Rating: ![1 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-1-0.gif) Summary: The only apologetic book you'll need is the bible itself Review: There is no need to consult heavily researched scholarly works and read endless opinions from "experts" carrying on about the authenticity of the scriptures.The only book you need is the bible itself. Read it from cover to cover. You'll be shocked at what it actually says. I was once a Christian until I really truly read this so-called holy book. You'll read about... A talking serpent who entices a woman who is altogether unsurprised that a reptile can speak human language to eat a fruit that god has forbidden. An angry god who decides to drown every living creature (man, woman, child, animals, birds, etc.) because he regretted making humankind. A talking donkey who rebukes its owner because he is actually doing what god has instructed him to do but then grows angry at it later. (Num 22:20-31) God ordering the Hebrews to stone and burn an entire family and their livestock for the disobedience of one man (Joshua 7) God accepting the human sacrifice of a man's only daughter he has pledged to god. (Judges 11) God instructing the Hebrews to kill every man but to take the women and children as "booty" in Canaan. (Deut. 20: 13-15) God specifically ordering wars of annihilation (Deut 20: 16-18) God threatening the Hebrews with every awful disease and pestilence imaginable for disobedience (28: 15-68), to include: wasting disease, inflammation, fever; boils, sores, tumors; madness, blindness, confusion; boils from head to toe; women eating their infant children and placenta; every sort of disease and disaster not mentioned (just to cover all the bases I suppose) God condoning a woman driving a tent peg through a man's head (Judges 4:20-24) God killing 50,070 men "with a great slaughter" for looking in the ark of the covenant (1 Sam 6:19) On to the New Testament for more absurdities and contradictions... God impregnates a human woman (Luke 1:34-5) Matt: Jesus is born before herod the great dies, which was 4BCE Luke: He is born during the Syrian census which was in 6CE Matt: Jesus is born in Bethlehem in a house, lives there 2 years (herod kills all under 2), flees to Egypt, then moves to Nazareth Luke: He is born in a manger and returns to his home Nazareth about 8 days later, no flight to Egypt John the Baptist knows who Jesus is in Matt 3:13, forgets by Matt 11:2 Sickness and illness are largely caused by demon possession Jesus allows demons to enter 2,000 pigs, which then run into a lake and drown themselves (mark 5:1-16). Jesus says he did not come to abolish Law (matt 5:17) Paul says Jesus abolished Law (Ephesians 2:15) Jesus curses those who teach others not to follow Law (matt 5:19) Paul says Law is a curse and need not be followed (gal 3:13) Jesus tells disciples to teach everything he commanded (matt 28:20) Paul says he was personally given the gospel by jesus (gal 1:12) But Paul never teaches anything Jesus ever taught on earth Jesus said the kingdom of God would come very soon (mark 9:1) it didn't. Before crucifixion, Jesus is anguished to point of death in garden of Gethsemane, in matt, mark, luke In john, he is calm in control Jesus is betrayed by judas in matt, mark, luke Jesus basically turns himself in john At his trial Jesus says to high priest: "you will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven" (mark) "from now on, you will see the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven" (matt) "from now on, the son of man will be seated at the right hand of god" (luke) "my kingdom is not of this world" (john, to pilate) understood in theological context, these sayings are radically different and irreconcilable The week leading up to crucifixion, people hail Jesus at his entry, hang on his every word in temple, are astonished by him, chief priests are afraid to arrest him because of the people; however at his trial, they suddenly do a 180 and clamor for his crucifixion, the whole crowd saying "his blood be on us and our children" (Matt) When jesus dies many saints rise from dead, sit in their tombs for 2 days then walk around Jerusalem (matt 27: 52-3). After his resurrection: Jesus instructs disciples to go to galilee to see him and they go (matt 28:10, 16) but, in luke/acts, Jesus appears to disciples in Jerusalem and orders them not to leave the city (luke 24:13, 33, 36, 49; acts 1:4) Jesus gives disciples the spirit on easter (john 20:22) but in acts, jesus gives the spirt on Pentecost, 50 days later These are only the main ones; there are dozens of contradictions in resurrection stories. Risen Jesus appears and disappears randomly, eats food (I suppose he digests it and needs the bathroom?), rises to heaven (where? Its at least 14B light years away, he's only 2,000 light years up by now), is sitting on a throne. One wonders, what does he eat up there, is there a bathroom? God wants everyone to be saved, but he purposely lies to unbelievers so they wont be (2 thes 2:11,12) The entire universe (some 200 billion galaxies) will suddenly disappear with a big noise (2 peter 3:10,11) And the biggest absurdity of all.... Jesus is coming to punish everyone who doesn't believe all this (2 thes 1:7-9) and most of humanity (80%?) will spend eternity in a lake of fire in agony and torture (and you thought 9/11 was bad!) It's time to face the inescapable truth: the bible is an ancient book of mythology, stories, and poetry. Some of it beautiful, inspiring; some of it repulsive to human reason. They are only stories. Jesus did not rise from the dead. He is not coming back.
