Transcript

Dr. Jessica Peck talks about how to encourage teens to explore faith

Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner, and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to.

Dr. Jessica Peck: My favorite part of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And listen, we've got a really important topic to talk about today, and you are going to be so very glad you tuned in. And I'm going to need you to share this with other parents of teenagers, because today we're talking about how to encourage teens to explore faith in a world full of wonder. And by wonder, I mean wondering. We have a lot of teens wondering about the world, and we are living in a world that is paced at the speed of a smartphone. It is always on. We don't hear the national anthem on the television where the programming goes out. The world is on 24 7. And young people today are constantly surrounded by noise and pressure and most of all, uncertainty about the future because we.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Have older generations giving, well, meaning messages.

Dr. Jessica Peck: But basically interpreted as this is a terrible time to be alive. And in the middle of all of that, though, something really surprising is happening. There are so many teens and young adults. I know because I talk to them. I have teens and young adults even in my own home. And they are out asking very big, honest questions. They're asking questions like, does my life really matter? Is there something more than what I can see? Is God actually real? And what might actually look like walking away from their faith or make parents really scared about, things like deconstructing their faith? Listen, these kids are reaching for something real, something authentic. Beneath all of that, scrolling beneath the skepticism that runs rampant through cultural conversations, Gen Z, Gen Alpha, they have a very deep hunger for truth and meaning and a faith that can hold up in real life. Now, recent research underscores this shift. According to a 2025 report by the Barna Group, weekly Bible reading among U.S. adults has surged to 42%. Now, that's still a little sad. That's a little less than half, but it's up 12 points from the recent 15 year low. In 2024, we see young adults, especially Gen Z, millennial, they are leading the way. Did you know that Gen Z weekly Bible reading jumped from 30 to 49% in a single year? And listen, it's not only reading. Interest in Jesus and spiritual exploration remains very high among teenagers. We have reports that found that about 3/4 of US teens are motivated to learn about Jesus and to learn about him throughout their lives. So, in other words, even in a culture that's often described as skeptical, as post Christian, as, secular minded, there are many young people who are quietly turning toward faith. And today, my friends, we have such a powerful voice to come to you. I have none other than Lee Strobel with me today, and I'm talking about his new release, Is God Real? This is a book for teens exploring faith in a world of wonder. And it arrives at a really pivotal moment. It's thoughtful, it's evidence based. It's a really deep conversation that your teens need to have. So if you are looking for a gift to give your teens, scroll past all of the technology that is on their Christmas wish list and get them a copy of this book. I'm telling you, it may not only change their life, it could save their life for eternity.

Dr. Jessica Peck: So, Lee, I am delighted to have you here today.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Lee Strobel: Well, thanks so much. I am, honored, to be able to spend some time with you, Jessica, and your great listeners.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Lee, I want to start by.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Telling you just a really quick story in my own personal life, and then I want to ask you about yours. When I was fortunate to grow up in a Christian home, I've known the Lord from a very young age. And when I was in nursing school, I was set up by my Sunday school teacher on a blind date. And I went out on this date. The date went well. The guy asked me for another date, and I said, you know, I need to know if you're a Christian, because if not, this is not going to go anywhere. That's really a deal breaker. And Lee, he told me, I don't really know what you mean by that. And I thought, well, that's a no. So. But he asked me questions, and I grew up Baptist. I got out my Roman road, I started walking through. He prayed the prayer. And I'm really fortunate I married that guy, actually, Lee.

Dr. Jessica Peck: he was a rocket scientist.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And so he was working in Florida. This was back before the Internet, before phones. I'm dating myself. And the first time that he went, he would be in Florida for two weeks at a time, and then he come home for a week. I gave him two books. I gave him the book the Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. And I gave him the Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. And it just absolutely was so fundamental in his journey. And I'm so appreciative for your testimony and your work and your life. And millions of people have read Your book have heard you speak.

Tell us about your journey from atheist to Christian investigative journalist

But for those who haven't, tell us about your journey as an investigative journalist from Atheist. to faith.

Lee Strobel: Yeah, I was trained in journalism and law. I was the legal editor of the Chicago Tribune newspaper, and I was an atheist. I thought the mere idea of an all powerful, all knowing, creator of the universe was absurd on the surface of it. It wasn't worth my time to check out. So I tend to have a skeptical perspective. And, I married a woman who.

Lee Strobel: Was, I would say, agnostic, kind of.

Lee Strobel: Spiritually confused, or, you know, full of questions but no answers. And, then one day we moved into a condo in Chicago, and the woman downstairs was Christian a nurse. And, she met my wife, became best friends, and she just very naturally talked about Jesus to my wife.

Lee Strobel: My wife wasn't hostile to this.

Lee Strobel: Nobody ever told her this stuff. So she asked questions, she went to church with her. And then, I'll never forget, one day she comes up to me and she gives me the worst news, an atheist husband could get. She said, I've decided to become a Christian.

Lee Strobel: And I thought, oh, no.

Lee Strobel: I mean, my first word through my mind was divorce. I, was gonna, I was gonna walk. Yeah, I was gonna walk out.

Lee Strobel: And then I thought, wait a minute, maybe I could rescue her from this cult that she's gotten involved in. how would I do that? And I realized, even as an atheist, how easy that would be because everything.

Lee Strobel: Depends on the resurrection of Jesus.

