Book Review: The Case for Christ

The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel

Yeah, so I'm a Christian. I don't make a point to hide that from anyone. So while everyone else is reading cool indie books, I'm sticking to my inspirational Christian books. The deal with this book, though, is that it's not like most inspirational Christian books. It's not mushy gushy "God loves you so much and all you have to do is believe" or "God made you beautiful" (the subject of a lot of women's Chrisitian books). The Case for Christ is, just as the cover states, "a journalist's personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus." Not just any journalist. Lee Strobel is a former investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune. He's covered tons of court cases in his career, and as his title would suggest, he has done huge amounts of research. Every court case, every murder or rape, they all have evidence that needs to be looked into before you can accurately decide what happened.

That's exactly the way Strobel looks at the situation. As a self-proclaimed atheist, he took on the daunting task of investigating the evidence for the existence and divinity of Jesus Christ. After 21 months of investigating, Strobel became a Christian because "it would require much more faith for [him] to maintain [his] atheism than to trust in Jesus of Nazareth." That's saying a lot.

Strobel's investigation took him to the offices of 13 experts of divinity, theology, philosophy, and so on, including John McRay, Gary R. Collins, and Bruce Metzger. To each he asks a different question to uncover a different piece of evidence to answer one of his 14 questions, which are as follows:

1. The Eyewitness Evidence - Can the Biographies of Jesus be Trusted?
2. Testing the Eyewitness Evidence - Do the Biographies of Jesus Stand up to Scrutiny?
3. The Documentary Evidence - Were Jesus' Biographies Reliably Preserved for Us?
4. The Corroborating Evidence - Is There Credible Evidence for Jesus Outside His Biographies?
5. The Scientific Evidence - Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?
6. The Rebuttal Evidence - Is the Jesus of History the Same as the Jesus of Faith?
7. The Identity Evidence - Was Jesus Really Convinced that He was the Son of God?
8. The Psychological Evidence - Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to be the Son of God?
9. The Profile Evidence - Did Jesus Fulfill the Attributes of God?
10. The Fingerprint Evidence - Did Jesus--and Jesus Alone--Match the Identity of the Messiah?
11. The Medical Evidence - Was Jesus' Death a Sham and His Resurrection a Hoax?
12. The Evidence of the Missing Body - Was Jesus' Body Really Absent from His Tomb?
13. The Evidence of Appearances - Was Jesus Seen Alive After His Death?
14. The Circumstantial Evidence - Are There Any Supporting Facts that Point to the Resurrection?

He covers all of these topics, asks tough questions and doesn't shy away from being contrary and direct. In the end, though, the evidence pointed to Christ, the Messiah, and as a believer myself, I have to agree. He also references a ridiculous amount of books and writings to support his arguments and the arguments of those he interviews. At the end of each chapter, there's a little reflection and a list of extra sources to help you continue your investigation.

I don't intend to ever use my blog as a way to preach to people. I just mean to say that this book is incredibly well-written and I would highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you doubt the divinity of Jesus but are open to new ideas. In the end, the book is only a framework. If you don't believe, I encourage you to investigate for yourself. I'll never tell you what you should believe; I only intend to keep the option open and leave myself available for conversation.

And on to the news...

It's a slow day, nothing too major going on, but still a lot to talk about. Oh, I apologize for not posting yesterday, but I was celebrating my boyfriend's acceptance to art school. I'm so proud!

First of all, I just have to say that the people over at eye weekly who write the totally wired column should stop making unsubstantiated claims about my fellow bloggers scenestars, largehearted boy, chromewaves, and teaching the indie kids to dance again. You're just jealous because you're not cool enough to have your own blog so you have to write columns for eye weekly to feel better about yourself.

You know what else is outrageous? Carrie Underwood, the new American Idol winner. My opinion is that this just goes to show you that the American mainstream public believes that "good music" means that it sounds like everything else they've heard. Clearly they are uncomfortable with change and would rather have yet another blonde-haired country girl (who will turn bad girl, it's only a matter of time) singing power ballads than the rough-around-the-edges rocker Bo Bice, who is surprisingly more talented than any of us first imagined. He even sang the same song she sang better than she did. You know who should have won? Constantine. ...not that I care about American Idol or anything... moving on.

