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

by Lee Strobel

One of the most obvious lessons was that evidence can be aligned to point in more than one direction.

One reason the evidence originally looked so convincing to me was because it fit my preconceptions at the time.

Eyewitness testimony is powerful.

“contrary to popular belief, ‘Son of Man’ does not primarily refer to Jesus’ humanity. Instead it’s a direct allusion to Daniel 7:13–14.” With that he opened the Old Testament and read those words of the prophet Daniel. In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

“In the ancient world the idea of writing dispassionate, objective history merely to chronicle events, with no ideological purpose, was unheard of. Nobody wrote history if there wasn’t a reason to learn from it.”

“The two earliest biographies of Alexander the Great were written by Arrian and Plutarch more than four hundred years after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., yet historians consider them to be generally trustworthy.

A good case can be made for saying that Christian belief in the Resurrection, though not yet written down, can be dated to within two years of that very event.

They were willing to live out their beliefs even to the point of ten of the eleven remaining disciples being put to grisly deaths, which shows great character.

“There is enough of a discrepancy to show that there could have been no previous concert among them; and at the same time such substantial agreement as to show that they all were independent narrators of the same great transaction.”

the canon is a list of authoritative books more than it is an authoritative list of books. These documents didn’t derive their authority from being selected; each one was authoritative before anyone gathered them together.

Spiritual truths cannot be proved or disproved by archaeological discoveries.”

the writers of the gospel had nothing to gain—and much to lose—by writing Jesus’ story, and they didn’t have ulterior motives such as financial gain.

the Christian faith has always been rooted in reality.

“When God creates something, everyone can see it. It’s objective, not subjective.”

Theologian Gerald O’Collins put it this way: “In a profound sense, Christianity without the resurrection is not simply Christianity without its final chapter. It is not Christianity at all.”

The Resurrection is the supreme vindication of Jesus’ divine identity and his inspired teaching. It’s the proof of his triumph over sin and death. It’s the foreshadowing of the resurrection of his followers. It’s the basis of Christian hope. It’s the miracle of all miracles.