Lee Strobel: Jesus clearly made divine claims about himself.

Lee Strobel: he claimed to be the son.

Lee Strobel: Of God, but so what?

Lee Strobel: I could claim to be God, you could claim to be God. Anybody can claim to be God. But if he claimed to be God, died, and then three days later returned from the dead, that's pretty good evidence he's telling the truth. So I took my journalism training, my legal training. I spent two years of my life delving into the historical data concerning the resurrection of Jesus, until finally, on November 8th of 1981, I said, you know, a good juror reaches a verdict. this has been two years. The evidence is in. I need to reach a verdict. So I kind of reviewed all my.

Lee Strobel: Evidence, and then I stepped back and said, wait a minute. In light of this avalanche of evidence.

Lee Strobel: That points so powerfully toward the truth of Christianity, it would take more faith to maintain my atheism than to become a Christian otherwise. The scales just decisively shifted at that time. And, that's when I, read John 1:12 that says, but as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name. So I realized that's an equation of what it means to become a child of God.

Lee Strobel: Believe plus receive equals become. So I believe, based on the data.

Lee Strobel: That Jesus is who we claim to God, the unique son of God. But I had to receive. I had in a prayer of repentance and faith.

Lee Strobel: I had to receive this free gift.

Lee Strobel: Of forgiveness and eternal life that he purchased on the cross when he died as my substitute to pay for all of my sin. And when I would do that, then I would become a child of God. So I got on my knees and poured out a confession of a lifetime of immorality that would curl your hair. And at that moment, I received complete forgiveness through Jesus and became a child of God. And several years later, I, sense God prompting me to turn my back on my entire career that I spent a lifetime preparing for and take a 60% pay cut and join the staff of church, which I did and never looked back. It's been the greatest adventure of my life.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, in your journey became was chronicled later in a book, the Case for Christ, which is a, bestseller, has sold millions and millions of book, as I shared. Was so instrumental in my husband's own journey. But, Lee, what I love is that goth God is the author of such great stories.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I'm sure, as you said, you didn't.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Say, oh, I'm going to be a.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Journalist and turned evangelist like you said, with pay cut, you know, and now God is using you to spread the gospel. That is a story that you did not see coming. and when you shared your story.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You talked about growing up and how you grew up with Christian parents. But you had a lot of questions as a teenager. And, and I see that now, Lee. I see teens who have questions. And honestly, for Christian parents, it causes a lot of fear. And we see this deconstruction movement. What can you speak to that?

Lee Strobel: Yeah, the Internet is dredging all this stuff up.

Lee Strobel: I'll give you one example. In the 1800s, a bunch of German, historians and theologians came up with a theory that Jesus never really existed, that he's just a recapitulation of ancient mythology. So people took these ancient myths about a virgin birth and a resurrection. Resurrection. And they created this mythical person named Jesus. And that's where all this came from.

Lee Strobel: Well, that became popular in the early 1900s. In fact, it was taught in the.

Lee Strobel: Schools in Soviet Union in the 1900s.

Lee Strobel: Well, Christians responded to this in the 1900s, and, and refuted the entire thing 100%. and it was sort of put to rest. But then the Internet comes along, and people go back to that old stuff.

Lee Strobel: These old allegations, these old theories that.

Lee Strobel: Have already been disproven, and they propagate.

Lee Strobel: Them again on the Internet, and people.

Lee Strobel: Are unaware that this stuff has been answered. This stuff has been responded to, and it messes with people, and it,

Lee Strobel: Threatens to pull the legs, out from under some people's faith. So the Internet's no friend to, truth. you can find truth on the Internet, but it is mixed up with a bunch of Huey.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It absolutely is. And I see teens doing this.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And even as adults, sometimes we do this, don't we, Lee? You know, we'll share a story, and.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It'S like, oh, that story is actually 12 years old.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That happened 12 years ago.

Dr. Jessica Peck: But I think that's one thing that, you know, the Internet really came before. We taught our kids not only about digital literacy, but digital discipleship. How do we know what is true? What is the ultimate source of truth? And that's what teens don't know today.

How did your journey as a teen from going, you know, through atheism begin

How did your journey as a teen from going, you know, through. How did you reject that and really adopt the label? I mean, you freely called yourself an atheist. How did that progression happen for you?

Lee Strobel: Yeah, there weren't a lot of us proclaiming that back in the day.

Lee Strobel: yeah, it was three steps for.

Lee Strobel: Me that led me into atheism. The first step was when I was a middle school student and I began asking those embarrassing questions that a lot of young people ask. Ah, if there's a God, then, you know, why is there so much.

Lee Strobel: Suffering in the world?

Lee Strobel: Or, if God is real, why is he so hidden?

Lee Strobel: And nobody was willing to engage with me. Nobody was willing to talk about this stuff. So I figured, oh, I get it. Nobody wants to talk about this because.

Lee Strobel: There are no good answers. Second step was in high school when I took biology, and they taught me that, Neo Darwinism explains the origin and diversity of life. So God's out of a job. Don't need God if evolution explains everything. And then my third step was as a freshman at the University of Missouri, where I took a course on the historical Jesus taught by a skeptic. And he taught me, you can't trust what the Gospels tell you about Jesus.

Lee Strobel: And so those were kind of the.

Lee Strobel: Three steps that nailed me in the coffin of atheism.

Lee Strobel: and it's unfortunate because there are.

