
As a lawyer, I am keenly aware of the central importance of eyewitnesses to getting at the truth of any matter. There is no better proof in the law than eyewitness testimony. The rules of law allow hearsay testimony (the testimony of what someone else said) only in extreme and limited circumstances because eyewitness testimony is considered much more reliable inherently.
Eyewitness testimony is light years more reliable than secondhand testimony, but even eyewitness testimony can be unreliable at times. People aren’t always good at observing details accurately. People sometimes fill in the gaps in understanding of what happened with details that are assumed which aren’t accurate. People do this consciously and unconsciously. Eyewitnesses can be influenced by subconscious biases and influences. Sometimes eyewitnesses even lie about what they have seen.
Because eyewitness testimony isn’t foolproof, we look for other evidence that will either corroborate or contradict the eyewitness testimony, but cases are built on eyewitness testimony. A case can be built on the testimony of a single, good eyewitness, but multiple eyewitnesses is gold. The more eyewitnesses that agree with each other, and the more evidence that corroborates that testimony, the stronger a case is.
We see this principle at work in the documentation that presents the evidence for Jesus Christ – which is the Bible of course. The Bible reveals a primary emphasis on the testimony of eyewitnesses. Following is a summary of the ways in which the theme of eyewitness testimony runs throughout the New Testament.
Continue reading “The Case for Jesus Christ Rests on the Evidence of Eyewitnesses”