From jasnews at johnankerberg.org Fri Sep 14 16:22:18 2007 From: jasnews at johnankerberg.org (John Ankerberg Show News) Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:22:18 -0400 Subject: JAS News - News from The John Ankerberg Show Message-ID: <001201c7f70c$f3049320$d90db960$@org> ankerberg-95From the desk of Dr. John Ankerberg President, The Ankerberg Theological Research Institute www.johnankerberg.org Dear Friends, The days leading up to the moment I became a Christian were a struggle. I knew in my heart I was separated from God because I had broken His moral laws and stood guilty before Him as a sinner. I was also keenly aware that Jesus was not in my life. For six days I wrestled with the question of whether or not I would let Christ in, and what it would be like if I did. I remember the day that I finally gave in and bowed my head before the Lord and prayed. I can clearly remember telling Jesus I believed He died for me on the cross and paid for all my sins. I asked Him to please forgive me and enter my life. After that short prayer, I experienced His presence as He entered my life, and He never left. It was a new and wonderful thing to sense His presence with me every place I went. But, as a new Christian I quickly learned that there is nothing more devastating than having someone who persuades you that your beliefs are wrong. I know the terrible feeling of believing in Jesus, while at the same time wondering if I was wrong. There were times I wondered if the evidence showed Jesus wasn't God? How could I be sure Jesus really rose from the dead and performed miracles? How do I know the four Gospel writers didn't make up the story of Jesus after He died? Are my sins really forgiven? At the moment of death will I really go to heaven? These questions mattered to me because if any of the assertions against Jesus were true, then everything I believed was wrong. This wasn't just a game for me. I couldn't live as a Christian if I knew its basic truths were false. When you don't know where to find the answers and have no one to turn to for help, such questions can push you to abandon your faith. I've watched in despair as some of my friends have left their once vibrant faith in Jesus because of questions like these. To provide the evidence refuting the critics is one of the reasons for The John Ankerberg Show. http://www.johnankerberg.org/images/strobel_l-jas.jpgLee Strobel, Former Atheist and Legal Editor of the Chicago Tribune It's also why I invited my friend, Lee Strobel, to be my guest on TV this month. When I lived in Chicago, Lee was the award-winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune for 13 years. He was a very persuasive atheist who was utterly convinced that God didn't create people, but people had created God in an effort to explain the unknown and soothe their fear of death. He said, "I was a skeptic by nature. I got my law degree from Yale, and if you combine those two, you have a (a real jerk) skeptical lawyer. I thought there was too much evidence that God was merely a product of wishful thinking, of ancient mythology, of primitive superstition. I believed Jesus never claimed to be God. He was a revolutionary, a sage, an iconoclastic Jew-but God? No, that thought never occurred to me. I can point you to many university professors who said so-and certainly they could be trusted couldn't they? Then, one day my wife Leslie, who was an agnostic, came home and said she had become a Christian. I saw real changes take place in her life. So when she asked me to go to church with her I said I would. When I heard the basic beliefs about Christianity, I thought, if this is true, it has huge implications for my life. I set out on a two-year search to investigate the evidence to disprove Christianity. But as a result I became a Christian." Lee has written three best-selling books documenting the evidence that persuaded him to put his faith in Christ: The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, and The Case for the Creator. My goals in these programs are to provide evidence to rescue those who are on the verge of abandoning their Christian faith, to help people understand the new challenges modern scholarship and the media have leveled at Christianity, and to teach others how to respond to these challenges. Here are some of the topics we discuss: Challenge # 1: Scholars are uncovering a radically different Jesus in ancient documents that are supposedly just as credible as the four Gospels. Challenge # 2: The Bible's portrait of Jesus cannot be trusted, because the church has tampered with the text. Challenge # 3: New explanations have refuted Jesus' Resurrection. Is the belief that Jesus rose from the dead a legend, a misunderstanding or a deliberate hoax perpetrated by His followers? Can the Resurrection be proven using historical evidence that the vast majority of scholars in the field-including skeptics-would accept as true? 1.6 billion Muslims claim Jesus was not crucified. The Qur'an states: "They [the Jews] claim we killed the messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the apostle of God. But they killed him not, nor did they crucify him." Are all of these people wrong? Marcus Borg writes, "The notion that God's only son came to this planet to offer his life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and that God could not forgive us without that having happened, that we are saved by simply believing this story, is simply incredible. .To many people it simply makes no sense." Dr. Avrum Stroll, professor at the University of British Columbia said in a debate, "Jesus probably did exist, but so many legends have grown up about him that it is impossible for scholars to find out anything about the real