Aug. 5, 2025

Can You Follow Jesus Without Believing in Him? What Rhett & Rainn Get Wrong About Christianity

Show Notes

This week, we respond to a clip from Soul Boom with Rhett McLaughlin and Rainn Wilson. We unpack the allure of a “just-the-teachings” Jesus, why it falls apart under scrutiny, and why you can’t separate the words of Jesus from the person of Jesus. We explore the intellectual and theological inconsistency of cherry-picking Jesus’ words while ignoring the radical, exclusive claims he made about himself.

In this episode:

(00:00) - Intro
(01:13) – Rhett & Rainn’s take on Jesus
(03:38) – The appeal of a softer faith
(05:13) – Can you follow Jesus without belief?
(07:33) – What Jesus actually said
(10:13) – Liar, lunatic, or Lord?
(12:23) – When smart people say absurd things
(14:13) – Does it matter if Jesus was real?
(16:58) – Belief vs. bias
(18:38) – The red-letter remix
(21:13) – No resurrection, no Christianity
(23:43) – Just a teacher?
(26:03) – The prophecies they can’t explain away
(27:43) – The new crutch: soft Jesus
(29:13) – Why it matters what Jesus said about himself
(31:13) – The question everyone must answer

Get full show notes and links at https://www.thechristianskeptic.org.

Watch the episode on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thechristianskeptic.