Posted on 01/27/2019 9:31:07 AM PST by Kaslin
I’ve discovered a work by Dan Buttafuoco, a personal injury and malpractice attorney handling cases nationwide, that really hits it out of the park. His new book, "Consider the Evidence, A Trial Lawyer Examines Eyewitness Testimony In Defense Of The Reliability Of The New Testament," puts the Christian faith inside the courtroom.
Having tried many jury and non-jury cases over his 38-year career, Dan brings his legal insight to bear in analyzing evidence for the New Testament 's reliability both in subject matter and in transmission. While other authors have written extensively on this subject what strikes me about his book is that it is so readable that even the average person with a high school education can understand why we believe the New Testament to be the divinely inspired word of God.
This makes sense given Dan's skills as a trial lawyer which involves breaking down complex subjects so that the average juror can understand them.
In an era where the faith is being challenged by scandal, politically driven figureheads and self-interested laity, this book gives the average church-goer a simple and straight forward way to embrace God, bypassing the noise. Just a cursory look at the state of the "Christian "community these days shows an appalling lack of knowledge of biblical truth. People make up their own beliefs as they go because they seemingly have no knowledge of what the Bible teaches or if it even has authority in their lives.
Dan puts those doubts to rest with an excellent overview of the scholarly material that has been around for centuries (plus some brand new insights!) in that he explains why the Bible, which claims to be the "Word of God" over 2,000 times is actually just that.
Using the in-depth analysis of a trial lawyer in examining the records of Scripture, he is able to glean from the pages of both Old and New Testaments (and other writings and traditions) relevant to the case that there is substantial corroborative evidence of the truth claims of Christianity. Jesus and his disciples did not die for nothing. They instead perished for a much greater truth, a cause that persists to this day.
The evidence for the resurrection of Christ is substantial and Dan explains in detail why the entire Bible, from cover to cover, is really all about the redemptive plan of God for mankind culminating in the arrival and the ministry of Jesus Christ, capped by his resurrection, witnessed by over 500 people, many of whom testified in their writings to what they saw. The Apostles had a front row seat, they recorded it and they died for that testimony. Dan argues the case and shows the jury, you and me, through the preponderance of the evidence that the message is truthful and it is accurately preserved.
This book is a book that the average person can read and use to defend and bolster their faith in Christ. It is the type of book that can be given to people who, due to world events, may have a case of “doubting Thomas” syndrome. It is a brilliant summation of the arguments and pieces of evidence for Christianity. It is fast paced, the format is also easy to read and honestly is hard to put down for those searching for answers.
I recommend this book to anyone who is sincerely searching for the truth, who has been challenged in their Christian faith, or who may want to impart the wisdom of the Bible to their children in everyday language. This one belongs in every Christian's library.
looks interesting
Thanks for the tip! :)
Didn’t David Limbaugh do a book along those lines a few years ago?
Eye witnesses are perhaps the least reliable witnesses in any trial. And, eye witness testimony for two thousand years ago is very suspect.
Eye witnesses are perhaps the least reliable witnesses ...
And yet, we listen carefully to testimony, as jurors, and judge their credibility and accuracy in light of our experience.
I think it is especially significant in the Bible where the people are testifying against their own interest. Would Peter make it up that he had denied Christ three times?
That’s one example.
When I was in law school, years ago, learning about eye witnesses actually enhanced my faith.
p
Ping.
5.56mm
Bump
BKMK
Eye witnesses are notoriously unreliable at identifying a person they don’t know, especially if the event happened quickly and they were stressed. I am not aware of any studies to determine the reliability of witnesses who witness the resurrection of a friend who they thought dead, or who saw a teacher of theirs on a cross, or who listened to the words of a beloved mentor and later had to repeat them to others. In those instances, I would imagine that the recollections could very well be accurate.
Ok, the gospels were all written well after Jesus was dead. There were no eye witnesses.
The apostles could have made up anything they wanted. They ceratinly incorporated “mythology” from Roman Persian diesties.
Similar to CSL:
Lewis, a scholar of Mythology, said the New Testament reads like news articles, not mythic legends: eyewitness accounts.
He was rebutting all the pundits who called it myth, though they did not study myth.
‘The apostles could have made up anything they wanted’
do you mean the evangelists when you say apostles...?
‘They ceratinly incorporated “mythology” from Roman Persian diesties.’
yes, the hero god-man archtype from classical mythology, in particular the Hercules and Perseus son of gods personas, and from Egyptian myth, the Horus profile...
It's been done before...
It helps to actually READ the book that you are trying to get others to disbelieve.
Luke 1:1-4 (NIV)
1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.
3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
What is that old saying about imitation??
Luke was written about 100 years after Jesus died.
They were written within 10-30 years after the event, some by people who were there.
No. No they weren’t.
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