and said, ”That’s an easy one. That’s a party trick.” Rogan continued on, saying, “That is nothing compared to the birth of the universe, but we’re convinced at the creation of the universe, and we’re very skeptical at other miracles.”
While Rogan said this skepticism is “very odd.” Huff agreed “I do think there’s an inconsistency there.” Rogan directly asked, “So what is your personal belief when it comes to the resurrection?” The apologist stated “So as a historian, I do think it is a historical question. You have a guy who objectively lived, he objectively died, and then individuals close to his inner circle claim that they see him not dead.” Rogan admitted that this was “This is a highly unusual activity.” He added “It’s hard when you’re dealing with illiterate populations. You’re dealing with thousands of years of time. You’re dealing with an oral tradition, and then you have us sitting here talking about it in 2024.” He stated, “It’s very difficult for anybody who thinks of themselves as an intelligent person, who’s secular, to even entertain the possibility that someone died and [came] back to life.”
“You’re right in terms of all of these ancient conventions and the ways that things were spread around, but the gospels are written in the lifetime of the eyewitnesses, and they’re written in this period of time where you have groups of individuals who could have fact-checked those things,” Huff explained more thoroughly. He went on to add that“ ..Paul says that 400 people saw him all at once.”
“These are written within a time period when you have people who would have seen Jesus’ ministry, who were there, say at something like the feeding of the 5,000,” the apologist pointed out, “who could have been able to verify or debunk some of these things that are being said.”
He described that before they started preaching, the apostles were “a bunch of scared guys,” Huff explained. “Jesus wasn’t the only messianic figure who arose and claimed to be the Messiah. There were a number of individuals, both prior to and after Jesus, but they die, and the movement dies with them.”
"*" indicates required fields
Huff then explained to Rogan that where were certain things about how biographies were to be penned in that time period. You can see these conventions pop up in the work of authors such as Quintilian, Lucian, and Josephus who Huff said “are all these very prominent ancient biographers and writers of history.” The apologist then discusses how gospel writer Luke, who was a physician, a scientist of his day, follows the style of these conventions as he interviews eyewitnesses about the events in Christ’s life so that he can create an “orderly account.”
My hope and prayer is that by having Huff on for this discussion, Rogan will ponder the truth of the gospel and the evidence that exists to support the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus so that he puts his faith in him and becomes his disciple.