I have seen lots of arguments that have been given for theism but I think it’s kinda rare for a theist to have a strong argument for a particular religion like Christianity. The most popular argument seems to be that there is strong historical evidence that Jesus was resurrected. The most popular response given to that claim simply involves disputing the claim that the historical evidence is strong or perhaps questioning the strength and legitimacy of historical evidence to begin with. I have come up with a different response that could be given to the resurrection argument. This response simply involves pointing out that Jesus being resurrected doesn’t actually imply that he is necessarily the son of God or that the Bible is 100% true. There are 4 alternate classes of explanations that could be given for why Jesus was able to resurrected if he actually got resurrected:

Technological Explanations: technological explanations claim that it is most plausible to think that Jesus was resurrected with the help of advanced technology. Where would he find such technology? Well, it’s possible that Jesus was a shapeshifting alien that was brought to Earth to influence human behavior. The aliens knew that humans are more likely to be influenced by Jesus if he claimed to be something like the son of a god. They would be hostile to worshipping some alien race and see them as being potentially tyrannical. Another possibility is that Jesus was a human but he somehow got a hold of alien technology. This may be because he was working with the aliens or he may have just discovered the technology in a cave or something like that. Another possibility is that Jesus was a time traveler from the future and that he was able to use future human technology to resurrect himself and he may have wanted to change the coarse of history or something like that.

The main argument that could given for technological explanations is that we already know that technology can do lots of seemingly miraculous things like cure diseases and allow us to fly. By contrast, we don’t seem to know much about magic and divinity doing miraculous stuff. So, it isn’t too far fetched to think that we might have technology in the future that enables resurrection. In addition, the alien theories are compatible with other sources of alleged historical evidence like the ones presented on tv shows like Ancient Aliens.

Alternative Magical Explanations: it’s also possible that Jesus was a supernatural entity but not the son of God. He may have been a powerful wizard, a son of one god that isn’t the only god, or myriad of other possible supernatural entities. I don’t find these sorts explanations convincing but I don’t think it’s less plausible than Biblical Christianity.

Lying God Explanations: it’s also possible that Jesus is the son of God but God isn’t as great and powerful as he purports to be. He may simply want to trick humans into worshiping him despite his sizable yet finite amount of power. I actually think this explanation is more plausible than biblical explanations because it would help explain why there is so much suffering in the world and why we don’t just all start out in Heaven to begin with. I also think it’s implausible to think someone can be omniscient because it seems to me that omniscience requires you to know that you know everything and I don’t see how it’s logically possible for someone to know that they definitely know everything.

Non-Scriptural Christianity: it also possible that Christianity is true and that Jesus really was the son of God but the Bible is mostly or partially false. This is a view that I call Non-Scriptural Christianity and it is a real religious belief that some people actually hold(albeit very rarely). It could be argued that either the writers, compilers, or translators of the Bible inserted their own agenda into the Bible and ignored much of what Jesus actually said. The first thing that the NS Christian would likely point out is that it’s pretty uncontroversial to think that God would allow false Scriptures to exist about Jesus(just look at the Book of Mormon for example.). So, there’s nothing too weird about saying that Jesus is your lord and savior but the Bible misrepresents him. The second point that could be made is that many people have reported being able to talk and listen to God. They report having sensory experiences of God and being able to ask God for advice. This kinda begs the question of why exactly does Christianity need scripture to begin with if Christians can just talk to God. Wouldn’t it just be easier to ask God what he wants?

The third thing that the NS Christian can point out is that there seems to be plenty of seemingly good Christians that are intellectually incapable of understanding the Bible or have an inaccurate understanding of the Bible despite extensive studying of the Bible. These Christians are usually considered good Christians nonetheless because they follow the important core principles of Christianity. Given this, it may be argued that it’s only those core principles that are actually true and this explains why many Christians have little interest in specific Biblical disputes because those disputes seem unimportant. A final argument that could be given for NS Christianity is that it is implausible to think that an intelligent and rational God would hold dogmatic beliefs against things like homosexuality, premarital sex, and prostitution. Rather, it’s more likely that such a great god has more nuanced opinions on these topics and he doesn’t just have a simple cookie cutter answer regarding whether or not you should do any of those aforementioned activities. Instead, he would probably evaluate your individual situation and judge your actions accordingly. Given this, the NS Christian could argue that would be best to just ask God what he thinks about you doing those things in the context of your life rather than get your advice from a book which might have not been divinely inspired.