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The Case for Christ Student Edition: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
The Case for Christ Student Edition: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
The Case for Christ Student Edition: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
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The Case for Christ Student Edition: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus

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Is Jesus really the Son of God, the Messiah? Lee Strobel wasn't so sure. So, he decided to use his award-winning journalistic skills to investigate Jesus and prove once and for all if all the claims about him are true. The Case for Christ Student Edition adapts Strobel’s New York Times bestselling book to present hard-hitting findings as well as Lee’s journey from skepticism to belief in an easy-to-follow manner so you can make a decision about Jesus for yourself.

The Case for Christ Student Edition:

  • Written for children ages 12 and older
  • Presents the arguments for and against Christianity teens and young adults often ask and encounter so they can see the real facts
  • Uses logic and solid information to examine why Christians believe what they do
  • Can also be used in the classroom, in group studies, or as part of a religious studies or comparison class
  • Contains infographics and charts to make the facts clear
  • Pairs well with The Case for a Creator Student Edition, The Case for Faith Student Edition, The Case for the Real Jesus Student Edition, and The Case for Miracles Student Edition

Lee Strobel’s research provides:

  • Scientific data, expert testimonies and interviews
  • Cross-religious comparisons
  • Historical and archeological proofs he discovered during his investigation
  • The conclusion he finally came to about Christianity that changed his life forever

There's historical proof a guy named Jesus walked on the earth but was he really performing miracles? Did he actually rise from the dead? And was he truly the prophesied savior he claimed to be? Lee Strobel found it all hard to believe, and his doubts led him to ask the tough questions and dig into the real evidence to see if the Bible's claims and Jesus's words were true. 

LanguageEnglish
PublisherZondervan
Release dateDec 21, 2010
ISBN9780310835301
The Case for Christ Student Edition: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
Author

Lee Strobel

Lee Strobel, former award-winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, is a New York Times bestselling author whose books have sold millions of copies worldwide. Lee earned a journalism degree at the University of Missouri and was awarded a Ford Foundation fellowship to study at Yale Law School, where he received a Master of Studies in Law degree. He was a journalist for fourteen years at the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, winning Illinois’ top honors for investigative reporting (which he shared with a team he led) and public service journalism from United Press International. Lee also taught First Amendment Law at Roosevelt University. A former atheist, he served as a teaching pastor at three of America’s largest churches. Lee and his wife, Leslie, have been married for more than fifty years and live in Texas. Their daughter, Alison, and son, Kyle, are also authors. Website: www.leestrobel.com

