No topic is off-limits on the Joe Rogan Experience. His 14 million video podcast listeners tune in to hear three-hour conversations on UFOs, Mixed Martial Arts, the carnivore diet, transgender ideology, artificial intelligence, or almost anything else you can imagine.
Rogan prides himself on his willingness to hear all sides of an argument and an openness to follow the evidence toward truth. That’s why his decision in 2024 to vote Republican for the first time in his life sent shockwaves through his online (predominantly young male) community. However, one topic has not been approached with Rogan’s usual curiosity and openness to follow the evidence — the truth claims of Jesus of Nazareth and the reliability of the New Testament. That is, until the Jan. 7 episode dropped with Christian apologist and New Testament PhD candidate Wesley Huff (If you decide to listen to the podcast, be advised Rogan sometimes uses explicit language).
A turning point?
Huff sported a clean-cut appearance and athletic physique, looking and speaking like a typical guest on the podcast. But on what may be the most widespread defense of Christianity in history, Huff articulated the historical reliability of the Bible and even impressed Rogan with the vast amount of scholarship that continues to support the credibility of the New Testament authors.
Rogan’s conversation with Huff reveals a significant turning point occurring in the culture.
As Bible sales skyrocketed in 2024, and public intellectuals such as Jordan Peterson and historian Tom Holland continue to give substantial airtime to the power and goodness of Christianity, one author has labeled this movement as a “Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God.” And it is surprising, especially in Rogan’s case.
Years ago, in a viral clip, Rogan ranted about the New Testament as “utter horse****.” In a string of expletives, he blasted the culpability of Christians who trust Scripture because of their ignorance of basic facts, such as miracles can’t happen, and Constantine created the Bible. But on the recent episode, he recognized these “facts” aren’t as factual as initially thought. Two lines of evidence presented by Huff impressed Rogan.
A “Miracle” scroll
Huff described the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran and the significance of the Isaiah scroll’s early date.
“We literally pushed back our understanding of Isaiah a thousand years,” Huff said. “But one of the things that shocked [scholars] about Isaiah was that it was word-for-word identical to the Masoretic text.”
Rogan described this evidence as a “miracle” that the text on a scroll over two thousand years old had been faithfully transmitted to modern Bibles.
Evidence for authenticity
Another point that “amazed” Rogan was Huff’s defense of the accuracy of the Gospels by pointing to the use of popular names. Huff recounted the area of New Testament scholarship, pioneered by Richard Bauckham, which compares the usage of names and modifiers of names such as “Simon the Zealot” and demonstrated that the names popular in the New Testament were only the most popular names during the first century in the area it was written.
“Consider how difficult it would be for someone living outside of the locations and times that these events took place to get the right names with the right qualifiers,” Huff said. “We have four Biblical Gospels with four different authors, and yet each gets this test of naming frequency and attribution right every time.”
This stood out to Rogan, also known for hosting fringe figures who appeal to “secret gospels,” such as Billy Carson. Carson, who ironically led to the appearance of Huff on the podcast after Huff’s conversation with Carson went viral with Carson attempting to sue Huff. Carson regularly appeals to inauthentic writings like the Gospel of Barnabas to discount the New Testament’s historical reliability. As Rogan learned from Huff, however, the New Testament gospels perfectly align with name usage from the first century, whereas the fraudulent gospels fall short.
Who is Jesus?
A final significant moment in the conversation occurred when Huff asked Rogan what he thought about the Jesus of history and the resurrection. Rogan, obviously impressed by the redemptive message of Christianity, gave a vulnerable response and consideration to the possibility that Jesus was the Son of God.
“It’s just the fact that it’s a question to ponder is a miracle in itself, in a way,” Rogan said, “If you do live like a Christian, and you do follow the principles of Christ, you will have a richer, more love-filled life. . . But you have to submit to this concept. That this guy was the child of God who came down to earth, let himself be crucified, came back from the dead, explained a bunch of stuff for people, and then said, ‘Alright, see you when I come back.’”
While Rogan declared an appreciation toward the Christian message, he did not express faith that Jesus was the exclusive lord and Son of God he claimed to be. Rogan remains agnostic. However, by hosting a conversation with intelligent design proponent Stephen Meyer, respectfully talking about Christ with Kid Rock, and now confronting the historicity of the resurrection and New Testament, Rogan is leaps and bounds away from his earlier angst and dismissal of Christianity.
Perhaps Rogan’s continual asking and seeking may lead to faith in receiving the answers. Matthew 7:7–8, a passage that could be the mantra of Rogan’s podcast, says,
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Even though Rogan may not have knocked yet, his 14 million listeners, like all of us, have no choice but to answer Huff’s question: “What do you make of Jesus?”
We may mock or believe, but we cannot ignore.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Travis Hearne and originally published by Kentucky Today.
