Lee Strobel Leaves PBD Speechless With Proof Of Jesus
Lee Strobel Leaves PBD Speechless With Proof Of Jesus
The late-afternoon sun cut across the high-rise studio in downtown Miami, casting long, geometric shadows over the polished concrete floor. Patrick sat back in his leather chair, a pen balancing perfectly between his fingers as he studied his guest. Across from him was Lee, a veteran investigative journalist whose name had become synonymous with cold, hard facts. Lee’s hair was neatly parted, his eyes carrying the quiet, precise calm of a seasoned legal editor who had spent decades looking at the world through the unyielding lens of verifiable proof.
The studio monitors hummed softly, broadcasting their conversation to hundreds of thousands of people tuning into the live broadcast. Patrick cleared his throat, leaning toward his microphone.
“Let’s just say I’m sitting down with someone who used to be a Christian,” Patrick began, his voice measured and deliberate. “Maybe they were someone who supported Israel, or deep in Jewish-Christian relations, and they didn’t hold the kind of anti-Semitic positions we see creeping into corners of society today. But they’ve drifted completely away from the faith. If I want to go out there and serve them, to speak to them about a different position to think about… what angles would I even take with them?”
Lee smiled, a nostalgic spark hitting his eyes. “Oh golly. I always look at the affirmative side, Patrick. Which is simply: what is the evidence that Christianity is actually true? What is the empirical data that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be? You see, you can get bogged down in endless circular arguments. Let’s contrast Islam and Christianity, let’s look at philosophy, and so on. But ultimately, as someone who started out as a hardened atheist, trained strictly in journalism and the law, I was only looking for one thing: where is the evidence? Where is the corroboration? How do I know this isn’t just a beautifully constructed fairy tale?”
Lee tapped his knuckles on the table. “If Jesus claimed to be the Son of God—which, historically speaking, He clearly and unequivocally did—how do I know He actually proved it? Well, He returned from the dead. What is the evidence, historically, that Jesus of Nazareth really broke the bonds of death and walked out of that tomb? Because if that single event is true, then He is who He claimed to be. And if He is who He claimed to be, then I ought to put every single one of my chips into that pot, right? I’ve got to go all-in on Christianity.”
Patrick nodded, completely captivated. “And what was that definitive moment for you? If you don’t mind sharing your own testimony with us. Your wife came to you—and you guys have been together since you were teenagers, right? I think it’s incredibly powerful for the audience to hear how a cynical investigative reporter ended up here.”
“Yeah,” Lee said, his voice softening into a fond recollection. “I actually met my wife when we were just fourteen years old, and we got married when we were about nineteen or twenty. Back then, Patrick, I was an absolute, thoroughgoing atheist. I lived a very immoral, drunken, profane, completely narcissistic, and self-destructive kind of life. But on the outside, I was wildly successful. I went to Yale Law School, became the legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, and won major national awards for investigative reporting. People would look at my professional bio and think, ‘Oh man, this guy really has it all together.’ But they didn’t see the dark underbelly. I was the guy literally found drunk in the snow, slumped in an alley on a freezing Saturday night.”
Lee took a slow breath, his expression turning serious. “Then, my wife comes up to me one day and drops the absolute worst news any atheist husband could ever possibly receive. She looked at me and said, ‘Lee, I’ve decided to become a Christian.’“
“Wow,” Patrick muttered.
“Honestly, the very first word that flashed through my mind was divorce,” Lee admitted frankly. “I was furious. I thought my life was completely ruined. I did not want to be married to a Christian.”
“Were you both atheists when you got married?” Patrick asked.
“No, she was more of an agnostic,” Lee clarified. “She didn’t really know what to believe. She was in a state of spiritual neutrality. But she happened to meet a neighbor—a Christian nurse—who shared the gospel with her, brought her to church, and Leslie began checking things out for herself until she made that decision. When she told me, I panicked. I thought, ‘What’s going to happen to her now? She’s going to turn into some holier-than-thou religious fanatic who looks down on me and my drinking. She won’t like my friends anymore.’ I foresaw endless marital warfare. How would we spend our money? How would we raise our kids? We were going to have this unbridgeable chasm right down the center of our marriage. My immediate gut reaction was to just pack my bags and walk out.”