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Rating: 3.825531914893617 out of 5 stars
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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    LONG LIVE JESUS The Good Lord Jesus lives with us all
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book is an amazing read for you if you don’t believe in Jesus as God and the saviour of mankind. It’s comes also with compelling evidence even for believing Christians
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Good reference for answers to skeptics. Simple, straightforward and easy to share.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When a prominent journalist decides to prove his wife's faith is based on myth and superstition, he digs deeper and deeper into the study of the Bible and the historical records. What he finds changes his life and his marriage. Based on a true story, this book has also been made into a movie.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    One of a series includingThe Case for the Real JesusThe Case for a CreatorThe Case for Faith
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An excellent book. There is much evidence that can help one when thinking through the rational basis for Christian faith. However some books on this subject are very detailed and heavy reading. This one is very well written and easy to read. His arguments are clear and well portrayed. It is fascinating to follow Lee Strobel's personal journey from atheism to faith. Lee Strobel, with a Master of Studies in Law Degree from Yale Law School, was an award winning journalist at the Chicago tribune.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am already a Christian, so I don't know if this book would have compelled me to believe in Christ or not. However, Strobel investigates the claims about who Jesus was and the circumstances surrounding his death and resurrection in an objective manner. The resurrection of course is the single most important event in history, so knowing how we know that those testimonies are true is pretty compelling.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author builds a strong case that Christ was a real person and actually performed miracles.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lee Strobel asks some tough questions about Christianity and as a crime reporter knows how to get some answers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sounded like it'd be "investigative", but seemed more the author lobbing himself softballs, and cheering himself on hitting them out of the park. Having said that, it was a fairly enjoyable read, and I've got Case for Faith on my stack to read. And the closing few pages were worth the rest of the book, IMO.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    The first of what became a string of "The Case for..." books, presented under the guise of 'fair and balanced investigative journalism' but is actually nothing more than an opportunity for Strobel to lob soft balls at his favourite fundamentalist preachers so that they can make his case for him. Strobel's stated intent is a lie. He has not set out to present a true treatment of the issues but to evangelise, pure and simple. A true investigation by an investigative journalist would have included opinions and research from people who actually hold the contra-positions - positions that Strobel simply constructs 'straw man' versions of to give the illusion of asking the tough questions. An appallingly bad book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a great and easy read. I read this as a skeptic before becoming a Christian and it helped me find a starting point in my own search for Christ.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Strobel claims to be a journalist, and yet the only 'experts' he interviews during his 'investigation' are evangelical christians.What kind of journalist writes a piece on a controversial subject without finding sources on all sides of the given issue?The title should have been "The Case for Christ: A shoddy journalist's personal quest to find people who agree with me."
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ok book, but he starts with too many givens. Could have been better.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had an open mind when I read the book and it seemed to convince me , or at least to provide for me the ability to argue in better defense of christianity , but I have since came to the realization that I was fooling myself and ignored some of the obvious slants in the book. I gave it a 4 because this book creates very sharp opinions before or against. I did like the writing unlike some of the other reviewers here.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very good exploration into the historical evidence that Jesus really was who he claimed to be. In it, Strobel interviews Biblical experts and challenges them to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. He is thorough and unyielding in these interviews, challenging the texts themselves, the witnesses, the death of Jesus, and all points in between.I would recommend this to anyone who really wants to know if the claims of the Bible are true. I'm sure those who are determined to not believe will find a reason to, but those with more open minds will at very least find the claims of Christianity are a little more credible than they may have first thought.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A bit verbose, but good information inside.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book I have taken notes and re-read numerous times. I recommend to anyone who studies the bible or anyone who would like to know more about Christianity.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was one of the first books I read in 2002 as God starting working His power in my life. It encouraged and emboldened me. The chapter on the death and subsequent resurrection were informative, sobering and comforting. It is a great book to give to an unbeliever who will take the time to read it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author was an atheist when his wife of many years became a Christian. He was quite dismayed and expected her to become a dull and boring person. When she didn't, he decided to use his skills as an investigative reporter to see if the case for Christ would stand up in a court of law. He crisscrossed the country interviewing authorities.Strobel had an easy interview and writing style, but the book was very dense. Nevertheless, I'm glad that I read it.Karen chose this book for book discussion with New England Memorial Church.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Very good documentation of how Jesus stands up to scholarly historical scrutiny. Helped bolster my faith though I'm looking even more forward to reading The Case for Faith.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was a very interesting and compelling book. I read it as a believer, so I needed no convincing, but I liked reading the way an attorney approaches the subject.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It accomlishes what it set out to do. It's an easy way to get an overview of the questions that often come up when talking about the historical realities of the death/life of JC. This stuff is not really my bag, but for what it is it's great.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found many aspects of Strobel’s book enlightening and very thought provoking. He interviews many experts on the documentation for the New Testament. The book dispels many of the myths surrounding what people “think” they know about the Bible and covers many aspects of reliability for the Bible and for Christ that many people, including Christians, just are not aware of. In this book, he also gives good demonstration that there is quite a body of attestation for Jesus’ existence in history.There were minor parts in which I disagreed with what was said, but those mainly pertained to certain interpretations or positions of doctrine that either Strobel or an interviewee and made, not necessarily to the topic of the reliability of the Bible or to the Messiah. Over all, a very good book and worth the read.There have been those who complain that Strobel doesn’t interview those who “have a case against Christ”. This is true, but to be fair to the author, he never intended to do this and doesn’t purport to. He is simply putting out the case for Christ, not against. Besides, what other books out there, by atheist or otherwise, write both pro and con arguments? Not many at all. You’re more likely to find those in academia any way.