Podcast
How we answer
Every challenge on this site is handled the same way. We state the objection at its strongest, answer it from Scripture and history, and then tell you what the answer does not settle. That last step is unusual, and it is deliberate.
The standard
Steelman first. An objection is stated in its best form — usually in the challenger's own words — before any answer is given. If an atheist would not recognize his own argument on the page, we have not finished the first step.
Answer plainly. No jargon as a substitute for argument. Where Christians differ (hell, the age of the earth, the extent of the atonement), we say so rather than pretending a consensus exists.
Name what remains. Every answer leaves weight on the table. We tell you where it is. A site that admits the residue can be trusted on the rest.
State the falsifiers. Each page ends with what would count against the answer. Falsifiability is not a concession to skepticism; it is a claim that we mean what we say.
How we source
Scripture is quoted from the English Standard Version and linked so you can read it in context. Historical claims rest on primary sources where they exist — Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny, the manuscript record — and on named scholarship where they do not. Philosophical arguments are attributed to the people who made them, including the ones we disagree with.
We link to opponents. If we are answering Bart Ehrman or Richard Carrier, the reader gets a link to Ehrman or Carrier, not only to our rebuttal. You should be able to check us.
How we grade claims
Historical consensus — accepted by the great majority of specialists, including skeptical ones. Example: Jesus of Nazareth was crucified under Pontius Pilate.
Contested — live disagreement among informed people. Example: the dating of the Exodus.
Inference — our reading of the evidence, offered as argument rather than as fact. Example: what the empty tomb best explains.
Where a page mixes these, it should say which is which. When it does not, that is a defect and we want it reported.
What we will not do
We will not mock the person who disagrees. We will not answer a weaker objection than the one actually made. We will not claim certainty the evidence does not carry. We will not treat a Bible verse as a proof text wrenched from its context. The challenger is not the enemy.
Corrections
If we get a fact wrong, a citation wrong, or a quotation wrong, tell us and we will fix it and note the correction. Send corrections to [email protected]. The correction log is public.
What would change our mind
At the level of the whole faith: a first-century tomb containing the remains of Jesus, authenticated beyond reasonable doubt; or the demonstration that the earliest Christian movement had no belief in a bodily resurrection and no historical Jesus behind it. Neither has been produced, and both would be decisive. At the level of individual arguments, each page states its own conditions.
See also: How we compare to the biggest apologetics sites.
Continue: The Objection Map — every challenge on the site, arranged by subject.