Written by J. Warner Wallace |
Friday, September 27, 2024
I hope God’s Crime Scene can help you answer this question by employing a number of very simple investigative tools detectives use every day. Criminal investigators recognize one important evidential truth: the identity of a suspect must account for all the evidence “in the room”. Whatever caused the origin of our universe must also account for all the other evidence we see “in the room” including the fine-tuning of the cosmos, the origin of life, the appearance of design in biology, our experience of consciousness and free agency, the existence of transcendent objective moral truths, and the enduring presence of evil and injustice.

In my book, God’s Crime Scene, I examine the universe as a “crime scene” and investigate eight different pieces of evidence through the filter of a simple investigative question: “Can the evidence ‘in the room’ be explained by staying ‘in the room’? This question is key to determining whether a death scene is a crime scene, and I typically play a game I call “inside or outside the room” whenever I am trying to determine if a death is, in fact, a murder. If, for example, there is a victim in the room with a gunshot injury lying next to a handgun, but the doors are locked from the inside, all the DNA and fingerprints in the room come back to the victim, the gun is registered to the victim and there are no signs of an outside intruder, this is simply the scene of a suicide or accidental death. If, however, there exist fingerprints or DNA of an unknown suspect, the gun does not belong to the victim, and there are even bloody footprints leading outside the room, I’ve got to reconsider the cause of this death. When the evidence in the room cannot be explained by staying inside the room and is better explained by a cause outside the room, there’s a good chance I’ve got a murder. When this is the case, my investigation must shift direction. I must now begin to search for an external intruder. I think you’ll find this investigative approach applicable as you examine the case for God’s existence. If all the evidence “inside the room” of the universe can be explained by staying “inside the room”, there’s no need to invoke an ‘external’ cause. If, on the other hand, the best explanation for the evidence “inside the room” is a cause “outside the room”, we’ll need to shift our attention as we search for an “external” intruder.
There are eight distinct pieces of evidence (in four separate categories) that must be explained when examining the attributes of our universe. These divergent categories of evidence all point to the same reasonable inference. The first category involves cosmological evidence. One important attribute of the universe is simply its origin. This first piece of evidence is critical to understanding the very nature of the cosmos and has been examined deeply by atheists and theists alike. As it turns out, nearly everyone agrees on two evidential inferences related to the origin of our universe:
The Universe Came In To Existence From Nothing
The evidence for the beginning of our universe is cumulative, diverse and substantial. The “stuff” of the universe (all space, time, and matter) came into existence from nothing, and all the evidence scientists have examined so far points to this reasonable conclusion.
Read More
Related Posts:

With this enduring Word, unmatched in any other book in any other place, is it any wonder that as Jesus was transfigured on that mountain with Peter, James, and John standing by to witness, and Moses and Elijah, recipients of that living Word, standing and talking with Jesus, that the voice of God spoke from the cloud saying, “This is My beloved Son, Hear Him!”

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son…Hebrews 1:1
Benjamin Franklin once said, “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.” While we could debate the merits of his statement, there is one thing that is absolutely certain – God’s Word. Through all the changes around us, God’s Word abides forever. It cannot change because God is unchangeable. We can lie down at night believing it, build our life upon it, and die in peace comforted with it. The world’s ideas pass away quickly but God’s Word remains forever!
God’s Word Endures

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord shall endure forever!Isaiah 40:8

These famous words from Isaiah come just after the Lord told His prophet to speak comfortably to Jerusalem. What is so comforting about the grass withering when the grass is the people (40:7)? First, God’s enemies will wither and pass away. In a time when we are oppressed on every side by the world this is a tremendous comfort. Second, we will pass away. Initially, this seems less than comforting but when we remember that to live is Christ and to die is gain; when we look upon our flesh aging and slowly dying; when we look at the end of all things at hand and the promise of a new Heaven and a new Earth, we see there is comfort in this. Third, the Lord is comforting us by pointing us away from the temporal and to the eternal. He is pointing us away from the perishing to the enduring.
Read More
Related Posts:

In God’s providence, John Knox led one of the most interesting lives of the Reformers. He was a preacher, a pastor, a galley-slave on a ship, a Bible translator, commentator, and a Reformer. It was during these years that he lived in various countries and served alongside some impressive figures—such as John Calvin in Geneva. John Knox’s preaching gift continued to be sharpened into a powerful voice for the glory of God. As he labored in the pulpit as a pastor he would remark, “The public preaching of the word of God is the chief ordinary means of salvation.”

When you survey history, there are certain men who are clearly marked out by God for the purpose of accomplishing great things and monumentous tasks. There is no doubt about it—John Knox is one such figure. Knox was born in Haddington in 1514 to humble beginnings. Although he was a man of shorter stature physically, it’s safe to say that John Knox would become one of the most towering figures of church history. He was a man on a mission, as he famously stated, “Give me Scotland, or I die.”
Knox would be raised up by God to lead the Scottish Reformation. Sometimes God will take a nobody and use him to shake the world. The power of God on a person’s life is not based on the approval of man nor the paper certificates of seminaries and educational institutions. Although Knox was a scholar and author, at the heart of his ministry was the pulpit.
The Era of the Preacher
There is no question about it, the times of his life often mark a man. However, by the end of Knox’s life, it could be well said that he marked his times. When Patrick Hamilton was burned at the stake in St. Andrews, John Knox was about 14 years of age. Knox would eventually be educated at St. Andrews and to this day on the sidewalk in front of St. Salvador’s Chapel remains a large “PH” which is a constant reminder that walking in the footsteps of Jesus is not always safe. Knox learned the story of Patrick Hamilton—”the heretic.”
John Knox was raised in an era where the Roman Catholic Church held a strangle hold on the Bible. It was the time in history when taking a different position than the Roman Catholic Church could result in your public burning. Although Knox was only seven years of age when Luther took his famous stand in the city of Worms, Germany—the writing of Luther would eventually reach the shore of Scotland where he would be influenced by the German Reformer.
John Knox was ordained to the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church and returned home after his education where he would serve as a tutor and a notary, which was an important role in interpreting documents.
We are not given specific information or details about Knox’s conversion to faith. He was influenced by one preacher who first gave him a taste of truth. He stated later that it was John 17 where, “I first cast my anchor.” By 1543, Knox was a Christian and his journey of faith erupted into action. He would be directly influenced by a fiery preacher named George Wishart as he would, interestingly enough, serve as a bodyguard for the Scottish herald.
He wasn’t merely there as a guard, Knox was a student of Wishart—a disciple. He learned a model of boldness, a Reformed perspective of doctrine, and he would later learn what it means to die for your faith as Wishart was arrested, condemned as a heretic by Cardinal David Beaton (uncle to the deceased Archbishop James Beaton, who presided over the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton) and burned at the stake in 1546.
The Power of Knox’s Preaching
In God’s providence, John Knox led one of the most interesting lives of the Reformers. He was a preacher, a pastor, a galley-slave on a ship, a Bible translator, commentator, and a Reformer. It was during these years that he lived in various countries and served alongside some impressive figures—such as John Calvin in Geneva. John Knox’s preaching gift continued to be sharpened into a powerful voice for the glory of God.
Read More
Related Posts: