Many have come to faith by following the evidence.  Some of the high-profile scholars and authors include the following.

Historical Proof & Faith

Dr. Gary Habermas (professor). From being a “near Buddhist,” he followed the evidence to become a Christian and one of the leading authorities on the Resurrection. More: https://www.garyhabermas.com/vitainnuce.htm

  • Skeptic & “Near Buddhist.” From having “serious doubts about Christianity” in his youth, Gary Habermas studied “various world views” and once told his mother that he was “close to becoming a Buddhist.”
  • Investigation. After focusing on proof of the Resurrection, he wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the Resurrection – but on the panel’s condition that he “could not use the New Testament as evidence, unless the individual passages could be affirmed by ordinary critical standards, apart from faith.”
  • Belief.  He concluded that the Resurrection “could be known according to probability as a normal historical fact.”
  • Discipleship.  Since his dissertation, Dr. Habermas has dedicated his life to defending Christianity, publishing over 50 books, 80 book chapters, and 100 articles and becoming one of the world’s leading authorities on evidentiary bases for the Resurrection. More: https://www.garyhabermas.com/publications.htm

Josh McDowell (evangelist & author). From a hard-core skeptic, he became a best-selling author and leading college-campus evangelist for Christianity.

  • Skeptic.  Once calling religion “garbage,” Josh McDowell “decided to write a book that would make an intellectual joke of Christianity” and “gather evidence to prove that Christianity is a sham.”
  • Investigation.  Travelling “throughout the United States and Europe” to research Christianity, he accumulated “overwhelming evidence” that “Jesus Christ was God’s Son.”
  • Belief. Although he still remained skeptical during this investigation of the proof, he kept hearing a voice saying “‘Josh, you don’t have a leg to stand on’” for this doubt and he finally prayed, accepted Jesus Christ, and became a devoted Christian.  [Josh & Sean McDowell, “He Changed My Life,” Evidence That Demands a Verdict, pp. xxv-xxx (2017)] .
  • Discipleship.  Since coming to faith, Josh McDowell has witnessed to over seven million students and professors on more than 700 campuses and written leading apologetics works defending Christianity and the Resurrection.  [William Bright, Foreword in Josh McDowell, The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p. xi, (1999)].

Lee Strobel (crime journalist & leading author).  From an atheist who sought to disprove Christianity and the Resurrection, Lee Strobel became a leading author and defender of Christianity.

  • Skeptic.  For much of his life, Lee Strobel was a skeptic (and even “considered [himself] an atheist”) who believed  “there was too much evidence that God was merely a product of wishful thinking, of ancient mythology, of primitive superstition.”  [Case for Christ, p. 13].
  • Investigation.  After his wife became a Christian, he thought he “could liberate her from this cult” by using his “journalism and legal training to thoroughly investigate Christianity” (Case for Easter, p. 8) – an “all-out investigation” in which he “read books, interviewed experts, asked questions, analyzed history, explored archaeology, studied ancient literature, and for the first time in my life picked apart the Bible verse by verse.”  [Case for Christ, p. 14].
  • Belief.  After reviewing “the evidence of world” during a “spiritual journey [he] took for nearly two years,” Lee Strobel became a Christian.  [Case for Christ, p. 15].
  • Discipleship.  After coming to faith, Lee Strobel became a Professor of Christian Thought and a Teaching Pastor, as well as a leading author of The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, The Case for a Creator, The Case for the Real Jesus, The Case for Grace, and a number of other publications on Christianity and faith.  [Case for Christ, p. 336].

Nabeel Qureshi (medical doctor, Christian apologist, & author).  After being a devout Muslim, Nabeel Qureshi followed the evidence to becoming a Christian apologist and author.

