Person of Interest

Why Jesus Still Matters in a World that Rejects the Bible

J. Warner Wallace

• Publisher: Zondervan
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780310111283
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Teología cristiana

Join a cold-case detective as he uncovers the truth about Jesus using the same approach he employs to solve real murder cases.

Detective J. Warner Wallace was skeptical of the Bible's claims about Jesus. But he'd investigated several no-body homicide cases in which there was no crime scene, no physical evidence, and no victim's body. He wondered if the truth about the historical Jesus could be investigated in the same way.

In Person of Interest, cold-case detective and bestselling author J. Warner Wallace describes his own personal investigative journey from atheism to Christianity as he carefully sifts through the evidence from history alone, without relying on the New Testament.

In this book, you'll:

• Understand like never before how Jesus—the most significant person in history—changed the world and why he still matters today.
• Learn how to think like a cold-case detective by using an innovative and unique "fuse and fallout" investigative strategy, which you can also use to examine other claims of history.
• Explore and learn how to respond to common objections to Christianity.

Creative, compelling, and fully illustrated, Person of Interest will strengthen the faith of believers while engaging those who are skeptical and distrusting of the New Testament gospel accounts.

Chapter 1

THE FUSE AND THE FALLOUT

Jesus without the New Testament

Truth will come to sight; murder cannot be hid long.

—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

It’s like all those quiet people, when they do lose their tempers they lose them with a vengeance.

—AGATHA CHRISTIE

I stepped back from the whiteboard and stared at the diagram.

“Admiring your own work?” asked Kyle as he entered the conference room.

“Not much to admire . . . yet,” I replied.

Kyle stood with his hands on his hips and an incredulous look on his face. “Yeah, no kidding! What does this have to do with the Hayes case?” Kyle was a general contractor before becoming a police officer, and his diligent, workman-like, “I can fix anything” attitude was incredibly helpful in a team investigation.

My background, on the other hand, was in the arts. I earned a degree in design and another in architecture before shifting careers and adopting the profession of my father. When I was a young man, literature, the visual arts, music, education, and science were what mattered most to me. Homicide investigations allowed me to exercise some of these interests as I tried to find creative ways to solve our most difficult cases. So while my diagram may have looked confusing to Kyle, I knew it was the key to solving the case and presenting it to a jury.

In the center of the drawing was a bomb illustrated as a cluster of dynamite sticks. Concentric rings radiated from the bomb, delineating the blast radius. A long bomb fuse draped to the left of the dynamite.

“I’m taking an approach that will help us solve the crime and prosecute the killer,” I explained. “This diagram is the key.”

“Okay, I’m waiting . . .” he replied.

“Look, we don’t have any evidence from a crime scene, and we don’t even know where Tammy’s body is. But here’s what we suspect: something terrible happened to Tammy the day she vanished. If she was killed, an explosion of anger occurred in that moment.” I pointed to the bomb. “It was as though a bomb was detonated.”

“PERSON OF INTEREST”

The term person of interest typically refers to someone who has been identified and is involved in a criminal investigation but has not yet been arrested or formally charged with a crime. In criminal terms, it has no legal standing and can refer to either a potential suspect or someone who is cooperating with the investigation and may have helpful information. Steve was our person of interest because he had been suspected of killing Tammy. Jesus became my person of interest because the pastor believed he was something more than a man.

Kyle leaned in. He seemed a bit more interested in my diagram now.

“That didn’t happen out of the blue,” I continued. “There’s a reason Tammy disappeared when she did.” I pointed to the fuse. “These kinds of crimes are typically the result of an increasingly hostile sequence of events that preceded them, right? If Steve killed Tammy, a fuse was burning in their relationship leading up to the explosion. Our investigation of the fuse will reveal any growing anger between them. It’ll also reveal any planning or preparatory steps Steve took. If he’s responsible, the evidence from the fuse will point to him.”

“It’ll also explain why he did it when he did,” interjected Kyle.

“Exactly,” I replied. I pointed to the concentric rings of the blast radius. “And just as every bomb begins with a fuse, the blast results in fallout, the debris that bombs inevitably cause. I’ll bet Steve’s life was different after the explosion. If he killed her, we should find evidence of his involvement in the debris.”

