About the year 2000 Ferdy Cancino, Tony Alagao, and I were elders at the
Corona Fil-Am Church (now CICF, Corona International Christian
Fellowship). Ferdy's family was among the initial members of our church
and in all respects he was our senior elder. Ferdy found a great book,
"The Case For Christ" by Lee Strobel, and purchased copies for
all the leaders of our church fellowship. I could not put the book down
and have now read many of Lee Strobel's books.
What made this book so compelling for believers and non-believers alike - is that Lee Strobel was an atheist journalist who, in the beginning of his spiritual journey, was determined to prove the Bible and God wrong, that God did not exist. If you recall in the first half of the 20th century, C. S. Lewis, an atheist professor of English Literature at Oxford University and Cambridge University in England, also began a quest to prove the Bible and God wrong - and as a result of that journey became a strong believer and one of our most prolific Christian writers.
Lee Strobel earned his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri and his Master of Studies in Law at Yale Law School. He was a journalist for fourteen years at The Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, winning Illinois' highest honor for public service journalism from United Press International. He also led a team that won UPI's top award for investigative reporting in Illinois.
The movie I introduce below documents his journey from atheist journalist - to Christian believer and a strong witness for our Christian faith through his books, speaking engagements, and now as a teaching pastor.
Lee's approach in his initial quest was to, with an open journalistically qualified mind, interview leading Christian theologians and scholars to better understand why Christians believe all the Bible stories about Jesus Christ. That quest is well documented in this movie, "The Case For Christ Movie."
In watching this movie, I found that Lee Strobel and I have another thing in common besides our Christian faith. In the movie, Lee's wife of over 40 years, Leslie, tells how she prayed for her husband for years, that he would stop hating the Christian faith and become a believer. My wife, Dory, and I have been married for 41 years - and for the first 10 years of our marriage I was not a Christian believer. Dory prayed for me for 10 years, that I would see the Light - and God eventually answered her prayers.
Shortly after surrendering to Christ in 1987, I began to do Christian writing and at church would often speak. Now Dory jokes, "I think I created a monster, now he will not shut up!" But of course she is joking, for she is so happy that I became a believer and that I want to share our faith through my writings. Although I will say that when I did stand and speak in church - Dory perfected the "finger across the throat" sign that I had talked too long.
Lee is currently a teaching pastor at Woodlands Church in Texas where he speaks multiple times each year. He recently joined the faculty at Houston Baptist University as a Professor of Christian Thought.
And Lee and his wife, Leslie, are great examples of how being Christian parents and providing a Christian home environment, can have a very positive influence on all the family. What has been the result of Lee's conversion to the Christian faith? Besides Lee becoming a teaching pastor and speaker - their daughter, Alison, is the author of six inspirational women's fiction novels and co-author, with her husband, Daniel, of two books for children. Lee's son, Kyle, earned a PhD in Theology from the University of Aberdeen and two Master's degrees. He is now an accomplished author, Jonathan Edwards scholar, and Professor of Spiritual Theology at Talbot School of Theology at BIOLA University in Southern California.
And I am proud to say that all in my and Dory's family, from the oldest the youngest - are Christian believers. That, in itself, is a great reward.
So with that brief (no laughing, please) introduction, I invite you to watch this relatively short movie - for I know that in this movie you will enjoy both Lee's journey toward faith - and the comments from many of the Bible scholars and theologians Lee interviewed for his book.
After you have viewed the movie, don't forget to share it with all your FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors). We always want to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our family and friends. Let us be like the early disciples of Christ, telling our family and friends, "I have found the Messiah. Come and see!"
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
What made this book so compelling for believers and non-believers alike - is that Lee Strobel was an atheist journalist who, in the beginning of his spiritual journey, was determined to prove the Bible and God wrong, that God did not exist. If you recall in the first half of the 20th century, C. S. Lewis, an atheist professor of English Literature at Oxford University and Cambridge University in England, also began a quest to prove the Bible and God wrong - and as a result of that journey became a strong believer and one of our most prolific Christian writers.
Lee Strobel earned his Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri and his Master of Studies in Law at Yale Law School. He was a journalist for fourteen years at The Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, winning Illinois' highest honor for public service journalism from United Press International. He also led a team that won UPI's top award for investigative reporting in Illinois.
The movie I introduce below documents his journey from atheist journalist - to Christian believer and a strong witness for our Christian faith through his books, speaking engagements, and now as a teaching pastor.
Lee's approach in his initial quest was to, with an open journalistically qualified mind, interview leading Christian theologians and scholars to better understand why Christians believe all the Bible stories about Jesus Christ. That quest is well documented in this movie, "The Case For Christ Movie."
In watching this movie, I found that Lee Strobel and I have another thing in common besides our Christian faith. In the movie, Lee's wife of over 40 years, Leslie, tells how she prayed for her husband for years, that he would stop hating the Christian faith and become a believer. My wife, Dory, and I have been married for 41 years - and for the first 10 years of our marriage I was not a Christian believer. Dory prayed for me for 10 years, that I would see the Light - and God eventually answered her prayers.
Shortly after surrendering to Christ in 1987, I began to do Christian writing and at church would often speak. Now Dory jokes, "I think I created a monster, now he will not shut up!" But of course she is joking, for she is so happy that I became a believer and that I want to share our faith through my writings. Although I will say that when I did stand and speak in church - Dory perfected the "finger across the throat" sign that I had talked too long.
Lee is currently a teaching pastor at Woodlands Church in Texas where he speaks multiple times each year. He recently joined the faculty at Houston Baptist University as a Professor of Christian Thought.
And Lee and his wife, Leslie, are great examples of how being Christian parents and providing a Christian home environment, can have a very positive influence on all the family. What has been the result of Lee's conversion to the Christian faith? Besides Lee becoming a teaching pastor and speaker - their daughter, Alison, is the author of six inspirational women's fiction novels and co-author, with her husband, Daniel, of two books for children. Lee's son, Kyle, earned a PhD in Theology from the University of Aberdeen and two Master's degrees. He is now an accomplished author, Jonathan Edwards scholar, and Professor of Spiritual Theology at Talbot School of Theology at BIOLA University in Southern California.
And I am proud to say that all in my and Dory's family, from the oldest the youngest - are Christian believers. That, in itself, is a great reward.
So with that brief (no laughing, please) introduction, I invite you to watch this relatively short movie - for I know that in this movie you will enjoy both Lee's journey toward faith - and the comments from many of the Bible scholars and theologians Lee interviewed for his book.
The Case for Christ Movie - Lee Strobel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqgQ9g2MV_8 This is also the Facebook page for The Case For Christ: https://www.facebook.com/CaseforChristMovie/?ref=profile
After you have viewed the movie, don't forget to share it with all your FRANs (Friends, Relatives, Associates, Neighbors). We always want to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our family and friends. Let us be like the early disciples of Christ, telling our family and friends, "I have found the Messiah. Come and see!"
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
Click on the image to enlarge:
No comments:
Post a Comment