Person of Interest Quotes

“The size of the Roman Empire allowed Jesus’s teaching to spread within its expansive borders, but it was also the power of the empire that allowed the message of Jesus to be heard.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Jesus was truly the smartest, most interesting, and most transformative man who ever lived—if he was truly God—we ought to be able to make a case for his existence and impact, even without a body or any evidence from the New Testament. When our investigation is complete, we’ll determine if Jesus matters. We’ll discover if he was a work of fiction, just another ancient sage, or history’s uniquely divine person of interest.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“If Jewish believers approached the evidence for Jesus as they might approach the evidence in a crime scene, they would be far more likely to accept him as the prophesied Messiah.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“I also investigated Jesus as if he were a person of interest in a no-body homicide case.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“It was not by accident that the greatest thinkers of all ages were deeply religious souls. —MAX PLANCK”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“While Jesus met ancient overarching human expectations related to deity, many Jews of the time held a different inconsistence expectation related to the Messiah. Many Jews who expected a *spiritual* savior and redeemer became Christ followers, but Jews who expected a temporal king and conqueror (who would save the nation of Israel and restore the Jewish kingdom) did not. Jesus met the expectations of those who sought eternal, spiritual truth.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“While 'clear' evidence points to the suspect from the onset (before he is contacted), 'cloaked' evidence points to the suspect only in hindsight (after he is identified)...The cloaked prophecies are limited in their ability to *point* us to the Messiah. They may, however, help or *confirm* his identity once we have him in view.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“When you examine the details related to each similarity between Jesus and ancient, mythologies, the resemblances begin to vanish, Jesus isn't much like the other gods after all.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Our current terms fail to explain the reason why human history changed so dramatically. The period BCE is better described as BC (the period 'before Christ'), and the years we now refer to as part of the Common Era (CE) are better labeled as AD (*Anno Domini, *or the 'year[s] of our Lord"). While the designations BC and AD may seem like artifacts from the past, they are a far more accurate description of history's timeline, given that they reference the divine person of interest, who divided history.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Christianity isn't anti-science, but it is anti-scientism. Scientism is the belief that science is the only way to know anything. But there are many things we know without the benefit of science at all, like logical and mathematical truths (which precede scientific investigations), metaphysical truths (which determine if the external world is real), moral and ethical truths (which set boundaries for our behavior), aesthetic truths (like determining beauty), and historical truths. Christians believe that science can tell us many important things but not all of the important things.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“These seven attributes of the worldview Jesus initiated account for an obvious truth; Jesus followers have had an oversized impact on the sciences.

1. Christ followers believed matter was good and worthy of study
2. Christ followers believed their world was the product of a singular, orderly, rational God
3. Christ followers believed God was distinct from his creation
4. Christ followers were motivated by their desire to worship the God of the universe
5. Christ followers believed they could better understand God by observing His activity in the 'book of nature'
6. Christ followers pursued physical and intellectual investigations of their environment
7. Christ followers created a place to advance the sciences”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“The religions of the world made room for Jesus, but Jesus never budged. His teaching mattered to the other religions, but Krishna, the Buddha, Muhammad, Baha'u'llah, and Ahmad combined didn't have a similar impact on Christianity. *That,* I thought, was remarkable.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Jesus matters to the sciences. The history of scientific exploration was forever changed as Jesus followers studied the 'book of nature.' Christians are the 'fathers' and founders of these disciplines...Jesus followers didn't simply contribute to the sciences, they founded and led the sciences.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Jesus matters because his influence on spiritual seekers and religious thinkers is so overwhelming that every major world religion either mentions or merges him into their theological system.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Jesus matters because he established a worldview that encouraged exploration in an explosion of scientific discovery, the scientific revolution, and an unparalleled history of excellence in the sciences. From the writings of the 'science fathers'--the vast majority of whom were Jesus followers--Jesus's life, ministry, and mission could be reconstructed, even if all the Christian Bibles were destroyed.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“A cultural fuse was burning, preparing antiquity for whatever would eventually initiate the Common Era. The Roman Empire had unified much of the known world, adopted a popular language, provided a shared alphabet, established peace, constructed, roads, developed the world's best postal service, and embraced just enough religious tolerance to detonate an explosion. Even before the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth, it ought to have been apparent to any careful student of history that events within the Roman Empire were aligning for someone special to arrive and for something special to happen.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Justin Brierley, host of the Unbelievable? radio show and podcast, author of Unbelievable?”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

“Justin Martyr wrote in the second century, “You can kill us, but cannot do us any real harm.”
― J. Warner Wallace, Person of Interest: Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible