The Case For Christ

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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.
Deliberations Questions forReflection or Group Study 1. Overall, how have Blomberg's responses to these eight evidential tests affected your confidence in the reliability of the gospels? Why? 2. Which of these eight tests do you consider the most persuasive and why? 3. When people you trust give slightly different details of the same event, do you automatically doubt their credibility, or do you see if there's a reasonable way to reconcile their accounts? How convincing did you find Blomberg's analysis of the apparent contradictions among the gospels? For Further Evidence More Resources on This Topic Archer, Gleason L. The Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982. Blomberg, Craig. "The Historical Reliability of the New Testament." In Reasonable Faith, by William Lane Craig, 193-231. Westchester, Ill.: Crossway, 1994. "Where Do We Start Studying Jesus?" In Jesus under Fire, edited by Michael J. Wilkins and J. P. Moreland, 17-50. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. Dunn, James. The Living Word. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988. Marshall, I. Howard. I Believe in the Historical Jesus. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977. 3: THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE Were Jesus' Biographies Reliably Preserved for Us? As a reporter at the Chicago Tribune, I was a "document rat"-I spent countless hours rummaging through court files and sniffing for tidbits of news. It was painstaking and time consuming, but the rewards were worth it. I managed to scoop the competition with front page stories on a regular basis. For example, I once stumbled upon some top-secret grand jury transcripts that had inadvertently been put in a public file. My subsequent articles exposed massive bid-rigging behind some of Chicago's biggest public works projects, including the construction of major expressways.
Page 2 and 3: The Case For Christ By: Lee Strobel
Page 4 and 5: CONTENTS Introduction: Reopening th
Page 6 and 7: assistance; Chad Meister and Bob an
Page 8 and 9: "Check out the evidence yourself,"
Page 10 and 11: make mistakes. Looking through thos
Page 12 and 13: ooks, college professors, family me
Page 14 and 15: and yanked the trigger. The gun roa
Page 16 and 17: Blomberg's books include Jesus and
Page 18 and 19: granted that exception, the rest of
Page 20 and 21: that gave meaning to a period of hi
Page 22 and 23: crowd of journalists that once corn
Page 24 and 25: merely emphasizing that 'he was a f
Page 26 and 27: Holocaust. But it has been the Jewi
Page 28 and 29: was written before Paul was put to
Page 30 and 31: which is cited by Christians as the
Page 32 and 33: they couldn't find one. They questi
Page 34 and 35: going to be returning during their
Page 36 and 37: actually, scrolls of papyrus-were r
Page 38 and 39: 3. THE CHARACTER TEST This test loo
Page 40 and 41: about Mark and Luke saying that Jes
Page 42 and 43: ever met him yet because of their i
Page 44 and 45: "In addition, we can learn through
Page 48 and 49: But the most eye-popping cache of d
Page 50 and 51: Theological Seminary and both a mas
Page 52 and 53: "Quite so," he replied. "And this i
Page 54 and 55: Papyrus number two contains large p
Page 56 and 57: the fidelity with which this materi
Page 58 and 59: author of I John was inspired to wr
Page 60 and 61: sources for the history of Jesus. T
Page 62 and 63: 'hurch had already determined. You
Page 64 and 65: text-what has all this done to your
Page 66 and 67: 4: THE CORROBORATING EVIDENCE Is th
Page 68 and 69: the case against Harry Aleman? The
Page 70 and 71: "Now," I said a little pointedly, "
Page 72 and 73: feats and was a teacher of such peo
Page 74 and 75: the Baptist was more important beca
Page 76 and 77: Pliny the Younger became governor o
Page 78 and 79: a Jewish mob by executing Jesus, ot
Page 80 and 81: would know that first, Jesus was a
Page 82 and 83: asked. Yamauchi pondered the questi
Page 84 and 85: and the truth will make you free."
Page 86 and 87: question of whether the New Testame
Page 88 and 89: Herodium, all in Israel, over an ei
Page 90 and 91: People thought Josephus was wrong,
Page 92 and 93: to thirty-two countries, fifty-four
Page 94 and 95: 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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history is based on single sources.
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proximity to the event, the less ch
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athed in its blood and guts. Then t
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it fits well with the Gnostic mind-
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But your love goes beyond that. You
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elying on the news media in reporti
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Theological Seminary, where I found
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Testament formed his people and set
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elationship between a child and his
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there's still no non-messianic Jesu
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had always done-to intervene and se
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Marshall, I. Howard. The Origins of
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146 THE CASE FOR CHRIST Shock; Can
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Granted, as we look back through hi
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feeling intoxicated, just as if the
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I laughed. "I told you it was an in
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it's quite another to embody the ch
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Now, Jesus claims to be God. But do
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saying, 'Who can forgive sins but G
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type of thing. That's getting Close
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"If you're going to quote Colossian
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eternal suffering for those who rej
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e done for all to see. And no one w
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followed by the 'new man.' Trouble
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himself and being born into humble
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validate the credentials of the aut
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I shook my head, saddened at the th
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throwing Eastern philosophy at them
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though he had done no violence, nor
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that God objectively spoke to my he
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would respond. 1. The Coincidence A
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issued a decree for the Jewish peop
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For Further Evidence More Resources
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stabbing of Jesus by the Roman sold
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specifically, to the Garden of Geth
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that day and went on to the cross-w
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tension on the muscles would be eas
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to the cross by ropes.' Won't you c
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A QUESTION FOR THE HEART Convincing
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McDowell, Josh. The Resurrection Fa
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gaze, Craig still looks the role of
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Bible in my lap and quickly reviewe
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the Jews would gather the bones of
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the disciples faking one, this woul
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contradiction says, 'This cannot be
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"Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, 'For
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Essentially, he said a major argume
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the empty tomb. In other words, the
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But I had heard the tapes of the de
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a car, drive to Lynchburg, and make
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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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