Lee Strobel Quotes & Sayings

It's hard to think seriously about grace until you understand that you've failed morally and will someday stand accountable before a holy God. — Lee Strobel

Even to someone as notorious as Madonna, I think Jesus would say, 'I'll help you experience the fulfillment that has eluded you despite your struggle to find it. I'll help heal whatever's driving you to affirm your self-worth in self-defeating ways. But I can only help you if you let me. — Lee Strobel

Christian faith is not an irrational leap.Examined objectively, the claims of the Bible are rational propositions well supported by reason and evidence. — Lee Strobel

Paul himself says that he was converted to a follower of Jesus because he had personally encountered the resurrected Jesus.12 So we have Jesus' resurrection attested by friend and foe alike, which is very significant. — Lee Strobel

God didn't let Job suffer because he lacked love, but because he did love, in order to bring Job to the point of encountering God face to face, which is humanity's supreme happiness. Job's suffering hollowed out a big space in him so that God and joy could fill it. — Lee Strobel

God is the God of do-overs, and that should give us great hope. We really can be absolved of our past. — Lee Strobel

The general consensus of both liberal and conservative scholars is that Luke is very accurate as a historian," I was told by Dr. John McRay, who earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago and wrote the respected textbook Archaeology and the New Testament. "He's erudite, he's eloquent, his Greek approaches classical quality, he writes as an educated man and archaeological discoveries are showing over and over again that Luke is accurate in what he has to say." In fact, there have been several instances in which scholars initially dismissed Luke as being inaccurate in a specific reference, only to have later discoveries — Lee Strobel

Apologetics has an important place in the local church as we seek to influence our communities for Christ in an increasingly skeptical culture. — Lee Strobel

Courage would be impossible in a world without pain. — Lee Strobel

Nobody is beyond the reach of the Gospel. — Lee Strobel

on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. — Lee Strobel

while grace sets apart Christianity, so does truth. Jesus was filled with grace and truth, and in Christianity you can know the truth, not just through some sort of spiritual experience, but also through careful investigation. — Lee Strobel

Learning about the intellectual basis for Christianity bolsters the faith of Christians-espe cially those who may be experiencing doubts-and prepares them to share Christ with others. — Lee Strobel

If Jesus is the Son of God, his teachings are more than just good ideas from a wise teacher; they are divine insights on which I can confidently build my life. — Lee Strobel

How we face death tells us a lot about how we'll face life. — Lee Strobel

To be honest, I didn't want to believe that Christianity could radically transform someone's character and values. It was much easier to raise doubts and manufacture outrageous objections that to consider the possibility that God actually could trigger a revolutionary turn-around in such a depraved and degenerate life. — Lee Strobel

It is very difficult to give a 15 second sound bite on why there is pain and suffering in this world and not have it come off as being flippant or surface level or superficial. — Lee Strobel

The question is not "Will God grant you a do-over?" The Bible promises, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). God is anxious to give you a do-over; the question is whether you're willing to reach out and ask for one. — Lee Strobel

A lot of people don't give much thought to what they believe, and it's easy for them to hold what often are two conflicting ideas in their head at the same time. — Lee Strobel

So much of the world's suffering results from the sinful action or inaction of ourselves and others. For example, people look at a famine and wonder where God is, but the world produces enough food for each person to have 3,000 calories a day. It's our own irresponsibility and self-centeredness that prevents people from getting fed. — Lee Strobel

For me, apologetics proved to be the turning point of my life and eternity. I'm thankful for the scholars who so passionately and effectively defend the truth of Christianity - and today my life's goal is to do my part in helping others get answers to the questions that are blocking them in their spiritual journey toward Christ. — Lee Strobel

In short, I didn't become a Christian because God promised I would have an even happier life than I had as an atheist. He never promised any such thing. Indeed, following him would inevitably bring divine demotions in the eyes of the world. Rather, I became a Christian because the evidence was so compelling that Jesus really is the one-and-only Son of God who proved his divinity by rising from the dead. That meant following him was the most rational and logical step I could possibly take. — Lee Strobel

