The Case For Christ

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validate the credentials of the authentic Messiah. The Greek word for "Messiah" is Christ. But was Jesus really the Christ? Did he miraculously fulfill these predictions that were written hundreds of years before he was born? And how do we know he was the only individual throughout history who fit the prophetic fingerprint? There are plenty of scholars with long strings of initials after their names whom I could have asked about this topic. However, I wanted to inter-view someone for whom this was more than just an abstract academic exercise, and that took me to a very unlikely setting in southern California. THE NINTH INTERVIEW: LOUIS S. LAPIDES, M.DIV., TH.M. Usually a church would be a natural location in which to question someone about a biblical issue. But there was something different about sitting down with Pastor Louis Lapides in the sanctuary of his congregation on the morning after Sunday worship services. This setting of pews and stained glass was not where you would expect to find a nice Jewish boy from Newark, New Jersey. Yet that's Lapides' background. For someone with his heritage, the question of whether Jesus is the long-anticipated Messiah goes beyond theory. It's intensely personal, and I had sought out Lapides so I could hear the story of his own investigation of this critical issue. Lapides earned a bachelor's degree in theology from Dallas Baptist University as well as a master of divinity and a master of theology degree in Old Testament and Semitics from Talbot Theological Seminary. He served for a decade with Chosen People Ministries, talking about Jesus to Jewish college students. He has taught in the Bible department of Biola University and worked for seven years as an instructor for Walk Through the Bible seminars. He is also the former president of a national network of fifteen messianic congregations. Slender and bespectacled, Lapides is soft-spoken but has a quick smile and ready laugh. He was upbeat and polite as he ushered me to a chair near the front of Beth Airiel Fellowship in Sherman Oaks, Califorriia. I didn't want to begin by debating biblical nuances; instead I started by inviting Lapides to tell me the story of his spiritual journey. He folded his hands in his lap, looked at the dark wood walls for a moment as he decided where to start, and then began unfolding an extraordinary tale that took us from Newark to Greenwich Village to Vietnam to Los Angeles, from skepticism to faith, from Judaism to Christianity, from
Jesus as irrelevant to Jesus as Messiah. "As you know, I came from a Jewish family," he began. "I attended a conservative Jewish synagogue for seven years in preparation for bar mitzvah. Although we considered those studies to be very important, our family's faith didn't affect our everyday life very much. We didn't stop work on the Sabbath; we didn't have a kosher home." He smiled. "However, on the High Holy Days we attended the stricter Orthodox synagogue, because somehow my dad felt that's where you went if you really wanted to get serious with God!" When I interjected to ask what his parents had taught him about the Messiah, Lapides' answer was crisp. "It never came up," he said matter-of-factly. I was incredulous. In fact, I thought I had misunderstood him. "You're saying it wasn't even discussed?" I asked. "Never," he reiterated. "I don't even remember it being an issue in Hebrew school." This was amazing to me. "How about Jesus?" I asked. "Was he ever talked about? Was his name used?" "Only derogatorily?" Lapides quipped. "Basically, he was never discussed. My impressions of Jesus came from seeing Catholic churches: there was the cross, the crown of thorns, the pierced side, the blood coming from his head. It didn't make any sense to me. Why would you worship a man on a cross with nails in his hands and his feet? I never once thought Jesus had any connection to the Jewish people. I just thought he was a god of the Gentiles." I suspected that Lapides' attitudes toward Christians had gone beyond mere confusion over their beliefs. "Did you believe Christians were at the root of anti-Semitism?" I asked. "Gentiles were looked upon as synonymous with Christians, and we were taught to be cautious because there could be anti-Semitism among the Gentiles," he said, sounding a bit diplomatic. I pursued the issue further. "Would you say you developed some negative attitudes toward Christians?" This time he didn't mince words. "Yes, actually I did," he said. "In fact, later when the New Testament was first presented to me, I sincerely thought it was going to basically be a handbook on antiSemitism: how to hate Jews, how to kill Jews, how to massacre them. I thought the American Nazi Party would have been very comfortable using it as a guidebook."
