Cold-Case Christianity

Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels

By J. Warner Wallace

I finished reading this book September 29, 2016. This book took about two weeks to read. I tried to keep it to a chapter per day so I could reflect on each section. Rice Broocks has a great quote about J. Warner Wallace in the foreword that says "His relentless passion for truth will inspire you to cast aside any vestiges of apathy or ignorance and immediately get involved in the great challenge of reaching this generation for Christ." I was really intrigued by this book, but particularly with J. Warner Wallace's journey to becoming a Christian, and ultimately becoming an apologist for the Christian faith. He didn't take a blind leap of faith, but rather made an evidential decision based on years of research and a thorough investigation. Whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever, this book provides you with indisputable evidence that Jesus not only lived, but performed miracles, died on the cross, and rose from the dead. Going in to this book I was already a believer, but I found that the evidence, research, and references gave me the confidence to not only live as a Christian, but also to defend Christianity, and to live faithfully devoted to the truth.

"Christianity is a statement which, if false, is of no importance, and, if true, is of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important."
― C.S. Lewis
"If you're already a believer, my experiences might provide you with a few tools that can help you defend your faith in a more vigorous and informed way."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"The gospel eyewitnesses observed a singularly powerful and memorable event and provided us with accounts that are distinctive, idiosyncratic, personal, and reliable. We simply have to take the time to understand the perspective and character of each eyewitness and then determine if the accounts are trustworthy..."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"As a Christian, I recognize that the Bible is God's Word, but I also recognize that it was delivered to us through the observations and recollections of human eyewitnesses."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"We need to do our best not to trust others (including me) for this careful analysis. Instead, read the Gospels for yourself and examine every word. We each have the obligation to do the heavy lifting for ourselves."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"I recognize that many of us, as Christians, are hesitant to treat God's Word as though it were a suspect or eyewitness statement that needs to be picked apart forensically. It almost seems to disrespect the holy nature of the text. I've even known brothers and sisters in the faith who were hesitant to write on the pages of their Bibles out of love and respect for the Word. I certainly understand this kind of reverence, and I also understand that it's easy for us to leave this kind of analysis to experts in the field. But you'll be amazed at how rich and deep your faith will become as a result of careful analysis and study."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"All ancient documents also contain textual artifacts. If we reject the entirety of Scripture simply because it contains artifacts of one kind or another, we had better be ready to reject the ancient writings of Plato, Herodotus, Euripides, Aristotle, and Homer as well. The manuscripts for these texts are far less numerous, and they are far less reliable. If we apply the same standard of perfection that some would demand of the Bible to other ancient histories, we're going to have to reject everything we thought we knew about the ancient past."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"Christianity acknowledges that God used humans to deliver His truth to His people. In the Old Testament, God used prophets to speak to the nation of Israel. In the New Testament, God used the apostolic eyewitnesses to testify of His Son. Christianity recognizes the inerrancy of the original documents these eyewitnesses provided, even though they were filled with idiosyncrasies and personal perspectives (as we described previously). Humans were also involved in the transmission of these eyewitness accounts. Like the authors, the scribes had personal perspectives and human idiosyncrasies that may have impacted the way they copied the manuscripts. While they may have occasionally altered very minute portions of the text, we possess enough comparative copies of the ancient documents to identify these alterations and remove them from the reliable accounts."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"In order for true evil to exist, there must be a source of true good that transcends any and all groups that might make a claim about the existence of evil. In other words, the existence of true evil necessitates the presence of God as a standard of true virtue. It turns out that the existence of evil is actually another evidence for God's existence, another piece of the puzzle that reveals God's image."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"Which is more loving, a God who creates a world in which love is possible or a God who creates a world in which love is impossible? It seems reasonable that a loving God would create a world where love is possible and can be experienced by creatures who are designed “in His image.” But a world in which love is possible can be a dangerous place. Love requires freedom. True love requires that humans have the ability to freely choose; love cannot be forced if it is to be heartfelt and real. The problem, of course, is that people who have the freedom to love often choose to hate. That's why freedom of this nature is so costly. A world in which people have the freedom to love and perform great acts of kindness is also a world in which people have the freedom to hate and commit great acts of evil. You cannot have one without the other."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"God is powerful enough to stop evil completely, and He does care about justice. But as an eternal Being, He may choose to take care of it on an eternal timeline. Compared to eternity, this mortal existence is but a vapor, created by God to be a wonderful place where love is possible for those who choose it."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"It's our responsibility as Christians to make the effort to know our friends and family well enough to understand the nature of their denial."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"The existence of a well-articulated defensive argument alone is no reason to surrender our position, but it ought to encourage us to know our case better than anyone else."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"Nothing can be known about history if live eyewitnesses are the only reliable witnesses we can consult. If this were the case, we could know nothing with certainty beyond two or three living generations. Once eyewitnesses die, history is lost. But we have great confidence about many historical events, in spite of the fact that the eyewitnesses have long been in their graves."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"If we are going to decide what's true on the basis of how people behave, we're in big trouble, because every worldview suffers from examples of adherents who have behaved inconsistently and poorly."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"Destruction tactics that try to disqualify the Gospels would also disqualify other historical texts. If skeptics applied an equal standard to other documents of antiquity, they would be hard pressed to believe anything about the ancient past."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"While we are often willing to spend time reading the Bible, praying, or participating in church programs and services, few of us recognize the importance of becoming good Christian case-makers."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"We need to master the facts and evidences that support the claims of Christianity and anticipate the tactics of those who oppose us. This kind of preparation is a form of worship. When we devote ourselves to this rational preparation and study, we are worshipping God with our mind, the very thing He has called us to do."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"One might also wonder why, if these gospel accounts were falsely attributed to the authors we accept today, the second- or third-century forgers would not have picked better pseudonyms (false attributions) than the people who were ultimately accredited with the writings. Why would they pick Mark or Luke when they could have chosen Peter, Andrew, or James? Mark and Luke appear nowhere in the gospel records as eyewitnesses, so why would early forgers choose these two men around which to build their lies when there were clearly better candidates available to legitimize their work?"
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"Jesus was described as God, walked with His disciples, taught the masses, died on a cross, and rose from the dead. This version of Jesus is not a late invention or exaggeration; it is the version of Jesus that existed from the very first telling. This version of Jesus was witnessed and accurately described by the gospel writers and confirmed by their students."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"The apostles recognized that their role in God's plan was simply to tell others about their experiences with Jesus and their observations of His resurrection. It's reasonable that people who saw themselves as critical eyewitnesses would be careful to protect the accuracy of their testimony. In the earliest years, their contribution came in the form of verbal testimony. That's reasonable, given the sense of urgency the apostles felt as they eagerly awaited the imminent return of Jesus. But as the months and years passed without the arrival of Christ, the apostles inked their testimony so their observations could be shared with local church congregations."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"The disciples were not prejudicially biased; they were evidentially certain."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"It's hard not to see your own imperfection when you are confronted with the perfect God of the universe."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"All of us, as Christians, need to be able to prepare a defense for what we believe."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
"Our personal defense of Christianity may not be as robust as what can be offered by a professional apologist, but it can be just as powerful and persuasive."
― J. Warner Wallace - Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels

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