Only by facing my sin could God use it to change me for the better. The Bible warns that God's discipline isn't pleasant, but in the end the changes God produces in our character are worth it. — Lee Strobel

I started out as an atheist, utterly convinced that God didn't create people but that people created God in a pathetic effort to explain the unknown and temper their overpowering fear of death. My previous book, The Case for Christ, described my nearly two-year examination of the historical evidence that pointed me toward the verdict that God really exists and that Jesus actually is his unique Son. (For — Lee Strobel

[Hope is] the unswerving belief that better days are ahead, probably in this world and most certainly in the next. — Lee Strobel

Faith is taking a step in the same direction that the evidence is pointing. — Lee Strobel

If it's true there's a beginning to the universe, as modern cosmologists now agree, then this implies a cause that transcends the universe. If the laws of physics are fine-tuned to permit life, as contemporary physicists are discovering, then perhaps there's a designer who fine-tuned them. If there's information in the cell, as molecular biology shows, then this suggests intelligent design. To get life going in the first place would have required biological information; the implications point beyond the material realm to a prior intelligent cause. -Stephen C Meyer, PHD — Lee Strobel

We live in a broken world; Jesus was honest enough to tell us we'd have trials and tribulations. Sure, I'd like to understand more about why. But Kreeft's conclusion was right--the ultimate answer is Jesus' presence. That sounds sappy, I know. But just wait--when your world is rocked, you don't want philosophy or theology as much as you want the reality of Christ. He was the answer for me. He was the very answer we needed. — Lee Strobel

When the Bible says God loves the world, it doesn't footnote any exceptions. God's grace is inexhaustible. — Lee Strobel

Doubts can produce positive side-effects - if you work toward resolving them. — Lee Strobel

I am a soul, and I have a body. We don't learn about people by studying their bodies. We learn about people by finding out how they feel, what they think, what they're passionate about, what their worldview is, and so forth.
...So my conclusion is that there's more to me than my conscious life and my body. In fact, I am a 'self,' or an 'I,' that cannot be seen or touched unless I manifest myself through my behavior or my talk. I have free will because I am a 'self,' or a soul, and I'm not just a brain. ~J.P. Moreland, PHD~ — Lee Strobel

In a world where spiritual confusion is increasing, GodQuest helps bring clarity and conviction. This is a terrific resource for developing a solid foundation for faith. — Lee Strobel

Faith is only as good as the one in whom it's invested. — Lee Strobel

...if God took his hands off this fallen world so that there were no restraint on human wickedness, we would make hell. Thus if you allow a whole lot of sinners to live somewhere in a confined place where they're not doing damage to anyone but themselves, what do you get but hell? There's a sense in which they're doing it to themselves, and it's what they want because they still don't repent. — Lee Strobel

just about every human being can reflect on his or her past and say, 'I learned from that hardship. I didn't think I would at the time, but I'm a bigger and better person for having endured it and persevered. — Lee Strobel

if the gospels had been identical to each other, word for word, this would have raised charges that the authors had conspired among themselves to coordinate their stories in advance, and that would have cast doubt on them. — Lee Strobel

The Resurrection is the supreme vindication of Jesus' divine identity and his inspired teaching. It's the proof of his triumph over sin and death. It's the foreshadowing of the resurrection of his followers. It's the basis of Christian hope. It's the miracle of all miracles. — Lee Strobel

If your friend is sick and dying, the most important thing he wants is not an explanation; he wants you to sit with him. He's terrified of being alone more than anything else. So, God has not left us alone. — Lee Strobel

The insights that freed Jud were similar to the ones that led to my own recovery from spiritual workaholism after being confronted by my boss years ago. I came to realize that God didn't love me because I made myself valuable through service; on the contrary, I was valuable because I was loved by God. I could stop working like a slave to justify myself; I just needed to recognize - and celebrate - my adoption as God's child. — Lee Strobel

The point of our lives in this world isn't comfort, but training and preparation for eternity. Scripture tells us that even Jesus 'learned obedience through suffering14 - and if that was true for him, why wouldn't it be even more true for us? — Lee Strobel

