Cold-Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace

Author:J. Warner Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Apologetics, Christianity, Detective, Evidence
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2012-11-18T16:00:00+00:00

Something similar occurs when skeptics point to the allegedly “imperfect” or “incomplete” historical evidence supporting the claims of Christianity. Why, for example, don’t we have a complete set of documents from all the apostles who wrote in the first century? Why don’t we have some of the missing letters mentioned in the New Testament, like Paul’s prior letter to the Corinthian church described in 1 Corinthians 5:9 or John’s letter to Diotrephes’s church cited in verse 9 of 3 John? Why isn’t there more evidence from sources outside the biblical record corroborating the events described in the Bible (more on this in chapter 12)?

While expectations of perfection may assist defense attorneys as they attack the prosecution’s case and skeptics as they attack the claims of Christianity, these kinds of expectations are unreasonable. I’ve never seen a “perfect” investigation, and I’ve certainly never conducted one. All inquiries and examinations of the truth (including historical investigations) have their unique deficiencies. Jurors understand that they must work with what they have in front of them. Either the evidence is sufficient or it is not. Jurors can’t dwell on what “might have been” or what “could have been done,” unless they have evidence and good reason to believe that the truth was lost along the way. Juries cannot assume there is a better explanation (other than the one offered by the prosecution) simply because there were imperfections in the case; reasonable doubts must be established with evidence. In a similar way, skeptics cannot reject the reasonable inferences from the evidence we do have, simply because there may possibly be some evidence we don’t have; skeptics also need to defend their doubt evidentially.

DEFENSE ATTORNEYS PROVIDE ALTERNATIVE “POSSIBILITIES”

Alternative Explanations

Judges instruct juries to be wary of explanations that are not reasonably supported by the evidence. Judges advise jurors that they “must be convinced that the only reasonable conclusion supported by the circumstantial evidence is that the defendant is guilty. If you can draw two or more reasonable conclusions from the circumstantial evidence, and one of those reasonable conclusions points to innocence and another to guilt, you must accept the one that points to innocence. However, when considering circumstantial evidence, you must accept only reasonable conclusions and reject any that are unreasonable” (Section 224, Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions, 2006).

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