The Legal Affairs Editor
Lee Strobel had built his career on evidence. As the Legal Affairs Editor of the Chicago Tribune, one of America's most respected newspapers, his job was to evaluate claims, cross-examine arguments, and determine what the facts supported. He was good at it — award-winning good. He was also a committed atheist who thought religious people were intellectually lazy.
Then his wife Leslie came home and told him she'd become a Christian.
The Investigation
Strobel did what any investigative journalist would do: he set out to disprove the whole thing. He didn't pick up a devotional book or attend a Bible study. He applied the same rigorous methodology he used for legal reporting. He interviewed experts, examined archaeological evidence, evaluated eyewitness testimony reliability, and tested the claims of Christianity against the same standards he'd use in a court case.
For nearly two years, Strobel built his case — not for faith, but against it. He wanted to show his wife, and himself, that this was intellectual nonsense.
The problem was that the evidence kept pointing the wrong way.
November 8, 1981
Every expert he interviewed, every piece of evidence he examined, every argument he stress-tested pushed him closer to a conclusion he didn't want to reach. The historical evidence for the resurrection was stronger than many legal cases he'd covered. The manuscript evidence for the New Testament was more robust than most ancient documents accepted without question. The witness testimony followed patterns consistent with authentic accounts, not fabricated ones.
On November 8, 1981, Strobel came to the conclusion his evidence demanded. He became a follower of Jesus — not because someone convinced him with emotional appeals, but because the facts wouldn't let him do anything else.
The Case for Christ
Strobel documented his entire investigation in "The Case for Christ," which became one of the best-selling books in modern publishing history. He took the same journalist's instincts that built his career and used them to write one of the most referenced arguments for faith in the last fifty years. The journalism didn't stop — it just found a bigger story.
What This Means for You
If you're the type who needs evidence, you're in good company. The most rigorous investigation one of America's top journalists ever conducted led him to faith. Questions aren't the enemy of belief — they're often the road to it.