  • Muslim.  As a devout Muslim who was raised in a close Muslim family, Nabeel Qureshi “challenged a Christian friend at my university to consider the truth of Islam,” arguing “that Islamic doctrines were verifiably true, whereas Christian doctrines were verifiably false.”  [No God But One, p. 24].
  • Investigation.  After his friend’s “responses led to research and investigation that ultimately spanned four years,” Nabeel Qureshi “discovered time and time again . . . that Christian doctrines held firm whenever they could be tested historically” and the “arguments against Christianity I had trusted my whole life were flawed and poor, and Christianity stood strong.”  [p. 24].
  • Belief.  After this four-year investigation, Nabeel Qureshi “believed Christianity was true, and [he] could not be a Muslim because [he] could not honestly proclaim the shahada” and he accepted Jesus Christ:  “On August 24, 2005, when I could resist no longer, I bent my knee to Jesus and proclaimed my faith in him.”  [p. 25].
  • Discipleship.  After coming to faith, Nabeel Qureshi earned Masters in Christian apologetics (Biola), religion (Duke), and Judaism and Christianity (Oxford) and wrote best-selling books on his Christian journey (Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus) and the comparative evidence for Islam and Christianity (No God But One).

Frank Morison (advertising agent & author).  After refusing to believe in the Resurrection, Albert Henry Ross (pen name Frank Morison) became a believer and wrote one of the classic defenses of the Resurrection.

  • Skeptic.  Originally believing Jesus’ Resurrection was a “primitive mythology” and miracles did not happen, he refused to say the last passage of the Apostles’ Creed – “The third day [Jesus] rose again from the dead.”
  • Investigation.  Ten years later, he “thoroughly investigated the last seven days of Jesus’ life,” reviewing both the Gospel accounts and ancient Christian and non-Christian historical sources.
  • Belief.  After sifting the evidence, he found the empty tomb to be a “formidable fact,” concluding that “a deep and profoundly historical basis” existed for the Apostles’ Creed that “‘The third day [Jesus] rose again from the dead.’”  [Frank Morison, Who Moved the Stone, pp. 7-12, 43, 67, 112, 193 (1958)].
  • Discipleship.  Frank Morison (aka Albert Henry Ross) not only wrote one of the classic defenses of the Resurrection (Who Moved the Stone), but his work also served as “an important early link in a long chain of evidence that God used to bring [Lee Strobel] into his kingdom,” thus illustrating again how proof can open the door to faith.  [Id., pp. 7-8 (foreword by Lee Strobel)].

Old Testament Prophecies & Faith

Many have come to believe in Jesus Christ based upon the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah’s coming.  Some examples include the following.

  • Stan Telchin (businessman & pastor):  Studied for months to disprove the New Testament after learning of his daughter’s conversion, but then found faith in Jesus Christ.  [Stan Telchin, Betrayed! (1981)].
  • Louis S. Lapides (pastor & seminary teacher):  Learned of Old Testament prophecies from a sidewalk evangelist and followed this evidence to become a believer in Jesus Christ.  [Interview of Louis Lapides in Lee Strobel, The Case for Christmas, pp. 73-74 (2005)].
  • Michael L. Brown (messianic apologist):  Tried to extract his teenage friends from church because they “weren’t partying the way they used to,” but then came to accept Jesus as the Messiah. [“About Dr. Michael L. Brown,” Real Messiah website (https://realmessiah.com/about-dr-brown/); see also Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus:  Messianic Prophecy Objections, Vol. 3, p. xi (2003).] 
  • Moishe Rosen (minister & American Board of Missions).  Started “reading atheist writers, and [trying] those arguments on my wife. Nothing could shake her in her faith, and I couldn’t argue with her changed life.”  Followed the evidence to becoming a Christian. [“About Moishe Rosen,” Jews for Jesus (https://www.jewsforjesus.org.au/journeys/moishe-rosen)].
  • Barry Leventhal (dean & professor, Southern Evangelical Seminary).  Put off his high school friend’s witnessing until a Campus Crusade representative began walking him through the Old Testament prophecies and leading him to Christ.  [James C. Hefley, “Barry Leventhal: What Does a Ferocious Footballer Do after His Team Wins the Rose Bowl,” The New Jews, pp. 11-12 (1974) on Barry Leventhal website (https://barryrleventhal.wordpress.com/about/)].