Lee Strobel: Good answers to tough questions that people are asking. and we as Christians are told.

Lee Strobel: Every Christian is told in 1st Peter.

Lee Strobel: 3:15 to always be prepared to give.

Lee Strobel: An answer to anyone who asks us.

Lee Strobel: To give the reason for the hope.

Lee Strobel: That we have and do it gently and with respect.

Lee Strobel: And, unfortunately, a lot of just.

Lee Strobel: Aren'T prepared or willing, to deal with this stuff.

Lee Strobel: They respond like the people did back.

Lee Strobel: In my day, where it's like, oh.

Lee Strobel: Yeah, let's turn the page, let's ask.

Lee Strobel: Let'S talk about something else.

Lee Strobel: Let's not go there.

Lee Strobel: And that just sends all the wrong.

Lee Strobel: Signals to young kids.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It absolutely does. And I see this happening. And Lee, one of the things, and I told you before we even started, one of the things I love about this book is that you do not underestimate teenagers in this book.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And I think sometimes, you know, we.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Want to pull out. I'm a fan, actually, of the flannel graph.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, I like those simple representations of the gospel.

Dr. Jessica Peck: But kids are asking tough questions and I think a lot of times, you know, we kind of shut them down with this. I've heard this saying, and I know it's really well intentioned, but God said said it. That settles it. I believe it. Yeah, there's some questions in between.

Lee Strobel: You know, one of the things that.

Lee Strobel: Fascinated me was, somebody who should have known the identity of Jesus being the son of God more than anybody was John the Baptist. John the Baptist once pointed to Jesus.

Lee Strobel: And said, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Lee Strobel: John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, I have seen and I testify.

Lee Strobel: This is the son of God.

Lee Strobel: But then what happens? He gets arrested? He gets thrown in jail. This is when questions begin to come up, when tough times come.

Lee Strobel: So here he is in jail.

Lee Strobel: Now he begins to wonder, you know, who is Jesus? You know, is he really who is claim to be? But what does he do? Does he wallow in that and let that, erode his soul? No, he gets some friends together. He says, go track down Jesus and ask him point blank, are you the.

Lee Strobel: One we've been waiting for? Are we to wait for somebody else?

Lee Strobel: Give me clarity, give me information, give me truth. So his friends track down Jesus and ask him, and how does Jesus respond? Here's the key. Does Jesus get mad at John because he dared to ask a question? Does Jesus get mad at John because he raise the.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I gotta hold you right there, Lee. We're already at our first break, but we have so much more to talk about. Listen, do not go away. We're gonna talk more about Is God real?

Dr. Jessica Peck: Yes, he is. That's the spoiler. But we'll tell you how to talk.

Dr. Jessica Peck: About that with James when we come back.

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Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back friends. That's Emmanuel God With Us by Chris.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Tomlin and what a beautiful message God is. Emmanuel. He is with us and we are.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Connected, commanded as Christians to go and.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Share the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I encourage you to do that. I am talking today to Lee Strobel. Yep, you heard that right. And you know, if you are familiar with his testimony that he didn't come.

Dr. Jessica Peck: To faith from a place of just easy path.

Dr. Jessica Peck: He came from a place of questions and skepticism. And as a teenager even he shared with us that he wrestled with questions as many young people face like why would a loving God allow such evil and suffering in the world? And is there a good answer?

Dr. Jessica Peck: Or am I just stuck in my.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Faith and I just believe this because My parents do. But those questions were the starting point of a 30 year now journey of investigation, discovery and faith. And he has written a book called Is God Real? For teens. Now, when you're looking at teenagers gift.

Dr. Jessica Peck: List, you will see a lot of.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Expensive things on there, if I'm being honest.

Dr. Jessica Peck: If you, the teens are being honest. But if you don't want the prize of having the best gift and you.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Know, you get the, the prize in front of everybody's, they're opening, oh, I love you.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You're the best. You know me.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You want to invest in something more important than that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And maybe they won't be super excited to open it on Christmas morning, but.

Dr. Jessica Peck: They will open it in the privacy of their bedroom. They will open it and have these messages of faith. Help someone, someone who is stepping into their questions, who's not afraid of those. And today's cult, they often see faith in science as opposites, as Lee shared. And kids have questions about that. Sometimes as parents, we feel ill equipped to answer that. But Lee, right before the break, you were in the middle of a great story about John the Baptist, Jesus own.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Cousin, who was pretty radical for Jesus.

Dr. Jessica Peck: But yet had doubts when he was in prison. I'm gonna let you finish that story for us.

Lee Strobel: Yeah.

Lee Strobel: So his friends went out, they tracked Jesus down. They told him, but Jesus didn't get mad at John. He didn't say, how dare John, of all people raise a question about my identity? He didn't do that. He said, look, go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk.

Lee Strobel: Those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and.

Lee Strobel: The good news is preached to the poor. In other words, go back to John. Tell me the evidence you've seen with your own eyes that convinces you that.

Lee Strobel: I am the one I claim to be.

Lee Strobel: So they do. So has this now disqualified John from.

Lee Strobel: Any role in the kingdom of God because he dared to ask a question?

Lee Strobel: No, it's after this incident.

Lee Strobel: Jesus gets up before a group and he says, among those born in women.

Lee Strobel: There'S no one greater than John. John, the guy who dared to ask a question. We got to let kids know it's okay to ask questions. Your questions are not shocking God.

