STROBEL SEEKS EVIDENCE FOR THE CRUCIFIXION and outside the New Testament , that confirm and corroborate the disciples ’ conviction that they encountered the risen Christ . To me , this constitutes an avalanche of evidence that the resurrection is an actual event of history . Maintaining my atheism would mean I would have to ignore these historical facts , but that was something I couldn ’ t do . As a journalist educated in law , I was trained to respond to evidence . The most logical thing for me to do was to take a step of faith in the same direction that the evidence was pointing and put my trust in Jesus as my forgiver and leader .
Q : Why should the Gospels be considered reliable sources on which to build the case for Christ ?
EXPLAINING THE GOOD NEWS OF CHRIST
INVESTIGATING THE CASE FOR CHRIST
putable ; that we have a report of his resurrection -- including named eyewitnesses and groups of eyewitnesses -- that dates back to within months of Jesus ’ death , too early to be a legend ; even Jesus ’ enemies implicitly conceded that his tomb was empty ; and we have nine ancient sources , inside
14 Solutions
Strobel : Actually , our earliest report of the resurrection came even before the Gospels . We have a creed of the earliest Christians that confirms Jesus died , was buried , and was resurrected , and then it includes the names of eyewitnesses and groups of eyewitnesses to whom he appeared . The eminent historian James D . G . Dunn has dated this creed to within months of the death of Jesus . This is a veritable news flash of ancient history ! It comes so quickly after Jesus ’ death that we can ’ t blithely write it off as a legend .
As for the Gospels themselves , I spent years analyzing their historical reliability . Ultimately , I had to agree with what I was told by the great scholar Craig A . Evans , who has written , edited , or contributed to 50 books and has lectured at major universities around the world . As he told me : “ There ’ s every reason to conclude that the Gospels have fairly
Strobel Seeks Evidence For The Crucifixtion
Explaining The Good News Of Christ
Investigating The Case For Christ