Lee Strobel shared his message both in a sermon and during a Q&A panel with Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas, drawing from his book, The Case for Heaven.
Strobel, a former atheist turned Christian apologist, cited more than 900 scholarly articles published over the past 50 years to support that near-death experiences (NDEs) indicate the soul’s continued existence beyond physical death.
He referenced research by Dr. Michael Edgar, a neurosurgeon with four decades of experience and over 7,000 surgeries performed, which found that 92% of out-of-body observations during NDEs were verified.
“He concluded after his research into this area ... verified near-death experiences are sufficient to confirm that we do indeed have a soul that survives our clinical death, just as the Bible describes,” Strobel stated.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ served as a cornerstone of Strobel’s case, backed by historical testimonies and a report from the Journal of the American Medical Association certifying Jesus’ crucifixion and death.
Quoting renowned lawyer Sir Lionel Laku, who analyzed the resurrection’s evidences and affirmed their historical credibility, Strobel stated, “The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.”
“If this evidence is so strong that Jesus not only claimed to be the Son of God, but backed it up by returning from the dead, then His view of the afterlife is definitive,” he said. “And what does He say about it? ‘Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.’”
During the Q&A session, led by evangelism minister Ryan Sadler, both Strobel and Jeffress addressed questions from the audience, including how to comfort parents who have lost children.
Jeffress reassured one audience member, “When a child who is incapable of yet believing dies, they’re in Heaven … saved by God’s grace.”
Addressing the rising interest in heaven, Strobel attributed it to the aging baby boomer generation and the spiritual curiosity of Generation Z, both heightened by the fears during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think there's probably two things that are driving it. Number one, the big bulge of demographics, of course, is the baby boom generation, of which I'm a member, and we're all getting old,” he said. “The other thing is … we're seeing a lot of spiritual interest among Generation Z … and what happened several years ago with Covid. It was a scary time for everybody.”
Strobel and Jeffress explained that, contrary to some beliefs, Heaven is tangible, renewed Earth, not just an ethereal realm.
“Heaven is the complete renewal of our world, a very earthy physical place, not just for spirits or souls, but for resurrected bodies designed for the Kingdom of God,” Strobel explained.
“The two misconceptions people have about Heaven are, first of all, the location of Heaven. They think when we die, we float up there someplace. … Our final destination is back on this Earth, recreated. [The Apostle] John says he saw a new Heaven and a new Earth,” said Jeffress.
He concluded that individuals retain their personalities and gifts in Heaven, reassuring that “we are not going to be off on some foreign planet somewhere.”