The frustrating news just keeps coming. Recently the FBI shut down one of the larger BitTorrent servers, Elite Torrents. The tip came after the network posted Star Wars III before the preview showings even started. Of course, not to be left in the shadows, the RIAA applauds the move. They would. You know, I've always been torn on this whole issue. I can understand music being free, but I'm not so sure about movies. Is it really the same issue or are they too different to be given the same treatment? I don't know. I just know that I saw the BitTorrent thing coming, but there will always be something new and better that the FBI and RIAA will have a harder time to crack down on. That's just how it goes.

Ugh, Prefix, don't play with my heart like that! The link in their news list said, "Junior Senior announces tour dates," and my heart jumped in my chest. Oh my gosh, I thought, could I finally get my chance to see one of my favorite foreign dance bands in the history of foreign dance pop? Nope. I clicked the link to Tiny Mix Tapes only to find out that they're touring in Denmark, their home turf, where they've been for way too long. They're even releasing a 7" single exclusively in Denmark. What about me, Junior?! Don't you care, Senior?! I'm unhappy.

I've noticed people comparing Coldplay to U2 a lot recently, and Newsweek is no exception. At least Chris Marten was only kidding when he said his band would take after current hip-hop and "study the most popular products" and "try to sing about it as much as possible." And, no, the name of their next album will not be McDonalds: Over Four Billion Served.

Maybe Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke is a better comparison to Bono. He recently went to Parliament to campaign for The Big Ask, a project that would put the responsibility for global warming into the hands of the UK government. That's great and all, but I don't think the UK is the biggest problem in the global warming department (hint hint, Dubya).

Talk is talk, and there's been off and on talk about a Blur reunion for a long time. So far, though, it looks like a long shot. Former frontman Damon Albarn has tried to negotiate something with Graham Coxon, whose departure led to the break-up of Blur. Unfortunately, the lines of communication are virtually non-existant, which puzzles Albarn, who says that when they're all together, they "get on fine." Meanwhile, Coxon is continuing to do well in his solo career while Albarn basks in the glory of Gorillaz new album Demon Days.

Blur may not be reuniting, but Hootie and the Blowfish certainly are. They will release Looking for Lucky as the debut album for their own record label, Sneaky Long Records. Look for it on August 9th.

Sleater Kinney has certainly released a hit new album, The Woods. Critics are raving, and Pitchfork even gave it a 9.0. Certainly one worth looking into.

Xiu Xiu's latest album, La Foret, hits shelves on July 12th, and it's looking like it will be just as uncomfortable and haunting as their last ones have been. That's a good thing, by the way.

Red is All the Rage has perhaps the most wonderful interview with Of Montreal lead singer Kevin Barnes probably ever done. Here's a taste:

For anyone who is not familiar with Of Montreal, how would you describe your sound?

Muscular. Nautical. Lamborghini.

Enough said.

Upcoming Columbus Shows

5.27 - The Killers w/ Hot Hot Heat and Robbers on the Street - Promowest Pavilion
6.01 - Gang Gang Dance - The Wexner Center
6.02 - The Wrens - Little Brothers
6.03 - Tokyo Rose w/ Lux Courageous and Self Against City - High Five
6.08 - Modest Mouse - Promowest Pavilion
6.13 - Iron and Wine w/ Band of Horses - The Newport
6.15 - Travis Morrison - Supraphonic Studios (Where the heck is that?!)
6.16 - Comets On Fire - The Wexner Center
6.29 - Black Eyed Peas w/ Talib Kweli - Promowest Pavilion
8.11 - Ben Folds w/ Ben Lee and Rufus Wainwright - Promowest Pavilion
8.31 - Coldplay w/ Rilo Kiley - Germain Ampitheater
9.06 - Of Montreal - TBA

Daily Downloads
from regnyouth:

The Shins - Oh Inverted World 2 (link, zip)
Fatboy Slim - Pookaville (link, mp3)
I am Kloot - I am Kloot 2 (link, zip)
Jurassic 5 - Quality Control 2 3 (link, rar, password = gmc)