by Lee Strobel - Former Athieist

Investigate Christianity !!

Question From an Atheist

Theoretically, Lee, is there anything at this point that could convince you that you're wrong about the whole Jesus/Christianity thing?

Suppose you wanted to know if your boss was in his office on a particular Saturday morning. You drive to the office building and find his car in the parking lot. You feel the hood and it's warm; apparently, it has just been driven.

You take the elevator upstairs and find your boss's secretary at her desk. “Is the boss in?” you ask. “Yes,” she says. You look at her telephone console and see that the light from your boss's phone is on. You go over to your boss's door. You see light coming from underneath. You put your ear on the door and hear your boss's voice on a phone call.

All of this evidence would lead you to the reasonable conclusion that your boss is in his office. Are you absolutely sure? No, you're not. But based on the facts, this seems like a very good bet.

Then you knock on the door. When your boss opens it and you see him face to face, then you know for sure he's there. Does that negate all of the preceding evidence? No, all those other facts are still valid, but now they take on a secondary role. If someone asked you why you're sure your boss was in his office on that particular Saturday morning, you'd reply that it's because you met him there.

In an analogous way, I encountered all sorts of evidence from cosmology, physics, and other scientific fields that points toward the existence of a Creator. I also found lots of historical evidence that Jesus not only lived in the first century, but that he claimed to be the Son of God and then proved it by returning from the dead.

Based on all of this evidence, which I spell out in great detail in my books The Case for Christ, The Case for a Creator and The Case for Faith, I came to the reasonable conclusion that God exists and that Jesus really is his unique Son. That's when I took a rational step of faith in the same direction the evidence was pointing and put my trust in Christ.

All of that evidence is enough to give me confidence that my faith in God is well-placed. But if you ask me how I know for sure that he's real, I would say it's because I've met him. I've encountered him. For 27 years, since November 8, 1981, I've interacted with him. He has guided me and transformed me. And this isn't merely a subjective experience: he also has answered some of my prayers in ways that defy naturalistic explanations.

Does that negate all of the other evidence I mentioned earlier? No, not in the slightest. I believe all of that evidence is still valid and points toward the logically defensible conclusion that Christianity is true. But personally interacting with Jesus in a personal way for nearly three decades trumps all of that.

Romans 8:16 puts it this way: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.” In other words, when a person becomes an authentic follower of Christ, he or she can experience the quiet whisper of the Holy Spirit that he or she has been adopted into God's family. If someone had told me that when I was an atheist, I would have been beyond skeptical. However, having experienced it myself, I consider it the highest affirmation of God's existence.

So now let me answer your question. In order to destroy my faith in Christ, you would not only have to undermine the evidence that led me to put my trust in him, but you'd also have to convince me that the very real presence of God in my life for 27 years has been a mirage and that all of my answers to prayers have been mere coincidences despite mathematically prohibitive odds. That, in sum, would be a tall order. You'd probably have more luck trying to convince me my wife doesn't exist.

One of the greatest defenders of Christianity, Dr. William Lane Craig, gave a similar answer in my interview with him for The Case for Faith. “As you sit here right now, deep in your soul, do you know for a fact that Christianity is true?” I asked. Without hesitating, he replied, “Yes, I do.”

“Ultimately, how do you know for sure?” I asked.

“Ultimately, the way a Christian really knows that Christianity is true is through the self-authenticating witness of God's spirit,” he said. “The Holy Spirit whispers to our spirit that we belong to God. Other evidence, though still valid, is basically confirmatory.”

I asked Craig: “And this immediate experience of God is available to anyone who seeks it?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “The Bible says God is knocking on the door of our life, and if we open it we will encounter him and experience him personally. He says in Revelation 3:20, ‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me.'”