Jesus understood the role and value of evidence and the importance of developing an evidential faith. It’s time for all of us, as Christians, to develop a similarly reasonable faith. (Wallace, J. Warner; “Cold-Case Christianity”, 2013; pg. 56)
Blessed Sunday Fam! I want to push forward through another piece of J. Warner Wallace’s classic, “Cold-Case Christianity,” briefly today so you can return to worshipping the Lord and enjoying a day of rest.
Chapter 2 of Wallace’s work is called “Learn to Infer”. Infer means to come to a conclusion through evidence rather than just taking someone’s word. The first major hurdle this cold-case detective had to tackle to test the Christian faith was to infer the truth between the statement that Jesus Christ either died and was resurrected, or the only acceptable alternative, that Jesus did not. Even as an atheist, Wallace already recognized the historical truth that a man named Jesus lived and preached a world-changing message at the turn of the millennium. What Wallace sought to disprove, or prove, was: did the crucifixion actually happened? And as Wallace investigated the evidence, he discovered that it was his own presupposition against miraculous events that kept him from believing Jesus defeated death and rose from the grave. But as Wallace analyzed the truth of the Gospels, he realized he could not deny the truth from these original eye-witnesses. While Wallace’s faith is one based from evidentiary value, and not a blind faith, he notes that this is the exact faith Jesus invites us to have. As I discussed a few weeks ago about “Doubting Thomas”, Jesus met Thomas’ skepticism head-on and gave him all the evidence he asked for.
Wallace’s second tool for the “Christian Call-Out Bag” (the first was to not be a “know-it-all”) is: an attitude about reason that will help us as we examine and discuss the claims of Christianity(pg. 55). Wallace writes “I now understand it’s possible for reasonable people to examine the evidence and conclude that Christianity is true”.
I just finished Chapter 10 of this book and I can conclude that Wallace does more than present a reasonable case for Christianity. For me, he has already demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that the argument for the truth of who Jesus Christ is simply undeniable. I will continue to share these tips to help strengthen your defense against skeptics and non-believers in the next few weeks.
Friday was a BIG release day for Christian music. Four fantastic albums were released and I love all of them, plus a handful of great new singles. But I want to start with the sophomore album from Anne Wilson, “REBEL”. For any country music fans out there, Ms. Wilson is as good as it gets. Not only is her music catchy and worthwhile, she herself is a wholesome, Disciple of Jesus. For proof as strong as whiskey, click the image below and here her new single: “Songs About Whiskey”.
Common Sense Reborn 