The Study Room, Christian library, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

 

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Atheist: “A person who does not believe in the existence of God.” Christian Apologist: “Someone who defends the Christian Faith from criticism.”

Lee Strobel was an atheist who, through his own investigations and research, became a Christian. His books are an account of his research and evidence proving the Christian faith as real. There are many questions though that we could ask about this man and his work. How did Lee Strobel go from an atheist to a Christian apologist? What is the content of these popular books by this author? How did the life of this one person and his research effect so many people in the world? To answer these questions and to understand what Strobel wrote about, I think it’s best to first look at his life and credentials.

Lee Strobel was born in 1952, in Illinois, U.S.A. He went to the University of Missouri, where he received his Bachelor of Journalism degree. Strobel then went to the Yale Law School where he received his Master of Studies in law degree. Even early on Strobel always needed hard evidence to believe anything and loved to put his all into researching a story, which is evident in both his schooling and early career. Young Strobel started his career as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune and worked there for 14 years. During this time he received Illinois’ highest honors from United Press International for investigative reporting and public service journalism. Strobel became a great investigator and journalist with a lot of experience under his belt. However, Strobel’s life started to change when his wife, Leslie, started attending church, soon after which she became a Christian. When Leslie couldn’t produce evidence for her faith, Lee became determined to prove to her that it was all false. Not knowing where to start, Strobel seeks advice:

“As he begins his investigation, a colleague at the Tribune tells him that the resurrection is the central tenet of the faith. If he can prove that this one event didn’t happen, ‘the whole house of cards falls’” (Messer, 2018).

So, Lee Strobel set out to prove that the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the true son of God, never happened. He spent nearly two years conducting interviews, collecting evidence, and trying to disprove his wife’s faith, though this didn’t go as planned. In trying to disprove it, he finds enough evidence to establish for himself that the resurrection did in fact happen. It was in 1981 that Lee Strobel became a Christian. After that he starts writing apologetic books and using his investigative and journalism skills to present the evidence of the Christian Faith. He organizes each book as if it’s a case he must prove to a skeptic.

The Case for Christ is an account of the interviews Lee Strobel conducted while trying to disprove the Christianity. The subtitle for this book is a good description of what the book contains: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. As mentioned, this book’s case is to prove the existence of Jesus as a real man who is the Son of God and that really lived, died, and rose again. To work this case Lee Strobel conducted 13 interviews with experts in various fields of study. These interviews covered the various aspects of evidence proving the resurrection as a true historical event. Some of the evidence covered included the eyewitness evidence that proved the biographies of Jesus could be trusted and the documentary evidence that proved these biographies were reliably preserved. Strobel also covers other areas of evidence that challenge a wide range of questions. On talking about this case Lee Strobel said:

“I plunged into the case with more vigor than with any story I had ever pursued. I applied the training I had received at Yale Law School as well as my experience as legal affairs editor of the Chicago Tribune. And over time the evidence of the world – of history, of science, of philosophy, of psychology – began to point toward the unthinkable” (Strobel, 1998, p. 16).

Though in this case Strobel proved that Jesus the son of God in fact lived, died, and rose again, there were many other questions that could be investigated about Christianity. After this book he went on to answer more questions about the Christian faith.

The Case for Faith started as Lee Strobel’s response to people saying they couldn’t believe in a God that allowed bad things to happen. This response eventually expanded to cover eight different objections and questions people have about the Christian faith. The subtitle for this book is A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity. This book’s case is to prove there is a God who is true to how the Bible describes Him. While exploring and disproving these objections Strobel covers topics such as miracles, evolution, hell, suffering, and doubts. Just like in The Case for Christ, Strobel conducts interviews with experts to better understand and write about these topics. The very first objection, and I think one of the biggest, in this book is that “since evil and suffering exist, a loving God cannot” (Strobel, 2000, p. 33). This topic was very important to Strobel as you can see in this quote from the book:

“The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith and has been in every generation. Its distribution and degree appear to be entirely random and therefore unfair. Sensitive spirits ask if it can possibly be reconciled with God’s justice and love” (John Stott, as cited in Strobel, 2000, p. 33).

Strobel uses sound reasoning, his investigative and journalism, and hard proven facts to tackle these objections. Though he covered many good topics in this book, there were still many more that he wanted to address, which led to his next book.

The Case for the Real Jesus explores some of the newer objections to Jesus and the Christian faith since the writing of The Case for Christ. Some years after Lee Strobel wrote and published The Case for Christ, he started hearing more and more attacks on who Jesus is and what Christianity is about. People were making false claims about Jesus and coming up with what they said was “new evidence” disproving what the Bible says. So Strobel wrote a new book addressing these newer claims and discoveries. He subtitled it A Journalist investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ. The case for this book? To prove Jesus is true to the biblical account of Him and to disprove new incorrect depictions of Him. Keeping with his journalism and theme of the other books as cases, Strobel structured this book the same as the previous. The six chapters each address a different challenge to the identity of Christ. Strobel again uses interviews with experts to explore these themes, investigate, and disprove the challenges. In this book Strobel delves deep into claims and demands the facts to back them up. Some themes covered in this book included whether people could have made up Christianity or hallucinated it, or if people can pick and choose what to believe in the Bible. When discussing these challenges to the identity of Christ, Lee Strobel said, “One by one, they were systematically dismantled by scholars who backed up their positions not with verbal sleights of hand or speculation, but with facts, logic, and evidence” (Strobel, 2007, p. 266). A student edition of The Case for the Real Jesus was written not long after by Lee Strobel and Jane Vogel. This edition contains all the same challenges and evidence but is written in an easy to understand way perfect for younger readers.

Lee Strobel’s life research, investigation, and journalism proves the existence of Christ as the true Son of God, that He truly did die and rose again, and that the Christian faith is built on truth. You can see the effect these discoveries had on Strobel’s life, turning him from an atheist to someone who defends the Christian faith. All the evidence of his research and investigations have been published in these and many other books. Of the forty books and curricula that Lee Strobel has written, he has sold fourteen million copies! (About Lee, 2021). I have found reading these books very helpful in further solidifying my beliefs. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” We must be prepared to defend our faith if people ask about it. These books are great tools to prepare yourself to defend your faith.

References
About Lee. (2021). Lee Strobel.  https://leestrobel.com/about
Messer, D. (2018, May 11). The Case for The Case for Christ. The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-case-for-the-case-for-christ/
Strobel, L. (1998). The case for Christ. Zondervan.
Strobel, L. (2000). The case for faith. Zondervan.
Strobel, L. (2007). The case for the real Jesus. Zondervan.
Strobel, L. & Vogel, J. (2008). The case for the real Jesus student edition. Zondervan.

 

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