Lee Strobel: God's not going, oh, my goodness. I cannot believe he raised that.

Lee Strobel: It's not shocking God. It's okay. It's a good thing to have questions because then your faith can be built.

Lee Strobel: On something more than just emotions.

Lee Strobel: I think a lot of kids believe they don't say this, but a lot of young people believe that faith means, believing something even though you know.

Lee Strobel: In your heart it can't be true. That's faith. You know, I know it can't be true.

Lee Strobel: It can't be a God, but I'm.

Lee Strobel: Going to believe it anyway.

Lee Strobel: That's not faith. We have about, and this is what this book is God Real is about. We have about 20 lines of evidence, evidence from science, arguments from philosophy, evidence from history that point in the direction of the existence of a creator.

Lee Strobel: Who matches the description of the God of the Bible.

Lee Strobel: And so you have this evidence pointing in a direction. Do we have to take a step of faith? Yes, but it's a step in the same direction the evidence is pointing. We do that every day of our life.

Lee Strobel: You know, I'm sitting here, in Colorado, and I have.

Lee Strobel: A glass of water. My wife gave me this.

Lee Strobel: She said you might get thirsty when you're talking to Jessica.

Lee Strobel: So how did I know that this wasn't poison? It could have been. It could have been.

Lee Strobel: But I've been married 53 years. My wife, I don't think at this point has any reason to hurt me. Number two, the water looks clean, the glass looks clean. There's no weird smell. I don't hear reports of neighbors falling.

Lee Strobel: Dead from drinking tap water in the area. So I have all this evidence. It's okay, but I don't know for a fact that it's not poison. But based on the evidence, I sip.

Lee Strobel: And I see that it's good.

Lee Strobel: And that's what the Bible says. To taste and see that the Lord is good, follow the evidence and then take a step of faith in the direction the evidence is pointing and put.

Lee Strobel: Your trust in Jesus.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It's absolutely amazing to me when I see the intersection of science and faith. You know, there, are a lot of people who say those are conflicting, but the more that we learn about.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Science, the more I think we are painfully behind.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And just for me as a nurse, Lee, the jaw dropping miracle of life beginning and growing and I mean, just so many miraculous ways that our bodies are created, it screams of intelligent design. And you said earlier, Lee, that you know, if you felt like it would have taken more faith to maintain your posture as an atheist than to be, to adopt Christianity as a faith.

Lee Strobel: Yes.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And you titled this book Is God Real? And I think that is the question that is screaming from the hearts of so many kids. They want to ask this question. Some of them are scared to Some of them are skeptical. Why did you title the book Is God Real? Why is that still the question that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: John the Baptist asked that we're still asking today?

Lee Strobel: Yeah.

Lee Strobel: You know why I titled it that.

Lee Strobel: Way is because, I was informed by some tech people that, they.

Lee Strobel: Discovered that 200 times a second around the clock, someone on planet Earth is typing into a computer search engine. Basically the question, is God real? And I thought, oh, my goodness, if that many people are hungry to know if God is real, why don't I just do a book that. And again, I'm not the world's leading.

Lee Strobel: Expert on all these areas, but I.

Lee Strobel: Go find these experts and I cross examine my question them, from my questions I had when I was an atheist and try to get them to explain things in a way that I can understand.

Lee Strobel: Because if I can understand, I think anybody can understand it.

Lee Strobel: And, so that's kind of the approach in the book.

Lee Strobel: I go to These people with PhDs from major universities around the world and.

Lee Strobel: ask them the tough questions and see can we get solid answers that.

Lee Strobel: Satisfy our heart and souls.

Lee Strobel: And guess what?

Lee Strobel: We can, you know, we, you know, for instance, you said ask.

Lee Strobel: A question about science and faith. You know, for centuries, scientists believed the universe was eternal.

Lee Strobel: It always existed.

Lee Strobel: But now, virtually every scientist, based on.

Lee Strobel: Evidence found in the last hundred years.

Lee Strobel: Virtually every scientist now is convinced the universe had a beginning at some point in the past.

Lee Strobel: So that leads to a very powerful argument for the existence of God. Whatever begins to exist as a cause, we now know the universe began to exist.

Lee Strobel: So there must be a cause behind the universe. What kind of a cause could bring a, universe into existence? Must be transcendent or separate from creation.

Lee Strobel: Because he brought it into being.

Lee Strobel: He must be spirit or immaterial because.

Lee Strobel: He existed before the physical world.

Lee Strobel: He must be eternal or timeless because.

Lee Strobel: He existed before physical time was invented. He must be powerful, given the immensity of the creation event.

Lee Strobel: He must be smart, given the precision.

Lee Strobel: Of the creation event.

Lee Strobel: He must be personal because he had to make the decision to create. He must be creative because, my goodness, just look at the cosmos. He must be loving because he so carefully crafted a habitat where we could flourish.

Lee Strobel: And the scientific principle of Occam's Razor.

Lee Strobel: Said there would be just one creator. So what do we got?

Lee Strobel: Transcendent, spirit, eternal, powerful, smart, personal, creative, loving, unique.

Lee Strobel: That is a description of the God of the Bible just from that one area of science that rules out polytheistic religions which believe there are many gods. It rules out pantheistic religions which claim that everything is God. And it is contrary to, Eastern philosophy that says that everything is cyclical. So just that one area of science yields so much evidence pointing toward the existence of a God who matches a description of Christianity. That's powerful stuff.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, it makes me think. I don't know if you've ever seen this show, Lee. Have you seen the show?

