Forensic Faith Participant's Guide: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith

By J. Warner Wallace

This eight-week companion guide to Forensic Faith takes readers through the investigative techniques that J. Warner Wallace learned from his decades as a homicide detective. Designed to be used alongside the Forensic Faith book and DVD, this interactive guide helps readers in all seasons of faith become better "Christian Case Makers."

This interactive study guide includes a free QR code and URL to access all eight videos, plus additional content for engaging study as a group or on your own. To aid you in your planning, following are the session titles and video run times:
 
1          Session 1         10:59
2          Session 2         12:42
3          Session 3         12:55
4          Session 4         11:08
5          Session 5         12:06
6          Session 6         11:36
7          Session 7         12:15
8          Session 8         12:51
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: David C Cook
• Release date: May 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781434712257

J. Warner Wallace

J. Warner Wallace is a Dateline-featured homicide detective, popular national speaker, and best-selling author. Relying on over two decades of investigative experience, Wallace provides the tools needed to investigate the claims of Christianity and make a convincing case for the truth of the Christian worldview.

Book preview

FORENSIC FAITH PARTICIPANT’S GUIDE

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org.) Scripture quotations marked

ESV

are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-4347-0992-9

eISBN 978-1-4347-1225-7

© 2017 James Warner Wallace

Published in association with the literary agency of Mark Sweeney & Associates, Bonita Springs, FL 34135.

Illustrations by J. Warner Wallace

The Team: Tim Peterson, Amy Konyndyk, Nick Lee, Jack Campbell, Susan Murdock

Cover Design: Jon Middel

Cover Photo: Getty Images

First Edition 2017

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

022717

CONTENTS

Session One

Why Do You Believe?

Session Two

Distinctive Duty

Session Three

Targeted Training

Session Four

Intense Investigation, Part 1

Thinking about Evidence and Learning to Take Notes

Session Five

Intense Investigation, Part 2

Organizing the Evidence and Adding to the Case

Session Six

Convincing Communication, Part 1

Select Your Jurors Insightfully

Session Seven

Convincing Communication, Part 2

Instruct Your Jury Evidentially

Session Eight

Convincing Communication, Part 3

Present Your Case with Confidence

Notes

Go to www.ForensicFaithBook.com to download a free facilitator’s guide to help coordinate a group study with the Forensic Faith curriculum kit. Now available.

Session One

Why Do You Believe?

I understand what it’s like to be in the right place accidentally. As I travel to speaking engagements in cold and remote areas, I’m increasingly grateful to have been born and raised in sunny Southern California, where it is 75 degrees and dry nearly every day. California has great beaches and many recreational, educational, and employment opportunities. But if you quiz me about the nature of California, you’ll quickly discover I am not a well-informed resident.

I don’t know what year California was founded or how many counties it has. I don’t know how many people live here, the exact procedure for how a bill is passed, or how the state legislature is organized. What’s the state bird, tree, flower, or motto? I can’t tell you. When it comes right down to it, I’m a pretty terrible Californian given how little I know about my own state. But make no mistake about it. I’m a Californian. I was born and raised here.

When it comes to our spiritual residency, I find many people are Christians the same way I’m a Californian. They were born and raised in the church yet are unable to answer any of the pressing questions people might ask about Christianity. Maybe these believers had an experience that convinced them Christianity was true. Maybe they are in the right place but are not quite sure why it’s the right place. Their affiliation with Christianity appears to be more like a lucky accident than an informed decision.

For me, that was problematic. For most of my life I was not a believer. In fact, I was a very committed atheist. I was skeptical of people who believed something simply because they grew up a certain way or had an experience. I wasn’t raised in a Christian home, and the man I respected most (my father) was a cynical detective. He was (and still is) a steadfast atheist. I wasn’t about to trust something I couldn’t examine evidentially.

It troubled me that members of every religious group seemed to give the same answers many of my Christian friends did for why they held their beliefs. From Buddhist to Mormon to Baptist, people typically offered the same responses. Yet it isn’t possible for these conflicting claims about God and reality to be true; they could all be wrong, or one could be correct, but they cannot all be correct. So I set out to investigate and test the claims of Christianity based on the evidence. Long story short, I found them to be true.

Today we live in a culture that is increasingly skeptical of Christianity—perhaps even more than I was. If we want others to believe Christianity is true, then our answers cannot sound like the answers given by every other religious group. We must have answers that stand up to aggressive challenges. We must embrace the evidence for what we believe, building what I call a forensic faith.

Open the Case File

(5 minutes – Consider and Answer the Questions)

When we, as Christians, share what we believe with the people we encounter, we’re likely to be asked a version of the question Why are you a Christian?

In what way have you answered that question when it has been asked of you?

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To what degree did your answer satisfy the person who asked you?

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How satisfied are you with your answer?

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View the Video Testimony

(11 minutes – Take Notes)

Testing the truths of Christianity

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Why people say they