Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel

by David Limbaugh

In Jesus on Trial, New York Times bestselling author David Limbaugh applies his lifetime of legal experience to a unique new undertaking: making a case for the gospels as hard evidence of the life and work of Jesus Christ. Limbaugh, a practicing attorney and former professor of law, approaches the canonical gospels with the same level of scrutiny he would apply to any legal document and asks all the necessary questions about the story of Jesus told through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. His analysis of the texts becomes profoundly personal as he reflects on his own spiritual and intellectual odyssey from determined skeptic to devout Christian. Ultimately, Limbaugh concludes that the words Christians have treasured for centuries stand up to his exhaustive enquiry�including his examination of historical and religious evidence beyond the gospels�and thereby affirms Christian faith, spirituality, and tradition.

Genres: Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, Faith, Christianity, History, Theology

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

David Limbaugh is a conservative American political commentator and author. He is the younger brother of talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

David Limbaugh has a bachelor's degree, cum laude, in political science and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Missouri. He also served in the National Guard for six years. He has written columns which are carried by Creators Syndicate, Townhall.com, WorldNetDaily, Jewish World Review, and The Washington Times.

Reviews

[Andy Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great read. David Limbaugh writes not as a lawyer, but as a person discussing his own personal faith journey. Mr. Limbaugh was once a non-believer. He uses that experience to talk to both the faithful reader, and the skeptic. As Mr. Limbaugh points out, Christians are charged with sharing the Word. Mr. Limbaugh discusses some of his own stumbling blocks and provides the evidence that convinced him. This book is a good read for both faithful and skeptic alike. Evidence for the truth of the Bible, and Christ's death and resurrection are included.

This should be on everyone's reading list.

[Darla · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive case. Very thorough! Here is a quote from the conclusion: "While I don't understand everything entirely, I am also not playing games with myself. I have approached these problems with the goal of discovering truth, and I have tried to confront potential obstacles, not avoid them. On balance these struggles have been a positive influence for me because they have spurred me to study further and more deeply immerse myself in God's Word. Without putting aside my critical faculties, without abandoning my God-given ability to reason, but by embracing it, I have weighed all the evidence in support of Christianity and have concluded that it is absolutely true--that it's not even a close call."

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author starts with the major premise that the bible is the inerrant word of God. The bible tells us that in multiple places therefore we know it's true. He'll go on to tell the reader, we are born with sin and the only way to overcome that is through belief in Jesus. Paradoxes within scripture are only because of lack of faith. The more holy we become, the more we realize how unholy we were. Faith leads to justification and salvation. He quotes a lot of scripture to prove his points. Prophecy is perfect and the Old Testament prophesied Jesus. The ressurection is true and proves the divinity of Christ. He'll argue that God has a plan for all of us. The story of Joseph and his brothers illustrates how God has a perfect plan for us. Moses in the desert demonstrates God's wisdom and shows us why we should rest on the sabbath. Obedience is part of God's plan. Free will is a gift from God and that proves the truths in the bible. Christianity must be true because it's the only religion that uses grace from God to save us from our sin which we are all born with and we must be born again in order to be saved.

He uses Kierkaard to defend his point on the value of reason for our faith. He probably shouldn't because Kierkegaard would argue faith isn't necessary because it's correct, but faith is necessary because it keeps us balanced. The author does comment on my favorite book of the bible, Ecclesiasties, but he says "almost certainly it was written by Solomon".

There is not much to recommend in this book except for those who do believe in the authors major premise. He has no doubt in his certainties, but makes weak arguments in support of his major premise.

