The book is divided in three parts. Examining the record, Analyzing Jesus and Researching the
resurrection. The first part examines the eyewitness evidence, the documentary evidence, the corroborating evidence
and the scientific evidence. The author concludes that the New Testament is reliable, the evidence for Jesus outside
the Bible is credible and archaeological findings are consistent with the Bible story. The second part examines
the identity evidence. Did Jesus claim to be God? The profile evidence asks if Jesus fulfills the attributes of
God. I found this section particularly helpful. Did Jesus and Jesus alone match the identity of the expected Jewish
Messiah? We have a resounding yes. He could have made certain things happen, like riding on a donkey. But there
was no way for him to have planned his birth story or his death on Calvary. The third part asks whether he could
have merely pretended to have died. The author asks this of a medical doctor. Was the resurrection a sham? Was
his body absent from the tomb? Was Jesus really seen alive after his death? These are among the questions the author
asks and at the end of his investigation he comes to a definite conclusion: Jesus really and truly rose from the
dead. It has little to do with the mental states of his followers. Did Jesus think of himself as God? Yes. In the John chapter 8 he proclaims himself as sinless. Did his followers think of him as God? Yes. His disciples were led to conclude that he knew all things and that all authority was given to him. There are forty prophesies concerning the coming of the Messiah and Jesus fulfills them all. The Gospels were written soon after the events. Had they fabricated these events, they could have been easily exposed as cheats by living witnesses. There is another reason to like this book: the atheists really, really hate it.
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