Contrast that with the depiction of Jesus Christ in the gospels. They talk about someone who actually lived several decades earlier, and they name names - crucified under Pontius Pilate, when Caiaphas was the high priest, and the father of Alexander and Rufus carried his cross, for example. That's concrete historical stuff. It has nothing in common with stories about what supposedly happened 'once upon a time. — Lee Strobel

Satan greets people in hell by saying: "You'll find that there's no right or wrong here - just what works for you. — Lee Strobel

All Christians should be able to articulate reasons why they believe what they believe - not just for the sake of our spiritually confused friends, but also so that we ourselves will have a deeper and more confident faith. — Lee Strobel

I don't believe in reincarnation because there's an expert on this question, and he's Jesus of Nazareth. He's the only person in history who died, rose from the dead, and spoke authoritatively on this question. And Jesus says reincarnation doesn't happen. He says that there's only one death and after that comes the judgment. — Lee Strobel

we can't be filled with the power of God until we let go of the false pretense that we can get by on our own. — Lee Strobel

Often it is hard. So hard, in fact, that Jesus' decree to love and pray for our opponents is regarded as one of the most breathtaking and gut-wrenching challenges of his entire Sermon on the Mount, a speech renowned for its outrageous claims. There was no record of any other spiritual leader ever having articulated such a clear-cut, unambiguous command for people to express compassion to those who are actively working against their best interests. — Lee Strobel

Craig summarized his next point succinctly at the outset: "A third factor pointing toward God is the existence of objective moral values in the universe. If God does not exist, then objective moral values do not exist. — Lee Strobel

Christians can have doubts and they can have questions, and the unhealthy way to deal with that is to keep them inside where they fester and grow and can undermine our faith. The healthy way to deal with it is to talk about it and be honest about it. — Lee Strobel

I've seen far too many Christians who are more than willing to travel halfway around the world to volunteer for a week in an orphanage, but who cannot bring themselves to take the personal risk of sharing Jesus with the co-worker who sits day after day in the cubicle right next to them. — Lee Strobel

You can invoke neither time nor space nor matter not energy nor the laws of nature to explain the origin of the universe. General relativity points to the need for a cause that transcends those domains. ~Stephen C. Meyer, PHD~ — Lee Strobel

Pain and suffering are frequently the means by which we become motivated to finally surrender to God and to seek the cure of Christ. — Lee Strobel

There is no way you can harmonize neo-Darwinism and Christianity. — Lee Strobel

Few things accelerate the peace process as much as humbly admitting our own wrongdoing and asking forgiveness. — Lee Strobel

No cardinal or essential doctrine is altered by any textual variant that has plausibility of going back to the original. The evidence for that has not changed to this day. — Lee Strobel

Take the expansion rate of the universe, which is fine-tuned to one part in a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion. That is, if it were changed by one part in either direction--a little faster, a little slower--we could not have a universe that would be capable of supporting life. ~Stephen C. Meyer, PHD~ — Lee Strobel

I do know plenty of atheists, agnostics and skeptics who have become Christians through the years. In fact, several of my friends were once strong atheists but are now committed followers of Jesus. — Lee Strobel

Biblical hope is the confident expectation that God is willing and able to fulfill the promises he has made to those who trust in him. — Lee Strobel

Human beings can build airplanes, but they can't build a human being like you. — Lee Strobel

It was the evidence from science and history that prompted me to abandon my atheism and become a Christian. — Lee Strobel

Godly teachers encourage questions; those who demand unthinking agreement have something to hide. — Lee Strobel

We can never sink so far that God's grace will not reach us. At the same time, grace does not leave us there. It raises us to new heights. — Lee Strobel

Certainly there are times when God allows suffering and deprives us of the lesser good of pleasure in order to help us toward the greater good of moral and spiritual education. Even the ancient Greeks believed the gods taught wisdom through suffering. Aeschylus wrote: 'Day by day, hour by hour / Pain drips upon the heart / As, against our will, and even in our own despite / Comes Wisdom from the awful grace of God. — Lee Strobel