[Dkovlak · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author does an excellent job of proving the existence of God and His Plan of Salvation through believing in Jesus Christ. Because he is a lawyer, he does this very carefully and methodically. He leaves no stone unturned. Thus the title JESUS ON TRIAL. Another great book is THE CASE FOR CHRIST written by Lee Strobel. Lee was an investigative reporter setting out to prove God did not exist and Jesus was not our Savior. In the process, he proved to himself just the opposite. Both men considered themselves Atheists before they found the truth of God and His plan of salvation which is available to all who believe.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Limbaugh begins by explaining that he was not a Christian when he first began exploring the Bible and the claims of Christ, and he begins the book by relating his spiritual journey, what some of his doubts were, etc. I really enjoyed reading that part of the book, and I felt it helped the reader understand where he is coming from. There was one problem I had with Mr. Limbaugh's presentation after that, however. The chapter subjects were not arranged in the order that seemed most logical to this reader's mind: He begins with the Bible as the inerrant Word of God and the proof found within, and then moves to Archeological proof and other outside sources. It seems to me that skeptics who are searching for truth might reject his premise until he has proven the Bible's reliability with other evidence. I would have flip-flopped much of the book for that reason. He does, in the long run, do an excellent job defending the faith.

[Michael O'Brien · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a very readable defense of Christianity and its foundational beliefs. More than just a work on apologetics, Limbaugh goes through his own journey from unbelief and skepticism to faith in Jesus Christ, and, in the process, addresses the roadblocks he encountered along the way. Mr. Limbaugh does a great job addressing common arguments of the "New Atheist" and postmodern movements that have been in vogue lately, and exposes their own logical inconsistencies and fallacies. He also addresses higher criticism of the Bible and Darwinism, and how the Biblical narrative form a more rational, logical explanation for the cosmos than do the critics from these creeds.

[Chuck Engelhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot help but compare David Limbaugh’s book with Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ. Jesus on Trial receives a lower score, not for content, but for organization. David Limbaugh expresses his desire that this book reach skeptics but his insistence on placing the scriptural arguments at the beginning of the book is counterproductive to that end. As a believer I understand the desire to go to the Word of God first and foremost. Limbaugh’s testimony indicates that he personally was more convinced of the biblical truths by what scripture said than the scientific and statistical proofs. That may be so and I rejoice in that; unfortunately, Limbaugh spends the first half of the book applying a heavy handed “the bible says this” approach that is likely to put off skeptics who don’t accept that the Bible is a reliable source to begin with. Eventually Limbaugh does get to proofs that the Bible is a reliable document but my bet is that only the most disciplined readers get that far and he’s lost the most critical segment of his target audience. This is where I believe Lee Strobel did a far better job. He established first the reliability of the Bible and then used the proof texts.

The actual information in Jesus on Trial is generally the same information included in most Christian Apologetic books. David Limbaugh has his own style and the reflection of what had the most influence on his journey makes the book unique so it’s not really “just more of the same.” There are some places where either there was new material, or old material presented in a new way that provided greater understanding for me. Although I wasn’t pleased with the organization, reading Jesus on Trial was a positive experience.

The one place where David Limbaugh truly excelled was in the conclusion of the book. His presentation of the Gospel and his personal testimony were exceptional.

My recommendation; pick up the book and start reading about Chapter 7 or 8 then go back and check out what might specifically interest you in the first half of the book.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Saw this on a library shelf and being a progressive exploring Christian (and radical feminist), I thought it would help me when I struggle to explain why I believe. The author is the little brother of a famous radio host who's name will not cross my lips after listening to him (yes, I still occasionally list to his show to see if he has changed his anger towards women) in the 1990s as a humorous personality.

This book has notes, references and appears to be a researched tome. That said, the primary research source is the Bible. There is some reference to other documents when they support the premise.

If I had read this 15 or 20 years ago, I would have gone away thinking I was doomed as I would be questioning my own beliefs. Now, I know through learning and living that Matt 22:35-40 is key. At one point, the author uses Matt 22:37 as a reason that God only cares about Christians. Yet the rest is critical to my belief:
"And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”" — Matthew 22:35-40

How telling it is a lawyer in the Bible asking the question and a lawyer in the book leaving out the rest.

The loving your neighbor to me means: Love your neighbor no matter what they look like, how they believe, where they come from and what their gender is. Going back to his work, the references and body have few references to scholarly women and I didn't recognize any of scholars of color that I know and read.

[Brady · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will echo the author's sentiments when he talked about why he wrote the book. He basically said that there are so many different types of people out there, that maybe his book on apologetics would speak to them whereas other books may not. Fair enough. But I felt a bit thrown off from the start. The title implies that there would be some logical, straightforward approach to defending the faith (much as a lawyer would use). Yet, nothing of the sort ever occurred. My rating largely stems from the lack of structure and style of this book, rather than its content.