“Then let’s get started,” said Kyle. “I’ll help you do some interviews if we can identify the people in Steve’s life who might have known him in those days.”

“Thanks, I could use the help.” I labeled the fuse and fallout areas of my diagram. “This case will be solved once we are able to explain the events leading up to Tammy’s disappearance and the response after her disappearance. The fuse and the fallout will tell us if Steve is a felon.”

Over the next year, our cold case team identified and interviewed people who knew Tammy and Steve at the time of Tammy’s disappearance. This painstaking process revealed a series of fuse events and fallout responses. With each revelation, the questions surrounding Tammy’s disappearance were replaced with answers.

FUSE LENGTH AND BLAST RADIUS

Less significant crimes can be committed successfully with a smaller degree of preparation. Shoplifting, for example, takes little time to plan, while committing a burglary after the store is closed requires more planning. Planning a successful murder is even harder. It takes time for the evil desire to mature. And it takes effort to plot out the manner of death, obtain the right weapon, and formulate a successful alibi.

The more consequential the crime, the longer the fuse.

Lesser crimes are also easier to overlook and involve less fallout. If someone steals five dollars from the center console of your unlocked car tonight while it’s parked in your driveway, you may not even notice the money is missing for several days. When you do, you might mistakenly conclude it’s been misplaced rather than stolen. But if the same thief steals your car, you’ll probably notice and file a police report.

When a high-impact event (like a homicide) occurs, it leaves a mark. It takes a while for the fuse to burn, and the debris is difficult to miss.

As we investigated Tammy’s disappearance, I expected to find a long fuse and significant fallout, but I was looking for more. If someone killed Tammy, I expected the fuse to reveal why the killer chose that night in May 2000. Why didn’t they kill Tammy in January or June or September? Why 2000 instead of 1999? Was there a deadline unique to the killer? If Steve, our person of interest, was responsible for Tammy’s disappearance, the nature and timing of the fuse should match the growing anger, the intensifying pressure Steve may have experienced, and the unique deadline he may have faced.¹

In a crime as tragic as murder, the fallout is significant. A killer who seeks to hide their victim’s body is particularly active after the murder has occurred. But beyond that, it’s often difficult for a killer to carry on as if they didn’t just murder their significant other. They tend to misspeak, behave unusually, or inadvertently reveal their involvement. All these behaviors are important aspects of the fallout.²

If investigated thoroughly, the fallout should also reveal the killer uniquely. Unless more than one person was involved in Tammy’s disappearance, the evidence in the fallout should point uniquely to one suspect. If Steve committed this crime, the debris in the fallout should implicate him, and no one else, as our person of interest.

Finally, I’ve learned to be open-minded and watchful when investigating evidence in the fallout. Some fallout evidence occurs immediately after the crime occurs; other forms of evidence take years to develop. If Steve killed Tammy, virtually every aspect of his world may eventually have been affected. His future romantic relationships, the way he parents his kids, the topics he discusses with friends, the kinds of movies he prefers, where he lives, how much alcohol he drinks—all these areas of Steve’s life can provide us with data and help us to determine if Steve was responsible for Tammy’s disappearance.

THE EXPLOSION KNOWN AS “JESUS”

I stood in the history section of the Books-A-Million store in Longview, Texas, scanning the shelves and growing more frustrated. The bookshop employee must have noticed the expression on my face.

OBJECTION: THERE IS NO “REAL” EVIDENCE FOR GOD OR JESUS

In legal terms, evidence is any type of material item, statement, or assertion of fact (if allowed by a judge) that is used to convince a judge and/or jury of facts or claims related to a case. This definition is intentionally broad because anything can be used as evidence to prove a case. That’s why we must be open-minded and creative when collecting evidence in the fuse and the fallout. Everything we collect has the potential to be used as evidence.

“Can I help you find something?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure if you have what I’m looking for,” I replied. “Do you have any books about ancient history, right before or after the life of Jesus?” I was on vacation with my father in Northeast Texas, and I spotted this bookstore while eating at a restaurant across the street. Only a few weeks had passed since the pastor’s statement, and I had just finished my second reading of the Gospels.

The employ...