I read this for extra credit in my Intermediate Christian Theology class, and I was absolutely blown away. This is my favorite one of our textbooks or extra credit reads so far. The evidence and clarity of the message are just phenomenal, especially in the conclusion. I am pasting my paper here so that you can read the highlights for yourself, and then GO READ THE BOOK!
I am going to start out by saying “Wow.” What an incredibly
compelling and moving testimony. I honestly don’t know how anyone who took the
time to sit and read the whole book could possibly argue against the existence,
the veracity, the authenticity of Christ, his life, death, and resurrection. I
mean this author was a dyed in the wool atheist who thought Jesus was a hoax
and set out to prove that.
By the end of the book, not only had all the historical
evidence and testimony he’d heard convinced him otherwise, he realized that it
was more than an intellectual decision, that it wasn’t enough to just know
Jesus was real. He knew he needed to experience Christ, to take that personal
step. And he reached for a Bible. John
1:12 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave
the right to become children of God.” That is the NIV, because it’s what he
quotes from in the book, but the meaning is the same in any translation.
12 But as many as
received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name: KJV
12 But to all who did
receive him, who believed in his name,
he gave the right to become children of God,
ESV
12 But as many as
received Him, to them
He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name, NASB
Lee Strobel points out
that the verse gives you very clear direction of what it takes to go beyond
just accepting Jesus is God, and entering into an ongoing relationship with him
by being adopted into God’s family: “believe + receive = become.”
He stated that “the data
demonstrated convincingly that Jesus is the Son of God who died as his
substitute to pay the penalty he deserved for the wrongdoing he had committed.
His testimony is just so powerful to me. He states “When I read in the Bible
that these sins separated me from God, who is holy and morally pure, this
resonated as being true. Certainly God, whose existence I had denied for years,
seemed extremely distant, and it became obvious to me that I needed the cross
of Jesus to bridge that gulf. Said the apostle Peter, ‘For Christ also suffered
once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God’ (1 Peter
3:18). All this I now believed. The evidence of history and of my own
experience was too strong to ignore.”
Lee Strobel had
investigated other faiths, but every single one of them was based on people
doing something to earn their way to God. And despite their best efforts, they
just couldn’t do it. Christianity is different. Jesus already did for us what
we could never do for ourselves. He paid the penalty, died, for all that we deserve,
and our price has been paid. We are already redeemed. Our job is to take that
step of faith and accept Him. It’s not our job to be good enough, or clean
enough, to earn his love. We just need to receive the gift he’s given us.
I also absolutely love
how he discusses the new man. It’s not about earning our way to Christ, but once
we have accepted him, we become something different, “a child of God, forever
adopted into his family through the historical, risen Jesus.” “Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is
here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). And he talks about how his values and his
character have been and continue to be changed and molded by following Jesus.
My favorite illustration is the story he tells where a few months after he
accepted Christ, his five-year-old daughter told his wife, “Mommy, I want God
to do for me what he’s done for Daddy.” This is the absolute personification of
what it means to be a light, to follow Christ, to shine before the world…she saw
how different a relationship with Jesus made him, and she wanted that for
herself. And that’s what we all should be living like as Christians…someone so
different that others see Christ in us and want him for themselves.
I got a little off track
from my five things from the book, but that part really hit me because you hear
it in so many sermons, but that’s a great story of what it actually looks like to
be that light.
He went on this journey
of exploration thoroughly and methodically. The thesis, the questions, the
interviews were phenomenal to read. He gave the background and authority of
each interviewee, establishing credibility before even launching into the
discussion. It was pointed out that historically, the gospels and Paul’s
letters were written closely enough to the time of Jesus’ death that there
would have been no possibility for mythological corruption or embellishment.
There were still hostile witnesses at the time of their authorship, which would
have torn to shreds any inaccuracies and discredited everything in the process.
I loved Chapter 10 and the
discussion of fingerprint evidence. “Each individual has unique ridges on his
or her fingers. When a print found on an object matches the pattern of ridges
on a person’s finger, investigators can conclude with scientific certainty that
this specific individual has touched that object…There is another kind of
evidence that is analogous to fingerprints and establishes to an astounding
degree of certainty that Jesus is indeed the Messiah of Israel and the world…In
the Old Testament there are several dozen major prophecies about the coming of
the Messiah, who would be sent by God to redeem his people. In effect, these
predictions formed a figurative fingerprint that only the Anointed One would be
able to match. This way, the Israelites could rule out any imposters and
validate the credentials of the authentic Messiah.” And then he went through
and showed how several of those prophecies were met very specifically.
In Chapter 11 he
discussed the physical effects of the beating and the crucifixion. He even explains
when Jesus was in the Garden and sweating blood. Hematidrosis is uncommon, but
a known medical condition associated with a high degree of psychological stress.
I mean Jesus knew what was going to happen the next day. How could he not have
been distressed? There are a lot more gory details about the beating and the crucifixion
itself, but suffice to say, there was certainly enough evidence that Jesus died.
Chapter 14 talked about
Circumstantial Evidence to support the historical and physical evidence. On page
266 he states, “I knew that if an event as extraordinary as the resurrection of
Jesus had really occurred, history would be littered with indirect evidence
backing it up.” And he found it. He interviewed J.P. Moreland for this one and asked
him for 5 pieces of circumstantial evidence that convinced him that Jesus rose
from the dead. Dr. Moreland gave him five things that are not disputed by anyone
and asked him if he wanted more. Exhibit 1 – The disciples died for their beliefs,
because they were convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had seen Jesus
alive from the dead. Exhibit 2 – There were hardened skeptics who didn’t
believe in Jesus before his crucifixion and were dead set against Christianity –
who turned around and adopted the Christian faith after Jesus death. There is
no good reason for this apart from them having experienced the resurrected
Christ. Exhibit 3 – There were changes to the key social structure. Exhibit 4 –
Communion and Baptism – Communion is a remembrance of what Christ did for us.
They knew that his death was a necessary step to a much greater victory, that
it wasn’t the last word, that he had conquered death for all of us by rising.
They celebrated his execution because they had seen him alive. Exhibit 5 – The emergence
of the church.
I would definitely urge
people to read this book. It is fascinating and holds a lot of effective arguments.