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Very weak argumentation and reasoning Review: I suppose that the target audience is they who are already committed believers. Given it's very poor reasoning, circular logical, and simplistic analysis I don't think this will convince one serious skeptic. When I was a born-again fundamentalist I think this book may have given me some comfort from skeptical inquiry. I am an apostate, a living example of de-conversion. For those Christians who don't think it's possible, it definitely is and it does happen. And lest you think otherwise, I was indeed a genuine Christian, having had strong faith, a born again experience, and a sincere love for God. There were always things about the faith that bothered me but I dismissed them because I knew that I FELT God in my life. Then I educated myself. I learned about the sciences, history, the history of religion. Then I re-evaluated the claims of Christianity. A long, long story made short: it doesn't hold up to the scrutiny of knowledge, reason, and logic. I studied the Bible front to back and sought to make sense of it in light of what I knew of the world and the history of the universe. I studied it for internal consistency, for historical reliability, and for conformance to what we know empirically and objectively from the sciences. I was surprised at how easily and quickly the Bible failed on all three grounds, and further surprised at the gratuitous violence committed in the book in the name of God. I couldn't believe I had never seen this before. How do Christians justify this? How can they know God is good if he commands and sanctions such evil behavior? The answer I got was basically God is God; he is good because he says he is, he can do whatever he pleases and still be good. And I realized how illogical, unreasonable and intellectually bankrupt the Christian faith is. Most of its arguments are circular and are cop-outs. The biographies of Jesus do not stand up to scrutiny, despite what Craig Blomberg and Lee Strobel want you to believe. The only four biographies that we have are clearly not eyewitness accounts; that much is clear from a careful reading of them. They were written from oral tradition that was handed down from eyewitnesses for decades before being written between c. 65 CE and 100 CE. They often contradict one another, contradicting one another in major events such as chronology and place and in the details of Jesus' life. When the synoptics agree, they often agree word for word, demonstrating copying not independence. Textual analysis has demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that Mark was written first and both Matthew and Luke copied from Mark for their narrative. The ascribed authorship is only a second century tradition, not supported by the documents internally or analytically. Q is dismissed as a hypothesis only in this book, without revealing how well reasoned and supported it is. That Matthew and Luke have produced two sets of teachings of Jesus, both of which are presented in nearly the same order and in many cases using the exact same wording even though they are both translating into Greek the original Aramaic sayings is very convincing evidence for Q's one-time existence. Many evangelicals have even admitted the strong case for Q. One of the simplest tests of historicity is independent, internally and externally consistent biographies of an individual. The gospels fail on all counts. They also have not been reliably preserved for us, prior to the fourth century anyway. They were modified, redacted, changed multiple times. The additions to the resurrection account in both Mark and John attest to this. It's also present at the end of Matthew, which ends with a Trinitarian baptism despite the consistent practice of baptizing in Jesus' name only throughout Acts. It is NOT possible to be an intelligent, informed person and believe the gospels are eyewitness accounts written by the authors claimed. The chapter entitled "Scientific Evidence": are we to take this seriously? There is precious little in the gospels that can be corroborated scientifically, in the face of spectacular miracles, the dead rising, people levitating and appearing out of thin air, and flying angels. Archaeological evidence does not corroborate the gospels. The fact that Jesus existed, preached in Galilee, and was crucified in Jerusalem are not up for serious debate. Archeology only demonstrates that the environment that these things occurred in was fairly accurately portrayed: it says nothing about the multiple supernatural claims within the book itself. The chapter on psychological evidence was really amusing: the simplistic lord, liar, lunatic approach. Of course this is a false dichotomy since there are multiple options that exist besides these three. No answer is given to the clear evidence stretching from the first gospel of Mark to the last, John that the life of Jesus, his claims, and his divine status become greatly embellished over time. The divine claims did not come from Jesus, as Mark and Q demonstrate; they evolved after his death amongst his followers. The circumstantial evidence of Jesus' resurrection only proves that there was a belief that Jesus rose from the dead, not that he actually did. We need multiply attested, consistent, non-contradictory historical documents to demonstrate this. The four gospels are so inconsistent in their resurrection and appearance accounts that any attempt to reconcile them is doomed to failure. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 talks about a distinctly spiritual resurrection. The gospel of Mark tells no appearance stories, Matthew a very brief one, Luke and John more elaborate ones. What we have here is a growing myth that is getting more fantastic with the passage of time. Paul also speaks about an appearance to Peter, the twelve, 500 brethren, and all the apostles. That's a lot of people, yet the only eyewitness we have of this is Paul himself, who claims that his was a vision more than a physical appearance. Doesn't this sound fishy to you? This book is very poor argumentation.