Dr. Jessica Peck: It was popular for a while. Are you smarter than a fifth grader? I feel like I would watch that show and think, I am not smarter than a fifth grader because some of.

Dr. Jessica Peck: These things that kids are learning today, right?

Dr. Jessica Peck: You're thinking, wait, did I learn that?

Dr. Jessica Peck: Did I go to school?

Dr. Jessica Peck: And just in hearing you talk, Lee. But that is where our kids are. And science is rapidly evolving. I mean, I think I went to nurse practitioner school before the human genome was even mapped. Like, we didn't even have DNA. I know. I imagine, I try to think going back to school, how did I go to school when we didn't even know that DNA with the whole structure of DNA. Now we are learning that. But I think, you know, when we see culture, culture gives kids messages like, follow your heart. Well, we contrast that with biblical guidance like, well, the heart is wicked above all things.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Who can trust it is deceitful.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And a phrase that we hear a lot right now is follow the science. Now, there can. That can be really interpreted in a lot of different ways. And I think most kids interpret that to mean that, that science and faith are opposed. What would you say to kids when they hear that phrase saying follow the science?

Lee Strobel: Yeah, I say first three chapters. I think it is roughly of, the book is God Real Deal with.

Lee Strobel: Science and how science points toward a creator.

Lee Strobel: The first area, cosmology that we just.

Lee Strobel: Talked about, that goes a huge way toward doing it.

Second area is physics, which is the fine tuning of the universe

Second area is physics, which is the fine tuning of the universe. The universe is so finely tuned on a razor's edge that it makes the idea that it happened by coincidence just absurd.

Lee Strobel: we've got all of these, incredible, parameters, and constants of physics.

Lee Strobel: The numbers that govern the operation of the universe that are finely tuned on a razor's edge.

Lee Strobel: I'll give you one example. The strong nuclear force.

Lee Strobel: That's the force that binds together the nucleus of atoms. What if we were to change it?

Lee Strobel: What if we were to change it.

Lee Strobel: By just one part?

Lee Strobel: In 10,000 billion, billion, billion, billion, there would be no life. All we would have in the universe would be hydrogen.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Unbelievable.

Lee Strobel: There'd be no life in the universe.

Lee Strobel: It's just one. There's hundreds of these.

Lee Strobel: I was talking to an astrophysicist with a PhD from University of Toronto, and.

Lee Strobel: He said, lee, the evidence from the fine tuning of the universe is so strong. To say it would be a coincidence would be like saying you won the lottery 200 times in a row without ever buying a ticket.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Don't we wish.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That's not possible.

Lee Strobel: That's not possible.

Lee Strobel: He said, there's a term for the possibility of this happening by coincidence. Ain't gonna happen.

Lee Strobel: It ain't gonna happen. So at that point, swore God. And then you mentioned DNA. DNA is incredible evidence for the existence.

Lee Strobel: Of an intelligent designer.

Lee Strobel: you know, what is DNA? It is biological information. If you opened up any of the 100 trillion cells in your body and unwound the DNA, that strand would be six feet tall. And embedded in that is a four letter chemical Alphabet that spells out the precise assembly instructions for all of the.

Lee Strobel: Proteins out of which you're made.

Lee Strobel: just as English uses a 26 letter Alphabet, DNA uses a 4 letter chemical Alphabet to spell out the assembly instructions for DNA. There is more information in every cell in your body than in 200 years of the Sunday York Times. If you tried to read this genetic code at three letters a second around the clock, it would take you 31.

Lee Strobel: Years to read the code in just one cell.

Lee Strobel: Now, you know, nature, can produce patterns. We see that, we know that. Patterns, but not information. If I'm walking down a beach and in the wet sand, I see ripple marks, I would say, logically, oh, the waves made the ripple marks in the sand. But if I'm walking down the beach and in the wet sand, I see John loves Mary with a heart around it and an arrow through it. I wouldn't say, oh, the waves made that. Why? Because nature cannot produce information. Whenever we see information, whether it's a painting, on a cave wall, whether.

Lee Strobel: It'S a computer code, whether it's a.

Lee Strobel: Newspaper, a book, Always, always, always there.

Lee Strobel: Is an intelligence behind it.

Dr. Jessica Peck: This, there's a tension there, Lee. Because as I'm not afraid, this is why God is not afraid of questions. It's why I'm not afraid when my kids ask questions. Because when we start looking at the intelligent design, the miracles that exist within nature, within the human body, within creation, within science, I see that. Then why. And I'm a professor at the same time, then, and you talked about your experience at the university and being in your first class. Where is the disconnect there. Where do you see that disconnect? And seeing that, okay, we know this, we learn this, and yet you will find academics who denounce this.

Lee Strobel: Yes. Go back to King David thousands of years ago. He said in his pride, the wicked man does not seek him in all his thought. There is no room for God.

Lee Strobel: We tend to deny this. Romans 1:20 in the New Testament says, just from observing nature, the evidence of God's invisible qualities, his divine character, are so obvious. Things like DNA, the universe, the fine tuning, all this stuff, it is so obvious. It says we are without excuse. But the Bible also says that we tend to deny that we want to.

