Laugh Again with Phil Callaway - Lunch With Lee

Thanks for joining us today, you're listening to Laugh Again with Phil Calloway.

One of the great joys of doing what I get to do is meeting people so far out of my league that is laughable.

If you want to be wise, hang out with those who are, or at least for as long as they'll let you.

That's why my buddy James and I hang out. He's Cambridge educated.

I have, well, a high school diploma, somewhere.

But I guess I'm sort of funny and not all academics are.

Speaking of laughter, I had lunch with famous author and former atheist Lee Strobel.

Lee loves to laugh.

So I told him about the boy who asked his dad, are bugs good to eat?

That's disgusting, said his father.

Don't talk about things like that over dinner.

After dinner, the dad asked, now what did you want to ask me?

Oh, nothing, the boy said there was a bug in your soup, but now it's gone.

When Lee's wife Leslie became a Christian, he freaked out.

He was trying to disprove Jesus' claims.

Plus, he thought she'd be a miserable prude. She was the opposite.

He wanted what she had, and among what she had was joy and laughter.

Now, if you find yourself with people smarter than you, ask questions.

That's what I did during a California lunch with Lee.

Here's a transcript.

I asked Lee, what is the number one question you get from skeptics?

He said it's the same question that's number one with Christians, too.

How can there be a loving God and yet so much evil and suffering in the world?

I asked him how do you respond?

First, said Lee, I do a quick diagnosis.

Are they asking because of personal hardship, curiosity, or intellectual concern?

If they are going through difficulties, my response is to try and be Jesus to them,

to listen, to comfort, to cry with them.

Often God uses that to get them beyond this sticking point in their journey of faith.

For the others, I try to set forth rational reasons we can believe in a powerful, loving, and personal God

while at the same time experiencing pain and suffering.

These things are not mutually exclusive.

I asked what do believers need more than all the answers when encountering skepticism?

He said the gentleness and respect that first Peter 315 says we should display

while defending our faith.

Patience, empathy, a willingness to listen.

When someone asks a question to which we don't have an answer, find that answer.

But our love, acceptance, and humility impacts the person more than whatever intellectual responses we can muster.

When I got to know Chuck Templeton, who preached with Billy Graham, then lost his faith, I came to love him.

My search for answers to his questions, which were similar to those I had when I was an atheist,

came from a heartfelt desire to help him, honestly wrestle with the issues and come to understand

that they simply do not disprove the existence of God.

I asked solely what keeps your faith strong?

He said, first, a personal, authentic, and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

He is so powerfully real to me that I could never seriously consider the possibility that he doesn't exist.

Second, being part of a vibrant local church, where I have a front row seat to seeing God revolutionize the lives of skeptical people day in and day out.

Third, whenever a doubt begins to creep into my mind, I seek answers.

I read books, interview experts, or recheck the evidence so I can reassure myself that my trust in Jesus Christ

is not based on wishful thinking or make believe.

It is solidly undergirded by reality.

And speaking of reality, the bill arrived just then.

Lee grabbed it before I could.

I said, I do believe I'll have another dessert.

Then I added, what did the duck say when he bought lipstick?

Put it on my bill.

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