· 2026-01-24T06:05:07+0000 · 19 posts

Crime Scene: Jerusalem. The Ultimate Cold Case

Truth is a heavy thing. For those of us who love a good mystery or spend our time debunking weird theories on the internet, evidence is everything. We don't want "just believe it" stories; we want the receipts. If you consider yourself a skeptic, that’s actually a great place to start. It means you value logic and you won't settle for a lie. It’s in that spirit of honest investigation that we should look at the New Testament. If we treat these ancient books not as a "religion manual," but as actual evidence from a cold-case file, something wild starts to happen. The old idea that you have to choose between "science" and "faith" starts to look like a glitch in the system.

The world around us "pours out speech" and the facts of history "reveal knowledge" if we’re brave enough to look at them without a filter.1 Using the same tools that detectives use to solve murders that are decades old, we can see if the Bible is a fairy tale or a masterpiece of eyewitness truth.3

The Forensic Evidence Checklist

Here is how a real homicide detective breaks down the case for the Bible:

1. The "Too Messy to be Fake" Test

Have you ever seen three different TikToks of the same car crash? They aren't identical. One person focused on the car, another on the driver, and another on the street sign. If they were word-for-word identical, you’d know they were reading a script.

Detective J. Warner Wallace says the "differences" in the Gospels are exactly what you expect from real eyewitnesses.7 They agree on the big stuff (Jesus’ life, miracles, and resurrection) but differ on the tiny details. If the disciples were trying to pull off a hoax, they would have made sure their stories matched perfectly to avoid getting caught.8

2. The Missing "Big Events" (Early Dating)

Imagine reading a history of New York City that never mentions 9/11. You’d know that book was written before 2001. The Book of Acts is like that. It’s a history of the early church, but it never mentions the most massive event in Jewish history: the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.

It also doesn't mention the execution of its main characters, Paul and Peter. It ends while Paul is still alive under house arrest. This means Acts was finished before 62 AD. Since Luke wrote his Gospel before Acts, the story of Jesus was already written and circulating while the people who saw Him were still walking around to call out any lies.

3. Paul’s "Screengrab" of Luke

Some skeptics say the Gospels were made up hundreds of years later. But in a letter written around 63-65 AD (1 Timothy), Paul quotes a specific line: "The laborer deserves his wages." This line is only found in Luke 10:7. Paul even calls it "Scripture."

For Paul to call it Scripture, Luke’s Gospel had to be finished, copied, and famous enough that everyone already knew it was true. This rebuts the idea that the story was a slow-growing myth. It was locked in from the start.

4. The "Anti-Telephone" Chain

We’ve all played the "Telephone" game where a secret gets ruined by the end of the circle. To make sure this didn't happen to the Bible, we look at the Chain of Custody.

John (the eyewitness) taught Polycarp.
Polycarp taught Irenaeus.
Irenaeus taught Hippolytus.

We still have the letters these guys wrote to each other. When you compare what the student in the 3rd century says to what the eyewitness said in the 1st, the story is the same: Jesus performed miracles, claimed to be God, and rose from the dead. There was no "myth-making" period.

5. 24,000 Reasons to Trust the Text

Skeptics like to say the Bible has "thousands of errors." Wallace uses the Siri/Auto-correct analogy to show why this is a weak argument. If your dad sends you five texts with "Auto-correct" fails, but you compare all five, you can easily figure out the original message.3

We have over 24,000 ancient manuscripts of the New Testament.3 By comparing them, scholars can spot where a monk made a spelling mistake or swapped a word. Over 99% of these "variants" are just spelling or grammar and change nothing about the story.6 We have more evidence for the New Testament than we do for almost any other person in ancient history, including Alexander the Great.6

6. The "Shovel" Always Wins (Archeology)

Every time skeptics say the Bible got a detail wrong, someone with a shovel proves them wrong a few years later.

The Erastus Pavement: Critics said a high-ranking official like Erastus (mentioned by Paul) wouldn't exist. Then, in 1929, they found a stone pavement in Corinth with his name on it.
The Politarchs: Luke used a weird Greek word for "rulers" that critics said didn't exist. Then they found nineteen different inscriptions using that exact word.

Conclusion: Don't Be Without an Excuse

A police officer doesn't feel brave because they have "blind faith" in their equipment. They feel brave because they’ve tested their bulletproof vest and seen it work.5

The "invisible things" about God are "clearly seen" through the stuff He made and the history He left behind, so that people who reject the evidence are really just "without excuse."1

Atheism isn't usually a problem of not having enough facts; it’s a choice to ignore the forensic mountain right in front of us.12 The Gospels aren't just stories; they are the most well-documented eyewitness accounts in the history of the world. The case is closed.