Letters From Grandpa #364

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA

• 364

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will be about J. Warner Wallace. You will perhaps remember that we have referenced him before. Wallace was one of the founding members of the Torrance Police Department's Cold-Case Homicide Unit. As a homicide detective he investigated and successfully prosecuted a number of high-profile cold-case murders. Some of his cases have been featured on Dateline (NBC) and other TV programs. He has never lost a case in court. Among his many honors Wallace earned the Sustained Superiority Award from the South Bay Police and Fire Medal of Valor committee. He also won the 2015 California Peace Officer Association COPSWEST Award for best solved cold case.

As you may remember, at the age of 35 Wallace was a confirmed atheist. Then in 1996 he dared to study the evidence for Jesus using the same techniques that he used as a homicide detective. The evidence he uncovered convinced him to become a Christian. Now he is a defender of Christianity and has written a number of books presenting evidence for his faith. These books include: Cold Case Christianity; God’s Crime Scene; Forensic Faith; Alive; Cold Case Christianity for Kids; God’s Crime Scene for Kids; Forensic Faith for Kids; So the Next Generation will Know; and his latest book Person of Interest. Wallace is a Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview and an Adjunct Professor of Apologetics at Biola University in La Mirada, California.

In Person of Interest, Wallace documents that Jesus is without question the most significant person in all of human history. Even without using the Bible he presents a case for Christ that is unequivocal and clear. Wallace demonstrates that in all of history not one has made so many contributions to literature, art, music, education, science and other world religions as Jesus. If you doubt this statement, or think it is an exaggeration, step up to the plate and tell us who has impacted the world more than Jesus. No other person has even come close to dividing all of history into A.D. and B.C.

How does Wallace solve “cold cases” that no one else has solved? The answer lies in his uncanny ability to accumulate and present evidence that others have overlooked. In the absence of eyewitnesses and DNA his evidence is necessarily ‘indirect”, or “circumstantial”. This evidence is still effective and Wallace never goes to court without overwhelming proof of his case. No jury, however, can reach a decision without “any” doubt. They don’t have to! Jury decisions are reached beyond a “reasonable” doubt. Wallace therefore appeals to the jury’s common sense and reason. Expert witnesses can be hired to “prove” almost any point of view, consequentlyWallace emphasizes “facts” and not “expert testimony”. He presents fact after fact to the jury and then encourages them to think for themselves. Rather than believe some third party he encourages them to make up their own mind and come to a “reasonable” verdict”. As we have said, he has never lost a case in court.

The case for Christ, just like any other case, can never be decided without any doubt. As you know there are 3.5 billion letters in the human genome. Theoretically all of these letters could have assembled themselves in their correct order by accident. To “believe” that this happened by accident, however, is not “reasonable”. If you saw only three letters spelling out someone’s name in the sand, it is more “reasonable” to assume that someone wrote them than to assume that they happened by accident. Regarding evidence for the resurrection of Jesus it is theoretically possible that hundreds of eye witnesses s would die as martyrs for a lie, but it is not “reasonable”. Realistically, there is something different about Jesus that separates him from every other person in the history of the world.

Please consider this beautiful tribute to Christ from an unknown source: “The concept of the incarnation staggers the intellect of the world’s most brilliant thinkers, yet the evidence indicates that it is a fact of history. Jesus was born in a manger, his relatives were poor and inconspicuous, his life was spent in abject poverty, yet his disciples have eternal treasure in a land where moth and rust do not corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal.

Though he had no formal education, he alone has challenged the scholars of every generation. The Scientific Revolution took place in Europe toward the end of the Renaissance and the pioneers in virtually every scientific discipline believed in Jesus. The world today still stands amazed at his understanding and his answers. Though his public ministry lasted only three short years, his influence has flooded every succeeding century and his words are translated into more languages and dialects than those of any other.

Though he did not preach over 100 miles from his carpenter’s shop in Nazareth, his words now echo on every continent on earth. He healed the multitudes without medicine, and yet has spawned the concept of hospitals and inspired doctors and nurses to sacrificial and humanitarian service. His influence has dried the tears of orphans, brought sympathetic care to the afflicted, and comfort to those beset by the withering hand of time.

After the passing of 19 long centuries, we say with assurance that no man nor group of men have so changed the course of human history as this lonely Carpenter from Nazareth. The date lines of the world bend around the manger of his birth.

Though he wrote no book, he reigns supreme in the world of literature. Though he composed no music, he has put more melody in the human heart and inspired more music than any man in history. Though he marshaled no army, he numbers more volunteers, more prisoners, and more martyrs than any empire the world has ever known.

Fishermen dropped their nets to follow in his steps. The dead responded to his call. Even the winds and the waves obeyed his voice. His death at Calvary caused the earth to shudder and the sun to hide its face in amazement.

Thinking men everywhere concur . . .”God was manifest in the flesh”. His name was Immanuel!”

Jesus is indeed a “Person of Interest”. I hope and pray that you will always be interested in Jesus!

I love you,

Grandpa Boyces