Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel is promoted as an investigative search into the evidence that supports the existence of Jesus Christ, his death and his resurrection.  Strobel is a lawyer and a journalist.  I believe if he practiced either profession while scrutinizing his own book he would trash it and recant.  Now that all my Christian Evangelical friends and Christian Apologist friends are jumping up and down and reaching for their blood pressure meds, please allow me to re-state the above in a different context.

Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, was accused by the Indianapolis Colts of masterminding a plan that reduced the volume of air in the footballs he used as quarterback during the 2015 AFC Championship game.  The scandal became known as Deflategate.  Less air in the balls, better grip, more accurate pass, etc.  Camps of the Brady faithful immediately lined up to say this must be poppycock and balderdash.  The Tom Brady they know would never do such a thing.  Others, noticeably pro-Colt fans, believe Brady was involved.  Others who question the priority placed on professional sports in our country were aghast at the hurrah around ball psi.  This group says it doesn’t matter what the pro-Brady camp says, it is football, and football is harmful whether air was reduced from balls or not.  If footballs were deflated, then show me evidence because I believe anyone who plays ball is a crook and shyster and will do anything to win.  And Tom Brady must have either done it himself or orchestrated the air loss to support the football win.  Let’s call Brady the anti-Christ and the Colt fans the believers that he did it.  Brady fans believe he did not do it.  Did Brady deflate balls?  Did Jesus rise from the dead?

Into the fray marches Lee Strobel, lawyer and journalist.  Lee will get to the bottom of the issue and help all of us, both pro and con Bradyites, know what really happened.  Lee will bring his array of formidable skills to the task, but implies right up front that he believes Brady did it.  (Jesus arose.)  Strobel is not a Brady supporter.  He is a Colt believer.  Strobel conducts his investigation by conducting a series of interviews with experts in the field.  His printed product is a recounting of those interviews, and sadly I am still laughing.

The only experts Strobel interviews are those who support the notion that there is evidence that Tom Brady did it.  He only interviews Colt fans!  Each so called expert is in fact asked if he is more convinced Brady did it after his scholarship than before, and each expert says yes.  Each expert provides a series of anecdotes regarding Brady, and Strobel confuses anecdotes with evidence.  Each expert implies what he says is accurate because they each know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Brady and believes that Brady did it.  Therefore, Brady must have done it and Strobel is a best seller.

Now just a minute.  The lawyer in Strobel should have pointed out that the only witnesses that were interrogated for this trial were witnesses for the prosecution.  The only case we hear is the state’s case that Brady did it.  The journalist in Strobel should have realized that hearsay and second hand sources are not admissible in this debate.  Further, many of the expert witnesses should likely have recused themselves because they so deeply believed Brady did it.  I am convinced if Strobel turns either his lawyer’s eye or his reporter’s ear to his own book he will recognize there is no real evidence here, and if so, it is perceptual and one-sided.  Strobel concludes Brady did it after consulting not one single argument to the contrary.  This is hardly hard core investigative journalism or court room witness extraction.  This is a one-sided sales pitch.

That’s what Strobel did in The Case for Christ.  He interviewed believers.  He heard tales and anecdotes and arguments that those who believe in Jesus just must be right because it makes sense to other believers that they are right.  If you engage in this book hoping for a meaningful discourse on the reality of Jesus, his death and resurrection, you will only hear one side.  Amazingly, as I read other reviews, Christians love the book because, well, it was written by Christians.  Skeptics will scoff and go in search of real evidence.

I am left with the feeling that the Christian belief is so strong in some that they simply cannot perceive another way of thinking.  I am left with the feeling that the support of Christianity as described by the Apologists is unacceptable in a court of law and is pretty slim for any rational person.  The Patriots will never believe Brady did it, and the Colts cannot conceive of any other outcome.  Christians will always believe that Jesus rose from the dead, and skeptics will never believe such a thing.  And as for Strobel’s heavy arguments, it turns out that air has little weight.