Lee Strobel: Be worshiped, we want to be God. We don't want to be told what to do.

Lee Strobel: And so the Greek imagery is like a pedal on a car. It's like a brake.

Lee Strobel: And when we see evidence for God.

Lee Strobel: And we press the brake, we don't.

Lee Strobel: Want to see that because he's a competitor of ours. you know, we want to rule the universe, we want to run our lives. And so we press down the pedal.

Lee Strobel: And then we see more evidence of God, and we press the pedal down again.

Lee Strobel: One of the most famous atheists was a guy named, Thomas Nagel.

Lee Strobel: Thomas Nagel said, it's not just that I do not believe in God and naturally hope that I'm right. It's that I hope there is no God. I do not want there to be a God. I do not want the universe to be like that. So he starts with the hope there is no God. Now show me the evidence. That's not the way you investigate something. The way you investigate it is not. I rule out the possibility of God. Now give me your evidence. The way to approach it is show me the evidence and I'll follow it to its logical conclusion. And I believe when you do that, you end up at the feet of Jesus.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I believe it, too.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And you have lived that, Lee. Your life is a living, breathing testimony of that. It makes me think of the verse, the wisdom of man is this foolishness to God in a world full of. Of self help, self actualization, and really just idolizing ourselves to be far more powerful than we are.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Thinking of the song, by Rich Mullins. We are not as strong as we think we are. And that is a timeless truth that is there. Listen, I'm going to be back for.

Dr. Jessica Peck: One more segment with Lee Strobel. The book we're talking about today is God Real for teens, exploring faith in a world of wonder. Every teen needs A copy of this under their tree. We'll be right back with Lee Strobel. And my father. your great grandfather fought in World War II. Really? He was a gunner on the big ship out in the Pacific Ocean. Wow. Your great grandmother did her part, too. Was she on a ship? Oh, no. She stayed back home. She and a lot of her friends worked really hard in a factory because the men had gone off to war, and they held scrap metal drives to help in the war effort. The folks back home were heroes, too.

Jeff Chamblee: Here at the American Family association, we consider you the heroes back home as you fulfill your responsibility of caring for your family day to day. Your partnership with us is crucial as we fight the enemies of freedom in America. Thank you for your commitment to the American Family Association. Grandpa, what's a scrap metal drive? Let's get some cookies and I'll tell you all about it.

Hallelujah Our King by Jordan Feliz: The night was like no other night. As the world lay fast asleep. The. Wise men followed heaven's light. through a desert dark, and deep. To a stable that echoed with baby's cries and they fell to their knees by the manger side singing. Holy, holy, Hallelujah, our King, you're the one who sets the world free. Holy, holy.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That's Hallelujah Our king by Jordan Feliz.

Recent research shows teens want to know more about scripture

And we are talking about the King of the universe today. We're talking about the King of Heaven.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And that is someone that teenagers have a lot of questions about. We see spiritual curiosity just soaring among Gen Z m, among millennials. This is not just a fad. And recent research shows that many teens, they really want to know more about scripture. They're buying Bibles, they're looking for Christian influencers online. But curiosity can quickly run into confusion, and it can quickly lead you to some dark corners of the Internet where kids are told things that are not true, especially if they're not getting those answers from trusted people in their lives, from their families, from Christian counselors, and, by counselor, I mean wise voices in their life in the church and community where. And adults may just feel unprepared to engage in these deep questions. But I am talking today to none other than Lee Strobel. I have a copy of his new book, Is God Real? For Teens. You can see I have all kinds of notations and marks in here because I've got four young adults and teens in my own home, and I want to answer their questions. And Lee, it can be really hard to do that. And especially my youngest son, and specifically he had A long list of questions that he started writing in his journal. Now, I am a nurse. My husband's a rocket scientist. We might, you know, on.

Dr. Jessica Peck: On the surface look like, okay, we know a few things, but we don't. We are not theologically trained. You know, we felt way out of our depths. And so we actually took a pastor to. At lunch and said, hey, we need to, bring you to lunch and have our son sit with you and.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Just ask all these questions that we don't know the answers to. There are a lot of parents and grandparents who just feel like God said it.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That settles it. I believe it. Which. That kind of faith has a time and place.

Dr. Jessica Peck: How do you. What advice do you give to families to create an environment at home that nurtures curiosity and that accepts these questions?

Lee Strobel: Yeah, one of the things we did, when we became Christians and we had little kids at the time, is we let them know that. That, before they go to bed.

Lee Strobel: Every night, that's a special time. If you have any questions about anything at all, anything bothering you, anything nagging at you, anything that's got you.

Lee Strobel: You're afraid to even go to sleep.

Lee Strobel: let's talk about it. So we created that safe space every.

Lee Strobel: Night as we're putting them to bed so that they could express questions.

Lee Strobel: And, I think that validates the fact that questions are okay, questions are good. We've all got questions. And, so I think that's number one. Number two is, and maybe this is obvious, we need to pray for our kids. You know, it's interesting that when you.

Lee Strobel: When you look at the original Greek in which the New Testament's written, one of the things that doesn't get translated.

Lee Strobel: In a lot of translations, some, but not most, is that Jesus on the cross did not just pray at once, but he kept repeating his.

Lee Strobel: Prayer for spiritually lost people. Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them, for they're not what they do.

Lee Strobel: He continued to pray that.

Lee Strobel: That even till his final gasps on the cross.

