The Case for Christ Page #5

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and only five copies

of anything by Aristotle.

In fact, if you laid the

surviving copies of Aristotle

one on top of the other,

it would make barely four feet.

You do the same with surviving

copies of the New Testament,

the stack would be a mile high.

Nothing else in history

even comes close.

How is that for "reliable"?

LEE:
Well, Father,

I certainly appreciate it.

You've given me a lot

of food for thought.

MARQUEZ (chuckling):

Entirely my pleasure.

LEE:

Oh, wow.

The Shroud of Turin.

That is a fantastic

reproduction.

Uh, the actual shroud

is in the Cathedral

of Saint John the Baptist

in Italy.

Under lock and key.

Of course.

No one's ever proven

if the shroud

is the actual burial cloth

of the Christ,

but whenever someone looks in

those eyes for the first time,

the Galilean who hung

on the cross two millennia ago

suddenly becomes a real person.

But why would he do it?

Why... why allow himself

to be killed

if-if he really is the...

the Son of God?

Why not use his power

to defend himself?

The answer to that

is what got me

out of the dirt

and into the church.

It's really very simple.

Love.

-

- Mm-hmm.

Love.

Carry on, my wayward son

There'll be peace

when you are done

Lay your weary head to rest

Don't you cry no more...

LEE:
You're saying

that the historical Christ

is identical

to the religious basis

for Jesus Christ?

VOICE:
Please deposit one

dollar to continue talking.

Dr. Yamaguchi, could you hold

for one second, please?

Hi. Lee Strobel

with the Chicago Tribune.

How are you, sir?

Dr. Ben Witherington

told me he'd be

letting you know

that I'd be calling.

Well, no, I just wanted

to check on the validity

of a few historical documents,

if I could.

And if I claim

to be a wise man

It surely means

that I don't know

On a stormy sea

of moving emotion

Tossed about

I'm like a ship on the ocean

I set a course

for winds of fortune

But I hear the voices say

Carry on, my wayward son

There'll be peace

when you are done

Lay your weary head to rest

Don't you cry no more.

Ah!

(baby crying)

(shushing quietly)

(sighs)

(crying stops)

A-one, a-two...

a-three.

Three.

ANNOUNCER:

How many licks does it take

to get to the Tootsie Roll

center of a Tootsie Pop?

The world may never know.

LESLIE:

What on earth?

It's 3:
00 in the morning, hon.

- What you doing?

- Oh, uh...

a little research for a story.

(Leslie sighs)

What's your story on?

Imported German beer?

Oh, the judgment.

Here it comes.

- I'm not judging you.

- Bring it on.

I'm worried, hon, that you've

been up late every night

or out.

I just... I feel like

you're not here with me.

Well, whose fault is that,

Leslie?

Okay.

You've obviously had

one too many.

- You're being a jerk.

- So this is my fault, then?

- (sighs)

- Sweetheart,

I'm not the one who went

and changed. You did that.

I don't know,

maybe I wasn't enough for you.

Maybe... maybe you had to go

find yourself a new man.

- What?

- Yes.

You're cheating on me.

With Jesus.

You're hilarious.

You went off the deep end,

and now you're pissed off

'cause I won't jump in

after you.

I'm gonna sit this one out.

- All right?

- Great.

I'm going back to sleep.

- I'm gonna crash on the couch.

- Fine.

Hey, I didn't sign up

for this, Les!

I want my wife back!

(taking deep breaths)

(sobbing)

Please just tell me what to do.

Just tell me what to do.

LEE:

Hey. Good morning.

Did you sleep good last night?

You have sweet dreams?

- Mm-hmm.

- Good.

Okay, well, I'll see you later,

all right, baby?

Mm-hmm.

DUBOIS:

Strobel!

Rolling in at the crack of noon.

Just trying to get to the bottom

of this cop shooting, chief.

Mm-hmm.

By reading Voltaire.

Can't wait to see

how that's gonna play in.

Well, that's for

something different.

How long till I'm reading copy?

I'm trying, Okay?

There's a big story here.

I feel it.

Yeah, I need to feel it

right here.

I know that, and I'm gonna do

my best to make that happen.

- (phone rings)

- All right?

Oh, excuse me.

Legal Affairs desk.

- MAN:
Lee Strobel?

- Speaking.

Yeah, this is, uh, Bill Craig.

I'm sorry. Who?

Bill Craig.

Dr. Craig, thank you

for returning my call.

I appreciate that.

BILL:

Yeah, I'm sorry for the delay.

I'm-I'm calling

from Jerusalem.

I have to give a lecture

any minute. I just, uh...

I didn't want

to keep you waiting.

LEE:

I'll cut right to the chase.

So, I've been doing research

into the purported

resurrection of Jesus,

and I want to run

a theory by you.

Maybe the reason

that the tomb was empty

was because Jesus' body was

never there in the first place.

Because we know that the Romans

used to throw the bodies of...

of, uh, crucifixion subjects

to the dogs.

- Right? -Well, there's

no evidence for that,

but there are specific records

that didn't happen to Jesus.

- And what records are those?

- Well, actually,

the earliest recorded accounts

tell us that Jesus was properly

buried in a tomb...

And the Romans did allow

for burial

of some crucifixion victims.

But then there's something

that still doesn't add up to me

about all of these

supposed eyewitnesses

that claimed to have found

Jesus' empty tomb.

What, the fact that they

were all women?

Yeah, because...

because we know that,

according to Jewish customs,

women were deemed

to be unreliable witnesses.

- Am I right?

- Well, true.

So, why did all four

gospel writers record

that it was women

who discovered the empty tomb?

(laughing):
It...

So I'm asking you that.

Well, if you were

a first-century Jew

making up this story

out of thin air,

then you would never say

that women discovered the tomb.

- It would damage your case,

not help it. -Okay.

So maybe we're dealing with the

world's most inept disciples.

Or maybe the disciples reported

what actually happened

and let the chips fall

where they may.

Okay, all right,

but you-you have to admit here

that there is a...

there is a gaping hole

- in all of this.

- A gaping hole?

The-the fact that the gospels

are filled

with contradictions

about the empty tomb.

Okay? If I turned in a story

that was this jumbled,

I'd be out of a job.

If we look through the gospels,

you start at...

start at Matthew, okay?

Matthew puts Mary Magdalene and

some other Mary at the tomb.

You flip over to Mark,

he adds Salome.

You go to Luke, he adds Mary,

mother of James,

and then some lady named Joanna.

What-what is that?

You need a Sherpa guide

to sort your way

through this mess.

Sure, there are differences,

but that

doesn't trouble most historians.

Why?

Why doesn't that trouble...?

It troubles me.

It should trouble them.

Because the core of the story

is the same in all four.

After Jesus is placed

in the tomb,

it's visited on Sunday morning

by a small group of women,

and they find the body is gone.

Now, you've studied law.

Yeah, law, yes.

Then you know that,

when policemen question

several witnesses at a

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