The Case For Christ

us the full story about Jesus?
I looked at my watch. If traffic was light, I'd make my plane
back to Chicago. As I gathered my notes and unplugged my
recording equipment, I happened to glance once more at the
children's paintings on Blomberg's wall-and suddenly for a
moment I thought of
him not as a scholar, not as an author, not as a professor, but
as a father who sits on the edge of his daughters' beds at night
and speaks quietly to them about what's really important in life.
What does he tell them, I wondered, about the Bible, about God,
about this Jesus who makes such outrageous claims about himself?
I couldn't resist one last line of questions. "What about your
own faith?" I asked. "How has all your research affected your
beliefs?" I barely got the words out of my mouth before he
replied. "It has strengthened them, no question. I know from my
own research that there's very strong evidence for the
trustworthiness of the gospel accounts."
He was quiet for a moment, then continued. "You know, it's
ironic: The Bible considers it praiseworthy to have a faith that
does not require evidence. Remember how Jesus replied to doubting
Thomas: 'You believe because you see; blessed are those who have
not seen and yet believe.' And I know evidence can never compel
or coerce faith. We cannot supplant the role of the Holy Spirit,
which is often a concern of Christians when they hear discussions
of this kind.
I'll tell you this: there are plenty of stories of scholars in
the New Testament field who have not been Christians, yet through
their studying of these very issues have come to faith in Christ.
And there have been countless more scholars, already believers,
whose faith has been made stronger, more solid, more grounded,
because of the evidence and that's the category I fall into."
As for me, I had originally been in the first category-no, not a
scholar but a skeptic, an iconoclast, a hard-nosed reporter on a
quest for the truth about this Jesus who said he was the Way and
the Truth and the Life.
I clicked my briefcase closed and stood to thank Blomberg. I
would fly back to Chicago satisfied that once again my spiritual
quest was off to a good start.