Rating: 
Summary: Perfect book for believers and skeptics.
Review: Ironically, some of the greatest books on Christianity have been written by some of its greatest skeptics. Then again, skepticism is something all Christians have had in common at one time or another.Although this may be hard to believe, I recommend this book to skeptics not only because i feel it would open their eyes to some spiritual issues, but also because i feel they would find it entertaining as well. After all, one of the reasons why the questions tackled in this book are so difficult to answer is because skeptics and critics of Christianity raise a lot of valid points!
WHY IS THERE SUFFERING?
WHY IS THERE A HELL?
WHY ARE CHRISTIANS INCONSISTENT WITH CHRIST'S IDEALS??? If you're a believer, this book may strengthen your faith; if you're a spiritual free agent, it may help you find some concrete answers; if you're a skeptic, it may offend you. No matter what, though, you will be entertained. The pace of the narrative is incredible, as Lee Strobel is a very gifted writer (or maybe he just had great material to work with). Written in the same style as THE CASE FOR CHRIST (another must-read, btw), this book is probably friendlier and more approachable to skeptics, especially for those who read the previous and were disappointed with Strobel's conversion at the end. Once you've read this book, you're bound to have a different perspective. For the Christian, the world is a more bearable place, and for the non-Christian, Christians are more bearable. I implore you, whatever your religious background or lack thereof, don't write this book off simply because it's a Christian perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Where is CS Lewis when we need him?
Review: Lee Strobel's "The Case For Faith" is one of the least intelligent books I have ever read... an embarassingly naive and myopic attempt to sell conservative Christianity under the guise of objective journalism. Strobel likes to sell himself as a "Yale educated journalist," and "former atheist" as if this makes him uniquely qualified to be objective. This is typical of the dishonesty of his writing. His agenda is clear from chapter one. I'll give the book credit for one thing: it is an unique idea to have a journalist interview experts on the leading doubts keeping the unfaithful from embracing Christianity. I wish a journalist without an obvious agenda would have used the idea before Strobel did. If an unjaundiced eye looked at these issues, they would draw from a diverse group of theological thinkers, not this paltry collection (three are affiliated with the same Deerfield, IL evangelical university). The book reserves its subtly to discussions of the non-evangelical, using an underhanded language to discredit Catholics, Jews and Mormons, and in fact anyone who is a non-literalist. Additionally it sells a myopic version of what is asked of Christians -- Strobel repeatedly talks about a desire for carnality and materialism as being his own stumbling block to faith, which conveniently ignores that lack of compelling evidence is what keeps most people away. A block, I might add, not helped by this book. Most pathetically, one of Strobel's arguments for faith is that the early followers of Christ were willing to die for what they believed and "no one would be willing to die for a lie". I laughed out loud when I read that -- and considered calling Yale to see if Strobel really attended there. Institutions of higher learning are supposed to teach people critical thinking skills...
and clearly Strobel is blinded by his agenda and desire to believe. It doesn't take an Ivy League degree to know that millions of people have died for the lies of propaganda... including many people of faith. There really isn't much I enjoyed about the book. For non-Christians seeking an intelligent examination of Christianity, I suggest CS Lewis's "The Problem of Pain" and "Mere Christianity".
Rating: 
Summary: intellectually satisfying
Review: This book hits the mark. Though not an in depth study of every subject, it satisfies the needs for every day harry and marry who are looking rebuttles to christianity's most persistant questions and intellectual challenges and presents intellectual challenges for atheists to consider.
very well written!
Rating:
Summary: The case for reason
Review: Strobel claims to be an investigative journalist, but his intellectual dishonestly destroys any credibility that he may have brought to the table. He rarely asks his subjects the hard questions that beg to be asked, and quite often he merely leads the interview in the direction that he wants the conversation to go. This is not an investigation of faith by any means, it is simply an affirmation of one mans faith.
Rating:
Summary: Brillant and potentially life-changing.
Review: If read with an open mind, this book can prove to be radically influential in the way you view faith in God.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, concise, compelling.
Review: I came to the Lord "heart-first" instead of headfirst so I never sought intellectual fact-finding that others have desired. I believed first and discovered the truth and accuracy of the Bible later. Strobel tackles the issues of faith the other way around: headfirst. "The Case for Faith" is one man's account of his search, discovery, and testimony for Jesus Christ. Strobel finds the evidence for believing in the Lord more compelling than the "evidence" against Him. Strobel presents tough, legitimate questions soberly and thoughtfully and seeks to find the truth. The search is nearly as interesting as the verdict: Jesus Christ is who He says He is.
For the thoughtful seeker, here are clear steps to follow, factual, logical reasons to believe, and through it all, a growing display of a loving, powerful God who knows our names, has a plan for each of us, and is passionatley pursuing us. For the unbeliever, the seeker, and the believer there are many riches to discover in this lode of truth. Our generation needs
this book - just in time for these last days.
Rating:
Summary: Is this the best christianity has to offer?
Review: Starting out with an interview with a former man of faith who claims to miss jesus, without once mentioning that the gospels and claims about jesus cannot be proven factually, to making the saddest strawman out of evolution ever. "If the atheists are right then evolution has been around long enough and we should all be perfect now". Honestly, is this book that stupid, or is the author using the tool of lies so often used by apologists to misrepresent the arguments of their opponents. For purporting to use journalistic integrity, I am yet to see the author have the answers given by his "experts" rebutted by those who would tell the other side of the story. This should be read only as an expose of how sad the state of christian scholarship of this nature really is. Unfortunately this important topic was taken on by someone with an agenda that squashed honesty and integrity at every turn. Apparently the author was the least informed atheist the world has ever seen prior to his conversion. Because nothing that a self respecting atheist understands to be reality has been shaken by the juvenile arguments in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Selective Interviewing and Truth Twisting
Review: On page 137 of Strobel's book Geisler says he has studied 800 Bible contradiction allegations and hasn't found a single error. Strobel mentions what he says are some of the most common contradictions mentioned. "Matthew says that there was on angel in the tomb; John says that there were two." This is an example of what Strobel and Gesiler have had the fairness and objectivity to mention!
