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The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

List Price: $17.99
Your Price: $12.23
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Read this book! With an open mind.
Review: Lee Strobel understandably questions biased experts in his book, but their bias does not make their statements any less valid. If a chemist puts a series of compounds through a series of reactions and comes out with a specific product, the identity of that product is fact - it either is or it isn't. Just because he is "biased" in expecting that product does not make that fact suddenly change. To say that would be simply ridiculous. The vast majority of the one star reviews on this site, you may notice, do not actually attack the proofs and arguments offered by Lee Strobel. They say, 'Oh, he used biased sources,' or, 'All his supposed experts were Christians themselves.' The fact that this is the only argument they can summon up against this book does even more to argue -for- its validity than I can hope to in this short review.

In a few words, I would definitely suggest buying this book, and wherever you have questions, following up - he has an extensive bibliography so that if you are in doubt, you can do your own research to validate his results, as I have done. The fact of the matter is simple. You cannot simply dismiss the idea of Christianity because things supposedly happened that you don't see happen every day. Accept that we might not know everything about the Universe, then look at the simple evidences offered up by Strobel.

As for one reviewer who gave a short list of "glaring omissions" from Lee Strobel's book, insinuating that Strobel didn't approach them because he did not have any arguments against them: First, the book is already 271 pages long, and if he had tried to counter every single possible argument, it would have necessarily been thousands of pages long. Second, the "glaring omissions" were fairly weak arguments, which further serves to show why Strobel chose to not discuss them.

If you keep an open mind, and do not simply read it ignoring the countless corroborations and proofs in order to find the occasional reason to question the validity of one idea, you will be amazed.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Jesus Christ for the Analyzing Personality
Review: This book was outstanding for the person who thinks of the hard questions about Christianity and looks for the answers. With interviews of a number of prominent scholars Strobel provides us with almost unlimited insight into the gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. How refreshing to see the controversy stripped away and the facts presented. This is a very interesting read. If you have any questions about Chrisianity and the true identity of Jesus, read this book.

Presenting many details from historical and anthropoligical point of view that verify Jesus lived where, when and as the gospels tell us.

In important book, informative and engrossing. Buy it for any number of reasons and enjoy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Case for Christ
Review: This book is an honest and very readable treatment of the evidences and proofs that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God. He was a historical person confirmed by NON-Biblical writers of the time, who recorded important events of history. Jesus Christ was in fact crucified and rose from the dead three days later. THIS book is the Apologetics primer; all Christians must read today to defend our faith with love and facts. No other faith has a fraction of the documentation that Christians do not one of them!
Hindus, Buddhist, Moslems, and all people who seek a real relationship with God, must read this book. It will address all of your doubts, with hard researchable evidence.

Not only does the author have legal training (Yale) he starts out as a Skeptic (non-Believer) and discovers that Jesus Christ was God on this earth and came to save us ALL.
Read and believe, read and remove all doubts, read and remove doubts that you have not even heard about yet. Most of all read with love, and learn to love everybody as Jesus does, sinner and Saint. Use this book to spread our faith with confidence and assurance.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Reasons To Believe
Review: After reading The Case For Christ and checking out some of the reviews I've come away with a few observations. Addressing the question of the author's bias, OF COURSE HE'S BIASED! I've yet to know a person who doesn't have an opinion on anything. Christianity touches on so many issues and human behaviors that for a person to be truly unbiased, they must have no opinions on anything. If any of you believe that you or another is truly unbiased towards christianity or anything else, you are under an illusion. I'm convinced that the reason for becoming a christian , an athiest, or any other religion is one based on the heart. The evidence for Christianity is truly overwhelming but it will never be enough for those who refuse to believe. Non-christians will always have alternate theories and reasons why they will not believe. But their non-belief is more based on emotion than reason. Where as a christian's belief is based on both reason and the heart. I've met very few athiest that weren't angry and bitter. And it's nearly always some negative church experience from their childhood or a loss of prayed for loved one. When God doesn't answer prayers to our liking, we often get bitter. Atheist are often very bitter people. And that is a tragedy. For so much good is spoiled by bitterness. It's not the lack of evidence for christianity that produces nonbelief, but rather the bitterness toward imperfect christians and a God that does not act as a fairy godmother. If one so desires, one can find evidence to support any opposing position or religion. You can even find evidence to suppport that mankind never made it to the moon. It's not very sound or balanced evidence, but it's evidence nevertheless. The Case for Christ is a good read and is valuable to demonstrate to christians that there is sound overwhelming evidence for what they already believe. But it's value doesn't stop there. The book also educates christians and gives them the tools they need to be more effective witnesses to the nonbelieving world. There's no misunderstanding when Jesus commands his followers to spread the good news to the world. And this is essentially what Lee Strobel has done. Jesus didn't command to convert the world through violence or by blackmail, he said to spread the good news. Why? Because he loved the world so much that he desired that no one be lost. Hey people, that's love and that's the reason for The Case For Christ.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: the truth will set you free
Review: I MUST SAY, THE BOOK BY LEE STOBEL,"THE CASE FOR CHRIST", IS A BOOK OF INTEGRITY, TRUTH, AND SUPERB INTELLECT. MR. STOBEL DID NOT CUT ANY CORNERS IN HIS INVESTIGATION OF THE TRUTHS SURROUNDING THE AUTHENTICITY OF JESUS CHRIST. IN RESPONSE TO ALL REBUTTALS FROM THE LEARNED TO THE LAY PERSON: MR. STROBEL'S INVESTIGATIVE SKILLS HAVE BEEN UNDERMINED, AS WELL AS HIS TRUE INTENT. BUT THE BOOK HE HAS AUTHORED HAS BEEN DIVINELY INSPIRED. BACKED BY EVIDENCE AFTER EVIDENCE. THERE IS REALLY NOT ONE THING ANY ONE PERSON MAY SAY TO CONVINCE ANOTHER EVEN AS THE EVIDENCE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THE OPEN. DO YOU KNOW WHY? MR. STROBEL WRITES AT THE END OF THIS BOOK TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHAT YOU HAVE READ AND THEN BY TAKING THE NEXT STEP, A STEP OF FAITH , YOU WILL HAVE YOUR EYES OPEND AND THEN SOME. EXPERIENTIALLY IS A KEY WORD FOUND IN HIS BOOK THE CASE FOR CHRIST. MY FIRST REVIEW.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A former doubter (like me) a current believer (like me)
Review: I have read several Christian Apologetics. This is neither the best nor the worst. There is something new in here, at least for me, as the author takes a journalistic approach and interviews various scholars with particular areas of expertise and seeing how they would address skepticism in their domain. Some are better than others. Some more interesting than others. And some more compelling than others.

