"The evidences of Christianity are, in their nature and tendencies, accumulative. It is the culmination of their accumulated evidences, from miracles, from admitted facts in the Christian system, from the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ, from the marvelous propagation of primitive Christianity, and from prophecy, and from other sources which bring the honest doubters about to a conviction of truth in revealed religion."
~ Ezekiel B. Kephart, A Treatise on Christian Evidences (1901), p. 119.
"A stick might fit a hole or a stone a hollow by accident. But a key and a lock are both complex. And if a key fits a lock, you know it is the right key. But this involved accuracy of the thing makes it very difficult to do what I now have to do, to describe this accumulation of truth. It is very hard for a man to defend anything of which he is entirely convinced. It is comparatively easy when he is only partially convinced. He is partially convinced because he has found this or that proof of the thing, and he can expound it. But a man is not really convinced of a philosophic theory when he finds that something proves it. He is only really convinced when he finds that everything proves it. And the more converging reasons he finds pointing to this conviction, the more bewildered he is if asked suddenly to sum them up. Thus, if one asked an ordinary intelligent man, on the spur of the moment, "Why do you prefer civilisation to savagery?" he would look wildly round at object after object, and would only be able to answer vaguely, " Why, there is that bookcase...and the coals in the coalscuttle...and pianos...and policemen." The whole case for civilisation is that the case for it is complex. It has done so many things. But that very multiplicity of proof which ought to make reply overwhelming makes reply impossible.
There is, therefore, about all complete conviction a kind of huge helplessness. The belief is so big that it takes a long time to get it into action. And this hesitation chiefly arises, oddly enough from an indifference about where one should begin."
~G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (1909), p.150-1
*For more on Chesterton click here....then scroll to the bottom of the page.
*For more on Chesterton click here....then scroll to the bottom of the page.
A cumulative case is like a jigsaw puzzle. When you open a jigsaw puzzle and scatter all the pieces on the table, it is difficult to see how all the pieces fit together. They seem like a scattered jumble of unrelated and unimportant pieces. And a person who had never seen a jigsaw puzzle before would be totally confused as their eyes perused the landscape of scrambled odd-shaped pieces of cardboard. But for the person who has had experience with jigsaw puzzles, they know that there is a system for solving them: Find the edge pieces and put the frame of the puzzle together. Then begin to scan the pieces to find pieces that have matching colors and patterns, etc. And then there is that critical point when you get enough pieces together that the puzzle actually starts to look like something and the pieces begin to fall into place even more quickly and the whole thing starts to make sense. That is very similar to what it means to put a cumulative case for Christianity together.
Another analogy that is often used is that of a court case. Imagine that you are a member of a jury that is appointed to decide whether someone is guilty of murder. The evidence has to be conclusive. You need to be able to determine whether the accused is guilty and a conclusion of guilt needs to be beyond a reasonable doubt. As the prosecuting attorney presents his case, he brings up numerous pieces of evidence: evidence that he had motive, evidence that he had opportunity, evidence that he has no alibi to be anywhere else at the time of the murder, phone calls made, websites that he looked at detailing how to accomplish something done by the murderer at the scene of the crime, matching footprints, a piece of fiber matching his coat, a weapon matching the method of murder is found in his car along with blood stains matching the victim, etc. As all of the pieces of evidence are considered it becomes clear that they all point to the guilt of the accused. The evidence is overwhelming and leads to a conclusion that is beyond a reasonable doubt.
The cumulative case for Christianity is exactly like that. There is a ton of evidence that God exists and that he is just like the God who is claimed to reveal himself in the Bible. There is a ton of evidence that the Bible contains historically reliable testimony, which is especially important as we consider the Gospels and what they tell us about Jesus. And there are multiple lines of evidence that confirm that Jesus is who he claimed to be: the Creator God come in the flesh to the pay the price for our sin and justly free us from that condemnation.
If you are interested in investigating these many different pieces of evidence, check out my blog page: "20 REASONS I'M SURE: A Cumulative Argument Outline & Resources for Further Investigation."
RESOURCES FOR DIGGING DEEPER:
My 15-Week Course:
*"How to Have Confidence in Christ That Changes the World (Apologetics 101: A Cumulative Case)"
Videos
*Wallace, J. Warner. "What Makes The Cumulative Case For God So Powerful" (2 1/2 minutes). J. Warner Wallace is a famous L.A. cold-case detective who was an atheist until he considered the evidence for Christianity.
*Wallace, J. Warner. "Why Every Christian Needs to Understand the Standard of Proof" (3 1/2 minutes)
*Wallace, J. Warner. "How Strong is the Cumulative Case for God's Existence?" (3 1/2 minutes)
*Bertuzzi, Cameron. "Is There Really "No Evidence" for God? (#1) response" (5 1/2 minutes)
Articles
*Wallace, J. Warner. "The Cumulative Case for Christianity: Death by a 1,000 Paper Cuts"
*Cooper, Brad. "20 REASONS I'M SURE: A Cumulative Argument Outline & Resources for Further Investigation"
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