This has been so much fun.
Se7en, I appreciate your point of view man. I do. And Melon's right, we could go back and forth on the issue of the flood which isn't even a part of the Bible's central message. And Melon, you're absolutely right in saying that there needs to be more discussion on Christ's teachings on love, humility and care toward others. However, I don't know that there's much that we would disagree on with that for a debate. My hope is that you'll find evidence of my devotion to those teachings in posts of mine in FYM. I try to make that the foundation of everything I do. (and yes, I fail at it sometimes.) On the other hand, it's just fun to argue and debate the other stuff in the Bible. I enjoy it and I enjoy hearing where other people are at.
To Se7en, I strongly encourage you (and everyone else here) to check out "Case for Christ," and "Case for Faith." And I'm honestly not just saying that so you'll "be converted" or whatever. It's not my job to convert people as a Christian. I'll leave that up to God. I do, however, strive to give people a more complete picture of Christ to help them come to their own conclusions of who he is, and often times this doens't include the Christian perspective, oddly enough.
You said "Before I even read it, I have to wonder, if this is some amazing work of proof that Jesus did indeed exist AND was also the divine son of God, why doesn't anyone care? Why aren't Biblical historians shouting from the rooftops that they have proof of Jesus and his divinity?"
The truth is millions of people do care and Biblical historians are shouting from the rooftops and have been for a long time. Numerous books have been written on this stuff. In fact, Josh McDowell's "More Than a Carpenter," which is similar to "The Case for Christ," although not as thorough, has 10 million copies in print. "The Case for Christ" in its relatively short time in print has sold 2 million copies. These are just two books. On Amazon.com it says "The Case for Christ" cites 70 other books!
Also, Strobel's questioning in "The Case for Christ" is extremely thorough and firm. Trust me, as a reporter myself, he asked the tough questions and demanded complete answers. Like I said, he started out as an atheist and was pissed his wife became a Christian so he set out to prove it, and her, wrong by using his skills as a crime reporter. He's now a pastor.
Be your own judge and critic of the book.
And why is all this so important to me? Like I said, I'm not out to convert you, but as a Christian, I'm not going to shy away from defending Christ. In the end, we all have a reaction to Christ. I just try to give people as much information in favor of him because I know him to be who he said he is.
Here's to quotes by C.S. Lewis to chew on that sum it all up for me using simple logic.
"Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."