Rating: ![1 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-1-0.gif) Summary: Does no one see through this? Review: This book is so obviously a Christian book, that I can't believe no one has heavily criticized it. All of the scholars Strobel interviews are die-hard Christians (and attest to that at the end of each chapter), and the author never quite asks the important questions. It also follows the Christian book traditions of using trite modern-day parallels, attacking liberal thinkers,and talking like a 3rd grader. Reading this book gave me the same duel sensations of laughter and shock that I experience when watching Triumph of the Will!
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Excellent, Well Thought out, Great proofs Review: This is a great book for beginning Christians. As someone new to the faith, I learned a lot from this book, and I can say that it is definitly a must-have for anyone interested in learning about Christianity. Have fun and good luck :)
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: An enlightening novel Review: I really enjoyed reading the Case for Christ. I have believed in Christ since I was young, but I have never known much about the historical evidence around Christianity. I didn't know where the new testament came from, I thought it had always been. Lee Strobel showed me where the New Testament came from and why it is so credible. Additionally, he supported the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Christ from sources outside the Bible. My friend recommended this book to me, and I can see the impact it has made on his life. Before he didn't know for sure if he believed in Christ, but this book helped eliminate his doubt. I have always been raised in a Christian home and believed in Christ, so for me this novel served another purpose. I always accept what the Bible says, but within days of reading passages of this book, people from work or friends would ask me questions about what I had just read. Weeks earlier I would have been unable to answer their questions, but because I read his book, I was able to defend the New Testament. I am glad I read this novel.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Great apologetics book Review: This book is one of the first books that has changed my life totally, it opens my very mind and my very heart. It is a great apologetic book. There are thirteen great scholars in this book who accurately explain why Jesus is the TRUE GOD. There is no other option as all options are illogical. Were all the witnesses of Jesus' resurrection experiencing hallucination? NO, it is impossible for big crowd of people to experience the same hallucination at the same time or almost the same time. Jesus' resurrection body was witnessed by more than 500 people at the same time. More other cases explained thoroughly in detail. This book is written in plain English easy to understand and enjoyable to read. Five stars is not enough, it deserves Ten!
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Great intro to apologetics book. Review: If you are looking for indepth coverage on a specific aspect of Christianity, move on to something else. If you want a good overview for a "Case for Christ" this book hits it right on the head by progressing in a logical manner with sound testimony and evidence. Ultimately, the end conclusion, while having a great deal of fact, does have a healthy dose of faith mixed in - but no more so than any other bit of history (or even daily behavior). We believe that at the end of the 18th century, a small colony decided to go to war with the great English Empire and won. Why is that? Because the overwhelming evidence points to that it is true. Sure we could say that the American Revolution never happened, or that maybe we went ot war with the French instead, and that everything (evidence, books, documents) and such are wrong or are "unrealiable" but given the sheer weight of it all, such a notion is silly. A more modern example would be taking up the cause that the Holocaust didn't really happen despite all of the evidence that says it did. If these 2 analogies aren't lost on you, this is exactly what Strobel is doing. He is asking a number of questions in each interview (and yes, he does bring up many objections and counter points) which when looked at as a whole, provide that based on everything we know, the Case for Christ is not only sound, but the conclusion (unless you just want to live in denial, because the implications are just too much) he draws is not hard to see (that Jesus is indeed the Christ).
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: Weak! Review: In his effort to shore up the crumbling Christian edifice, Strobel pulls out the same old tired "references" to Jesus from ancient times, i.e., Josephus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny, which have all been either debunked as forgeries or shown to have no value at all in establishing a "historical" Jesus. Josephus is clearly a forgery, as has been shown by numerous authorities over the centuries. Strobel then brings out modern authorities, who merely wave their hands and state definitely, "Jesus existed and was God." Now, if the existence of Jesus was not disputed, Strobel would not need to write such a book. Fortunately, Earl Doherty has taken it upon himself to refute Strobel's book. Doherty's other book, "Jesus Puzzle," shows that Jesus is a fictional character created from older concepts. The same is established quite thoroughly in "The Christ Conspiracy." Also included in this group of truth-telling books is "Jesus Mysteries." All of these books are highly recommended. It's high time for the world to wake up to the reality that Jesus Christ is a mythical character, little different from Zeus, Ganesha, Thor and all the other gods in mythology. In fact, it is evident that Jesus IS all the other gods in authority, rolled into one. If you want to face reality, harsh though it may be, or refreshing as it was for me, forget these "historical" Jesus books, which have failed after almost 2,000 years to prove anything. Read the books above that demonstrate Jesus Christ to be a myth instead. The world will be a lot better off when everyone realizes it. What a beautiful world it could be.
Rating: ![1 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-1-0.gif) Summary: Yet another book with lots of "evidence" Review: How much can you really provide in the way of evidence based upon stories passed down for a few hundred years before being written down? Religion is faith based, not fact based. If you want an entertaining read, this book is for you. If you're already religious, this book will help you feel better about your faith.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Best Analysis Review: Lee covered a wide area with variety of evidences, which helps any human to establish grounds to BELIEVE & move on.
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