Case For Christ in Theaters Now

Let me take the opportunity to recommend the movie CASE FOR CHRIST, which is based on the book by Lee Strobel.

As someone who lived for many years as an very atheistic atheist married to a very patient Christian, I saw my old self in the main character’s shoes, and was fascinated.

This is a solidly made high-quality production, not merely a lecture disguised as a story. The acting is good, the dialog is crisp and realistic, and, much to my pleasant surprise, the atheists and skeptical characters in the film make strong rather than weak points in defense of their position.

Too many stories with a Christian theme make this error. Not this one.

 Since the plot revolves around a man’s internal mental conviction, do not expect vivid action. This is more like a detective story, but one where the detective has a huge personal stake in the outcome.

It tells of a famous investigative news reporter, but a confirmed atheist, disturbed when he atheist wife starts inching toward Christianity, and he tries to gather solid evidence to refute it. He treats it like any other story, gathers the facts, and lets them speak for themselves. At the same time, he is also fighting his own inner doubts and demons, running his marriage into rough waters, and investigating a police shooting with more aspects, and more eerie parallels, that at first is clear.

It all starts one night in a restaurant, when his little daughter starts choking to death on a gumball.

I will not tell you if she lives or if she dies, but I will say that this is based on a true story. You do not have any assurance you would have in a children’s film that the kindly scriptwriter will allow the cute tyke to live past Act One, or the dark certainty in a horror film that the sadistic scriptwriter will kill her off before the helpless and panicky eyes of the parents. I myself was not familiar with the life of Mr. Strobel, and had not read his book before walking into the theater.

I have been reading and writing apologetics for some years now, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear evidence brought to light of which even I, who pride myself on having looked carefully into such matters, was hitherto unaware.

I loved this film. It was really well done.