It is the most crucial question anyone has ever asked—and one day, we will all ask it with urgency: “What will happen to me when I die?” We can ignore the question for a time. We can drown it out with busyness and worldly concerns. We can compartmentalize it like Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind: “I’ll think about that tomorrow.” But someday, in some situation, the question becomes unavoidable and demands our full attention.
The ultimate question can surface unexpectedly. It can happen when we have a scare that reminds us of our mortality (a near-traffic accident, a potential cancer diagnosis that turns out to be benign, the death of someone we love or someone our own age). And if we are conscious and aware that death is actually approaching, it is the only thing at that moment which will matter. Even lifelong atheists and cynics cannot avoid it.
Award-winning, best-selling Christian author Lee Strobel’s new book, The Case for Heaven, fearlessly faces this most profound question. Strobel’s story is a dramatic one. An atheist as he grew to adulthood, he pursued his twin passions of law and journalism with academic excellence and relentless intellect. With degrees in both fields (including a J.D. from Yale Law School), he became the legal correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. Through ground-breaking investigative journalism, Lee exposed frauds and cracked closed cases. Then his wife became a Christian, and it rocked his personal world. He set out on an 18-month quest to disprove the claims of Christianity, and in the end, became a believer himself.
Lee’s previous books—The Case for Christ, and a follow-up, The Case for Faith—have included his spiritual journey. Then he tackled the issue of science versus faith, confronting the assumptions he’d been taught in college (that the universe is a product of random chance alone, and humans are biological accidents), and published The Case for a Creator. Lee Strobel was a speaker at our Bonita Christian Forum in 2010.
A critical and near-fatal health crisis several years ago started him on the quest that resulted in his newest book. Lee developed a case of hyponatremia, an often-fatal drop in blood sodium level, that landed him in an emergency room drifting in and out of consciousness. He said this book is in reaction to that incident: “Suddenly it wasn’t enough to have some vague suppositions about the world to come. I needed to know for sure what happens when I close my eyes for the final time in this world.”
Lee Strobel’s style of writing is a reflection of his Pulitzer-winning techniques as a journalist. He records penetrating interviews with experts, researchers, and people with personal experiences across a vast spectrum of specialties and viewpoints. The book reads quickly and easily as the author takes us along on his journey of discovery. The issues he addresses include the universal quest for immortality, evidence for the existence of the soul, the clues that come from near death experiences, the Bible’s teaching on the afterlife, and views on reincarnation.
Reviewed by Pastor Doug Pratt
First Church has selected The Case for Heaven as our Book of the Year for 2022. We believe it has powerful relevance to everyone. And, as an added incentive to read the book, we have invited the author himself to be with us on November 14, 2022. Join the exploration of life’s most urgent issues with Lee Strobel, and bring your questions!
