Inaccuracies - Hard to read - Would not recommend....March 5, 2011

After reading mixed reviews on this book, I must say that I was a tad hesitant to request this book for myself to review.  Any argument against the resurrection of my Beloved Lord and Savior saddens my heart.  But, if I was to really be true to myself, and I mean painfully honest, then I would have to admit the truth that I, too, have had questions about the resurrection.  Understanding that faith comes from hearing and believing, this is my foundation.  For without the resurrection, there is no hope.

With that said, I started this book.  Right off the bat, I was put off.  On the very first pages of the Preface, Charles Foster wastes no time in speaking ill of other authors – namely Lee Strobel.  This left a bad taste in my mouth, as I thought to myself “Uh-oh, what am I getting myself into”.  It left me feeling uncomfortable, and thankful that I was not in a face-to-face conversation with Mr. Foster.

Moving on, I found glaring inaccuracies.  In the first chapter, titled “Does All This Matter?”, Mr. Foster lays the foundation of “X” and “Y” – two “characters” on opposite ends of the resurrection debate.  “X” represents the non-Christian view, while “Y” the Christian view.  Mr. Foster attempts to make argument that “we know that people get on trains” and “battles are fought”, but “we don’t know that men who are dead and buried sometimes rise”.  Mr. Foster continues on this thought, making statement that “…it is the Christian contention that they don’t – the Christians say it only happened once”.  What about Lazarus?  What about Jairus’ daughter?  Now Mr. Foster was insulting my intelligence.  Just a few pages further, Mr. Foster glosses over the issue of authors of the Gospels, stating that the authors wanted to preserve history as their reasoning for writing the Books.  Mr. Foster totally misses the mark in not acknowledging that all scripture is inspired by God, and actually makes light of this fact.

Even with all the inaccuracies, I did appreciate the questions that Mr. Foster was searching to find answers for.  He has an impressive breath of knowledge and obvious intellect, but that might also be his double-edged sword.  Faith is complex, yet simple.  The Lord says “Faith like a child”.  While I’m not so short-sighted to see that in this world people need tangible – I also have questions – I know that faith is everyone’s personal journey to work out.

This was a hard book to read.  I started questioning my own intelligence, realizing that Mr. Foster was beyond me in regards to brain matter.  About half-way into the book, after about 2-months of trying to get thru it, I have finally put it down.  Mr. Foster, I’m sorry, with all due respect, I just could not get into your head on this one.