Movie
Review: The Case for Christ
I had the pleasure of viewing the movie “The
Case for Christ”, which is based on Lee Strobel’s, bestselling book of the same
name. The movie was very well done. The acting was excellent, the plot
interesting and frankly much better than I was expecting. I read the book and found it interesting and
enlightening. However, when I first heard it was being made into a movie, I
frankly expected a boring documentary that was heavy on detail and low on
entertainment. Happily, that is not the
case.
The movie is rated PG, primarily due to the
medical description of the crucifixion and incidental smoking. If your children are mature and have an
interest I would not hesitate to recommend that you allow them to see it with
you.
The movie is a true story which occurred
in the early 1980’s. The styles depicted
in the movie, Lee’s Z-28 Camaro, and his love of Schlitz beer sets the scene
well.
The movie has a great plot revolving
around Lee’s family and work life. There
is a sub plot involving a police shooting and there are scenes of the realistic
struggles in Lee’s family life. The
characters depict real people who care for and love one another. While Lee gets emotional at times there are
not any bitter adversarial scenes that would make a viewer uncomfortable.
Lee Strobel was an award winning
investigative reporter and legal editor at the Chicago Tribune and a devote
atheist.
Lee’s journey begins while he, his wife
and young daughter are in a restaurant celebrating his recent promotion to
legal editor. His daughter begins to choke.
Fortunately, there is a nurse nearby who provides emergency assistance and
saves his daughter. As Lee’s wife thanks
the nurse, she responds that Jesus’ had a hand in this as she and her husband
had plan to eat at another restaurant but they felt the need to eat at this
one. This comment had a profound effect
on Strobel’s wife and caused her to explore Christianity and eventually give
her life to Jesus. Having a born again
Christian wife did not sit well with Lee and he began a journey to prove that
there was no reasonable basis for Christian beliefs.
Lee’s journey included him seeking out
leading experts in archeology, history, theology and medicine. The experts
included a fellow atheist, a Catholic Priest and Protestant scholars. Lee realized that the true question revolved
around the Resurrection. If the Resurrection occurred as believed then there
was a solid basis for Christianity. If
it did not the whole basis for Christianity is destroyed.
While the movie is not as detailed as the
book, it does provide the key facts to support the Christian belief in the
Resurrection.
The title gives away the ending as Lee
concludes that the argument for Christianity is strong and gives his life to
Jesus. He has retired from journalism
and now is a teaching Pastor, teacher and writer.
This movie is very well balanced. It provides Christians with a road map to
strengthen their faith. Agnostics some
points to consider and I believe atheists will enjoy the plot and how it is
presented. I highly recommend this movie
for everyone. I consider this the best movie of its type. God bless and have a great
Easter.