Content-wise, I found it largely overlaps with Geisler's "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist." He also cites extensively from other apologists, many whom I've also read. As far as content goes, I did see a lot of repetition, but the sections on prophecy fulfillment and archaeology were more expanded than other texts, which I enjoyed.

While I agree with most of the author's content, I rated the book overall a bit lower because it is nothing new, and does not follow a logical, legal-framed structure as advertised in the title. But for some, like the author said, it may be their first introduction to apologetics and could end up being life changing.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A difficult read. Not because the content is hard to understand, but the way it is organized and the amount of topics covered briefly make it hard to keep reading. The author uses a lot of Bible passages throughout, but waits until chapters 7-10 to show that the Bible is reliable. The reliability of the Bible should have been established first to bring some authority to the topics explained by the Bible. One chapter felt like a paraphrase of a complete book by someone else. This was a good attempt by someone who claims to not be an expert apologist himself, but he quotes some great apologists, so it is good for the bibliography.

[Marco G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dense collection of arguments for the truth of the Bible. I'd recommend to anyone that has a deep commitment to wanting to understand and get closer to the Bible. It is not something I would call "light reading" although the author has a good writing style that is easy to read. I wouldn't call this "summer reading" but I personally want to read more about the Bible and increase my knowledge to enhance my spirituality going forward.

[Cameron Copper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe the excerpt from this book that could most adequately describe Limbaugh's writing is found in the final portion of this book, Conclusions:

"I could not have written a book of this sort without sharing my enthusiasm for the Bible and for theology, because I believe many readers are ripe for these ideas and will find them as exhilarating as I do, and I trust that this could make a difference in their lives."

I found myself often thinking while reading the first half of this book that Limbaugh sounded a little over-eager about the beauty/form/purpose of the Bible considering he presents himself, at the beginning of this book, to be analyzing the Bible from a lawyer's point of view. I found him often diving into the world of semantics and "Christian-speak" while I was hoping for a much drier analysis of the text.

The second half of the book contains more of the academic analysis of the Bible including the veracity of the Biblical text, science and the age old question: How can God allow evil to exist? These topics are more inline with what I was expecting out of the entirety of the book and I'm glad he eventually covered these topics. Don't stop reading too soon.;

In the end, I believe Limbaugh presents enough of the cornerstone elements of the religion to give an intrigued reader sources to really dive into the nitty-gritty of the Bible. Naturally, I would point to the source text (New Testament) for a better idea of what the tentpoles of Christianity are, but I think Limbaugh does a nice job of eventually touching on many of the foundational principles that make up the religion.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thought provoking and compelling look at the proof that Christianity is to be taken seriously. His excellent use of scripture and researched fact and archeology shows how the greatest story ever told can be articulated and understood. Read this if you will not read the Bible. He does not shy away from the controversies or doubters but methodically lays out the case for you to make your own decision. Excellent reference.

[Paul Vawter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid overview of Christian apologetics. Limbaugh is thorough, but not as engaging or memorable as others in this genre. His dependence on Ravi Zacharias is unfortunate, as it may turn some off to the points he is making. (Although at the time of his writing, Zacharias was still well thought of as a Christian, so Limbaugh can hardly be blamed.) All in all, a decent introduction to apologetics.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Christian, I think it's important to always dive into the word (Bible), but it's just as important to soak into theology to firm your stance with non-believers. Dave Limbaugh gives you the tools to do just that.