The idea that Jesus never really died on the cross can be found in the Koran, which was written in the seventh century--in fact, Ahmadiyya Muslims contend that Jesus actually fled to India. To this day there's a shrine that supposedly marks his real burial place in Srinagar, Kashmir. — Lee Strobel

Intelligent design is consistent with any faith system I can think of, because most faith systems believe that there is a creator. — Lee Strobel

the scientific data point powerfully toward the existence of a Creator and that the historical evidence for the resurrection establishes convincingly that Jesus is divine. — Lee Strobel

face." I sat spellbound. Here it was - the image of grace I had been seeking: an aspiring father bringing unconditional acceptance to a child who had absolutely nothing to offer, no accolades or accomplishments, just herself in all of her vulnerability and scars and weaknesses. My eyes moistened. This is the love of a dad. Maybe - just maybe - this is the love of a Father. — Lee Strobel

But C. S. Lewis made the point that we hate sin but love the sinner all the time - in our own lives. In other words, when we're judging ourselves, we always love the sinner despite our sin. We accept ourselves, even though we might not always like our behavior. — Lee Strobel

He has demonstrated how the very worst thing that has ever happened in the history of the world ended up resulting in the very best thing that has ever happened in the history of the world." "What do you mean? "I'm referring to dei-cide," he replied. "The death of God himself on the cross. At the time, nobody saw how anything good could ever result from this tragedy. And yet God foresaw that the result would be the opening of heaven to human beings. So the worst tragedy in history brought about the most glorious event in history. And if it happened there - if the ultimate evil can result in the ultimate good - it can happen elsewhere, even in our own individual lives. Here, God lifts the curtain and lets us see it. Elsewhere he simply says, 'Trust me. — Lee Strobel

To Jesus she already is somebody. Like the loving father of the prodigal son, Jesus is frantically scanning the horizon, watching for Madonna to return to him. He's absolutely convinced that she's so valuable that she's worth dying for. 'Greater love has no one than this,' said Jesus in John 15:13, 'that one lay down his life for his friends.' That's what He did for her on the cross! — Lee Strobel

Christianity is a very historical religion - it makes specific claims that are open to testing. — Lee Strobel

Wishful thinking doesn't change reality. — Lee Strobel

Virtually every scientist now concedes that universe and time itself had beginning. So, whatever begins to exist has a cause. The universe began to exist. Therefore, the universe must have had a cause. — Lee Strobel

I think people who believe that life emerged naturalistically need to have a great deal more faith than people who reasonably infer that there's an Intelligent Designer. — Lee Strobel

He hadn't changed since I had seen him a few years earlier. With his close-cropped black beard, angular features, and riveting gaze, Craig still looks the role of a serious scholar. He speaks in cogent sentences, never losing his train of thought, always working through an answer methodically, point by point, fact by fact. — Lee Strobel

The Internet has helped atheists and agnostics coalesce as never before. — Lee Strobel

Through doubt we can learn more than through naive trust, — Lee Strobel

These are his people, this congregation of misfits, crack addicts, and drunks, the unshaven, unwashed, unemployed, and unwanted. — Lee Strobel

Crossan also gives credence to what he calls the Cross Gospel. "Does that fare any better?" I asked. "No, most scholars don't give it credibility, because it includes such outlandishly legendary material. For instance, Jesus comes out of his tomb and he's huge - he goes up beyond the sky - and the cross comes out of the tomb and actually talks! Obviously, the much more sober gospels are more reliable than anything found in this account. It fits better with later apocryphal writings. In fact, it's dependent on biblical material, so it should be dated later. — Lee Strobel

My worldview, my philosophy, my attitudes, my relationships, my parenting, my marriage - everything has been transformed by my relationship with Christ. — Lee Strobel

Science itself is steadily nailing the lid on atheism's coffin. — Lee Strobel

I certainly believe that God did create the world, yeah, absolutely I believe that. — Lee Strobel

Jesus's death has infinite value because he's an infinite God; it was enough to cover all the sins of the world. If we say some sin is too terrible, then we're saying Jesus fell short in his mission. Grace is only grace if it's available even to the Duchs of the world. In fact," he said, straightening himself in his chair, "here's a difficult thing for us to comprehend: God loves Duch as much as he loves you and me. — Lee Strobel

