God's Crime Scene Participant's Guide: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe

This review can be found in its entirety at “Evidence Unseen.”I must join many others in endorsing J. Warner Wallace’s recent book God’s Crime Scene (2015). Wallace covers a number of different topics regarding the evidence for theism, divvying up each topic into eight chapters: (1) the cosmological evidence, (2) fine-tuning, (3) origin of life, (4) irreducible complexity, (5) consciousness, (6) free will, (7) morality, and (8) evil.While much has been written on the rational basis for Christian theism, three unique contributions make Wallace’s book stand out: (1) his credentials as cop, (2) his clear communication, and (3) his creative comparisons.(1) Credentials as a copJ. Warner Wallace (not to be confused with Jim Wallace of Sojourners) served as a cold-case homicide detective for two decades. Cold-case detectives have one of the toughest jobs on Earth. When a crime scene goes “cold,” this means that the detectives have given up the case due to insufficient leads. This is when “cold-case detectives” enter the scene—sometimes decades after the crime occurred.As a cold-case detective, Wallace had a perfect conviction record. That is, every one of his cases that went to trial resulted in a conviction of guilt. In one particular case which was over three decades old, Robert Shapiro (O.J. Simpson’s notorious attorney) represented the defendant. Yet Wallace’s meticulous presentation of the evidence resulted in finding the suspect guilty.As a credentialed detective, Wallace appeared on Dateline over the years to explain several of his cases. Though Keith Morrison of Dateline doesn’t agree with Jim’s Christian beliefs, he still endorsed his book by writing,Around Dateline, we had a phrase to describe J Warner Wallace: ‘The Evidence Whisperer.’ He would come up with some unlikely bit of long neglected flotsam, realize it was key evidence, and work it until he’d wrung out every possible lead. Jim helped bring cases to court, and our stories to life. And when I discovered he enjoys debating religious questions with an inquisitive guy like me? Well that was true joy. Mind you, we agree about almost nothing. But in this book he makes his case as always with verve and charm... just like my friend Jim.” Keith Morrison. News Correspondent, Dateline (NBC)Experts in the field of philosophy, science, and apologetics have also come forward to endorse the book, including Lee Strobel, Stephen Meyer, Hank Hanegraaff, Paul Copan, Craig Hazen, Sean McDowell, and Michael Behe. With such a list of endorsements, Wallace finds himself in good company to make his case.(2) Clear communicationIn his own words, Wallace described himself as an “angry atheist,” who would debate with his Christian friends regarding faith in God. It wasn’t until he investigated the evidence for himself that he discovered the credibility of the Christian worldview. After meeting Christ in 1996, Wallace served as a youth pastor, and later planted a church in 2006. During this time, he developed a robust apologetics website and podcast.I suspect that his background as a skeptic and his work as a practitioner helped him to develop into such a fine communicator. While many scholars can effectively communicate to one another in the world of academia, few are able to communicate with the “person on the street.” It is here that Wallace particularly excels. In God’s Crime Scene, Wallace doesn’t dilute the academic content, so much as he carefully crafts his arguments, illustrations, and research to be accessible to his readers.In addition to the clarity of his writing, Wallace illustrates his own pictures, which fill the pages of his book. As a grad student in Design and Architecture from UCLA, his illustrations function as excellent visual aids in explaining such complex information.(3) Creative comparisonsWallace offers us a creative comparison between the evidence for God and the evidence in a courtroom, giving the reader a key analogy for surveying the evidence for theism. While we may not be experts, we sit on the jury as Wallace helps us to investigate the evidence from physics, biology, consciousness, and morality.In his introduction (pp.19-26), Wallace invites his readers to join him on a number of different cold-cases on which he himself worked. At the crime scene, Wallace notes that really only four different causes can account for the victim’s death: (1) an accident, (2) a natural cause, (3) a suicide, or (4) an intruder. When a detective arrives at the scene of a crime, he needs to discern which explanation best explains the forensic data. If the evidence can’t be explained by options 1-3, then the detective rightly concludes that an intruder committed a crime.This illustration (the central thesis of the book to which Wallace habitually returns throughout) serves as a creative way to explain how to conduct our investigation for God. If the evidence “inside the room” (i.e. the material universe) cannot adequately explain the facts of cosmology, physics, biology, morality, and consciousness, are we not rationally allowed to consider the plausibility of a Divine Intruder? Wallace utilizes this illustration in a number of key ways:(1) Assessing a reasonable standard of proof. When jurors render a verdict, they do so on the basis good evidence—not certainty. Of course, no one is 100% certain in any court case. Wallace writes, “The standard of proof (SOP) in the most critical of criminal trials is ‘beyond a reasonable doubt,’ not ‘beyond a possible doubt.’ I’ve never conducted the perfect investigation, and we’ve never presented the perfect case before a jury… Jurors can’t wait for what might be discovered ten years from now. If there’s enough evidence to make a decision, they’re asked to make a decision.” (p.202)(2) Determining the best explanation. When Police find a man with 54 stab wounds, they would admit that it is at least possible that 54 people each stabbed the man once. But which explanation is most plausible? 54 killers who stabbed him once, or one killer who stabbed him 54 times? Likewise, as we consider multiple lines of scientific evidence, we discover that the various explanations contradict one another or stretch our credulity when paired together. The explanation with the most explanatory power is theism, which Wallace draws together in his final chapter (“Closing Argument”).(3) Interpreting the facts. While juror’s need nothing less than good evidence and facts in a court of law, they need something more—a careful analysis and interpretation of the evidence. Likewise, in our search for God, we need more than just a compilation of evidence. We need to think critically and draw inferences about the evidence set before us. Wallace uses his expertise to help us carefully discern the best explanation for the eight phenomena he addresses.Wallace doesn’t just tell us what to think about the evidence for God’s existence, he teaches us how to think about it. He carefully compares principles of abductive reasoning in the field of forensics to determine the best explanation for several phenomena in nature, tactfully weighing the evidence throughout his book.(4) Understanding the nature of a cumulative case. In a court of law, the prosecution will marshal several lines of circumstantial evidence: expert witnesses, fingerprints, footprints, DNA evidence, motive etc. Jurors listen to this evidence and then determine the best explanation. Likewise, in making his case, Wallace offers eight lines of evidence for belief in God. While some lines of evidence are stronger than others, the combined force of the evidence allows us to render a rational verdict.(5) Explaining the urgency of rendering a verdict. If a death occurred due to an accident, a natural cause, or a suicide, we wouldn’t feel too much urgency in forensic investigation. But murder? If we suspected an intruder was responsible, urgency would infuse our search. Wallace, writes, “Murder investigations go cold when the first detectives fail to act with a sense of urgency. If they wait too long, potential witnesses are harder to locate and evidence is destroyed before it can be recovered. Even as a cold-case detective, I have a similar sense of urgency in my secondary investigation. If I wait too long, my witnesses or suspects may die of old age before I can contact and interview them. To be successful, I have to work within the lifetime of the people involved in my case.” (p.204) In the same way, we don’t have an eternity to make a decision for Christ. God expects us to pursue the truth before we leave this world to be with Christ (or he enters our world to be with us). It only makes sense to investigate the case for God’s existence, which is the greatest investigation of them all.(6) Understanding the nature of the Divine Intruder. Lest we be turned off to comparing God to a murder suspect, Wallace shows where the analogy breaks down. In a stirring conclusion to the book, Wallace turns the tables on the reader, noting that God isn’t the criminal in this illustration; in fact, we are! He writes,“One way to overcome your discomfort with the idea of a Divine Intruder is to rethink the nature of your home and the identity of the Intruder. I bet you never think of yourself as an intruder when you come home after a day at work or an afternoon of running errands. At your house, you are the inhabitant, not the intruder. You can’t be an intruder in your own home. The Divine Intruder we’ve described as the source for all the cosmological, biological, mental, and moral evidence in the universe is the Creator of our home. It’s His house and He’s still the primary owner and inhabitant. In our limited, self-focused view of reality, we’ve imagined this to be our universe, when in fact, it is His. We are His guests. We are the ones living in the universe God created, resisting the existence of our Creator (and landlord), and viewing Him as the intruder in our lives.” (p.201)ConclusionYears ago, Lee Strobel employed his skills as an investigative reporter to bring the evidence for Christianity into the public arena. Today, J. Warner Wallace has taken this investigation to the next level, using his expertise as a detective to solve the greatest case of them all: God’s existence. Wherever you land on your verdict for God, I hope you’ll agree that the expertise and the reliability of this detective is a “case closed.”