[David B Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I expect a number of readers have picked up this book on the sole basis of seeing the name Limbaugh on the cover. I’m not a fan of this writer’s older brother, a political commentator named Rush. (More about that in a bit.) But this book is a solid, encouraging, scholarly, thoughtful discussion of why the Bible ought to be believed and why the Christian message is a grace-bathed and valid offer of salvation.
David Limbaugh moved from atheism to Christian faith, and offers carefully researched reasons why he now trusts and believes the Bible. Much of what he says has indeed been asserted before, and he offers an impressive portfolio of researched essays and bits of scholarship the giants of Christianity have penned through the ages. He points to the reality that the Bible was written by 40 or so men, people who didn’t know each other, who didn’t consult, who came from a disparate variety of backgrounds. And yet the Bible does contain a unified whole or core message that is remarkably consistent. In his words, “mind-boggling unity.”
Much of Limbaugh’s book is a meticulous chronicling of the Bible’s myriad prophecies, which have largely come true in amazing detail. He shares interesting details from secular history and archeology that, again and again, affirm the accuracy of the Bible’s historical record. The book also gives us a consistent picture of a God who is fair, loving, and never capricious.
I’m thankful for the fact that Limbaugh affirms God’s miracle-working power and thus validates Christianity as a faith born out of a miraculous virgin birth and headed by the Son of God who carried in His fingertips the power to heal and resurrect. Anyone who denies that Almighty God can do supernatural things and create a university with His own words will never embrace Christianity and Limbaugh is a good defender of this concept.
Before closing, I’ll confess one disquieting conundrum – and then hasten to affirm that this is an edifying piece of work. Limbaugh points to “the pervasive theme of God humbling the proud and lifting up the humble.” I concur with that. Christianity is a humble, He-must-increase-I-must-decrease faith experience. It is not chest-thumping or triumphalistic.
So I was cheered as I read, to see that even with this author being Rush Limbaugh’s younger brother, David’s manuscript is fully Christian in attitude and style. He pleads with his readers to surrender self and commit to this wonderful, gracious Savior who died for them. At the same time, I don’t know what to make of the fact that in his acknowledgements at the close, he lauds in the most glowing terms: “my brother Rush,” and then Sean Hannity and Mark Levin.
I’m a moderate-to-liberal Democrat, so haven’t absorbed much from this troika of modern media thought. I once accidently tuned in to a Mark Levin diatribe on AM talk radio, and honestly thought it was an SNL caricature; the host was almost literally shrieking in a high-pitched indignant voice and in a style that can only be categorized as mocking, angry hate speech. I must honestly say that when I read in Philippians 4: “Let your gentleness be evident to all; do not be anxious about anything; whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy – think about such things,” the musings of Limbaugh, Hannity, and Levin do not come to mind. Many earnest believers are concerned here in 2019 that the strident tone of President Trump’s media cohorts is sending an entire generation far, far away from the Christian gospel and the church of the 21st century.
Having said that, my own Democratic biases are almost certainly coloring my (over)-reaction. If Sean Hannity is actually a humble, self-denying disciple of the gentle Jesus who loved sinners and the stranger within His gates, then Sean is my brother in the faith and I must abide by the discipline of that kingdom reality. And in that vein of thought, I again thank Mr. David Limbaugh for the uplifting book that has turned my heart toward the Savior.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I highlighted several good quotes from this book, many of them quotes the author used from other writers. There was definitely some good stuff in here. I particularly enjoyed the parts on archaeology and science/Darwinism.

I agree with the statement made early in the book - "In high school and college Christian teenagers are intellectually assaulted on every hand by a barrage of anti-Christian philosophies and attitudes... For the sake of our youth, we desperately need informed parents who are equipped to wrestle with the issues at an intellectual level."

This book gives some good basic arguments to contradict those anti-Christian attitudes and some good resources for additional information.

Will it convince someone who does not believe? I'm not sure about that, but it will give them some food for thought, and if they have picked the book up in the first place, the odds are that they are looking for answers and reading with an open mind is a good start.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on Christian and Bible apologetics. I highly recommend it to address any skepticism about Jesus you may have as a believer or if you are an unbeliever. The chapters on "Science Makes the Case--for Christianity" and "Pain and Suffering" especially spoke to me.

[Debbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read this book for bookclub. It was very difficult to read. It seemed like the author was constantly patting himself on the back for believing in the words of the bible.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to admit that this book was disappointing to me.  It was not a terrible book by any means, but it was disappointing that the author's thoughts about Christianity were not nearly as deep or as factual as the author seems to think.  The truth of the Gospel is not so straightforward as the author seems to think, not least because he feels it necessary to defend things that are not really a part of the Bible or a part of the Gospel.  In fact, much to my surprise, I found that the author had specifically named the church I belong to in a negative fashion, which generally does not lead to positive or warm feelings as a reviewer.  I often wonder what leads writers to sabotage good will by attacking potential readers?  This happens often enough that it is not merely a problem with the writer but a more general problem that he happens to share.  Having written books about law and politics before, the author seems unaware of some of the pitfalls of writing about Christian theology and the way that truth and opinion are not as easy to separate as they should be.

This book is almost 350 pages and thirteen chapters.  The book begins with a discussion of the author's own journey from being a skeptic to being a believer (1) as well as two chapters that discuss the "Aha" movement that he had in terms of reading and understanding the Bible (2, 3).  The author discusses some of the paradoxes of Christianity (4,5), but not all of these paradoxes are in fact valid, and the author seems to think that something that is paradoxical or self-contradictory is worthwhile on its own terms, rather than simply being apparent paradoxes because of a faulty perspective.  After that the author manages to wade into the monophysite controversy by averring that God was fully human and divine and had two natures (6).  The author then discusses the Bible as being amazing because of unity (7) and prophecy (8), which is worthwhile as far as it goes, and then discusses reliability and internal evidence (9) as well as external evidence (10) for the Bible's reliability.  Finally, the book ends with some chapters that look at truth, miracles, and the resurrection of Christ (11), the case for Christianity made by science (12) and questions of pain and suffering (13), after which there is a conclusion, acknowledgements, notes, and an index.

How would I evaluate this book if I was a judge and the author was trying to bring in his argument?  I would likely have to caution him a bit about assuming facts not in evidence, but that is not a terribly uncommon problem for writers to have, unfortunately.  I would have to overlook the author's more direct provocations made in ignorance of my own religious identity, as bothersome as that would be.  But there would still be something of value here even if I would not be able to approve of everything.  And that is how I feel about this book, that it is good and still worthwhile but not quite as good as the author seems to think it is.  The end result is that the author spends a great deal of time talking about the Trinity and seeking to defend his own view of the Gospel, and less time realizing what it takes to write a book that would appeal to those who might be general allies but have different views of the Bible, and that is not nearly as appealing as it could be.  And for a book of this length, few people are going to relish reading it without agreeing with it.

[Jerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive review of apologetic arguments supported by numerous notes and references.

Some quotes:

What does God say about himself?
When Moses asks how to respond if the Israelites ask who God is, God replies “Yahweh” meaning “I am Who I Am.” Limbaugh quotes Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary:
“His 'I am' expresses the fact that He is the infinite and original personal God who is behind everything and to whom everything must finally be traced. 'I am who I am,' signals the truth that nothing else defines who God is but God Himself. What He says and does is who He is. The inspired Scriptures are the infallible guide to understanding who God is by what He says and what He does. Yahweh is the all-powerful and sovereign God who alone defines Himself and establishes truth for His creatures and works for their salvation.”

The short form of Yahweh is I AM. Jesus uses this in John 8:58 and other places to assert his own deity. “I AM, or Yahweh, is equivalent to saying 'I have always been and always will be.' “ Quoting John Piper: “This is the essential meaning of his Old Testament name Yahweh (or Jehovah). It is built on the verb 'to be.'... To be 'I am' is to be absolutely the first and the last. No 'before' and no 'after.' Simply 'I am.'”

Is the Bible God's word?
“The Bible is unique in its unity, its circulation, its translation, its teaching, its influence on literature, its impact on civilization, and its durability.”

“Unlike the holy books of other religions, writes James Orr, the Bible is not 'a miscellany of disjointed pieces, out of which it is impossible to extract any order, progress or arrangement.' The Zoroastrain and Buddhist scriptures as well as the Koran, says Orr, 'are equally destitute of beginning, middle or end. They are for the most part, collections of heterogeneous materials, loosely placed together.' This contrasts with the Bible, which 'is not a collection of fragments, but has...an organic character.' It is one connected story 'from beginning to end; we see something growing before our eyes; there is a plan, purpose, progress; the end folds back on the beginning, and, when the whole is finished, we feel that here again, as in the primal creation, God has finished all his works, and behold, they are very good.”

