• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Book Review Forensic Faith – A new book from J. Warner Wallace

Forensic Faith – A new book from J. Warner Wallace

Posted on June 25, 2017 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


Forensic FaithThe brown envelope on my desk was not expected. Upon picking it up, it was obvious that it contained a book (almost always a good thing). That book turned out to be the latest book from J. Warner Wallace and it is entitled Forensic Faith: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith. It was indeed a good thing.

I have reviewed Mr. Wallace’s earlier editions in this series entitled, Cold Case Christianity and God’s Crime Scene so am familiar with and enjoy the author’s style. Like his two previous books, Wallace mixes in stories from his experience as a police detective to illustrate the points he makes through the book.

In Cold Case, Wallace demonstrates how the skills of a detective can be used to evaluate the claims of Christianity and the reliability of the Gospel Accounts. In God’s Crime Scene, he examines the evidence for a divinely created universe. I found both books to be helpful and enjoyable to read.

This book focuses more on the process of presenting the evidence in support of Christianity. We are called to make disciples and to fulfill that call, we need to be able to present the evidence in support of our belief.

I was especially challenged by the first chapter where Wallace encourages his readers to embrace their calling as Christian Case Makers. In that chapter, he points out that Jesus challenges his followers to use our minds when he gave us the Two Great Commands in Matthew 22:37-38. Wallace notes that Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 but Jesus changed one word in his quotation. He substituted the word “mind” for the word “strength” in the original. Wallace writes:

“All the gospel authors agree that Jesus used the word ‘mind’ in His summary of [Deuteronomy 6:5] (instead of the word ‘strength’). The Greek word used by these authors is dianoia: a word used to describe our ‘minds,’ our ‘understanding,’ or our ‘intelligence.’ Here in Matthew’s gospel, the word is used to describe the ‘place where thinking occurs.’ Jesus’ intentional word exchange raises the bar for us as Christians. We are not only to love God with all our heart, soul and might, but we are also commanded to use our mind and our intelligence to understand the truth of Christianity.”

Using our minds is not optional. Contrary to those who caricature Christians as those who blindly accept the unbelievable, we are called to use our minds to weigh the evidence and make a decision.

If you are at all interested in learning to present the claims of Christ to others, this is a book that would be worth reading. Wallace’s writing style is engaging and he presents concepts clearly. I also like that whenever he uses a technical term, he includes a side bar explaining the term.

This is a book that will remain on shelf because it is one that I will read again.


Filed Under: Book Review

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Two hands on the steering wheel

Humble and Contrite?

I don’t think that we can place too much stress on Jesus’ statement about the responsibility for building the church. It is his; he claimed the responsibility and the resurrection proved that he has the power to do it. Maybe we should spending more time in prayer asking him how he wants us to participate in that building than we do in building our own strategies.

Question 13

Did our first parents remain as they were created?

Every good story has some tension or a struggle in the plot followed by a happy ending. The story of the people of God is no exception. I will repeat the summary of the Bible that I quoted in my post about Question 12, “God made it, we broke it and Jesus came to fix it.

22

How did Christ, the Son of God, become man?

The first observation that I need to make is that there is mystery here. We must acknowledge that complete understanding of this is beyond our reach as humans.

On the Kindness of God

In the same way, we need to present God as the loving father who is waiting for all of us to turn to him. But our turning to him is initiated by our repentance. With proper understanding of the kindness and the holiness of God, repentance is the only reasonable response.

Running Child

Thank God for the children

In my last post, I wrote about some church leaders’ misunderstanding of the role of the building in worship. This was in response to a note that I had gotten from a reader. In that note, the writer also said that the pastor of the church he visited made a comment about not allowing children […]

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
June 2023
SMTWTFS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930 
« May    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in