Former Atheist Lee Strobel Explores Transformative Power of God's Grace in New Book, 'The Case for Grace' (Part 1)
Former atheist-turned-Christian Lee Strobel, a professor of Christian Thought at Houston Baptist University, explores the infinite power of God's grace and the impact it has on Christians' lives in his new book, The Case for Grace.
A New York Times best-selling author, Strobel takes readers on a journey to reveal real-world examples of people who share how God's grace has transformed their lives.
Strobel, a former reporter for The Chicago Tribune, who later became a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, has penned similar books including, The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith and The Case for Creator, all of which explore evidence for the various topics he's researching. He explains that his previous works laid the foundation for his latest book, The Case for Grace
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The following is an edited transcript of Strobel's Part 1 interview with The Christian Post.
CP: How do you make a case for biblical grace without it being a tangible object or event in history?
Lee Strobel: My previous books, The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith and The Case for Creator, set out the evidential framework for the facts that point toward Christianity being true. So those books looked at the evidence of science that points to a Creator, the evidence of history that points toward Jesus being the son of God. So that sort of forms the foundation of this book, which looks at the ability of God to transform lives.
It's the case of how we can experience God and be changed by him. In and of itself it's not sufficient to prove the case for Christianity, but it's an important part of the case because if God exists, if Christianity is true, then you would expect that lives would be changed. So this is a book about God changing lives in unexpected and radical ways.
CP: Why do we need a case for grace? Do you think it's misunderstood within Christendom and the world?
Lee Strobel: I think is largely misunderstood. When you look at every other world religion they all are based on a works theology. In other words, trying to somehow earn our way to God by using a Tibetan prayer wheel or going on a series of reincarnations or giving alms to the poor, going on a pilgrimage or praying in a certain way.
Every other religion is all about how to do something to try to somehow earn good favor with God. Christianity is unique. Christianity is spelled not D O, but D O N E. Jesus said on the cross it's done, its finished. It's paid for. And forgiveness and eternal are a free gift offered out of God's grace. That makes Christianity different from any other world religion. And, I believe, with the evidence of science and history pointing toward the truth of Christianity, we need to understand what grace is, how far it goes and how are we going to apply it to our lives.
CP: Do you talk about the abuse of grace in this new book?
Lee Strobel: Not largely. It's really a book about the ability of God to transform lives. It looks at stories that each shine a light on a different facet of grace. I have a chapter on "good people," average people or nice people. People who try to be law abiding good parents, good children and so forth. How they need grace too. Because, as the Bible says, we've all fallen short of God's standards. And it goes all the way to the spectrum to how does God forgive monsters?
In my book, in the story of a guy who kills 17,000 people, [I ask] can God forgive him? And also how to give grace to yourself. Even if we feel God has forgiven us, how do we come to the point where we feel that we've forgiven ourselves. So there's different aspects of grace that are talked about in the book. Each illustrated with [people] we have interviewed. Each aspect of grace is illustrated by a story that I traveled 20,000 miles to sit down and interview people to give them an opportunity to talk about God's work in their lives.
CP: What types of people did you talk to?
Lee Strobel: All kinds of people. One woman was an orphan in Korea abandoned on the streets at age 4. Her experience of being adopted by an American couple and how that sort of reflects how God adopts us as his children through his grace.
A guy who was a drug addict and is now a pastor. How he came to faith and how he also got caught up in a performance treadmill after he became a Christian and needed to learn to rest in the grace of God and not try to become some super Christian. A homeless person who found faith because a Christian took a risk and gave him a hug and told him about God's grace. There's a story of a pastor who committed adultery and nearly destroyed his marriage and did destroy his ministry — how they, through God's grace, pieced their marriage back together.
And, the son of famous evangelist Luiz Palau. His son, Andrew, who was living a life far from God, how he came to a point of repentance and received the grace of God. There's a variety of different stories. And I mix them with my own story of having been an atheist and discovering for myself the life changing power of God's grace.