Limbaugh believes the original autograph documents of the Bible are inerrant, but there are some errors in the manuscript copies. “There are some 25,000 New Testament manuscripts, a figure that dwarfs the number of manuscripts of any other ancient book. In comparison, the number of existing manuscript copies of most books from the ancient world, with the exception of Homer's Iliad and Demosthenes, averages between ten and twenty.” There are 1800 copies of the Iliad. “Bruce Metzger found that manuscripts for the ancient Indian work Mahabharata were about 90 percent accurate. When there were only 643 known copies of the Iliad, he found that its manuscripts were about 95 percent accurate. The New Testament manuscripts, by contrast, were 99.5 percent accurate.” Quoting Norman Geisler: “Only a small fraction of the variants bear on the meaning of the text, and none affect any major doctrine of the Christina faith.”

Premodernism, modernism, and postmodernism
Premodernism came to an end with the Renaissance, Enlightenment and Reformation. Moderns “agreed with the premoderns that objective reality and objective truth exist in the material world, but pushed aside the supernatural. Everything could be explained by rational thought and modern science; nothing was outside their grasp. Ultimately, however, modernism was distinguished from premodernism by the concept of humanism. Whereas God had traditionally been considered central and supreme, with the advent of humanism, the human being became the center of reality. Alongside humanism, naturalism and materialism were also in ascendance, and these spawned some of the most influential theories of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – Darwinian evolution would purport to explain the development of biological systems; human behavior would be understood through Freudian psychology; and Marxism would interpret historical and economic events in the context of the material world. If nothing else, these ideologies shared a self-important arrogance in providing all-encompassing explanations for the questions they claimed to answer.”
“In the mid-to-late 1900s, modernism was eclipsed by postmodernism and its assault on the concept of truth... Amy Orr-Ewing points out the fallacy of this approach of rejecting metanarratives: 'The fundamental problem with this challenge to the Bible – this suspicion of authority and rejection of metanarratives – is that it is essentially inconsistent. That is, we soon discover when probing this denial of overarching stories that an exception is made for the overarching idea that there are no overarching ideas! Postmodern skeptics critique all worldviews except their own.'”
“Postmodern challenges to truth sometimes find expression in the rise of literary theories such as deconstructionism, which essentially posits that it's mot the author who determines the meaning of a text, but each individual reader who decides for himself what the meaning is... Post modernism, in full flower, says there is no truth, that truth is a completely deconstructed concept that alights on the shifting sands of relativism... Truth for them is a mere political tool by which the powerful control the powerless. Similarly, rationality is a white male construct, and progress merely serves the interests of the dominant culture.”
“Ultimately, postmodernism leads to intellectual chaos and, if its roots are planted deeply enough, moral anarchy. By asserting the right of individuals to define their own 'truth,' it undermines objective truth and the very basis of reality.”
“The correspondence theory of truth holds that what one thinks is true is indeed true when it matches what is real. In other words, truth corresponds to reality, and things that fail to correspond to reality are false. As Dr. Geisler says, 'Truth tells it like it is, it corresponds to the facts, or match its object.'”

"Cosmological Argument for God's Existence
1. Everything that begins had a cause.
2. The universe had a beginning.
3. Therefore, the universe had a cause."
“Unless a first cause (God) exists, the universe would have to be eternal because there would be an infinite series of causes and effects that would never lead to a first cause or starting point. As evidence from science and philosophy demonstrate that the universe is not eternal, however, it is impossible that an infinite series of causes and effects preceded it. It had to have begun at some point in time. And because no contingent being can create itself, the first cause must have been uncaused or self-existent and must transcend the material universe. To explain the existence of a contingent, temporally finite universe, there has to be a non-contingent being who is wholly independent of the physical universe and who created it. As one writer put it, 'If God needed a cause then God is not God.'”

