The Case for Christ, the Movie

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You might know the story of Lee Strobel since it was a huge best seller almost two decades ago.  But if you missed his book, The Case for Christ, like I did, here are the basics.

Lee Strobel, atheist, investigative journalist, and family man, has it made.  His career is taking off, he is married to lovely and loving Leslie, he has a sweet daughter, and, judging by his house and cars, he is financially successful.  In fact, Lee’s life is a fairy tale…until Leslie unexpectedly realizes that Jesus is not a fairy tale.

When Leslie becomes a Christian, Lee’s life falls apart and he sets out on a huge project to save her. He is determined to prove that Christianity is false and leaves no stone unturned.  Interwoven with this quest is another story about crime journalism, facts, and misunderstandings, that both mirrors and explains the main story.

The Case for Christ makes a compelling case for Jesus, both intellectually and emotionally.  “Facts, nothing but the facts,” Lee always says.  Well, Christianity is based on some unassailable facts, and Lee gloomily turns up one after another.  The miracle is that he accepts them and doesn’t suppress them as so many do.

Beautiful acting, a dramatic story, believable characters, and an unrelenting sense of hope fill this movie with emotion and joy.

The Case for Christ had great personal appeal to me since there are some dearly loved non-Christians in my life.  I constantly live with the questions, “How do I reach them?  What do I do?”  One answer, of course, is prayer, but another one involves facts like the ones Lee uncovered.  Also, Leslie discovers a few things about how to reach non-Christians.

The Case for Christ is a solid introduction to apologetics (defending the truth through systematic arguments) for both teens and parents and would be a worthwhile addition to high school Bible studies.  The information it presents will help one defend the truth of Christianity.

Furthermore, this movie is a great accompaniment to Total Truth, a book that I hope to include in our homeschool  and that I am studying with some dear ladies this summer.   It not only displays concepts discussed in Total Truth’s chapters about evangelicalism, but the whole aim of the movie is to remove Christianity from the realm of the subjective, where society allows it, to the realm of truth, where it belongs.  Both Pearcey’s book and this movie are, essentially, about Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity, showing that it is fact-based and totally true.

Highly recommended for all Christians, for homeschool high schools, and for church libraries.

For more information, view the movie trailer or the trailer for the DVD that came out this week in Canada.

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For more arguments to support biblical faith, see Lee Strobel’s Case for… series, which covers most apologetics questions.  I aim to explore some of these books this winter and am grateful that this beautiful movie alerted me, indirectly, to their existence.

Note:  A reader informed me that these books include Arminian ideas (The Case for Faith) and make the case only for an intelligent Creator, not six day Creation (The Case for a Creator; for more information, see this review by Lita Cosner).

• The Case for Christ
• The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity,
• The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God
• The Case for Easter: Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection
• The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger
• The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ
• The Case for Christianity Answer Book
• The Case for Hope: Looking Ahead with Confidence and Courage
• The Case for Grace: A Journalist Explores the Evidence of Transformed Lives  (from Wikipedia)

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Disclosure:  I received a review link to The Case for Christ via Graf-Martin.  As always, I am not compensated for sharing my honest opinions.

This article is linked to Finishing Strong and Raising Homemakers.