Leandro Hidalgo

Thursday, August 28, 2014

RelB 101 ENGLI
A Case for Christ by Lee Strobel
In Lee Strobels documentary, A Case for Christ, a case is made to argue the
validity of Jesus of Nazareth. Through careful study and research, this case is
presented using three main arguments: Examining the Record, Analyzing Jesus, and
Research for the Resurrection. Through these three main points and their supporting
evidence, one can conclude the existence of Jesus Christ and Him being the true
prophesied Messiah.
Examining the Records
The New Testament is an ancient historical document composed of many
authors that include disciples, historians, and eye witnesses of Jesus. Although the
Gospels share the biography of Christ here on earth, just how accountable are its
contents? The first argument can be related to the recreational game telephone
where one person whispers the original message in another's ear and by the of the line,
the message has changed completely. However as stated by J.P. Moreland, The 1st
century apostles were deeply concerned to get this information correct because they
saw it as sacred holy tradition. There was an extreme urgency for these eyewitness to
perfect and be precise as possible when writing the scriptures, they saw it as a
spiritually accounted duty and task. Also, all of the New Testament was written only a
few generations after Jesus death and resurrection. In other words, the close proximity


between what actually happened to Jesus and when it was actually written is fairly
close compared to hundreds of years of oral traditions finally being documented. Even if
one challenges the pure existence of Jesus of Nazareth, saying he never lived, they
still would have to face the objective accounts and records of the politics, critics, and the
one of Josephus, a Jew of that time. The next dispute may question the validity of the
the New Testament as it was copied or transcribed throughout time, claiming it was
incorrectly done. However, there are over 5,000 Greek documents of the bible and
1,000 manuscripts of the New Testament that have been found. The likeliness that they
were all wrong is very low. Lastly, if one chooses to argue the contradictions of the
Gospels or seeing them as inharmonious, the core of all the stories are always the
same. The Gospels are all written from different perspectives but in essence, all share
the same story making the four harmonious.
Analyzing Jesus

Next, Strobel analyzes the validity of Jesus actions, claims, character, and
miracle works. Before Jesus was even born, his coming had been prophesied for
hundreds of years. The Hebrew scriptures prophesied a Savior, or deliverer, to come
and save the world. The case for Jesus coming and purpose is made clear in Isaiah
53:6: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and
the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus knew who he was and what he
came to do; this was clear to any one who saw him. Although, claiming to be the Son of
God and then forgiving peoples sins in His name, was considered blasphemous by the
Jews. Yet he proved to be unlike anyone else by His performances of miracles, the
knowledge he contained of the scriptures, and his teaching. Some may argue that


Jesus miracles were the work of the devil or of contemporary miracle workers;
however, Jesus performed miracles without casting spells or dark powers. The
opposite, He would always point back and give the glory to God. If one considers Jesus
a fraud or an impostor to the real Deliverer, simply consider the mathematical
possibility of a single person coming and fulfilling all 48 prophecies with complete
accuracy, the odds are virtually none. Ben Withereington III explains it best when he
comments, Some skeptics have said that Jesus could have engineered the fulfillment
of these prophecies. Of course, Jesus could not have determined where he was going
to be born. Withereingtons argument refers to the prophecy thats found in Micah 5:2
which states the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. No matter how one looks at
Jesus life, one can not deny his divinity and power. It is because of these evidences
that His life, mission, and story are considered to be truthful and fully accurate.
Researching the Resurrection
For the final appeal, Strobel investigates the validity of Jesus resurrection. The
first argument questions if Jesus actually died on the cross. Some skeptics have
theorized that Jesus fainted on the cross (so not actually dying) and later escaped when
fully being recovered; however, this theory is disproved in John 19:34 (Jesus is pierced
at his side: Blood and water leaks and He most likely dies of suffocation) and by the
pride, specialization, and reputation of how the Romans killed people. They surely
wouldnt have let a rebel leader live. The second argument questions where the
physical body of Christ went. For sure, the body did not remain in the tomb and so
Jesus had to have escaped. Critics say that the disciples could have stolen the body,
but like Mark Strauss says, The claim [that the Jewish leaders were making] that the
body was stolen from the tomb confirms that Jesus' enemies acknowledged that the


tomb was empty. If you've got a stolen body, you must have an empty tomb. If the tomb
was not empty, then Jesus' opponents would surely have gone and gotten the body and
shown it as soon as the disciples began proclaiming the resurrection. Not only did
Jesus resurrect on third day, but He resurrected and physically appeared to many. After
Jesus death, the disciples became discouraged and lost hope in their Messiah;
however, when they saw Jesus after he resurrected, their faith was strengthened and
their ministry was solidify. Why else would the disciples risk their lives through a
persecution for what they had not seen and in return receive no earthly compensation,
only death. Jesus actually dying on the cross, the empty tomb, and the 400 eye
witnesses of Jesus appearance, all verify the prophecies of the coming Messiah and
proves that Jesus was truly the Son of God.
The Most Interesting Argument
In my opinion, all of the arguments present valid points in proving Jesus as the
true Messiah; however, to me, the most important argument is the resurrection of Christ.
Hypothetically speaking, Jesus could have gotten lucky and have been born in
Bethlehem, studied and then faked the fulfillments of all the prophecies, performed
miracles claiming Gods name in vain, but how do you explain a dead person
resurrecting ones self? Even if satan had anything to do with His resurrection, you must
question why and for what reason? If Jesus mission was to defeat Satan, why then
would Satan help assist his own defeat. The resurrection was Satans final hope to
stopping Jesus, but by Jesus living a perfect life, dying for us on calvary, and then
resurrecting, proves to us that Jesus is the true prophesied Messiah. All the facts and
evidence lead to no other conclusion but that Jesus is God.