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book examines the evidence for Jesus by interviewing a dozen academics who specialise in a variety of different fields. Evidence that was examined included scientific, medical psychological evidence and also examination of the Bible and other historical documents. It would be great book for anyone seeking evidence for the existance of Jesus as the Messiah. A great book to recommend to non-Christian friends.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lee Strobel interviews and investigates some of the top religious, scientists, archeologists to come up with this book...to say there really was a Jesus Christ that walked among the earth and he is the son of God. Praise be to God for Lee. If you struggle with explaining Jesus to someone you love, give them this book.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This book could easily be called "Lee Strobel Speculates Wildly from Unconvincing Premises" or "Lee Strobel Interviews People that Agree With Him". This book is a strange combination of soft-ball interview questions and absurd leaps of logic. Lee Strobel may once have been an atheist, but if he was he wasn't a particularly thoughtful one. You would have to have no knowledge of logical fallacies and no understanding of history or human psychology in order to be convinced by these arguments.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    So amazing. The man went from being an antagonistic Athiest to a born again Christian--it's a great read for everyone in that spectrum. I like how he used secular writings from the 1st century as well as the culture of the early church to help us understand different aspects of the history behind Christ's story.He asked the logic questions that most people have, and the answers he found are very convicting. I have a new found love for Luke as a historian, and the preface to his gospel makes me smile. I also like how he breaks up his research into different parts, and the part I most appreciated was the information on Resurrection of Christ.I'm proud that a professor from my Alma Mater, Liberty University, was referenced!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This tool has been helping me answer questions from a friend who is struggling to find truth. What excites me about this book is that the story of Jesus, as told in the Gospels, is not only reliable, it is reliable in many categories. The internal and external proofs are overwhelming, and anyone who is sincerely looking for answers can be assured Jesus really lived on earth, died on the cross, and rose from the dead on the third day.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Do yourself a favor. If you're not already a Christian nothing this book insists is evidence is even slightly convincing. If you are a Christian don't give this to you're non-Christian friends to try and convert them, you'll just annoy them (and waste your money).It is obvious to any skeptic reading this book, that for all of Strobel's insistence that he was a hardcore atheist and bristling skeptic he has absolutely no idea what sort of questions and answers matter to skeptics. Nor does his interaction with his all Christian interviewees suggest anything but compliant and soft handling. He appears to be wearing two or three pairs of kid gloves. He'll say that he can't let them off the hook and that he's going to give them a tough question and then lob some sort of crackpot theory no self respecting skeptic would ever take seriously.The formula it this. 1. Start chapter with an exciting, but irrelevant anecdote about criminal investigation. It's a terrible and transparent gimmick aimed it showing that investigating the Bible is the same as investigating contemporary crime, even though there aren't any witnesses, material evidence, forensics or really any means at all to demonstrate anything concrete whatsoever. 2. Talk about the dude you're going to interview. Spend a page talking about his credentials, but then tell us not to worry about him bein' some unrelatable academic snot. He likes hockey! And has pictures his kids drew! And and he looks like a nice guy! Frankly I'm surprised he never got around to comparing them to lovable pop culture icons. Reading this ridiculous dribble about why I should like this academic every-man I couldn't help wondering what he would have said about skeptical academics had he actually interviewed any. I doubt that he would talk about them in such sappy heartwarming language. Would he simply omit the gratuitous page of leg-humping (which really didn't need to be there at all) or would he mention the "cold uncomfortable feeling he felt in their presence" and describe the "lack of human touches in their office"? I don't know. It's one more reason I wish he had included interviews from people that weren't all presenting the argument he was selling.3. Next you dive into the interview. This involves Strobel asking a question involving the theme of the of the chapter and immediately accepting whatever answer is given. Sometime he admits that that was enough to convince him, but asks a few more softball questions anyway to demonstrate his commitment to academic pursuit. Almost all examples of scholarly opinion and evidence is only vaguely referred to and lacking reference. They say things like "every one agrees that..." but fail to say who everyone is, or more importantly why they agree. It is assumed that hearing that some unknown theoretical scholars think it is as good as actual evidence and evaluation. It's not uncommon for them to insist that agreement is unanimous in the academic community regarding an issue when a simple google search shows it isn't. I shouldn't need to point out that conducting a criminal investigation or trial in this manner would be a joke. 4. Having declared the previous claim fact without actually applying any sort of rigorous evaluation or providing any evidence Strobel then uses it to prove more claims. This is basically all the book is. Making a claim, not really investigating it, declaring it inequivocally proven and then using it to prove other claims.5. Throw in some strawman versions of skeptic arguments and you're good to go.In a nut shell, this book argues that what the Bible says must be true because the Bible says it. It never addresses any real arguments against religion in general or Christianity in particular and on the occasion Strobel accidentally raises a legitimate objection his subject wasn't prepared for it is dismissed with a wave of the hand rather than actual logic or evidence. Unless you already accept the Bible as fact this is just going to be a lot of self appreciative nonsense and a giant waste of time.Some of you may be wondering why someone like myself that so clearly didn't like the book felt the need to read it and review it. It was given me by my mother. She was completely convinced it would show me the light and save me from my atheist ways. This is the third book I have read that was given to me to these ends, and while none of them has come even remotely close to addressing the sort of the things that me make an atheist rather than a Christian, this book was by far the worst of the bunch. I don't recommend giving your atheist or agnostic friends religious books or attempting to convert them, it is more likely to strain the relationship than make good Christians of them.

