{"id":1653,"date":"2017-04-14T00:14:31","date_gmt":"2017-04-14T04:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/?p=1653"},"modified":"2017-04-14T10:40:54","modified_gmt":"2017-04-14T14:40:54","slug":"the-case-for-christ-a-film-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/?p=1653","title":{"rendered":"The Case for Christ\u2014a film review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Case for Christ is an excellent film about Lee Strobel’s journey from atheism to Christianity.<\/p><\/div>\n

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to watch The Case for Christ<\/em> at a local theater with my wife. Since the movie addresses many of the subjects that I write and speak about on a regular basis, I wanted to share some of my thoughts about it. There are a few minor spoilers here, although they aren’t spoilers if you already know the true story behind the film.<\/p>\n

The movie tells the story of Lee Strobel and his journey from atheism to Christianity. Based on his book by the same title, the film highlights Strobel\u2019s investigation into the central claims of Christianity\u2014Jesus died on the Cross and was seen alive again three days later because He rose from the dead.<\/p>\n

The movie really is well done. Christian films are often maligned for their level of quality, but I don\u2019t think this would be a valid criticism of this film. The acting and storytelling is very good. It really feels like 1980, and viewers get a good look inside the Chicago Tribune newsroom where Strobel was an award-winning journalist.<\/p>\n

Strobel\u2019s testimony is well documented. After his wife Leslie converted to Christianity, he set out to prove that Christianity was false. In the film, he asks a coworker where he should start in his effort to debunk the faith. The coworker was a Christian and challenged him to go for the jugular\u2014disprove the Resurrection and Christianity crumbles. So that\u2019s what Strobel focused his efforts on.<\/p>\n

The investigative reporter interviewed experts in various disciplines trying to punch holes in the Resurrection narratives. Were the manuscripts reliable? Did Jesus really die on the Cross? Were the disciples just hallucinating when they saw Jesus alive again? Is there credible evidence for Jesus outside of early Christian sources? The answers to these questions and many others shook Strobel\u2019s atheism to its core.<\/p>\n

In the beginning of his book, The Case for Christ<\/em>, Strobel tells the story of James Dixon, a man convicted of shooting a police officer in the stomach during a scuffle. Everyone knew Dixon was guilty, all the evidence presented at the trial pointed to that fact, and Dixon even admitted that he did it. Yet, one piece of evidence was missing, and it was that one bit that changed everything and led to Dixon\u2019s acquittal. This story is woven throughout the film and serves as an analogy for the way evidence is often viewed from a skewed perspective based on one\u2019s starting point.<\/p>\n

The film also shows the difficulties Lee and Leslie faced as they started growing apart. As Lee became more and more frustrated with his wife\u2019s newfound faith, he became more determined to disprove it. Eventually, he realized that he couldn\u2019t debunk Christianity, but he still didn\u2019t want to convert.<\/p>\n

His testimony highlights the fact that oftentimes the rejection of Christianity is not due to a lack of evidence. In an interview<\/a>, Strobel said that there is often an emotional underpinning to one\u2019s atheism. In his case, it stemmed from a very difficult relationship with his father, and he cited many other similar stories. He added that there are often moral issues at play. He didn\u2019t want to change his lifestyle\u2014he enjoyed getting drunk and didn\u2019t want to give that up.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Strobel gave his life to the Lord, and the film shows this in a dramatic scene with his wife. He told her that her faith was based on solid facts, and that he had come to accept that it was true. But he also told her that it wasn\u2019t only the facts that persuaded him; his wife\u2019s changed life played a major role in Strobel placing his faith in Jesus Christ. This scene shows how God reaches people in a variety of ways. For some, like Strobel, God uses the evidence for Christianity to bring\u00a0them to the Christ.<\/p>\n

Lee Strobel is now a very well-known Christian apologist. He is the author of numerous books dedicated to demonstrating the truth of Christianity, including The Case for Christ<\/em> and The Case for the Real Jesus<\/em> (both of which I highly recommend). He is an excellent writer so the books are engaging and easy to read.<\/p>\n

I truly enjoyed the film, and it wasn\u2019t just because he drove a Camaro (which is what I drive), although that was very cool. At times, it seemed like I was listening to my own Resurrection presentation<\/a> on the big screen. It was interesting to see how one of my professors, Dr. Gary Habermas, was portrayed. That scene demonstrated the only \u201cshortcoming\u201d of the film I found, although I think shortcoming is too strong of a term. In Strobel\u2019s encounter with Dr. Habermas, the professor tells him about the death of his first wife, Debbie. But Debbie died in 1995, 15 years after the scene takes place in the movie. Strobel did interview Dr. Habermas after 1995, and that interview makes up one of the chapters in his book. So the film took that particular detail and stuck it in 1980. It works well for the film, but it isn\u2019t technically accurate. In the interview mentioned earlier<\/a>, Strobel estimated\u00a0that 15\u201320% of the movie doesn\u2019t line up with his life in exact detail, but for the purpose of the script, certain details, like this one, were tweaked a little to make for a more compelling film.<\/p>\n

I highly recommend this movie. For Christians, The Case for Christ<\/em> is a wonderful film that will encourage you and demonstrate that the foundation of our faith, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, can withstand skeptical scrutiny and historical examination. For unbelievers, I urge you to see this film as well and undertake your own investigation of these events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to watch The Case for Christ at a local theater with my wife. Since the movie addresses many of the subjects that I write and speak about on a regular basis, I wanted … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,21],"tags":[69,28,37,46,53],"class_list":["post-1653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-reflections","tag-apologetics","tag-jesus-christ","tag-new-testament","tag-resurrection","tag-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1653"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1659,"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1653\/revisions\/1659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midwestapologetics.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}