Lee leaned in, a brilliant grin breaking across his face. “But then my journalism training kicked in. I thought, ‘Wait a minute. What if I could rescue her from this religious cult she’s gotten herself involved in? How would I do that?’ Oh, I knew exactly how. All I had to do was use my investigative skills to completely disprove the resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus made clear messianic, divine claims about Himself, and the resurrection was the single linchpin meant to prove those claims were valid. I thought, ‘Give me a long weekend, and I’ll tear this whole thing to shreds.’ Because let’s be real—dead people stay dead. It just doesn’t happen.”
Patrick smiled, leaning forward. “So you thought it was going to be an open-and-shut case.”
“Oh, completely,” Lee chuckled. “I figured I was uniquely trained for this stuff. I could dissect the evidence, expose the flaws, and show her the truth. But that weekend turned into weeks. Those weeks turned into months. It ultimately took me two full years of diving deep into the absolute minutia of historical data concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus. I pursued it relentlessly until November 8th, 1981.”
Lee pointed out toward the studio window, gesturing to the world outside. “And you have to remember, Patrick, this was way before the internet. There was no ChatGPT, no advanced language models, no Google searches. If you wanted to find something, you had to sweat for it.”
“So you were physically going to libraries, digging through archives?” Patrick asked.
“Oh, absolutely. I was manually scrolling through endless reels of microfilm. I remember once I had to request an incredibly rare inter-library loan through the Chicago Public Library system. I was trying to hunt down an obscure, centuries-old legal text written by one of the literal founders of Harvard Law School, a brilliant legal mind who had thoroughly examined the evidence and become a Christian in the 1800s. It took six months just for the library to call me and say, ‘Mr. Strobel, we found your book.’ That’s what real investigative work took back then. I delved into museums, interviewed top-tier historical scholars, and cross-examined experts across the country.”
Lee’s voice grew resonant, filled with the memory of that fateful autumn day. “By November 8th, 1981, I sat down at my desk and looked at the mountain of data I had compiled. I told myself, ‘Look, any good jury eventually has to reach a verdict. The evidence is entirely in.’ And when I looked at it objectively, Patrick, the data was completely mind-blowing. It was absolutely undeniable that Jesus is exactly who He said He was, and that the New Testament accounts are profoundly reliable. Any person who claims otherwise simply hasn’t done the homework.”
Lee checked off the foundational facts on his fingers. “The baseline historical data is universally established by modern scholars. Jesus did, in fact, get publicly executed by Roman crucifixion. He did have a core group of twelve disciples. His body was placed in a secure tomb, and that tomb completely emptied out—His body disappeared, and the authorities could never produce it. Furthermore, over five hundred people simultaneously claimed to have encountered Him alive after His death. And because of that direct encounter, those disciples were entirely willing to endure horrific torture, deprivation, and violent executions for their faith. People will occasionally die for a lie they believe is true, but nobody willingly dies for a lie they know they fabricated.”
“The sheer volume of legal and historical validation is staggering,” Patrick noted, adjusting his papers.
“It really is,” Lee agreed. “Let me tell you a fascinating story that heavily influenced me during my time at Yale Law School. There was a legendary British barrister named Sir Lionel Luckhoo. Sir Lionel was widely considered the most successful defense attorney in human history. In fact, he was cemented in the Guinness Book of World Records for a staggering feat: he won 245 murder trials in a row.”
Patrick’s eyes widened. “Two hundred and forty-five? Unbeaten?”
“Completely unbeaten,” Lee said, nodding. “Nobody had ever achieved anything close to that as a defense attorney, whether before a live jury or on the highest courts of appeal. When I was a cynical young law student, this guy was my absolute hero because I knew he possessed a monumental, unparalleled understanding of what constitutes valid legal evidence. Now, Sir Lionel started out as a complete skeptic regarding Christianity. He did not believe the resurrection ever occurred. And since I was a devout atheist, I agreed with him completely.”
Lee leaned closer. “Sir Lionel was an incredibly brilliant man—he was knighted twice by Queen Elizabeth, and he eventually became a justice on the Supreme Court of his country. But one day, someone approached him and said, ‘Sir Lionel, you are universally recognized as the greatest legal mind alive. Have you ever actually taken your monumental analytical skills, applied them rigorously to the historical record of the resurrection, and come to an informed legal verdict?’ He admitted that he hadn’t, but promised that he would.”
Lee’s voice carried a dramatic weight. “He spent years meticulously investigating the evidence, just as I would later do. And I can recite to you the exact sentence he wrote summarizing his final conclusion after all those years of study. Sir Lionel wrote: ‘I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof, which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.’ That is a quote from the most formidable legal expert in modern history.”
