The conversion story of Lee Strobel is a fascinating tale of the power of investigative reporting applied to the gospel message. Strobel’s journey to faith had nothing to do with a desire to change his lifestyle but with the changes he saw taking place in his wife; after she became a follower of Christ.
Before giving his heart to Jesus, Strobel was a hardnosed legal editor for the Chicago Tribune and a very ardent atheist. When his wife shared the news one day that she had become a follower of Christ, Strobel thought that this might very well lead to the end of his marriage. But over the next few weeks and months, instead of seeing a change for the worst, he began to see many wonderful changes in her behavior. As a result, one day he decided to visit his wife’s church and for the first time heard the gospel message in a fresh and relevant way. And for the first time this highly rational investigative reporter understood the immense implications of the gospel. If Christianity were true then he would be doomed as an atheist.
Strobel always had a desire as a reporter to find the truth in every story he reported on and it was with this same tenacity he would spend the next eighteen months researching and investigating whether or not the claims of Christianity were true. After he weighed all the arguments for and against the claims of Christ, Strobel concluded that it would take more faith to remain an atheist than to believe in Christ. His training, intellect, and research, along with the transformation of his wife, led him to make the following statement: “To be an atheist I would have to swim upstream against this torrent of evidence pointing toward the truth of Jesus Christ. And I couldn’t do that. I was trained in journalism and law to respond to truth.”1
And respond to the truth is exactly what Strobel did – giving his heart to Christ. For the last thirty-five plus years Lee Strobel has been one of America’s leading apologists taking many on a journey where intellect and reason, combined with the prayers of believers, have brought many to the faith.
Below are some of the pearls of wisdom that Strobel has learned throughout his amazing ministry.2
“Looking at the doctrine of Darwinism, which undergirded my atheism for so many years, it didn’t take me long to conclude that it was simply too far-fetched to be credible. I realized that if I were to embrace Darwinism and its underlying premise of naturalism, I would have to believe that: 1. Nothing produces everything 2. Non-life produces life 3. Randomness produces fine-tuning 4. Chaos produces information 5. Unconsciousness produces consciousness 6. Non-reason produces reason….The central pillars of evolutionary theory quickly rotted away when exposed to scrutiny.”
“I went to a psychologist friend and said if 500 people claimed to see Jesus after he died, it was just a hallucination. He said hallucinations are an individual event. If 500 people have the same hallucination, that’s a bigger miracle than the resurrection.”
“In short, I didn’t become a Christian because God promised I would have an even happier life than I had as an atheist. He never promised any such thing. Indeed, following him would inevitably bring divine demotions in the eyes of the world. Rather, I became a Christian because the evidence was so compelling that Jesus really is the one-and-only Son of God who proved his divinity by rising from the dead. That meant following him was the most rational and logical step I could possibly take.”
“If Jesus is the Son of God, his teachings are more than just good ideas from a wise teacher; they are divine insights on which I can confidently build my life.”
“If God so precisely and carefully and lovingly and amazingly constructed a mind-boggling habitat for his creatures, then it would be natural for Him to want them to explore it, to measure it, to investigate it, to appreciate it, to be inspired by it – and ultimately, and most importantly, to find Him through it.”
“The universe is a soul making machine, and part of that process is learning, maturing, and growing through difficult and challenging and painful experiences. The point of our lives in this world isn’t comfort, but training and preparation for eternity.”
“Only in a world where faith is difficult can faith exist.”
“My worldview, my philosophy, my attitudes, my relationships, my parenting, my marriage — everything has been transformed by my relationship with Christ.”
“I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there’s an Intelligent Designer.”
“All Christians should be able to articulate reasons why they believe what they believe – not just for the sake of our spiritually confused friends, but also so that we ourselves will have a deeper and more confident faith.”
“For me, apologetics proved to be the turning point of my life and eternity. I’m thankful for the scholars who so passionately and effectively defend the truth of Christianity – and today my life’s goal is to do my part in helping others get answers to the questions that are blocking them in their spiritual journey toward Christ.”
“Science itself is steadily nailing the lid on atheism’s coffin.”
“I don’t believe in reincarnation because there’s an expert on this question, and he’s Jesus of Nazareth. He’s the only person in history who died, rose from the dead, and spoke authoritatively on this question. And Jesus says reincarnation doesn’t happen. He says that there’s only one death and after that comes the judgment.”
“Christianity is a very historical religion – it makes specific claims that are open to testing.”
“If life can emerge just from naturalistic circumstances, then God is out of a job.”
1 Lee Strobel Testimony: He Tried to Get His Wife Out of the Jesus “Cult”—Now His New Movie Proves ‘The Case for Christ’ Is Stronger Than Ever (faithit.com)
2 All of these quotes are from the following website: https://www.azquotes.com/author/14247-Lee_Strobel