I grew up with a pretty straight-laced group of friends. When we got into Junior High, a couple of them began to drink a bit and smoke a little pot. By the time we were in High School the whole bunch of us were getting high on the way to school and going out at night to party. But enough about that.

In college I began to question the lifestyle I had chosen. It seemed to be a dead end street. I knew I didn't want to be doing drugs as an "adult." I wanted to make something of myself. But I couldn't shake the drinking and drugs on my own (I tried!).

At some point in my Junior year I remember thinking, "If I'm going to reject Christianity (my parent's religion) then I should at least understand it." I began to read the Bible. I had grown up going to church so I knew a little about it. I read through the gospel of John, and several of the epistles. I encountered Paul's observation in 1 Corinthians 15:

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. (1 Cor 15:13-19 NIV)

The necessity of the resurrection became clear to me. If I could show that Christ was never raised, then his claims would be false, and the threat of being accountable to God for my sins would be powerless.

I began to read the accounts of the resurrection. I noted that if the disciples had really stolen the body, that their actions afterward were inconsistent. They seemed to be willing to risk their lives to proclaim one message:

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. (Acts 2:22-24 NIV)

The resurrection, something that they knew to be a lie, became the focal point of their "new religion." All but one of the original twelve were martyred. Surely others of the disciples were martyred too. It's not reasonable that dozens (or hundreds!) of people would die for what they knew was a lie.

Christianity would have been the easiest religion to disprove in the first few years. Just produce the body of Christ. Yet no such body has turned up.

Now, I don't know anybody who has come back from the dead. Better than that, Jesus said he would come back from the dead, then he did. Harry Houdini said he'd come back, but he didn't. Overcoming death is a big deal. It can't be ignored. If someone tells you they're going to die, be dead for three days, then come back to life, and they proceed to do it, I suggest you listen to whatever they say next!

In Jesus' case, he claimed to be God in the flesh. He said that unless we accept him as our savior, we'll die in our sins and be condemned to eternal punishment.

My conversion was not so much a result of a fear of hell, but rather respect for a person who overcame death. That gives him a lot of authority, in my opinion.

Once I had prayed, confessed my sins, and asked Jesus to save me, I was able to give up the drugs and drinking. My life changed in a dramatic way. I bought a Bible and started reading. I was amazed at how much everything made sense! Within the first three chapters of Genesis I was discovering truths that were sitting there in my Bible all the time but I hadn't noticed before - because I didn't know the author of the book!

When I finished school my wife and I moved to Cedar Rapids and joined a small independent Baptist church. The church was about two years old and was meeting in a school. Over the next sixteen years we built a building and grew significantly. In March 1998 we left that church to pursue a different preaching and teaching style and to escape some of the people-pleasing rigors of legalistic fundamentalism. We're currently fellowshipping with an independent Bible church with a strong emphasis on Bible teaching and study.