Today we watched a movie about the true story of a guy called Lee Strobel. He was an investigative journalist who had a loose relationship with the truth. He would have fit in with the current legacy media, where truthful reporting seems to be a thing of the past.
Today, most journalists have sacrificed truth in order to tow the company line. Western Government incentives (in supposed democratic countries) achieve a level of censorship any communist government would be proud of.
But something happened to Lee that would rock his world. As a result, his determination to prove something false would have a dramatic and profound effect on his life…
As it happened, his daughter nearly died while they were eating at a restaurant, but she was saved by a nurse. Afterwards, the nurse was insistent that she was directed by Jesus to be in the right place to save this little girl.
Lee, a solid atheist, was grateful, but knew this lady was deluded. He didn’t care, except his wife was profoundly touched by the incident and eventually became a Christian. Hating his wife’s new stance, worried that the love of his life was being duped and fearful of what it could mean, Lee decided to put his investigative skills to work.
He was determined to show his wife evidence that Jesus’ death, let alone His resurrection did not happen. This ‘Jesus thing’ was a baseless and idiotic belief system/.
The movie chronicles the lengths Lee goes to, to prove that the Bible is false and could not be true. The problem is, the evidence points to the exact opposite conclusion.
The more he investigates, the more experts, scientists, historians, doctors he talks to, the worse it gets.
He discovers that the evidence is so strong that he no longer can present evidence to refute the historical facts. As is true with most Atheists though, the evidence doesn’t change much: they have a reason to reject truth. 1Many have suffered at the hands of religious people, have come to think x, y or z painful experience was because of ‘god’ and can not accept the possibility of being accountable to a God that is infinitely more powerful than they can imagine.
He keeps trying to work around the evidence, to re-frame things to fit his for-conclusion and goes to great lengths to back up his narrative. If you are a thinking person and have done honest or in depth research in this area, you will know: it is futile! Or maybe you are the type like him, can’t see the facts staring you in the face!
Eventually, Lee has to accept that there is far more evidence for the life and death of Jesus than is needed to convince the most determined skeptic. And the resurrection? None of the evidence, the detailed history of hundreds of people, makes sense unless it actually happened.
While the positive changes for both his wife and his relationships were massive (and still evident 30 years later!), the thing that stood out to me the whole way through was: how patient God is.
You see, I remember having this same proud, judgmental, antagonistic attitude towards ‘god’: filled with hatred, blame and contempt towards ‘him’…
How could there be a ‘god’?
- How could a ‘god’ be there when science has ‘proved’ how we came to exist?
- How could a ‘god’ create such a pain-filled, unfair and tragic life?
- How could a ‘god’ tell people not to do what makes them happy?
- How could a ‘god’ ignore so many peoples’ suffering?
- How could a ‘god’ let me grow up without a dad or protector?
- How could a ‘god’ let me go through pain & shame of people who talked about ‘him’?
- How could a ‘god’ judge people for not doing this or that?
- How could a ‘god’ condemn people to hell?
When I think of how arrogant I was, my determination to prove ‘him’ wrong, my hatred towards this ‘god’ I did not even think existed, I am astounded. Not just at how foolish and ignorant I was, but at how patient & forgiving God was (and is!).
What if God was one of us?!
It’s a good thing God is nothing like any of us! As I watched this movie showing Lee running around from one place to the next, twisting & turning everything that is said or read to be ammunition against God, I could only think of the error of my own ways.
I deserved for God to smite me. Or is that smote? Whatever it is, I deserved it! So did Lee. And so do you. We are sinful, ignorant, arrogant beings, that God loves anyway. SO much that He sent His Son to die in our place!
It really is crazy. Don’t be stupid – don’t ignore it.
#hellawaits #onyourhead #dontwait #fools
Footnotes:
- 1Many have suffered at the hands of religious people, have come to think x, y or z painful experience was because of ‘god’ and can not accept the possibility of being accountable to a God that is infinitely more powerful than they can imagine.