Ahem...

The Case For Christ by Les Strobel
- A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

If nobody does or doesn't care (gonna do it anyways ) I'll be sharing parts of it from over the next few weeks while I am reading it and digging in. Has anyone else here read it yet? Would love to discuss the ideas/ information presented if you have.

An excerpt from the back:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">
Is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazereth really is the Son of God?

Retracing his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of The Chicago Tribune, cros-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools like Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis who are recognized authorities in their own fields.

Strobel challenges with questions like How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence exist for Jesus outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event?

Strobel's tough, point-blank questions make this remarkable bok read like a captivating fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction. It's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most compelling figure.

What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ?
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I am sure the reason there was only paperback is so I'll pass it on after reading...

Share away. I don't have a copy but I would love to read/discuss what you post!

I am extremely *ahem* ..."thrifty" and located one at the library...picking it up on my way home tonight...

(don't fret angel...I can read 2 at once <img src="wink.gif" border="0" alt="" /> )

got it? gonna start reading this evening and post later tonight <img src="smile.gif" border="0" alt="" />

I'll start reading and look for your post in the a.m.

really looking forward to it...

/

good deal embie .... we have decided on "the confident woman" and we will get it this weekend. i am buying foreverchanged and delight has hers and i will get a couple extras for those who hear about this come lately ... so go get it and we will hopefully get allen to allow us a forum like "gibberish" just for this so we dont get all confused and fdind it hard to find everyone's input.

and allen, we love you too, if you would like to buy "the confident woman" you can too. nothing personal, i want your input, and i am sure we will have some need for male input.


but good luck with your book. hope it serves you well.

oops, was up late spending some time with my brother, didn't get my reading done until well after 3

Neways... the crux of this chapter is setting the basis for the next I believe. Les interviews Craig to get a few basic truths out in the public, truths a lot of Christians don't know about.. even (or especially) those who grew up in the church and were never taught to test the scriptures yourself, to study the authors of the different books and get the historical basis for each book of the Bible.

Most of us grew up thinking the Gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - Jesus' disciples/apostles of those same names. And that the Gospels were written as they were happening, or at least as a journal-type acct every night before going to sleep. That the books were written in chronological order from Matthew to Revelations....

Matthew and John were 2 of the 12... Mark was a close friend of Peter and Luke was a friend and physician of Paul's. All were written ~2-80 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, Paul having written ~60% of the New Testament himself. Paul was born-again ~2 years after Christ's death and resurrection and wrote most of his letters to the different churches (Ephesians, Corinthians, Phillipians, etc) before the Gospels were written.

The chapter goes on to say that this does not refute the accuracy of the scriptures regarding Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection, merely shows the tradition of oral history during that time, that, as the eye-witnesses aged, the oral history was written down to preserve the accuracy against ideological and theological whimsy - there were quite a few books written apparently (not included in the Bible) later that suffered from this... supposedly written by Philip, Peter, Mary, and James.

I am gonna stop now to not give away the whole chapter for those still reading.. there's much much more there... anyone else wanna comment?

very interesting wish i had some info but i think ill just learn on this one <img src="biggrin.gif" border="0" alt="" />

Just a quick comment to this quote...

"Here he interviews Craig L. Blomberg, PhD - a widely recognized authority in the biographies of Jesus (the 4 Gospels) - his doctorate is in the new testament and he has written several books on the subject. He gives other credentials to attest to his "expertness"..."

YIKES! That kind of knowledge and prestige would normally intimidate me and make Blomberg "unapproachable". I thought that Strobel's decision to add the commentary about Blomberg's office (ie: the crayon colorings, the pictures, his family etc.) put that "humanness" perspective back into the scenario. The idea that Blomberg had a heart as well as a mind made him more real to me...more believable...(not that I doubted him at all...) but it brought him to a level of my understnding, a place where I could relate to him...and then the distance between us didn't seem so great...

Does that make any sense?
<img src="confused.gif" border="0" alt="" />

Yes, it does... ) that it does serve his purpose well mostly... he's playing (pardon the pun) devil's advocate in the interviews.. does that seem a lil cheesy to you sometimes? I guess we're way too early to make a judgement here...

There was a lot of info in this chapter that I never knew growing up in the church and taking for granted what was told to me by other people who grew up in the church... the historical aspect of the scriptures is fascinating to me, learning the background of who, what, when, where, and why...

If there's nothing really controversial here, we'll start chapter 2 tomorrow/tuesday night... testing the eyewitness accts...

Hey Allen...

Seems I've bitten off a little more that I can chew with the beginning of the new school year and I have this bold neon "SUCKER" sign across my forehead when it comes to saying NO to church committees and local ministries

... so for now, I have to shelf the book and hang up me mouse and dig in

It's been a blast and I'll be back soon... you all take good care of each other and remember above anything else...it's ALL about Jesus. If it's not to God's Glory, it's not worth it! /

God Bless Ya!

'scuse me while I just tap my way out...

i'm gonna miss you embie... i was looking forward to getting to know you...take care and GOD bless you.... <img src="frown.gif" border="0" alt="" />

miss you too...peep in every once in a while...will ya?

thanx buds...or is that budettes?

/

see ya soon! <img src="wink.gif" border="0" alt="" />

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">Originally posted by Allen:
All were written ~2-80 years after Jesus' death and resurrection...the oral history was written down to preserve the accuracy against ideological and theological whimsy...</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial">

I had no idea...how does he know this? And if they were written as much as 80 years after the events happened, how do they know that it is entirely accurate? (I don't have the book yet, so I'm just going to have to catch the "online cliffs" until I can get a copy and catch up.)

that's in chapter 2, I'll be reading it tonight <img src="smile.gif" border="0" alt="" />

In short, from ch. 1, all books were written by people who were eyewitnesses or by interviewing eyewitnesses to the actual events. Well within time periods considered "normal" for that day and age.

oh...that makes sense. haha. if Les Strobel ever visits our front page he might go after whoever posted last in this topic since it says "the case for christ by...foreverchanged" (as it will say here as soon as I click the post button. <img src="smile.gif" border="0" alt="" />

Just a quick side bar

It is interesting that people struggle believing the gospels, that were in fact recorded before 70ad (as the destruction of Jeruselem, by Roman invasion and the burning of Solomons Temple, is not mentioned in any account or epistle) Yet people accept with much more readiness and testing the writings of people like Socrates whos teachings were not recorded for almost 2000 years.............

Query on saints!

hmmmmm......how's that book comin along?