Case-Making 101: Forensic Faith

“J. Warner Wallace’s ‘Forensic Faith’ completes the trilogy of wonderful books making the evidentiary case for the historicity and veracity of the Christian faith in language that twenty-first [century] Americans can clearly and readily understand. I have seldom seen an approach to verifying the truth claims of the Christian faith that is more effective than the one taken by ‘God’s police detective,’ J. Warner Wallace. Buy two copies of this book. Read one and keep it, and share the other with a lost friend.” – Dr. Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary

J. Warner Wallace has been one of the most influential Christian Apologists in my life. His journey from atheism to Christianity is amazing. Using his skills as a cold-case detective his books, articles, podcasts and video presentations take us to the undeniable conclusion that God exists, that Jesus proved who he claimed to be and rose from the dead, and that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and historically reliable Word of God.

Why is it important to know why we believe (evidentially) what we believe? Because Christianity is quickly losing the culture war today. More young people than ever before are walking away from their faith (roughly 70 percent of those between the ages of 18-30 will leave the church according to most surveys, and only about 1/3 will ever return). We need to have good resources to answer questions so many people have today about Christianity and the Bible, particularly those of the next generation.

Doubts and questions about the Christian faith, and the Bible usually start at a young age, as most statistics show, and this is due in part to the secularization of our public school system, television programming, and media in general that continually bombards us with anti-God propaganda. After taking one of Wallace’s classes at Biola University I was inspired to get in the game of social media for the cause of Christ’s Kingdom because in today’s world battles for the heart and mind are often won and lost here. If you are a Christian I encourage you, as Wallace did me, to be one of the million “one dollar Christian Apologists!”

J. Warner Wallace is a Christian Case-Maker and I like that title. With so many wrong ideas floating around out there concerning Christianity, case-making can help you sort through the available evidence and then make a determination based on the facts and not just feelings or popular opinions. He does an excellent job of this in God’s Crime Scene  as he investigates eight pieces of evidence in the universe to make the case for God’s existence, and the original Cold-Case Christianity  where he provides readers with ten principles of cold case investigations and utilizes these principles to examine the reliability of the gospel eyewitness accounts.

I am so excited that Wallace has brought the same powerful presentation to his new book Forensic Faith. Here is where the believer and the skeptic both need to be before making any statements of faith in a particular worldview because belief that something is true ‘just because’ versus a faith in something ‘because of the evidence’ can make all the difference in the world when we are up against life altering situations. In his new book Forensic Faith, Wallace presents four important areas to consider when stepping into the world of faith claims and how to embrace what you believe with the fullest of confidence that what you believe can stand up to the ‘bullets’ of the enemy!

Watch this short presentation by Wallace on the important difference between having a faith about something and having a faith that you can trust with all your ‘heart’ when put to the test:

A little more about Wallace from his website, Cold Case Christianity: 

J. Warner Wallace is a cold-case homicide detective, popular national speaker and author. He is a member of a three-generation law enforcement family and continues to consult on cold-case investigations while serving as an adjunct professor of apologetics at Biola University and as a faculty member at Summit Ministries. J. Warner was a conscientious and vocal atheist until the age of thirty-five, when he took a serious and expansive look at the evidence for the Christian Worldview and determined that Christianity was demonstrably true. He eventually earned a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.

J. Warner’s professional investigative work has received national recognition. His cases have been featured more than any other detective on NBC’s Dateline and he has a perfect record helping prosecute cold-cases (even assisting in the defeat of renowned defense attorney Robert Shapiro). His work has also appeared on CourtTV and Fox News, and he had a role in God’s Not Dead 2, making the case for the historicity of Jesus. His own show, Cold Case Christianity airs regularly on the NRB TV network.

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Jesus tells us to “love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37).The Bible has much to say about not ‘playing the fool’ in fact it teaches quite the opposite (Proverbs 1:7). We are called to be knowledgeable, testing all things with wisdom and discernment, and we are to search for truth. Pilate, who asked Jesus “What is truth,” really did play the fool when the truth was standing right in front of him (John 18:38).

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. –Hosea 4:6

Listen to J. Warner Wallace explain the importance of having a Forensic Faith on his “Cold Case Christianity” show that airs regularly on the NRB television station.

Join us next week as we continue our investigation into the claims of Christianity!

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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in!  Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.

Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.

Please let me know what you think: Give feedback, ask questions or send concerns in the comment section of the blog.

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

 

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