Lee Strobel: And as British pastor John Stott said, in light of that, how can we not pray consistently and fervently and expectantly toward.

Lee Strobel: For spiritual people, our people in our lives, our kids, our family members, our neighbors, our colleagues at work and so forth, who are spiritually confused.

Lee Strobel: So let's be praying for them.

Lee Strobel: you know, my wife prayed for me when I was the atheist and she had become a Christian, and that was a tough time in our marriage. we actually wrote a book about it called Spiritual mismatch. What do you do if your spouse is not a Christian? And, she prayed a verse from the old testament, Ezekiel 36:26, that says, moreover, I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And she prayed that for me every day for the whole two years that I was on that investigative journey.

Lee Strobel: So we need to be praying for.

Lee Strobel: Our kids, that God would, open.

Lee Strobel: Their eyes to their need for a.

Lee Strobel: Savior, that God would, would point them toward resources that could give them satisfying answers, the questions they have.

Lee Strobel: Because a lot of young people, a lot of people in general have what I call spiritual sticking points. You know, there's a question, there's a doubt that that's a sticking point in their spiritual journey. If we can help them get past that sticking point, they can make great progress often in their journey toward God. So one of the questions I like to ask, I'm kind of a diagnostic.

Lee Strobel: Question to ask your kids or ask.

Lee Strobel: A friend to try to get at the, that sticking point is to say, if you could ask God any one question and you knew he'd give you an answer right now, what would you ask him?

Dr. Jessica Peck: That's a great question.

Lee Strobel: So, yeah, that forces them to think, well, what is that one question? And then when they ask it, let's say you ask, a kid that.

Lee Strobel: And the kid says, well, you.

Lee Strobel: Know, why would God allow suffering in the world? It just seems, if God's good and God's powerful, why does he allow suffering? But I don't answer it right away. I ask a follow up question. The follow up question is, oh, well, of all the potential questions in the universe, why did you ask that one? Now we're getting beneath the question. Now we're getting at the emotional side. He may say, because one of my friends at school, her mom was just diagnosed with cancer and where's God in the middle of that? Or one of my teachers lost a baby in childbirth. Where's God in that? That now we're getting to the personal side. And at that moment they don't just.

Lee Strobel: Need a good intellectual answer about why God allows suffering.

Lee Strobel: And I have a whole chapter on that in my book, is God Real? But they need someone to be Jesus to them in that moment. And to validate that. It's good that you're asking these questions. It shows you have a heart for people. And they may need a hug, they may need, Assurance they may need you to pray with them at that moment. But I like to get underneath that question that they ask. And then at the right time, you can get to that question itself and say, you know, why? And there's so many resources.

Lee Strobel: My book is God Real. I have a chapter on why does God allow suffering?

Lee Strobel: And also, why does God appear hidden? And those might be chapters you might want to read with your kids, one at a time and talk about them. Let's read this chapter about science and faith and let's talk about it. And, and, and just getting that open to. And here's, here's the illustration I use. You know, when a kid is little, say 4 years old, and they have a nightmare and they wake up and they're sweating and their heart is pounding fast and they're scared to death, and they run into the parents bedroom and jump into the parents bed and they're crying in the room and the parents say, what's wrong? What's wrong? Oh, I just had this horrible nightmare. And then you say, well, what was the nightmare about? Well, there was a monster under my bed and he had three arms and he had five arms. And then they start talking about.

Lee Strobel: And then they begin to laugh because. Okay, it sounds so silly.

Lee Strobel: But my, point is if they held that in and didn't talk about it, it would do great damage. Could do great damage. And when you hold in your questions and your doubts, they can begin to erode your soul. But when you let them out, when you talk about them, when you say, what about that? And they kind of hold their breath to wonder, is there really an answer to this? And they find out, o my goodness, there's some real good answers to these tough questions. That gives them a sigh of relief and it gives them confidence that when they do, come up with the next question, they can find answers. I actually wrote a book a number.

Lee Strobel: Of years ago called, it's still available, called the, Case for Faith.

Lee Strobel: And I did a national survey and I asked people, what their number one question was about God or number one objection.

Lee Strobel: And we came up with the top eight objections.

Lee Strobel: And then I went to experts and I interviewed them them and to get really good answers to those questions.

Lee Strobel: So that might be another resource that, you could use depending on the age of your child.

Lee Strobel: But, I think validating the fact that it is okay to ask questions, that's not a bad. It's even okay to have some doubts as long as you do what John the Baptist did and you seek answers.

Lee Strobel: if you seek them, you're going to find them.

Dr. Jessica Peck: It's so good, Lee. And I loved your chapter on is God hidden?

Dr. Jessica Peck: Because you said the God of the universe sent his son to Earth as a baby. I mean, how much less hidden could he be?

Dr. Jessica Peck: But I think that, you know, when we were asking those questions, I, remember a quote that I read when I was a teenager that's unattributed, but that really stuck with me. And it said, if God was small enough to be understood, he wouldn't be big enough to be worshiped. And I think that's where the confidence comes in when kids ask us questions. Because my kids ask me questions to this day that I still think I don't know how to answer, that I don't know what that is. But the. But here is absolute truth. And I wanted to. You have a chapter in here about truth. I wanted to read just one quick quote. You said all major religions make truth claims that are absolute, and they fundamentally contradict each other. They can't all be true because they assert opposite things. To say all religious claims are true may sound respectful and generous, but it's logically absurd. And our task is to discover what is true and what isn't. And I think when our, kids are asking the questions, we're in this world of shifting sands, where what's canceled, you know, today was celebrated yesterday. And kids don't know what that is. Say, you know what? I don't know the answer to that specific question, but I know this about God's character. I know this about the truth of God's word. What did you find in your quest for that, Lee, that convinced you of the absolute truth of God's word?

