Bring into a discussion the name Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, or some of the ancient Greek gods, and the conversation continues with reasonable calm. But mention the name Jesus Christ and people start to get edgy. Why is that?

I reckon I know. If someone has to bring up that subject, then they are usually a religious nutter - a person who has lost his marbles and believes a lot of nonsense, who has swallowed it whole and wants you to do so as well, and is arrogant enough to think he is right and everyone else is wrong. Those types can become quite embarrassing, wanting you to listen when the subject is highly personal and nothing can be proven one way or another. They can be scary. Some will even bring out a Bible and point you to things in it, as though that means they are right and you are not. It can get awfully irritating and you just wish they will go away and keep it to themselves. True?

But sometimes the discussion gets interesting, especially when a wide range of ideas can be tossed around, or it gets into the spooky ghost story stuff about haunted houses and the doppelgänger. Or it may be interesting if one has a serious concern and is seeking a spiritual answer, or is at some crossroads in life and genuinely wondering about “God things” or what-have-you. Interesting, that is, if the other is prepared to listen and enter into a discussion without badgering and going beyond comfortable limits.

All the same, it intrigues me that the mention of Jesus, more so than any other religious identity, causes such a strong reaction. I think it has to do with the unique claim that He made… that He is God Incarnate, God in human flesh. That is an astounding thing to say. The immediate response to such a statement might well be that He had to be a fruitcake, suffering from delusions of grandeur in the extreme. People with good mental health just don’t go around saying stuff like that. Some schizophrenic people have those kind of ideas occasionally, but you just need to look at them and their lifes to know that isn’t the case. And then there is all that impossible carry-on about a virgin birth and a physical resurrection. Most people who have navigated puberty are in the know on baby-making, and that dead bodies don’t get up and walk away except on a Hollywood shoot. It just isn’t real. People don’t function that way.

But what if there was evidence to the contrary? What if it really did happen once …say around 2,000 years ago? You might shake your head and say it is not possible, but do you actually know beyond a shadow of a doubt that is the case? Are you just saying that, just making an assumption …or did you objectively look into the matter, look thoroughly that is, then consider and weigh all the evidence yourself?

Some will answer “No need! I don’t have time for nonsense. I have better things to do!” OK then, you had probably better go and get them done. But if the evidence pointed convincingly to the very real possibility these things did happen once, how important are your better things to do compared with such a discovery?

The evidence really is worth a look. It is both substantial and substantive. If you haven’t done so already, I challenge you to do so.

Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853) was one of the founders of Harvard Law School. He authored the authoritative three-volume text, A Treatise on the Law of Evidence (1842), which is still considered “the greatest single authority on evidence in the entire literature of legal procedure.”1 Greenleaf literally wrote the rules of evidence for the U.S. legal system. He was certainly a man who knew how to weigh the facts. He was an atheist until he accepted a challenge by his students to investigate the case for Christ’s resurrection. After personally collecting and examining the evidence based on rules of evidence that he helped establish, Greenleaf became a Christian and wrote the classic, Testimony of the Evangelists.

“Let [the Gospel's] testimony be sifted, as it were given in a court of justice on the side of the adverse party, the witness being subjected to a rigorous cross-examination. The result, it is confidently believed, will be an undoubting conviction of their integrity, ability, and truth.” 2

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Sir Lionel Luckhoo (1914-1997) is considered one of the greatest lawyers in British history. He’s recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “World’s Most Successful Advocate,” with 245 consecutive murder acquittals. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II — twice. Luckhoo declared:

“I humbly add I have spent more than 42 years as a defense trial lawyer appearing in many parts of the world and am still in active practice. I have been fortunate to secure a number of successes in jury trials and I say unequivocally the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.” 3

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Lee Strobel was a Yale-educated, award-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune. As an atheist, he decided to compile a legal case against Jesus Christ and prove him to be a fraud by the weight of the evidence. As Legal Editor of the Tribune, Strobel’s area of expertise was courtroom analysis. To make his case against Christ, Strobel cross-examined a number of Christian authorities, recognized experts in their own fields of study (including PhD’s from such prestigious academic centers as Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis). He conducted his examination with no religious bias, other than his predisposition to atheism.

Remarkably, after compiling and critically examining the evidence for himself, Strobel became a Christian. Stunned by his findings, he organized the evidence into a book entitled, The Case for Christ, which won the Gold Medallion Book Award for excellence. Strobel asks one thing of each reader - remain unbiased in your examination of the evidence. In the end, judge the evidence for yourself, acting as the lone juror in the case for Christ…4

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1 Knott, The Dictionary of American Biography, back cover of The Testimony of the Evangelists.
2 Simon Greenleaf, The Testimony of the Evangelists: The Gospels Examined by the Rules of Evidence, Kregel Classics, 1995, Backcover.
3 Sir Lionel Luckhoo, The Question Answered: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? Luckhoo Booklets, back page. http://www.hawaiichristiansonline.com/sir_lionel.html.
4 Lee Strobel, The Case For Christ, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998, 18.

Source

Check out this fascinating website - All About the Journey - where Randall Niles shares his journey from atheism to Christian belief. Lots of interesting stuff here for those with the big questions.