Customer Reviews

The Case for Easter (20-Pack)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I used to consider Christ's resurrection (i.e. Easter) to be something that required a whole lot of blind faith to believe. But after reading The Case For Easter, that perception changed completely.

Lee Strobel, a former atheist, presents a very compelling and strong case supporting the resurrection-a case so strong that it caused him to come to faith in Christ. Maintaining the same style he used in The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith, Strobel interviews several well-respected experts on the resurrection and challenges them with some of the most common and most difficult objections to the resurrection. The solid answers contained in this fast-paced, well-written book may surprise you.

Some of the questions that are answered in this book are:
- Did Jesus really die or did he just faint?
- Was Jesus' resurrection really just resuscitation?
- Were Jesus' hands and feet actually pierced by nails?
- Is there any possible way that Jesus could have survived the cross?
- Was Jesus really buried in the tomb?
- Were guards present at the tomb?
- Wouldn't it have been very easy for the disciples to have stolen the body?
- What about all the contradictions in the Gospels concerning the resurrection?
- Are the gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection trustworthy?
- How can the resurrection account be trusted when no one actually saw Jesus as he came back to life?
- What evidence is there that people actually saw Jesus alive?
- How do we know that the disciples didn't just make up stories about seeing Jesus?
- Were Jesus' appearances to the disciples just hallucinations?

The Case for Easter includes well-supported answers to all of these questions and more. In addition to strengthening my own faith, this book has given me the tools to answer many of the questions asked by non-believers about the resurrection.

I would very strongly recommend that you read this book.

I used to consider Christ's resurrection (i.e. Easter) to be something that required a whole lot of blind faith to believe. But after reading The Case For Easter, that perception changed completely.

Lee Strobel, a former atheist, presents a very compelling and strong case supporting the resurrection--a case so strong that it caused him to come to faith in Christ. Maintaining the same style he used in The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith, Strobel interviews several well-respected experts on the resurrection and challenges them with some of the most common and most difficult objections to the resurrection. The solid answers contained in this fast-paced, well-written book may surprise you.

Some of the questions that are answered in this book are:
- Did Jesus really die or did he just faint?
- Was Jesus' resurrection really just resuscitation?
- Were Jesus' hands and feet actually pierced by nails?
- Is there any possible way that Jesus could have survived the cross?
- Was Jesus really buried in the tomb?
- Were guards present at the tomb?
- Wouldn't it have been very easy for the disciples to have stolen the body?
- What about all the contradictions in the Gospels concerning the resurrection?
- Are the gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection trustworthy?
- How can the resurrection account be trusted when no one actually saw Jesus as he came back to life?
- What evidence is there that people actually saw Jesus alive?
- How do we know that the disciples didn't just make up stories about seeing Jesus?
- Were Jesus' appearances to the disciples just hallucinations?

The Case for Easter includes well-supported answers to all of these questions and more. In addition to strengthening my own faith, this book has given me the tools to answer many of the questions asked by non-believers about the resurrection.

I would very strongly recommend that you read this book.

I recommend this book with one warning - most of this book is taken from Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ," with a few modifications. This is why I did not rate it 5 stars. I did not realize that this was the case when I bought it, and even then I didn't know until I happened to read the copyright notice. I think that the publisher and amazon.com should be more clear that that is what this is. As it stands it is not that clear that that is what this book is, which I thought was somewhat misleading on the publisher's part.

In any case though, I thought that the book was good. In spite of being rather short, Strobel put a lot of information into this little book. If you have already studied a lot of apologetics, you will probably find that you already know a lot of the information in this book, but you will probably find a lot of new information as well. Strobel addresses issues such as:
- Do different Gospel accounts give contradictory accounts? Although I would have liked to have seen a little more on this point, he raises some very good points that resolve many of the alleged contradictions between the gospel accounts. He also makes the interesting point that, if all the gospels told the exact same things in exactly the same way, that that would actually be evidence AGAINST them, not for them, because people would then suspect the authors of collusion!
- Did Jesus really die, or could He have survived the cross?
- Was Jesus really buried in a tomb? (Some allege that He was not, and that His body was later eaten by wild animals, thus explaining the absence of His body. Strobel shows that that isn't really plausable).
- Was Jesus really crucified in the manner that the Gospels claim He was? Strobel addresses numerous specific issues, such as did crucifixion really use nails like the Gospels said it did?
- Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
- Did Jesus really appear to people after He rose from the dead? He addresses specific issues and objections here as well, such as, were Jesus' appearances simply hallucinations? Did the Disciples steal the body? Was there really a guard at the Tomb, and were they really Roman soldiers?