man. The Gospels of St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John were written long time after Jesus was crucified and provide no reliable historical information about him." Oprah Winfrey says Jesus is just one way among many. "One of the biggest mistakes we make is to believe there is only one way. There are many diverse paths leading to God." http://www.johnankerberg.org/catalog/media/BBDJ.jpghttp://www.johnankerberg. org/catalog/media/PTJ1.jpg Do you know how to respond to these false portrayals of Jesus? How can you prove to Muslims that Jesus really did die on the cross? Is Jesus' sacrifice of His life on the cross meaningless today? Do the four Gospels provide any reliable historical information about Jesus? Is Jesus just one way among many paths to God? This month we will answer these questions on television by providing a very special package of materials. First, our two DVD series contains seven programs with Lee Strobel called " Primetime Jesus: Answering Modern Scholarships' Attacks on Jesus' Resurrection," and "Primetime Jesus: Evaluating the New Radical Views of Christ." (http://www.johnankerberg.org/catalog/current-offer.html) Second, I will also send you a copy of our newest book just released, What's the Big Deal about Jesus? ( http://www.johnankerberg.org/catalog/BBDJ.html) In this book you'll find my interviews with some of the world's leading scholars including Dr. Darrell Bock, Dr. Craig Evans, Dr. Craig Blomberg, Dr. William Lane Craig, Dr. Gary Habermas, Dr. N. T. Wright, Dr. Stephen Pfann, Dr. Claire Pfann and Dr. Ben Witherington answering questions such as: * What did non-Christian secular sources say about Jesus? * How did Christians know what to believe before the New Testament? * What do we really know about Jesus? Did He or didn't He claim to be God? * How reliable are the thousands of copies of the New Testament manuscripts? * Did the early church change the texts? * Are the messianic prophecies about Jesus persuasive evidence? * What are the five facts about the resurrection that have never been refuted? * What evidence proves Jesus' disciples did see Jesus alive after his death? * What about the alleged contradictions in the Gospel accounts? * What nine facts disprove the Discovery Channel's The Lost Tomb of Jesus? Third, we are also providing Lee Strobel's new 288-page hardcover book The Case for the Real Jesus.( http://www.johnankerberg.org/catalog/product965.html) Like our book, it is not yet available in many bookstores. But both books are available from us now. Each of these items is available individually or altogether in a special package. If you wish to order now, see the enclosed card. Then, I really appreciate all of you who responded to Darlene's letter last month. The amount we received from you was joyfully received and greatly needed. Gifts totaled $13,000 and we would ask others of you to join in helping us meet the need of $85,000 soon. Tape of the Month Club ( http://www.johnankerberg.com/catalog/tape-of-the-month.html) Possibly you would consider supporting our ministry by becoming a member of our Tape of the Month Club? As we shared last month, 2.9 million people from 185 nations received information from us at our web site. How we can help so many? It is because of folks like you who faithfully support us with monthly gifts as part of our Tape of the Month Club. ( http://www.johnankerberg.com/catalog/tape-of-the-month.html) Here is how it works. DVDs of our monthly television series usually costs $49. But, if you would like to receive the same series for $19 less, a savings of $228 over the year, you can enjoy these benefits by becoming a tape of the month member and committing to give just $30 each month to the Ministry for a year. We also offer a $50 a month package that includes the DVD, plus an audio CD of our programs (to listen to in your car), plus a written transcript. Some have wanted to help our ministry by giving a one-time gift for the whole year. The $30 monthly club level amounts to a one-time gift of $360, the $50 level amounts to a gift of $600. Then, for the rest of the year you automatically receive our programs each month. If you join The Tape of the Month Club now by sending either your first gift or a gift for the whole year, I will send you a personally autographed copy of What's the Big Deal about Jesus? http://www.johnankerberg.org/catalog/BBDJ.html. http://www.johnankerberg.org/images/bk-secret.jpgFor any gift you send this month, we'll also send a copy of our latest article called "Exposing The Secret" (http://www.johnankerberg.org/catalog/current-offer.html) exposing the false spiritual ideas in this current best-selling book. Know that we do need your help. You can be a great encouragement to us by becoming a monthly partner in whatever amount you can give, helping us present and defend the Gospel. Sincerely, Dr. John Ankerberg ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Ankerberg Theological Research Institute (A.T.R.I.) P.O. Box 8977 Chattanooga, TN 37414 USA (423) 892-7722 For credit card orders only: 1-800-805-3030 http://www.johnankerberg.org PLEASE NOTE: The John Ankerberg Show respects the privacy wishes of those subscribed to the John Ankerberg Show news list. This email is being sent to you because you have expressed an interest in receiving communications from The John Ankerberg Show. If you wish to be removed from this list, please click here to unsubscribe. (http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/johnankerberg-list). PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. For further information, email jasnews at johnankerberg.org . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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