The Case for Christ: My Movie Review

I went to the movies tonight to see The Case for Christ, the story of author Lee Strobel's journey from atheism to faith in Christ.

There was so much hype about the recent new release movie The Shack, which was also based on a best-selling book (fiction). What I want to know is why so much hype about that and not the movie I just saw? I guess a movie about evidence based on facts isn't that exciting (facts can be boring. Not to me though). His story isn't fictional, so maybe people just want to watch something that makes them feel good like The Shack. I haven't seen it and probably won't, so I don't know.

The more I read and listen, the more I think I am becoming the intellectual type (without the big head), so a movie like this really appeals to me.

As a real story about a real man, I think this film should be hyped more than movies like The Shack. Perhaps it is because The Shack novel was published only a few years ago, whereas Strobel's book wasn't. Maybe the producers didn't have as much funding for advertising as The Shack's producers did. Or maybe people just don't care.

I am usually prepared to cringe a few times during a Christian film, and maybe I'm being too nit-picky, but some of them are just poorly done. But The Case for Christ is the opposite of poorly. It lacked nothing I thought should be in it. Everything in the film was well-done, down to the clothes and the cars the actors drove. A movie should surround you in the atmosphere of the story and this movie did not fail on that front.

I saw a movie about Rich Mullins a few years ago that was pretty good, but several times my eye caught things in the background that I know did not exist in the early 90s. I had to put on "blinders" while watching that film because it was hard to focus with distractions that could easily have been edited out. But I didn't have to do that with this film.

I hope a Christian director makes a movie about Amy Carmichael (my namesake) or Annie Armstrong next. Their stories are incredible and should be told.

The scene that really moved me in this one was when Lee's wife explains to him that her new found faith in Jesus has enabled her to love him more; even more than she thought was possible. At this point in the movie Lee has been trying his hardest to prove that Jesus' resurrection was a big fat lie perpetuated by brain-washed disciples. He hears her out, then turns to her and basically says that if they are having this conversation two years from now, he won't be a part of it.

That scene truly shows what people could potentially give up when they come to faith in Christ. The couple's saying is "You and only you," but after his wife is born again, Lee begins to feel that God has taken his place in their marriage. He even says to colleagues and friends that he should be enough for her. It is almost like he is jealous of God Himself. What a difficult place to be.

Throughout his in-depth, exhaustive research, he meets with a top medical doctor in California who explains the crucifixion to him in all of its gory details. Lee's theory is that Jesus did not die on the cross, he just passed out, therefore the Romans did not actually kill him. He says that the disciples were mistaken in saying that Jesus actually died, or someone else took his place and they just continued to perpetuate their brain-washed lies. But the doctor has some very telling answers to his questions. He tells Lee every detail of what happens when someone is flogged, as the Bible records Jesus was in the Roman fashion. Flogging was not just a whipping, leaving stripes on Jesus' back. No, flogging meant a special whip was used with bits of pottery and other sharp objects fastened to the whip so that when it hit the person's back, it literally tore flesh from bone.

He also tells Lee that when a person is crucified and nailed to a cross, breathing is an agonizing action. His lungs weren't working quite right because of his position on the cross, so for every breath (I've taken three since writing that last sentence), Jesus had to push his body up to give his lungs room to expand.

Think about that for a moment. His back has been torn open, exposing his skeleton, his arms are fully extended and nailed to the cross as are his feet, and for every breath he takes he must push up, scraping his back on the rough wooden cross.

Lee questions the actions of the Roman soldiers, saying that maybe it wasn't all that bad and the Roman soldiers must not have known what they were doing when it came to inflicting this kind of pain. The doctor assures him that these men were professional torturers. It was their job to do this to people.

As to the resurrection of Jesus, there is overwhelming evidence for this event in history. As is stated in the movie, over 500 people saw Jesus in the flesh after he died on the cross and rose again on the third day. Lee tries to laugh off this evidence as just a dream, but it would be "a miracle in itself" if 500 people had the same dream, about the same person. Things like that just don't happen.

Not to mention if you stacked all of the manuscripts of the New Testament on top of each other (the earliest being written only 30 years after Jesus resurrection and recorded by eye-witnesses), you would find yourself looking up at a stack of credible, historical documents a mile high. That is overwhelming evidence!

Islam says that Jesus didn't really die on the cross and that he is not God. But the Koran was written 600 years AFTER Jesus resurrection. That is a long, long time in between eye-witness accounts.

If you haven't seen the movie, I highly encourage you to see it. Take your friends and just talk about it afterwards. Ask them what they thought and if they felt themselves responding to the information put forth in it.

Here is one last question I thought of when I was watching the movie: If Jesus did not die on the cross and was not resurrected from the dead on the third day just as he said he would be, what did the disciples risk their lives for? Fame? They had none of that. They were hated and despised by everyone who did not believe in Jesus. They were crucified themselves (Peter upside down). Martyrs after them were used as torches to light the way into Nero's parties. Their bodies were torn, burned at the stake, and tortured. For what?

They gained nothing earthly from their belief in Jesus. It must be, it has to be, and it is true.

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me will live, even though he dies." -John 11:25