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The Case for Christ Student Edition - Lee Strobel

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Resources by Lee Strobel

The Case for Christ

The Case for Christ audio

The Case for Christ—Student Edition (with Jane Vogel)

The Case for Christmas

The Case for Christmas audio

The Case for a Creator

The Case for a Creator audio

The Case for a Creator—Student Edition (with Jane Vogel)

The Case for Easter

The Case for Faith

The Case for Faith audio

The Case for Faith—Student Edition (with Jane Vogel)

The Case for the Real Jesus

The Case for the Real Jesus—Student Edition (with Jane Vogel)

Discussing the Da Vinci Code curriculum (with Gary Poole)

Discussing the Da Vinci Code discussion guide (with Gary Poole)

Experiencing the Passion of Jesus (with Garry Poole)

Exploring the Da Vinci Code (with Gary Poole)

Faith Under Fire curriculum series

God’s Outrageous Claims

Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary

Off My Case for Kids

Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage (with Leslie Strobel)

Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage audio

What Jesus Would Say

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INVERT YOUTH SPECIALTIES

The CASE for CHRIST—STUDENT EDITION

Copyright 2001 by Lee Strobel

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.

ePub Edition © June 2017: ISBN 978-0-310-83530-1

Youth Specialties products, 300 S. Pierce St., El Cajon, CA 92020 are published by

Zondervan, 5300 Patterson Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49530.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Strobel, Lee, 1952-

Case for Christ : a journalist’s personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus / Lee Strobel with Jane Vogel.—[New] student ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-310-23484-5

1. Jesus Christ—Person and offices. 2. Apologetics. I. Vogel, Jane. II.

Title.

BT203.S77 2001

232.9'08—dc21

2001017677

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible:New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover design by Tobias Design / Outerwear for Books

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Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. What’s Wrong with Me?

Part One: Who Is This Jesus?