Could Man have evolved randomly from chemicals on the earth?
“Groothuis makes a compelling case that neither consciousness nor reason can be explained by materialism (or pantheism), but are perfectly understandable as products of Christian theism. It's ironic that it is one of God's greatest gifts to man—his intelligence—that leads some to get puffed up to the point that they think He doesn't exist or they don't need Him. The marvel we call the human brain is powerful evidence that God exists. But our consciousness, our awareness, and our sense of being are even stronger proof that we are more than the combination of molecules of which we are physically made. The best explanation for our cognitive faculties and the qualities they produce is that the God of the Bible created human beings in His image and likeness, which includes the characteristics of rationality, personality, uniqueness, consciousness, love, and subjective experiences. The qualities that distinguish us from other creatures—the ones that mark us as God's special creatures—are the very ones the skeptics fail to recognize as being particularly special.”

[val · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Limbaugh was a lawyer who did not believe that God existed. He is basically putting Jesus on trial in this book. Gathering a ton of evidence proving that he existed and walked this earth.

This was such a great read! He starts off by explaining how he became a Christian. Here are some sections that I loved and stood out to me the most when reading:
* Invisible Seeds (5)
* “It Was An Honor For Us To Suffer” (101)
* Jesus’ Birth, Genetic Line, Ministry, Death, Resurrection & Christ’s Nature (196-198)
* Miracles (273,278-282)
* Science And The Bible (297-298)
* The Anthropic Principle (309-311)
* Pain And Suffering (317-331)

I loved how much scripture was included and how it was explained. I actually learned a lot and got a lot of answers from questions I didn’t even know I had. I recommend this book to both Christians and Non-Christians! If you are questioning your faith or want to learn about Jesus and God’s existence, this book will provide lots of answers you may have!

[Shelley Alongi · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a word, I think this book is amazing. I don't get read many theological books but this is a great explanation of many things as he points out that people may be ready to receive and need some basic education about. I have been following Christ many years and have had many personal life changing and counters with him and I learned many things I had just begun to investigate. This is a great place to start if you are looking for a basic and thorough explanation of the gospel it's sources and veracity. I highly recommend this book.

[Mya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d recommend this to any believer who has found themselves questioning the foundation of their faith or is simply seeking deeper knowledge and explanation of how the Holy Bible is proven to be the word of God. I’d also recommend it to skeptics or full-on non-believers who are curious about the Christian faith. The book is packed with information and is quite thorough, so it’s important not to rush through it and to approach it with an open mind. Overall, I feel I took a lot away from this read, and it has certainly strengthened my faith.

[Rachel Grepke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third of David's books I have read, and none of them have disappointed! His writing is clear, concise and on point. In this installment, he highlights the importance of Jesus and his existence, life, death and resurrection as well as walks you through general Christian thought. The only reason I gave it a four over a five was simply that I personally felt I gained more insight from his other works. I highly suggest this and his other works if you are looking for clarity, evidence and insight into Christianity.

[S. Clinton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-supported biblical references for both Old and New Testaments. Also, to his credit, he does not disparage branches of Christianity that might be in disagreement over dogma or practices. However, he goes off topic near the end of the book when he digresses with his views on intelligent design - doesn't have much to do with the theme of making a case for the truth of the Gospels regarding Jesus.

[Spencer Edsall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. The majority of his book is arguments within the Bible. Paradoxes, difficulties, etc. he uses mostly scripture to back these claims up, which is helpful to a Christian like myself. The end of the boom he goes deeper into extra-biblical arguments for the validity of the faith. Very well written and he used a great deal of wise theologians, a resource I will be looking back on

[Rogério Alvarenga · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an overall good apology of our lord Jesus Christ. There are those inevitable shortages of an evangelical emphasis, meaning an out of nowhere self sufficient Bible as if a defense of Jesus would be sufficiently made ignoring the last 1900 years of miracles and interventions through His mistical body the Catholic Church.

[Briana Hallin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a little more intelligent and intellectual than I am, which did make it a hard read. Be forewarned that it’s written by a lawyer so very in depth and technical terms. That being said having historical, statistical and factual data to analyze Christ’s life and the Bible’s authenticity has emboldened my faith.

[Ruth E. Bingman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very helpful in better understanding the Bible. At first it seemed slow and a little difficult to follow but the more you read, the clearer what he was saying became. The nearer I got to the end, the harder it was to put down.