“Wow,” Patrick whispered, visibly struck.
“And get this,” Lee smiled, a look of pure wonder on his face. “Years later, in the year 2000, I moved my family out to California to serve as a teaching pastor at a church. I told that exact story from the pulpit one Sunday morning. Afterward, a woman walked up to me in the lobby. She smiled and said, ‘Hey Lee, I’m your new neighbor from down the street. We haven’t officially met yet, but you just bought the house a block away from mine.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s wonderful! Great to meet you.’ Then she looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, one other thing… I’m Sir Lionel Luckhoo’s biological sister.’“
“No way,” Patrick laughed, throwing his hands up. “Stop it. What are the odds of that?”
“I am completely serious!” Lee laughed. “What are the absolute odds? We became close neighbors, and she actually invited me over and showed me his private journals and legal papers where he had handwritten his step-by-step investigation of the resurrection. It was a beautiful, stunning confirmation of everything I had discovered during my own two-year journey from atheism to faith.”
Patrick leaned his elbows on the table, completely hooked. “What exactly did you find when you went through the data, Lee? Can you give us a summary of the core evidence that cracked your atheism?”
“Absolutely,” Lee responded confidently. “I can summarize the entire historical case for the resurrection using four simple words that all begin with the letter E. This is the exact framework that brought me across the line.
“The first E stands for Execution—the undeniable historical fact that Jesus was truly dead after undergoing Roman crucifixion. There is absolutely no record anywhere in ancient history of anyone ever surviving a full, professional Roman crucifixion. This isn’t even a matter of theological debate anymore; it is widely accepted even by the most critical, non-Christian secular historians. When you study ancient history, you quickly realize we are incredibly lucky if we have one or two good sources to confirm a major event. For instance, with the exploits of Alexander the Great, our modern historical understanding relies on just one or two primary sources written centuries later. Yet for the execution of Jesus, we not only have multiple independent accounts preserved within the New Testament documents, we have five distinct, highly critical ancient sources outside of the Bible confirming His public execution under Pontius Pilate.”
Lee gestured emphatically with his pen. “The historical documents inside the Bible count as legitimate primary sources, Patrick. They were independent, written eyewitness testimonies of what people saw, which were later collected into a single volume. You will literally get laughed out of any major secular academic institution today if you try to argue the old ‘swoon theory’—that Jesus somehow survived the cross. In fact, even the highly respected, purely secular Journal of the American Medical Association conducted a comprehensive peer-reviewed scientific and medical investigation into the mechanics of His execution. Their official conclusion stated: ‘Clearly, the weight of the historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead even before the wound to His side was inflicted.’ Even the famous German atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann admitted it is historically indisputable that Jesus died on that cross. So, the first E is Execution. He was dead.”
Lee held up a second finger. “The second E stands for Early accounts. We possess historical reports of the resurrection that developed far too quickly for them to be dismissed as mere mythological legend. When I was a skeptic, I used to think the resurrection was a story that evolved over a couple hundred years, standard folklore style. But historical research completely shatters that timeline. We know that within the earliest decades of the church, Christians were already documenting their core beliefs. For example, archaeologists discovered an ancient inscription scrawled on a floor dating back just a short period after the crucifixion, which reads directly: ‘To God, Jesus Christ.’ It proves they worshipped Him as divine right from the start; it didn’t slowly develop centuries later at the Council of Nicaea like skeptics love to claim.”
Lee leaned forward, his voice dropping to emphasize the ultimate piece of historical gold. “Even more spectacular than that, we have a preserved creed embedded within the text of First Corinthians, chapter 15. This letter was penned by Paul roughly fifteen years after the crucifixion, but scholars universally agree that the creed he is quoting inside it dates back even further—to within months of the death of Jesus. The first Christians formulated a rhythmic, easily memorized creed based on raw eyewitness testimony to summarize their core convictions: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day, and that He appeared to Peter, to the Twelve, and eventually to more than five hundred people at once. One of the greatest British historians of our era, James D.G. Dunn, stated that we can be entirely confident this creed was formalized within months of the crucifixion. That is an absolute historical goldmine, Patrick. It is far too fast for a legend to form and wipe out a core historical truth, a reality noted by legendary Oxford historian A.N. Sherwin-White. These early accounts were circulating while the eyewitnesses and contemporaries were still very much alive to dispute them if they were fabricated.”