2. Did Jesus Really Think He Was God?

Christianity: A Religion of Intolerance?

3. Was Jesus Crazy to Claim to Be God?

4. Did Jesus Match the Identity of the Messiah?

Living and Forgiving Like God

Part Two: How Reliable Is the

Information About Christ?

5. Can You Trust Christ’s Biographies?

6. Is There a Case for Christ Outside the Bible?

Jesus and Slavery

Part Three: Can a Dead Man

Come Back to Life?

7. Did Jesus Fake His Death?

8. What Happened to the Body?

9. What Did Jesus Do after Easter?

Conclusion: So What?

About the Author

About the Publisher

Introduction

My friends and I were celebrating at an Italian restaurant across the street from the University of Missouri. I was set to graduate in a few days, and I had just accepted a job offer: a three-month internship at the Chicago Tribune, with a promise that if I performed well, I’d get a permanent job as a reporter.

At one point during the meal, somewhere between the bread sticks and the Neapolitan ice cream, my best friend, Ersin, made an offhand remark about how my internship was certainly a great gift from God.

His comment startled me. During the four years I’d known Ersin, I don’t think we’d ever talked about religion.

Wait a minute, let me get this straight, I said.Are you telling me that someone as intelligent as you—valedictorian, science whiz, and all that— that you actually believe that God exists? I always figured you were beyond that!

It was clear that Ersin was equally surprised. "What are you trying to tell me? he said. Are you saying there isn’t a God? Are you telling me that someone as intelligent as you doesn’t believe in God? You’ve got to be kidding!"

We were both genuinely astonished. I couldn’t believe that a sharp person like Ersin had actually bought into a fairy tale like the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator of the universe. Hadn’t he learned anything at college?

If you could freeze-frame my attitude toward God, that would be it: Intelligent people didn’t believe in him. All it took was a quick look at the evidence to know that Christianity was nothing but superstition and wishful thinking.

But to be honest, that’s all I had ever really given the evidence: a quick look. And I was happy to keep it that way for years—until one day, my life took a strange turn, pushing me into an all-out investigation into the facts surrounding the case for Christianity.

That’s what this book is about. I’ll take you along as I retrace the events that led to a nearly 2-year exploration of the evidence for and against believing in Christ.

After weighing the evidence, I made my decision. But I can’t make yours. That’s your choice. I hope you take it seriously, because there may be more at stake than just idle curiosity. If Jesus is to be believed—and I realize that may be a big if for you at this point—then nothing is more important than how you respond to him.

Check out the evidence for yourself.

What’s Wrong with Me?

I could take you back to the very place where I lost my faith in God. I was 14 years old.

At Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois, the biology classroom was on the third floor in the northwest corner of the building. I was sitting in the second row from the windows, third chair from the front, when I first learned about Darwin’s theory of evolution.

REVOLUTIONIZED BY

EVOLUTION

This was revolutionary to me! Our teacher explained that life originated millions of years ago when chemicals randomly reacted with each other in a warm ocean on the primordial earth. Then, through a process of survival of the fittest and natural selection, life forms gained in complexity.

Eventually, human beings emerged from the same family tree as apes.

Although the teacher didn’t address this aspect of evolution, its biggest implication was obvious to me: If evolution explains the origin and development of life, then God was out of a job! What did we need God for? Life was just the natural result of the random interaction of chemicals.

To my mind, this was great news! Finally, here was a rational basis for atheism. If evolution explains life, then the first chapters of the Bible must be mythology or wishful thinking. And if that were true of the first chapters, why not the rest? Jesus could not have been God. Miracles aren’t possible; they’re just the attempts by pre-scientific people to make sense out of what they couldn’t understand but which now science can explain.

For the first time, I had a rational reason to abandon Christianity.

BORED BY RELIGION

Not that I’d ever really been a Christian.

My parents believed in God and had done their best to try to spark spiritual interest in me. When I was a kid, they brought me

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