I had debated a pastor in high school on evolution before a crowd of 100 people, and would soon appear on talk radio on a Christian radio station defending evolution against an army of callers who strongly disagreed with me.
"If the scientific creationists believe Jesus rose from the dead, then the resurrection must be just as ridiculous as the Genesis flood." Or so I thought.
Christian apologist Josh McDowell: You know, I wish more people would try to disprove the resurrection! You know why? Because then we'd have more Christians!"
Introduction
I am an agnostic at a Christian university. Since enrolling at Seattle Pacific University, I have been challenged by several of my Christian friends to investigate the historical evidence for Christianity. In particular, they challenged me to investigate the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, as a historical event. Although I was initially reluctant to do so, finally in August 1993 I decided to investigate for myself.
At that time, I had just completed a massive personal study on the evolution and creationism controversy. I had debated a pastor in high school on evolution before a crowd of 100 people, and would soon appear on talk radio on a Christian radio station defending evolution against an army of callers who strongly disagreed with me. And I had recently joined the National Center for Science Education, an organization strongly opposed to scientific creationism.
My opinion of scientific creationists was so low that if they endorsed one position, I would seriously consider supporting the other, just so that I could disagree with the scientific creationists. "If scientific creationists say X, then X must be wrong," I would reason. When my friends challenged me, as a debater, to investigate the evidence for the resurrection in the same fashion that I would investigate a topic for debate, I used this same line of reasoning. "If the scientific creationists believe Jesus rose from the dead, then the resurrection must be just as ridiculous as the Genesis flood." Or so I thought.
I remember when the famous Christian apologist Josh McDowell came to SPU and spoke in chapel on the evidence for the resurrection. I don't remember his exact words, but he said something like, "You know, I wish more people would try to disprove the resurrection! You know why? Because then we'd have more Christians!" I remember thinking to myself that if I took the time to investigate the resurrection, I could make anyone who believed it look like a fool. Or so I thought.
Then I remember a friend loaning me some cassettes of the Craig-Zindler Debate on the existence of God. I was very interested in these tapes, for two reasons. First, as a former high school debater, I've always enjoyed listening to a good debate. Secondly, I was a huge fan of American Atheists representative Frank Zindler. At this time, I had already read transcripts of his successful debates against well-known scientific creationist authors Duane Gish and John Morris. Considering how easily he defeated his opponents in those debates, I figured this "William Lane Craig guy" would be an easy win, too. Or so I thought.
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