If you define evolution as merely meaning change over time, then I don't see any problem with a person being a Christian and believing in evolution. But that's not how textbooks define evolution. They define evolution as being random and undirected without plan or purpose. — Lee Strobel

Christianity is different, first, because of grace; second, because it's testable; and third, because it paints a picture that matches the way the world is, in a way that other religions don't. — Lee Strobel

The universe is a soul making machine, and part of that process is learning, maturing, and growing through difficult and challenging and painful experiences. The point of our lives in this world isn't comfort, but training and preparation for eternity. — Lee Strobel

says he 'welcomes sinners and eats with them.'14 Now, think about that. In his culture, to dine with someone meant to offer friendship. The word welcome in Greek means that he took great pleasure in them. Jesus doesn't delight in sin, but he liked being around these people, maybe because they were well aware of their depravity, unlike many of the religious folks who masked it with hypocrisy. — Lee Strobel

Justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied. There will come a day when God will settle accounts and people will be held responsible for the evil they've perpetrated and the suffering they've caused. Criticizing God for not doing it right now is like reading half a novel and criticizing the author for not resolving the plot. God will bring accountability at the right time - in fact, the Bible says one reason he's delaying is because some people are still following the clues and have yet to find him.15 He's actually delaying the consummation of history out of his great love for them. — Lee Strobel

Back at my motel, I mentally played back my interview with Boyd. I felt the same way he did: If the Jesus of faith is not also the Jesus of history, he's powerless and he's meaningless. Unless he's rooted in reality, unless he established his divinity by rising from the dead, he's just a feel-good symbol who's as irrelevant as Santa Claus. — Lee Strobel

I'm noticing an exciting trend around the country: a resurgence of interest in Christian apologetics (the defense of the faith). This is a reaction to the current attacks on the essentials of Christianity that are coming from militant atheists, radical professors, and Internet gadflies. — Lee Strobel

When you are in the midst of suffering you are looking for someone to be Jesus to you. You are looking for someone to love you and help take care of you, and reach out to you. — Lee Strobel

The source of evil is not God's power but mankind's freedom. — Lee Strobel

If life can emerge just from naturalistic circumstances, then God is out of a job. — Lee Strobel

Looking at the doctrine of Darwinism, which undergirded my atheism for so many years, it didn't take me long to conclude that it was simply too far-fetched to be credible. I realized that if I were to embrace Darwinism and its underlying premise of naturalism, I would have to believe that: 1. Nothing produces everything 2. Non-life produces life 3. Randomness produces fine-tuning 4. Chaos produces information 5. Unconsciousness produces consciousness 6. Non-reason produces reason ... The central pillars of evolutionary theory quickly rotted away when exposed to scrutiny. — Lee Strobel

Anchoring our hope to Christ means we live with a confident expectation that he will therefore fulfill his promises to us. — Lee Strobel

Real love - our love of God and our love of each other - must involve a choice. But with the granting of that choice comes the possibility that people would choose instead to hate. — Lee Strobel

Physicist Paul Davies 1 Would — Lee Strobel

believe in Jesus on the basis of the historical evidence, but my relationship with Jesus goes way beyond the evidence. I have to put my trust in him and walk with him on a daily basis. — Lee Strobel

I interrupted. "Okay, that points toward a Creator, but does it tell us much about him?" "Actually, yes, it does," Craig replied. "We know this supernatural cause must be an uncaused, changeless, timeless, and immaterial being." "What's the basis of your conclusions?" "It must be uncaused because we know that there cannot be an infinite regress of causes. It must be timeless and therefore changeless, at least without the universe, because it was the creator of time. In addition, because it also created space, it must transcend space and therefore be immaterial rather than physical in nature. — Lee Strobel

I think it's very healthy to use journalistic and legal techniques to investigate the evidence for and against Christianity and other faith systems. — Lee Strobel

I went to a psychologist friend and said if 500 people claimed to see Jesus after he died, it was just a hallucination. He said hallucinations are an individual event. If 500 people have the same hallucination, that's a bigger miracle than the resurrection. — Lee Strobel