Joe Rogan – a self-described ‘atheist’ – was amazed after receiving the gift that his guest claimed was proof that Jesus really existed.
The podcaster had religious scholar Wesley Huff on his show this week, where Rogan admitted during the course of their conversation that he may have gotten things wrong about the religion.
Huff presented Rogan with a replica of what Christians believe is one of the oldest known manuscripts of the Bible, known as Papyrus 52, which is believed to be the oldest excerpt of the long-lost Gospel of John in the Bible.
Believed to have been written nearly 2,000 years ago, the artifact describes Jesus’ trial and is considered by some to be eyewitness testimony from the period leading up to his crucifixion.
Rogan, who received the gift with a stunned look on his face, said, “Wow. That’s incredible. Wow. That’s so fascinating.’
Christians hail Papyrus 52 as proof that the events of the Bible occurred as they are described in the Sacred Text.
Rogan has torn between believer and non-believer, something he attributes to a difficult childhood.
He has previously said that he was “quite an atheist” growing up, but that he became spiritual after the death of his grandfather.
Huff presented Rogan with a replica of the “oldest evidence for the biblical New Testament,” a first-century papyrus found in Egypt containing text from the Book of John: 18,
The text is a copy of the Book of John: 18 which states: ‘Jesus is on trial before Pontius Pilate’ – the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to death.
The son of missionaries, Huff was born in Pakistan and grew up surrounded by religion. He said his family had the Bhagavad Gita (Hindu scriptures), the Book of Mormon and the Koran on their shelves.
He gave Rogan a replica of the ancient papyrus as a gift during the podcast on Tuesday.
The front reads ‘Jesus says: everyone who follows the truth, who follows the truth, follows me.’
On the back are the words of (Pontius) Pilate saying, ‘What is truth?’ Pilate was the governor of Rome who is said to have sentenced Jesus to death.
The artifact is a small fragment, but the entire document “would essentially have been a pocket copy of the Gospel of John” that someone took from Turkey to Egypt, according to Huff.
The Gospel of John is a book in the Bible that tells the story of Jesus’ life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection.
The gift given to Rogan contains the same text as the original document found in the 1940s, leading researchers to later determine that the Book of John was the oldest Gospel.
Some historians claim that Papyrus P52, although found in Egypt, was a Christian manuscript because it was written on both sides.
Wesley Huff (left) was a guest on the Joe Rogan (right) Experience this week, where he discussed Bible texts on papyrus, drawings from ancient Rome and other stories in Scripture to make his case.
Historical records show that thousands of years ago, only Christians wrote on both sides of papyrus, while everyone else used scrolls.
Huff said John’s eyewitness account was likely written in Ephesus and spread and copied throughout several countries, making its way to Egypt.
Describing how he made the gift, Huff said, “So I cut that out on the papyri with a scalpel. And then I transcribed the text.’
“(You) did a great job, dude… you lost your mind,” Rogan said.
During the podcast, the two also talked about the resurrection.
The Bible says that Jesus was raised from the dead three days after his death on the cross, which the Bible says was to forgive the world of its sins.
Huff mentioned old anti-Christian graffiti painted between 50 AD. and 250 AD. B.C. was etched into a plaster wall of an imperial training school for ancient Roman slaves.
Called the Alexamos Graffito, many followers of the church believe this is the earliest depiction of the Biblical crucifixion.
Beneath the cross is an ancient Greek text that reads “AlExamos Worships God,” as a way to mock a person in the drawing who appears to be dressed like a slave.
The ancient graffiti was created at a time when Christianity was frowned upon by the Romans who practiced paganism, which was believed to have brought them to power, but it has not been confirmed to be an image of Jesus Christ.
A Biblical scholar highlighted a drawing from ancient Rome called the Alexamos Graffito, which he said is “the earliest depiction of Jesus on the cross.”
It shows a man worshiping another man with a donkey’s head being crucified, which the expert said was graffiti mocking Jesus
The carved message was discovered in 2021 in a building on the Palatine Hill in Rome.
Rogan took the conversation as a step forward and asked, “Who was it that was crucified upside down?” To which Huff replied, “Peter.”
Peter was one of the twelve apostles and leaders of the early Christian church.
His execution was ordered by the Roman Emperor Nero, who blamed the city’s Christians for a terrible fire that had devastated Rome.
The Biblical historian explained that Peter said it was “too great an honor to die like my Lord,” so the Romans tied him upside down.
“Oh Jesus. Shut up, buddy,” Rogan said. “Listen, the Romans were pretty brutal,” Huff said.
The podcaster once again raised the question of whether Jesus might never die and recover from the wounds of hanging on the cross.
A 1986 study determined that Jesus died of asphyxiation from exhaustion
Huff mentioned a study published by a group of biblical scholars and medical professionals that was published in 1986 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Pathologist Dr. William Edwards, who led the study, concluded that Jesus’ death was “primarily related to hypovolemic shock, prostration asphyxiation,” and perhaps acute heart failure. A fatal cardiac arrhythmia may have been responsible for the apparently catastrophic terminal event.’
To balance things out, Rogan asked if we have an account of the denial of the resurrection.
“No, the only ones from the ancient world who deny his resurrection are groups that come along later and who sometimes – sometimes they’re described as Gnostics, and they don’t necessarily deny it just for the reasons that we might think they were,” Huff said.
“They deny it because they have adopted ideas from pagan philosophy, where they believe that the spiritual is good and the physical is bad.”