Lee Strobel: Yeah.

Lee Strobel: And to say to your kid, let's.

Lee Strobel: Find an answer together, you know? Yet truth is that which corresponds to reality. And you're right. I mean, all religions cannot be true. Islam specifically denies the very tenets you.

Lee Strobel: Need to believe to be a Christian.

Lee Strobel: Now, if Islam's true, Christianity is false, if Christianity is true, Islam is false. Or they're both false, but they can't be true at the same time. So what convinced me, as someone trained in journalism and law, law is to. Is, where is the evidence? Where do the facts point? Where, does history point?

Lee Strobel: And when I especially investigated the resurrection.

Lee Strobel: Of Jesus Christ, you know, most of.

Lee Strobel: The things that we believe to be true about the ancient world, you know, if the kids are studying Alexander the Great in fourth grade or something, and.

Lee Strobel: There'S things they believe About Alexander the Great. Why? Because we believe they're based on good sources. But when you dig down, what you find is most of the facts we believe about ancient figures are based on one source, maybe two sources of information if we're lucky. And yet, for the conviction of the disciples that they encountered the resurrected Jesus, we have no fewer than nine ancient sources inside and outside the NewSong Testament confirming and corroborating the conviction of the disciples that they encountered the risen Christ. That is an avalanche of historical data. And the earliest records we have, people like to say, oh, well, yeah, we. But these are legend that grew up.

Lee Strobel: Over 100, 200 years after the life of Jesus.

Lee Strobel: We have an account of the. Of.

Lee Strobel: Of, reporting the resurrection of Jesus.

Lee Strobel: Christ that includes named eyewitnesses and groups of eyewitnesses that has been dated back by scholars to within months of his death. With that is a news flash from ancient history.

Lee Strobel: The first two biographies of Alexander the.

Lee Strobel: Great by Eryn and Plutarch called 400 years after his life life.

Lee Strobel: And they're generally considered reliable.

Lee Strobel: Here we got a news flash. It goes right back to the beginning. So we have to help our kids understand. Why do you believe anything is true? Because you look at evidence. You look, how do I know? Well, because, someone, two people I trust tell me they saw something that. That is credible, and then it's confirmed by this physical evidence, whatever it is. But we do this intuitively. Almost just like I did with the water in the cup, that my wife gave me.

Lee Strobel: you know, I don't go through.

Lee Strobel: That analysis every time I drink it. It's almost intuitive that we sit in.

Lee Strobel: A chair, we don't know if it's going to break.

Lee Strobel: It could. We could go sprawling on the floor. But we kind of. We look and we subconsciously evaluate. Yeah, it looks sturdy.

Lee Strobel: It looks strong, looks solid.

Lee Strobel: You sit in the chair. We take steps of faith every day of our life. And I think that's important for kids to understand. The step of faith is not a repudiation of evidence or of, reality. It is a step in the same direction that the evidence is pointing. That changed my life when I realized that.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And praise God for that, because your life changed, has changed, how many lives? I can't even imagine, Lee. We won't know this side of heaven the way that God has used your.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Your lack of faith to create and generate faith.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And that's what I love about God. That's a truth that I know about God. We worship a God who loves to redeem to restore, to renew, to make whole. And the offer of grace is so simple. And one of the things that you talk about in this book when we're talking about kids having questions, knowing absolute truth is apologetics, just like you said in the beginning, wanting to get, being ready to give an answer for the hope that they have.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And Lee, I'm so disappointed. I hear my board operator in my ear telling me our time is starting to tick.

People are more spiritually open during the Christmas season, I think

I want to give you one minute just to give the last word of encouragement. What would you say to our listeners?

Lee Strobel: Well, Christmas is coming up. The great miracle of the incarnation of the Son of God. it's an incredible miracle that leads to eventually the miracle of the resurrection of him after he dies for our sins to pay the penalty we deserve for the sins that we've committed. So it's a great season of the year. People are more spiritually open during the Christmas season, I think, than any time.

Lee Strobel: In the year, year. So let's seize that opportunity. Let's talk about God with our kids. Let's bring them to church on Christmas. Let's, let's, let's take advantage of the sensitivity in the culture today and engage with them in a positive way. Let them know you're always there if.

Lee Strobel: They have a question. And if you don't have an answer, we'll find it together.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, Lee, one of the things I love about that, as you started this, your story saying that there was a nurse who was a neighbor who shared Jesus with your wife.

Lee Strobel: Yes.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And look at the impact of that. And I'm sure that nurse didn't think, oh, well, let me just, you know, bring you to Jesus so your husband can be, a best selling author. And I think what would have happened if I hadn't shared Jesus with my.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Husband on my first date. Now his whole family has come to.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Know the Lord, really share the gospel.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Share the good news of the hope of Jesus Christ. And I hope that you will share this with any teen in your life. It's called Is God Real? For teens. You never know what God will use with this work of faith. And wherever you are in your faith, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Face to shine upon you.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.