Jim Wallace has compiled an abundance of evidence that effectively points readers to the creator of the universe.

“God’s Crime Scene” by JWWallace is a clever application of this cold-case detective’s methodology for seeking answers to important questions. In this book, the question of origins is the focus so that reality can be better understood using the known evidence and asking the right questions. Not surprisingly, just answering the what, where, when, why, how and who questions often keeps it simple. Possible answers for questions of origin (8) are succinctly described. Jim presents answers that are proposed by both the naturalist and the theist, and he is careful to point out strengths and weaknesses of these worldviews.If you want to go deeper for any of the eight origins, ample supplemental information is cited and discussed in the following and ending sections: ‘Case Files-Secondary Investigation (p205-279)’ and ‘Investigative Notes (280-320)p.’ One does not have to be a trained detective or philosopher but just be open to the evidence and be able to derive the ‘most reasonable’ explanation for the origin in question. Finally, If you want to lead a study using this book, additional instruction material can be easily obtained by posting a review, hopefully better than this one. It is an awesome book and i think the origins discussed provide such a breadth of topics that surely everyone will find at least one to go deeper in study so that you will be ready for questions in that area.

The illustrations, for one are excellent. As the reader progresses throughout the book, the points build upon each other and combined, they create the "case" that the author is trying to make. I thoroughly enjoyed the quick glimpses into the science of the universe and how the further we go and study it, the more we can marvel at how complex it is. The author does an outstanding job at defining what design looks like and how it ties into what a crime scene looks like. There were several new learning points I gathered from reading this book from different levels of information to how a crime scene is deconstructed and how a compelling case is made with the totality of evidence. A wonderful book that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in exploring Christianity or deepening their faith!

Pros:1. The book provides an interesting framework, the book is written by a detective who uses a method used in his line of work to prove God is real. At a crime scene that takes place in let's say a room within an apartment, there are several pieces of evidence within that room that requires an explanation. In some instances, the evidence inside the room itself indicates that there's someone that the detective needs to search for the suspect outside of the room. In a similar way, the author argues that the evidence inside the natural realm of the universe we reside in makes it clear that there is someone we need to look for outside of that universe (God). And he showcases how various pieces of evidence within our universe points to a "suspect" a creator that resides outside of it.1A. Each chapter utilizes a real-world case that the detective handled as an overarching analogy to explain a piece of evidence for a divinly inspired universe.2. The book provides various illustrations to help you understand what's going on. The book even has a "secondary investigation" section that goes deeper into the topics you read in the main chapter.cons:1. chapter 5 is the only chapter that is somewhat confusing and isn't as...how do I put it....entertaining or cleverly constructed as the other chapters.2. The book becomes somewhat repetitive and tough to get through at times because of it's repetitive structure for each chapter.

El detective Wallace hace un gran trabajo al resumir, de una manera entendible para cualquier persona, los diferentes argumentos sobre la existencia de Dios, organizándolos y contándolo de manera análoga con casos que ayudo a resolver aplicando las diferentes técnicas forenses que domina. Aporta argumentos contundentes contra las principales objeciones que los escépticos presentan ante el argumento de la existencia de Dios.

This is a very detailed and thorough study and an beautiful approach to prove the existence of God. We had seen some of Wallace's videos online, but the book has so much more. He takes a philosophical and scientific approach to prove a biblical truth. Amazing.My husband and I are beginning a small-group youth bible study based on this book this week. We are looking forward to using this book and the Participant's guide.The book is easy to follow and quite interestingly written. The images help a lot. I highly recommend this book to any one who is wanting to learn on how to defend their faith.

I really enjoyed this book, finishing off his trio of books was a great journey where I was taught the evidence for God in such straight forward and easy manner. It felt more like a conversation, with it's easy flow. It was fascinating, and educational. I like the illustrations to assist me in learning. This one is deep, in that it goes into quite detail about just what there is to inferr given the evidence about God. My life, as an $1 apologist is much better from reading this material. His two others were just as helpful and rewarding to read. When I doubt, I go back to the evidence, and am strengthened. This book helps me do that. From fine tuning to design, from Morality to the problem of evil, it is a very insight book whose writer I now have his whole collection. I am thankful to have read this.

I will use this book as a Bible study tool.

J. Warner Wallace’s book, God’s Crime Scene, is a refreshingly new approach in apologetics. Drawing on his years of experience as a cold case investigator Wallace brings a detective’s perspective to evidence evaluation and case construction.In cold cases the witnesses may have died and the investigators who originally recorded the crime may also have died. Yet, even in such cases, the cold case investigator can reconstruct the case such that in a court of law enough evidence can be produced so that the accused can be found guilty beyond all reasonable doubt.According to Wallace there are four reasons for any death. These are natural causes, accidental death, suicide and homicide. When the investigator approaches a death scene, he assesses the evidence. In the case of natural death, accidental death and suicide, he can account for the event by evidence inside the room. In the case of homicide, the evidence points to someone outside the room. A homicide turns a death scene into a crime scene.Wallace depicts the universe as a crime scene and using the methodology of a cold case investigator and the dichotomy of inside the room and outside the room, he shows that by using four categories of evidence; viz, cosmological evidence, biological evidence, mental evidence and moral evidence, the most reasonable explanation is that the evidence depicted indicates that some agent “outside the room” is responsible for the creation of the universe. Thus the creation of the universe cannot be accounted for on naturalistic grounds.Wallace’s style of writing and his frequent references to other cases of homicide makes this account accessible to both the general and the more serious reader. His attention to detail and his abductive reasoning skills shows in the way he weighs up the evidence to provide the best and most reasonable explanation for the evidence at hand. He provides enough resources so that the serious reader can further investigate the evidence.I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone interested in the subject.