Hey podcast listeners! Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click the donate button, or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory.
And I'm glad to study God's word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. He was an award-winning legal editor for the Chicago Tribune newspaper. He was also an atheist. Yet through the evidence that he found for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he not only became a strong believer in Jesus Christ, but so did millions of people who have read his best selling books. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, Lee Strobel was once an investigative journalist and a staunch atheist. But now he's one of the world's leading Christian apologists, because the evidence that he discovered for Christianity was simply irrefutable. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress sits down with Lee Strobel to continue a special Q&A session.
First, a word from our Bible teacher, Dr. Jeffress. Thanks David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Now, just before we start today's Q&A session with Lee Strobel, I want to make sure that you're aware of the upcoming Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska.
The dates are June 15th through 22nd. That's coming up very quickly, and space is limited, so you'll need to make your arrangements soon. Look, I realize that vacationers have a limitless number of choices. In fact, there are cruise ships leaving the harbors of North America every day. But if you're looking for a truly Christian experience, one that includes purposeful travel combined with worship, laughter, and the study of God's word, then you'll want to reserve your spot for this life-changing trip to the great frontier. I guarantee that you'll return home relaxed and refreshed with a whole new respect for God's creative masterpiece, which is Alaska.
Reserve your spot today by going to ptv.org. At the end of this month, Christians around the world will gather on Easter Sunday morning to celebrate the most defining moment in history. I'm referring, of course, to the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. To commemorate this occasion, I've prepared a one-of-a-kind book for you and your family. It's called The Power of the Cross. The format of my book is akin to a travel guide of sorts. In The Power of the Cross, I picked out my favorite images from Israel that depict the last seven days of Jesus' life, beginning with his triumphal entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to his glorious resurrection Easter morning. With each picture, I explain what's happening and why it's important. Let me send you a copy of this brand new and exclusive book.
Again, it's called The Power of the Cross, and a copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. And now, let's pick up the conversation we started yesterday between Dr. Ben LaVorn, Lee Strobel, and myself. At this point, we had just entertained a question from an audience member whose name is Sean. Sean was curious about the tension between creationism and evolution. You see, some Christians believe the Bible teaches that the earth is roughly 6,000 years old, while other Christians believe that, according to science, the earth is much older. So here's the question from Sean. Are science and the Bible in conflict with each other? Here's how Lee Strobel and I answered that important question.
I think we have to be real clear. First of all, science, true science, and the Bible are not in conflict. There's no conflict between the Bible and true science.
But what we've got to be careful of is not taking stands that the Bible doesn't address. Now, I'm a creationist. I believe in a six-day creation.
I believe, and I understand others don't, that they were actually 24-hour days. But I'm not a believer in a young earth. I don't believe that the earth is 6,000 years old.
Dr. Criswell didn't believe that. I don't think you have to believe in a young earth to be a creationist. And of course, my creationist friends, they said, well, you're just like an evolutionist. Because an evolutionist believes in an old earth, and you believe in an old earth, you must be an evolutionist.
I said, well, guess what? Evolutionists eat breakfast every day. I eat breakfast every day, but that doesn't make me an evolutionist, just because we do similar things. So I would say there is nothing in the Bible that says the earth is 6,000 years old. The genealogies are not complete.
There are large gaps in the genealogies. So I would say, let's make sure that we're taking a biblical stand. Ken Ham is a friend of mine years ago. He threw me off one of his TV stations, because he heard me say on Fox News about the universe being billions of years old.
And he got mad and threw it, and we're great friends now. But I think Christians can differ on those things. But let's be sure it's a biblical stand worth taking when we stand for truth. Yeah, I'd agree with that, that there's an umbrella of orthodoxy in Christianity.
And there are people who take slightly different positions. We all agree that God created. We all agree that he is sovereign. We all agree that we're accountable to him.
We all agree on these basics. But there's disagreement among Bible-believing Christians on some of these things in terms of how creation actually took place. So there are theistic evolutionists who believe that God used evolution to create.
I agree with you. I think the evidence for that kind of evolution doesn't add up to me. I mean, I did a book called The Case for a Creator and looked at that kind of evidence. And I just think the evidence is not there. But there's Bible-believing people that take that position.
They back it up and so forth. Okay, they're brothers and sisters in Christ. We can agree to disagree.
Let's agree on the essentials. There's young earth creationists. There's older earth creationists. But we're all brothers and sisters. We all believe in the Bible. We're all trying to find truth. And so I agree with you that we need to be respectful of others who are Bible-believers, who are brothers and sisters in Christ, who may have a slightly different stance on some of this stuff. I personally, I'm an evangelist.
I want to see people come to faith in Jesus Christ. And so often I'm dealing with people who are scientists or physicists or whatever. And my attitude is I don't want to try to convert them to some scientific principle before I convert into the gospel. So I want to say, hey, you believe the universe is 13.8 billion years old?
Great. I'll show you why, based on your beliefs in an older universe, that God exists and that Christianity is true. And then after you come to faith, you can wrestle with the whole thing and come to your own conclusions. That's just the way I kind of approach things in my book. So I do think that over in my book, Is God Real?, the first three chapters are about a series of scientific discoveries in the last 50 to 80 years that point powerfully and persuasively toward the existence of a divine creator. We're fortunate. We live in an era where the evidence is there for anybody who wants to look. The evidence of cosmology, the origin of the universe, whether it's old or new.