In addition to provididing a solid defense of the Resurrection, Strobel makes several interesting points about the Gospel accounts themselves that I had not noticed before reading this book. For example, I had missed the significance of the fact that women were the first to see the empty Tomb before Strobel comments on that. Specifically, the testimony of women was considered practically worthless at that time, and women were not even allowed to testify in legal courts. Not only would the authors have no incentive to put this detail in if the account was not true, they almost certainly would have left it out if it didn't actually occur. If anything, this detail would have been highly embarassing for the Apostles!

I recommend reading this book, especially if you have not studied much apologetics. It will strengthen your own faith and help equip you to defend your faith. This book is also a good witnessing tool. It is short enough that you can read it fairly quickly and then lend it to non-Christian friends to read (which is what I will probably end up doing with my copy now that I finished reading it). I also recommend this book strongly if you are considering becoming a Christian, or are a Christian who is struggling in your faith.

I certainly don't think this book will have any effect on those who don't believe. It is clearly aimed at laymen in their personal defence of Christianity to others. If you expected a professional work you expected wrong.

I personally don't enjoy Strobel's style at all but many do and for that reason I recommend this to all Christians who have not looked at the origins of their faith. It's only a short book and the writing is clear and easy to understand.

This little book is very appealing. It is simple, short, and to the point. It is done in Strobel's typical investigatory style. He really wants people to see his heart for finding real answers to some of life's most difficult questions. Many who question the authenticity of the Easter story will benefit it. It offers honest answers to those who are asking serious questions. It's short, it's a good-read, and it's well-done. For many, this book will be the beginning of a life-long journey with God. It is a great follow-up tool when discussing the Passion of Christ or Christ's resurrection from the dead.

Paul Heier, Lifespring Church Palm Harbor, FL

This short book is a slice of the best of Strobel's "Case for Christ." It is excellent for evangelism, especially leading up to Easter. Do not use it merely as a hand-out to visitors, but incorporate it into the pre-Easter Bible studies of the congregation and present it to people investigating the faith in their homes. Those already close to embracing the faith of Christ and His Apostles and Prophets will be brought in by this book. Those further from faith in the Name could have this as a first step down their faith journey. Buy it in boxes and use it.

Wonderful book. Would recommend it to any and everyone. It's an easy read that can be read in a couple of hours.

This book is so excellent. I already had total faith in God and Jesus and that he did raise from the dead. Yet, this book just gave me more concrete proof that it indeed did happen. This is a great book to give to a non believer and one that you can even learn a thing or two from even if you already believe. The Case for Easter is incredable and after reading there is only one way to argue and one sure conclusion. Jesus did indeed die and then rose on the thrid day for his people.

THE CASE FOR EASTER is a thin little book printed on cheap paper that seeks to prove three momentous tenets of the Christian faith. First, that Jesus Christ died on the cross; second, that he vacated the tomb in which he had been laid; third, that he afterwards appeared alive before others. The author, Lee Strobel, presents himself as an atheist who interviewed a different theologian on each these points, tested his reasoning and found it convincing. Distinguished as a legal reporter, he asserts that his method is no different from that used when collecting evidence in the case of a murder, a fraud or a missing person.

The book is laid out neatly in three parts, one for each question. The first is "The Medical Evidence: Was Jesus' Death a Sham and His Resurrection a Hoax?" Here Alexander Metherell, a medical doctor, engineer and Christian, describes for the author the gruesome physical effects of a Roman flogging and crucifixion followed by a spear through the ribs. He leaves no doubt that anyone who suffered the ordeal of Jesus Christ as described in the Gospels could not have survived to perpetrate a hoax. Nor, if by some amazing happenstance he did manage to survive, would he have been in a condition to get up and go anywhere on his own.

The second part is "The Evidence of the Missing Body: Was Jesus' Body Really Absent From His Tomb?" Here the theologian, professor and author William Lane Craig argues that Jesus' body was not thrown in a common grave along with others of the crucified, but taken by Joseph of Arimathea and placed in a separate tomb, just as Scripture says. He describes the way such a tomb would be sealed, explains why some women followers of Christ would have gone to visit the tomb and reconciles discrepancies in the different Gospels regarding their names, their actions and the presence of guards. He seconds the finding of historian Michael Grant that "if we apply the same sort of criteria that we would apply to any other ancient literary sources, then the evidence is firm and plausible enough to necessitate the conclusion that the tomb was, indeed, found empty." (p.46)