Its goal is to convince the unbeliever of the divinity of Jesus. That is a mighty tall order. A skeptic actually reading this book will have one of two purposes, either to find more ammunition to use in his fight against religion, or to actually learn more that might help him decide. As I was not an unbeliever when I read it (though I was a virulent one for many years) I cannot speak to its efficacy on convincing. But it will provide the unbeliever with plenty of new ammunition.

The simplicity with which he destroys opposition is ridiculous. "Well, what about this objection?" he asks the designated expert. And the expert replies "Oh, that is insignificant. No reputable scholar believes that any more" and with a casual wave, the question is dismissed. Most receive that, a few get answers, but rarely do they seem strong and convincing to someone who doubts.

The phony suspense--when he visits many of the scholars he wonders whether this one will be able to deal with his objection? If they didn't succeed, I don't think we'd be reading about it. It annoyed me every time.

At the conclusion of several of the interviews, he asks how their investigations have affected their belief...does he really expect (or would he even print it if someone did?) anyone to say "Well, after thirty years of study, my faith has been diminished by what I've read?" I like powerful stories of conversion and conviction, these are not that.

Every expert is esteemed, or scholarly, or prestigious. This is a common ploy in books like this, one I find especially irritating. Let the person speak for himself and let his argument stand on its own. I do not care whether he was educated at Harvard or taught at Oxford; many fools have done both. I do not care which publications have printed his articles. there is no credibility in this. The only credibility necessary is a strong, compelling, and cogent description of the facts. He wastes way too much time trying to build his experts up.

Why is he so concerned with appearance of his experts? Does it make any difference? But we repeatedly get a physical description and a description of the office, as if this means something, but we have both tidy and untidy men, so it really means nothing other than people are different.

Chuckled. Once is enough with this word--he uses it way too often.

Now on to some of the many good points:

The personal stories, especially of a Jewish-hippie-druggie-seeker-minister transformation, make good reading. I am always much more interested in the "what makes people actually change their minds?" question. Belief is about desire; it must be based on facts, but facts alone will not do the job. There must be something inside the yearner that makes him want to change.

And there is one wonderful argument I've not seen before, among the many I have: the complete discarding of all the past by the early and numerous Jewish converts. Within weeks of Christ's death, hundreds,a nd then thousands of Jews, for whom their rules and their history were what made them who they were, turned their back on it. We cannot understand such a shift, as we are pretty fluid in what we believe. But this was an amazing transformation, and one that would not happen without some powerful force behind it. Why did these converts forsake the religion of their fathers, completely turn their backs on generations of tradition, and embrace something that would make their life harder?

And though he oversimplifies every issue, each chapter concludes with a good bibliography; I could pursue further if I wanted.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: not rigorous enough
Review: a creative attempt to address doubts, but not substantive enough in the arguments- too many loopholes. it would not be my first or second choice to give to someone with questions about the reasonableness of xty.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Yeah... worth the read...
Review: Strobel does a great job bringing his journalistic background to the table and interviewing various scholars in their respective areas of expertise to nail down the Truth of the Cross of Christ. This book was refreshing in that it takes you a bit deeper than many popular apologetic books, yet, at the same time gives you personal insight into the character of the scholars and Strobel himself. Very personal style of writing...

It's odd in that it reads much like a story... a story of exploration (an introspective Lewis and Clark tale, perhaps). At the same time, though, it will take some time to wade through the arguments and presentations (which are helped along by the fact that you do feel like you're reading a conversation rather than a dissertation).

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Seeker Still Skeptical
Review: The author presents himself as an objective journalist, but his interviews are very one-sided and the arguments are not always convincing. Take for example, the chapter (2) on testing the eyewitness evidence. The author presents eight tests to prove that the gospel writers were accurate in their records. Test five, the bias test, asks if the gospel writers had any motivation to skew their writing (either to exaggerate or lie). The not so convincing answer is that they had nothing to gain (financially or otherwise) and everything to lose (they would be persecuted and ostracized).

I found myself, as I read these arguments, wanting to ask my own questions of the expert that the author was interviewing. For example, if the gospel writers were followers of Christ and were going to be persecuted anyway, why not bias the work and make even more exhorbitant claims about Jesus? Of couse, this question was not answered because the author never really challenged the experts he was interviewing. You would think that a good journalist would ask the "other side" what their response was to an argument?

If the author cannot prove the point that the gospels (which he didn't for me since he did not really challenge his experts) are verifiable truth then most of the other arguments he makes throughout the rest book are based on a shaky foundation. Although, I admit that some of the arguments are pretty good (much better than the one for the bias test).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Someone who asks the questions we all want the answers to!
Review: Lee fairly investigates Christianity and asks the questions that are on everyones mind! Thank you so much for dedicating your 21-month search for the truth so the rest of us can learn from it.


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