Given their propensity to cite some of the weakest contradiction allegations I have ever heard, their readers will likely come away with a greater conviction but not likely a greater understanding. For example, Strobel could at the very least mentioned that Luke (24:4) says that Matthew's one angel was two men. Lets take a close look at the two versions in context:
The two Marys seen one angel roll the stone to the sepulchre away and sit on top during an earthquake according to the author of Matthew (Ch. 28). According to the author of Luke (Ch. 24) the two Marys, Joanna, and other women came up to the sepulchre, found the stone already rolled away, and visited with two men standing inside.
While it is true that the basic jest of the story is there. That someone (at least Mary perhaps others) came to the tomb, found no Jesus, and listened to something (whether angel (s) or man/men). However, the story about the ladies watching the stone being rolled away by an angel who sat on top of the sepulchre and the other story of the ladies going to an opened sepulchre and listening to a couple of men inside, gives us a very good indication of the authors willingness to write fiction intermingled with fact.
Throughout the scriptures this intermingling of fact and fiction, although more than fiction in many cases (i.e. symbolism) is very difficult to discern. Here is a brief sampling of serious contradictions not mentioned by Strobel:
Genesis 6:19 "And of EVERY living thing of ALL flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark."
or
Genesis 7:2 "Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female."
Psalms 145:9 "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over ALL of his works." or Jeremiah 13:14 And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, saith the Lord: I will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy, but destroy them." Exodus 20:5 "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." or Ezekiel 18:20 "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father." Matthew 5:22 "Whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire." [Jesus speaking] or Matthew 23:17 "Ye fools and blind." [Jesus speaking] Overall, Strobel finds only the information he wants to find. Note that he never interviews anyone from mainstream scientific circles (i.e. Stephen Jay Gould) concerning lifes origins. If you want to strengthen your faith this book is for you. If you want the truth, read from sources that are academically honest enough to include mainstream scholars and multipule perspectives.
Rating:
Summary: Logically sound, scientifically respectable
Review: I read this book at the tail end of my "seeking" days and it was partially responsible for pushing me over that last hump into that leap of faith to become a Christian, after 52 years of Jewish atheism (No, that's not a contradiction). As a logical, rational, reasonable "show me" person with no life-crisis around which to frantically base a death-bed conversion, Strobel's logic and research were so convincing that I can credit him (right behind the Holy Spirit) for pushing me that one last step into Christianity. The gist of his book, which consists of archeological, medical, pathological, forensic, psychological and other evidence, plus many interviews of unbiased (and yes, some biased) scientists and theologists - is that it takes more twisting yourself into a pretzel to NOT believe that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead than it does to believe that He did. One winds up thinking, "If God can create the Universe, raising somebody from the dead is a piece of cake for God." Strobel effectively debunks the feeble attempts by anti-Christians and atheists to explain away Jesus' resurrection, then he goes on to tell us why such attempts don't hold up under close scrutiny. His reasoning is sound. Lifetime atheists do not abandon their convictions with ease so it took a lot of evidence to convince me of the wisdom and logic of belief in God and of Christ in particular. That is to say that reason and logic often paves the way to leaps of faith and Strobel has been there himself. There is nothing illogical nor unreasonable about belief in Jesus, and Strobel gives every indication why that is so. His writing style is that of the journalist he once was. It's very good. Literarily, he's no Thomas Merton, but what he does he does well. He should be proud of his contribution to Christian Apologetics.
Rating:
Summary: Strobel addresses some tough questions
Review: The former atheist Lee Strobel answers some of the most common objections to Christianity. For each objection Strobel gives a very scholarly answer to. Included in his responses are interviews from authorities on each issue. Some of the apologists include J.P. Moreland, William Lane Craig and Ravi Zacharias. Some of the highlights include the objection that its offensive to claim that Jesus is the only way to God. Strobel correctly points out that every religion or belief has a claim of exclusivity. If all religions and beliefs contradict each other than they can't all be the truth. Since Jesus is the only messenger in history who rose from the dead, it put his message ahead of all others. His chapter on hell was also excellent. I agree with him that hell is real but it is not a literal lake of fire. Hell is simply eternal separation from God. Eternal separation is the best God can do for those that reject Him. Because God respects the existence of everyone He does not annihilate those that reject him. His chapter on the problem of evil was overall good but there were a couple of weaknesses that I know will probably not satisfy all skeptics. For instance in addressing the problem of carnivorous activity he correctly points out that God did not originally create higher animals as carnivorous. The problem is he gives the impression he accepts the big bang and with the big bang comes billions of years and a fossil record that is millions of years old with carnivorous activity going on for millions of years before man. He really should have made it more clear that big bang model simply demonstrates a crucial beginning to the universe but we need not accept all its assumptions and mechanistic timescales. The fossil record is a record of catastrophe because of man's sin not because of ages of death and disease before man's existence. Also, on the issue of free will I agree with him that free will by definition requires the possibility and certainly the existence of both good and evil. However I wish he made an attempt to explain the afterlife and how, or if, free will can exist in heaven and yet evil does not exist. But overall this book is packed with a lot great information and highly recommended.
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