Ask Lee... About Not Needing God

By Lee Strobel
11.2.2006

Thanks to everyone who submitted a question! CLICK HERE to pose a question for a future newsletter. Though we can’t answer them all, we’ll select the ones that seem to have the broadest appeal – or are the most intriguing!

Q. "I know several people who have never known or heard about God, let alone Jesus, for most of their lives, and they say that life's been great without him. They don't need him. What made you want to believe or to seek the truth? What made you humble yourself and say, 'I need and want to have a relationship with God'"?

Lee Strobel's Testimony: From Atheist to Believer (2:22)

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A.When I was an atheist, I didn't see any need for God either. I was a successful journalist at the Chicago Tribune, my first book had just been published, and I had no interest or desire to find out anything about Jesus. I was happy enough without faith. What changed?

Basically, I came to realize that if Christianity is true, then there was no way I could rescue myself from an eternity in hell. If the New Testament is accurate, then my wrongdoing had separated me from God and the only way I could be reconciled with him would be through receiving the freely offered gift of forgiveness that’s available through Christ. Of course, the operative word is "if."

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.
If Jesus sets the divine standard for morality, I could now have an unwavering foundation for my choices and decisions, rather than basing them on the ever-shifting sands of expediency and self-centeredness.
If Jesus did rise from the dead, he’s still alive today and available for me to encounter on a personal basis.
If Jesus conquered death, he can open the door of eternal life for me, too.
If Jesus has divine power, he has the supernatural ability to guide me and help me and transform me as I follow him.
If Jesus personally knows the pain of loss and suffering, he can encourage me in the midst of the turbulence that he himself warned is inevitable in a world corrupted by sin.
If Jesus loves me as he says, he has my best interests at heart. That means I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by committing myself to him and his purposes.
If Jesus is who he claims to be (and remember, no leader of any other major religion has even pretended to be God), as my Creator he rightfully deserves my allegiance, obedience, and worship.

To find out whether Christianity is based on mythology, wishful thinking, or make-believe, I launched into a nearly two-year investigation of the evidence for Jesus of Nazareth.

I focused on the issue of whether he had risen from the dead. If he had, that was good evidence that he was telling the truth when he claimed to be the unique Son of God. And eventually, I discovered that there’s abundant historical evidence supporting the resurrection, as I set forth in my book The Case for Christ.

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.