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The Case For Christ By: Lee Strobel
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CONTENTS Introduction: Reopening th
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assistance; Chad Meister and Bob an
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"Check out the evidence yourself,"
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make mistakes. Looking through thos
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ooks, college professors, family me
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and yanked the trigger. The gun roa
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Blomberg's books include Jesus and
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granted that exception, the rest of
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that gave meaning to a period of hi
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crowd of journalists that once corn
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merely emphasizing that 'he was a f
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Holocaust. But it has been the Jewi
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was written before Paul was put to
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which is cited by Christians as the
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they couldn't find one. They questi
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going to be returning during their
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actually, scrolls of papyrus-were r
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3. THE CHARACTER TEST This test loo
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about Mark and Luke saying that Jes
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ever met him yet because of their i
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"In addition, we can learn through
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us the full story about Jesus? I lo
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But the most eye-popping cache of d
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Theological Seminary and both a mas
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"Quite so," he replied. "And this i
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Papyrus number two contains large p
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the fidelity with which this materi
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author of I John was inspired to wr
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sources for the history of Jesus. T
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'hurch had already determined. You
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text-what has all this done to your
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4: THE CORROBORATING EVIDENCE Is th
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the case against Harry Aleman? The
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"Now," I said a little pointedly, "
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feats and was a teacher of such peo
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the Baptist was more important beca
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Pliny the Younger became governor o
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a Jewish mob by executing Jesus, ot
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would know that first, Jesus was a
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asked. Yamauchi pondered the questi
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and the truth will make you free."
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question of whether the New Testame
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Herodium, all in Israel, over an ei
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People thought Josephus was wrong,
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to thirty-two countries, fifty-four
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Still, there were some matters I ne
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ancient historians or geographers m
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thought might challenge him. So the
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McRay tossed me the article in whic
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For Further Evidence More Resources
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commentator Paul Harvey likes to sa
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to me, 'Well, Greg, it looks like t
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miracles - walking on water, raisin
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Page 112 and 113: proximity to the event, the less ch
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Page 118 and 119: But your love goes beyond that. You
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Page 122 and 123: Theological Seminary, where I found
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Page 130 and 131: had always done-to intervene and se
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Page 134 and 135: 146 THE CASE FOR CHRIST Shock; Can
Page 136 and 137: Granted, as we look back through hi
Page 138 and 139: feeling intoxicated, just as if the
Page 140 and 141: I laughed. "I told you it was an in
Page 142 and 143: it's quite another to embody the ch
Page 144 and 145: Now, Jesus claims to be God. But do
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Page 148 and 149: type of thing. That's getting Close
Page 150 and 151: "If you're going to quote Colossian
Page 152 and 153: eternal suffering for those who rej
Page 154 and 155: e done for all to see. And no one w
Page 156 and 157: followed by the 'new man.' Trouble
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Page 162 and 163: I shook my head, saddened at the th
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Page 174 and 175: For Further Evidence More Resources
Page 176 and 177: stabbing of Jesus by the Roman sold
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Page 184 and 185: to the cross by ropes.' Won't you c
Page 186 and 187: A QUESTION FOR THE HEART Convincing
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Page 192 and 193: Bible in my lap and quickly reviewe
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Page 200 and 201: "Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, 'For
Page 202 and 203: Essentially, he said a major argume
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Page 206 and 207: But I had heard the tapes of the de
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"When I was young, I was reading a
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convinced," he insisted indignantly
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willing to be interviewed. Now, sto
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people in the gospels and Acts-some
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MARKS MISSING CONCLUSION When I fir
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central proclamation of the earlies
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Christians-how did they get talked
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death in 1995. And do you know what
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Ask Timothy McVeigh. He may have th
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eaten, imprisoned. And finally, mos
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Muhammad's conversion to Islam as b
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they could be in right standing wit
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together to celebrate his teachings
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and the amazing emergence and growt
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willing to lay down your life for a
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IS THERE CREDIBLE EVIDENCE FOR JESU
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DID JESUS-AND JESUS ALONE-MATCH THE
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evidence that Jesus is the unique S
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Evidence? By November 8, 1981, my l
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cross of Jesus to bridge that gulf.
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case for Christ is conclusive. The
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Boyd, Gregory A. Cynic Sage or Son
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Gruenler-Royce Gordon Cruenler, New
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O'Collins-Gerald O'Collins, The Eas
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NOTES INTRODUCTION: REOPENING THE I
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Press, 1996), 196-97. 10. Paul L. M
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1. Leland H. Gregory 111, "Fop Ten
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The Case For Christ

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