Comments on: Book Review: The Case For Christ

By: william

william — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:54:31 +0000

The main argument against “The Case For Christ” seems to be that it is not “A Case AGAINST Christ!” I appreciae Vinney’s remarks. What
Strobel tries to do, I believe, is play the devil’s advocate. He tries to ask all the most pertainant and important questions liberals, skeptics, atheists, and enemies of the faith ask either honestly or militantly or sarcastically. In this tiny volume, and in this format, he can only ask a few questions. True, Strobel may not be the World’s greatest enemy of Chrisitanity, nor the world’s greatest aplolgist… but we are told a hundred times he is merely a reporter seeking an answer. I think it is absolutely PERFECT that he did not interview liberals and so on. For two reasons. First, that garbage is available by the ton. What is rare is the answers to their nonsense… and sense. Second, debating liberals never seems to lead anywhere because they seem unswayed by facts or evidence. When they loose the argument they either change the subject or confuse the issue or begin character assassinations. They never seem to get on their knees and say, “Jesus, My LORD and my God!” Had Stobel included more of the poison he is denigrated for omitting it would have defeated his purpose, and his purpose was to open the gates of heaven to the confused and uninformed. I do find that he did a masterful job at organizing the book in the way he did, but the complexity of the organization sometimes makes summarizing the thing difficult… or even coming away with a unified feeel for it. In other words, it its orgaization is both simple and complex.

By: Mike King

Mike King — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:55:38 +0000

Sure thing Vinny,

I wish people would real all books with a bit more perspective about the intent of the book. They are never everything that a first timer to the topic thinks they are. Anyway, for those wanting to explore the apologetic side of things, it covers a great introduction to these questions from the Christian perspective. If that’s what you are looking for, have a read. Its hard to ignore the millions of books that Strobel has sold and its also hard to ignore the thousands of people Strobel has helped lead to a Christian life with amazing testimonies of great transformation. Now THIS is undeniable.

By: Vinny

Vinny — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:50:50 +0000

I use the argument because I think many people fail to get the impression that you did. I commented on a post the other day where the blogger thought that Strobel was still an atheist at the time he was conducting the interviews for The Case for Christ.

By: Mike King

Mike King — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 01:30:16 +0000

Vinny,

thanks for your view. While you are right that there is more to present, it can’t fit in one book, any book.

To be honest, I can’t understand why so many people use this argument (your last paragraph) against Strobel’s method. You only have to read the first 4 words to know its one side of the story, “A Case FOR Christ”. That’s all I needed!

By: Vinny

Vinny — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:34:49 +0000

I respect your candor about Strobel’s methods, but I still find them questionable.

There is a saying in the newspaper business: “If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out.” Now I would be the last one to assert that reporters keep their biases out of their stories. Nevertheless, there are standards and practices in journalism that are intended to maximize the possibility that all the facts come out and all sides of a story get reported.

By the same token, there are practices and procedures in a court of law that are designed to make sure that a jury gets all the facts before it renders it decision. Both sides get to call witnesses and both sides get to question the other’s witnesses. Once again, not perfect, but designed to maximize the possibility that both sides are fairly heard.

My objection to Strobel’s method is that he creates the impression that his readers are getting both sides of the story by repeatedly invoking his expertise as an investigative journalist and drawing analogies to legal proceedings. You may not have gotten that impression, but based on what I have seen in the blogosphere, most of his fans seem to.