"The Case For Christ": Atheist-Turned-Christian Lee Strobel's Book Premieres as New Movie

Julie Brown Patton : Mar 21, 2017
Gospel Herald

...the skeptical Strobel ... riffled through contradictory details of the Resurrection, looking for evidence, and ... ultimately was brought to faith in the process.

[Gospel Herald] A book written by Lee Strobel, an American award-winning investigative journalist and Christian apologetic author, was turned into a new Christian movie. "The Case For Christ" film premieres in theaters April 7, 2017. (Photo: LeeStrobel.com/via Gospel Herald)

"The Case For Christ" is a new Christian drama film based on a book written by an award-winning investigative journalist, who as an atheist was working to disprove the newfound Christian faith of his wife. The movie debuts in theaters April 7.

Illinois journalist and former Chicago Tribune legal editor Lee Strobel wrote the true story about his life from the 1980s and published the book (with the same name) in 1998. He applied his journalistic and legal skills to attempt to disprove his wife, Leslie's, unwavering, new belief in Christianity. After two years of analyses and with the threat of divorce, Strobel's journalistic journey ended with unexpected, life-altering results.

"I spent my entire career as a journalist, uncovering the truth, until the day my wife presented me with the biggest story of my life," explained the skeptical Strobel, who riffled through contradictory details of the Resurrection, looking for evidence, and who ultimately was brought to faith in the process.

Strobel has authored 20-plus books, and now is a professor at Houston Baptist University as well as teaching pastor at Woodlands Church.

"The Case For Christ" book summarizes Strobel's interviews with 13 evangelical Christian scholars: Craig Blomberg, Bruce Metzger, Edwin Yamauchi, John McRay, Gregory Boyd, Ben Witherington III, Gary Collins, D.A. Carson, Louis Lapides, Alexander Metherell, William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, and J. P. Moreland, in which they defend their views regarding the historical reliability of the New Testament.

The journalist joined Saddleback Church congregations this past week to discuss the question of whether God is really good all the time and how to apply personal experiences to life's valleys. He used to be on the Saddleback minister staff.

In a Saddleback interview style of discussion, Strobel revealed the struggles of not having a loving relationship with his personal father had affected his desire to want to believe in and have a heavenly father. They had an angry rife that never healed during his dad's lifetime, and in retrospect, he believes his "father wound" drove some of his atheist feelings. He pointed out that most famous atheists did not have a warm, loving relationship with their earthly fathers.

"When we talk about valleys, we think of ourselves in a valley. But God can use us to get someone else through a valley," Strobel surmised. "You can be an instrument of God's love, His healing, his forgiveness or His grace...

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