“That completely destroys the legend argument,” Patrick remarked, captivated. “What’s the third word?”
“The third E,” Lee continued, holding up three fingers, “stands for the Empty tomb. The reality of the empty tomb is so secure that even the bitterest contemporary enemies of the early Christian movement implicitly admitted it. How do we know this? Because historical sources both inside and outside the New Testament document that when the disciples began boldly proclaiming the resurrection in the very city of Jerusalem, the religious authorities didn’t respond by producing the body. Instead, they launched a counter-narrative, claiming that the disciples had snuck into the garden at night and stolen the body from the Roman guard.”
Lee smiled triumphantly. “Think about the legal weight of that argument, Patrick. By claiming the disciples stole the body, the authorities were publicly conceding that the tomb was entirely empty! They were simply trying to spin the logistics of how it got empty. So the empty tomb isn’t a historical debate; everyone at the time agreed it was empty. The only question for history is: how did it get that way? The Romans certainly didn’t steal it; they wanted Jesus dead and gone. The Jewish religious leaders didn’t steal it; they wanted Him to stay securely in the ground. And the disciples definitely didn’t steal it. I discovered seven independent ancient sources—six of them entirely outside the Bible—documenting that the disciples lived lives of extreme deprivation, torture, and brutal martyrdom solely because they refused to recant their testimony that they saw Jesus alive. People don’t fabricate a giant lie just to get themselves brutally executed. They didn’t face the lions because of a nice story they heard in Sunday school—they did it because they had personally stood face-to-face with the resurrected Christ.”
Lee raised his final finger. “And that brings us perfectly to the fourth E, which stands for Eyewitnesses. As I mentioned, ancient history usually gives us one or two sources for a factual claim. But for the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, we have a staggering nine ancient sources both inside and outside the New Testament canon, completely corroborating the unshakeable conviction of the disciples that they encountered the risen Christ. It is a absolute avalanche of historical data.”
Patrick leaned back, running a hand over his chin. “When you specify nine distinct historical sources for the eyewitness accounts, you’re referring to the various writers, right?”
“Exactly, nine independent textual paths,” Lee confirmed. “First, you have the ultra-early pre-Pauline creed I mentioned, which is so historically grounded that even prominent Jewish scholars like Pinchas Lapide concluded it must be treated as direct eyewitness testimony. Second, you have the historical letters of Paul himself, who underwent a radical, overnight transformation from Saul of Tarsus—a violent persecutor of Christians—to an apostle entirely willing to be executed for the faith because he personally encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. You don’t flip an elite, highly placed religious persecutor that easily without a massive, reality-shattering event.”
Lee counted them off rapidly. “Third, you have the historical speeches of Peter preserved in the Book of Acts, where he stands before thousands in Jerusalem and proclaims, ‘This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses,’ prompting three thousand people who lived right there in the city to repent on the spot. Fourth through seventh, you have the four independent ancient biographies—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—which possess pristine historical credentials. But then, Patrick, you have two incredibly fascinating sources completely outside the pages of the Bible.”
Lee’s voice resonated with the deep thrill of a historical detective closing a major case. “We have the written testimonies of the immediate students who sat directly under the teachings of those original eyewitnesses. We have Clement of Rome, who was personally ordained by Peter himself. In the first century, Clement wrote a letter to the church in Corinth explicitly stating that the apostles possessed an unshakeable, superhuman courage precisely because they had absolute certainty of the resurrection. And finally, we have Polycarp, who was personally appointed by the eyewitness John to be the bishop of Smyrna. Polycarp wrote a famous letter to the Philippians, mentioning the literal resurrection no fewer than five times, affirming that the apostles completely disregarded the passing comforts of this world because Jesus had truly broken through the door of eternity. That is nine ancient, interlocking sources. It is a massive, impenetrable wall of historical proof.”
Lee rested his hands on the glass table, his expression completely relaxed. “It was that exact, overwhelming mountain of objective data that forced me, as a cynical, truth-seeking journalist, to throw up my hands and say, ‘Wait a minute. If I am going to be intellectually honest, if I am going to truly follow the evidence wherever it leads, then I am forced to conclude that Jesus didn’t just make wild claims to be God in the flesh… He backed those claims up by physically returning from the dead.’“
Patrick looked out at the rolling digital numbers of the live-stream viewer count, completely speechless as the studio lights caught the sharp, undeniable truth hanging in the quiet air between them.