Anticipating the supernatural event of part 3, Craig dismisses the idea that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is improbable. What is improbable is the idea that his dead body spontaneously came back to life. "But the hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead doesn't contradict science or any known facts of experience. All it requires is that God exists, and I think there are good independent reasons for believing that he does... As long as the existence of God is even possible, it's possible that he acted in history by raising Jesus from the dead." (56)

The third part is "The Evidence of Appearances: Was Jesus Seen Alive After His Death on the Cross?" Here the theologian Gary Habermas, who has authored seven books on this question, lists all those witnesses named in Scriptural accounts, relates these accounts to the period immediately following the crucifixion and disputes the contention of naysayers that they could be based on legends or hallucinations. The once-atheistic author is so impressed that he confesses: "Although I tried, I couldn't think of any more thoroughly attested event in ancient history." (74) He concludes the book by avowing his faith in Jesus Christ as his savior from original sin. (87)

Needless to say, those who already believe in Scripture will find this exercise rewarding, because it will help them to combat the objections of non-believers and possibly to settle their own doubts. Non-believers will find it rewarding for exactly the opposite reasons. Few readers, I suspect, will be converted one way or the other, because the inquiry is clearly rigged. The attempt of the experts (and the already converted author) is not really to weigh the so-called evidence pro and con as a jury, but rather to plead the case as a defense attorney, producing all the reasons, suppositions and imagined scenarios that could possibly support Scripture. In the process, a huge number of methodological problems arise, nearly one on every page.

I shall mention but three. First, Professor Craig allows that the evangelists collected various stories and recast them according to their own lights, so that Matthew with his story of the guards (pp.40-41) and Mark who "loves to emphasize awe and fright and terror" (p.48) need not be taken whole cloth. This allowance removes the "inerrant word of the Holy Spirit" and throws everything in the Gospels up for grabs. It allows not only Craig to pick and choose, but also the skeptics.

Second, Craig and Habermas presume that "legendary corruption" of a historical event takes years to form, so that if the original stories of Jesus Christ's resurrection came soon after his crucifixion they must be true. (37, 53, 77-78) This argument denies the reality, which everyone knows, that stories of miracles can spring up overnight, urban legends can spread like wildfire and sightings of ghosts, aliens and missing persons happen all the time. The last Russian tsar, for example, was seen in different cities shortly after his execution in 1919, and his executed daughter Anastasia surfaced a few years after that. Hitler was seen repeatedly after World War II. Elvis is still being seen.

Third, Habermas uses twisted reasoning to smuggle in "eyewitness testimony." He accepts that Peter and James saw the arisen Christ, because Paul says so in Corinthians I:15 and he must have learned it from them. (67) He accepts that 500 brethren saw the arisen Christ at one time, because some of them were alive at the time of Paul's writing and could have contradicted him were it not so. (68-71) He accepts St. Luke's versions (in Acts of the Apostles) of speeches by St. Peter and St. Paul, which tell of the revelation, because they must have come from "very early sources." (73-74) The lawyer-author should not have admitted even one of these pieces of evidence: the first is hearsay collected at best three years and written down twenty years after the event; the second is hearsay and does not name any one of the 500; the third is reported and possibly invented speech written down forty to fifty years after the event and probably after both speakers were dead.

The worst flaw in the author's investigation is his double standard. He and the experts pretend to apply the same critical standards to the Scriptural accounts as they do to other ancient texts, whereas in fact they accept supernatural events in Scripture and rule them out in everything else. If plausibility is the supreme criterion and the supernatural need not be excluded, as Craig asserts, then every ancient history, myth and religion can be proven if one has the wit and the will.

Obviously the supernatural is the stumbling block. Professor Craig's statement that "the hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead doesn't contradict science or any known facts of experience" is simply a bald-faced contradiction of science and all the known facts of experience. The hard truth is that every single organism in the history of the earth has died or will die, and so far none of the dead has returned to life in any verifiable way, but only in memories, dreams, hallucinations, myths, religions and fiction. The hypothesis that God raised Jesus from the dead contradicts everything, absolutely everything. Hence St. Paul, hence the evidence of things not seen, hence the hope in the miracle of Easter.

Believing there is credible evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, former atheistic journalist Lee Strobel argues against evidential skepticism and points to the startling findings that prove there is demonstrative data of Christ coming back to life.

The expert testimony offered in this brief volume (92 pages) was first provided in Strobel's "The Case for Christ."

The author examines the:
- Medical evidence
- Historical evidence
- Testimonial evidence
- Evidence of the empty tomb.

This fast-paced little treatise is an excellent introduction for the evidential apologetic of Christ's resurrection. Written with careful concision, yet in an captivating style.
Letter to an Atheist Nation: Presupositional Apologetics Responds To: Letter to a Christian