As the world is caught up in the death of Pope Francis, it is also being drawn into a great mystery: the life of the Church – and our faith in the Lord’s resurrection. Almost from the moment Christ rose and departed the tomb, the lies began. Indeed, the first conspiracy theory was concocted in Jerusalem.
Matthew’s Gospel recounts how religious leaders invented a story that the followers of Jesus had stolen his body – and even bribed Roman guards into keeping their mouths shut.
Little has changed in our own society when it comes to the truth versus conspiracy theory. Social media is rife these days with all kinds of debates on issues from Climate Change to Covid vaccines.
Trust
One reason may be that the mainstream media has been losing credibility. Indeed, a Gallup poll regarding trust in the US media has shown a dramatic decline since the 1970s when opinions were first tracked. In 2025, it is being reported that trust in the mass media in America is at its lowest ebb in five decades. Some of its surge can be traced to Donald Trump’s ‘fake news!’ mantra but not all of it.
The media itself has been at times guilty of corrupt, selective or biased practices and the public scepticism, and the trust in the media is down in Ireland too.
And yet we not only long for the truth, we need it, and thankfully there are still journalists who are committed to the highest ideals.
“Just the facts,” was the mantra of Lee Strobel, who wrote for The Chicago Tribune in the 1970s. His own search for the truth is remarkable – not least because he began to search for the Truth about Christ and the Resurrection when, to his absolute horror, his wife became a Christian.
Strobel was an avowed atheist. Indeed, the notion of a loving father figure was alien to him as he had a difficult and resentful relationship with his own father.
As Strobel went deeper into his research, he went deeper into crisis. The evidence pointed overwhelmingly to the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection”
Challenged by his wife’s conversion, he committed to researching the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection. He was open to wherever the evidence led him and he spent two years on the project. His story has been retold in a book, and indeed a documentary and feature film called The Case for Christ.
In the film, based on his emotional and intellectual journey, a Christian colleague at The Chicago Tribune wisely encouraged him to begin with the resurrection. Why? Because it is on this pivotal event that the Christian faith hangs. As St Paul said in the first letter to the Corinthians: “If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile.”
As Strobel went deeper into his research, he went deeper into crisis. The evidence pointed overwhelmingly to the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And he began to recoil from it. Strobel was no different from many people in the ancient and the modern world: nobody ever rises from the grave!
But after looking at the facts, Strobel found himself losing faith in his atheism.
He had looked at some of the conspiracies: Could Jesus have simply shaped his life to fulfil the ancient prophecies (The mathematical odds of Jesus fulfilling so many of them is so astronomical that it would be impossible)? Did Jesus really die on the cross (The Romans were expert killers and the description in John’s Gospel of blood and water flowing from Jesus’ side when he is pierced with a lance is consistent with someone whose heart has ruptured)? Did his followers spirit his body away (He finds overwhelming evidence of the resurrection, among the pointers were Paul’s own conversion, the martyrdom of the apostles, the witnesses – 500 according to Paul’s account – and the fact that no one in those days, wanting to be believed, would choose a woman with a shady reputation as the first witness, the rapid growth of the early Church, etc)
Truth
In the end, Strobel found himself alone with “an avalanche of evidence” from experts and scholarly sources that Jesus was in fact the son of God, who was crucified and rose again. Strobel put his pen down.
He realised that it would require more faith for him to maintain his atheism than to put his trust in Jesus. It was a moment of truth. And transformation.
Set free by the Truth, Strobel ultimately left reporting and became a Christian pastor.
The Resurrection and the conspiracy theory
As the world is caught up in the death of Pope Francis, it is also being drawn into a great mystery: the life of the Church – and our faith in the Lord’s resurrection. Almost from the moment Christ rose and departed the tomb, the lies began. Indeed, the first conspiracy theory was concocted in Jerusalem.
Matthew’s Gospel recounts how religious leaders invented a story that the followers of Jesus had stolen his body – and even bribed Roman guards into keeping their mouths shut.
Little has changed in our own society when it comes to the truth versus conspiracy theory. Social media is rife these days with all kinds of debates on issues from Climate Change to Covid vaccines.
Trust
One reason may be that the mainstream media has been losing credibility. Indeed, a Gallup poll regarding trust in the US media has shown a dramatic decline since the 1970s when opinions were first tracked. In 2025, it is being reported that trust in the mass media in America is at its lowest ebb in five decades. Some of its surge can be traced to Donald Trump’s ‘fake news!’ mantra but not all of it.
The media itself has been at times guilty of corrupt, selective or biased practices and the public scepticism, and the trust in the media is down in Ireland too.
And yet we not only long for the truth, we need it, and thankfully there are still journalists who are committed to the highest ideals.
“Just the facts,” was the mantra of Lee Strobel, who wrote for The Chicago Tribune in the 1970s. His own search for the truth is remarkable – not least because he began to search for the Truth about Christ and the Resurrection when, to his absolute horror, his wife became a Christian.
Strobel was an avowed atheist. Indeed, the notion of a loving father figure was alien to him as he had a difficult and resentful relationship with his own father.
Challenged by his wife’s conversion, he committed to researching the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection. He was open to wherever the evidence led him and he spent two years on the project. His story has been retold in a book, and indeed a documentary and feature film called The Case for Christ.
In the film, based on his emotional and intellectual journey, a Christian colleague at The Chicago Tribune wisely encouraged him to begin with the resurrection. Why? Because it is on this pivotal event that the Christian faith hangs. As St Paul said in the first letter to the Corinthians: “If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is futile.”
As Strobel went deeper into his research, he went deeper into crisis. The evidence pointed overwhelmingly to the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection. And he began to recoil from it. Strobel was no different from many people in the ancient and the modern world: nobody ever rises from the grave!
But after looking at the facts, Strobel found himself losing faith in his atheism.
He had looked at some of the conspiracies: Could Jesus have simply shaped his life to fulfil the ancient prophecies (The mathematical odds of Jesus fulfilling so many of them is so astronomical that it would be impossible)? Did Jesus really die on the cross (The Romans were expert killers and the description in John’s Gospel of blood and water flowing from Jesus’ side when he is pierced with a lance is consistent with someone whose heart has ruptured)? Did his followers spirit his body away (He finds overwhelming evidence of the resurrection, among the pointers were Paul’s own conversion, the martyrdom of the apostles, the witnesses – 500 according to Paul’s account – and the fact that no one in those days, wanting to be believed, would choose a woman with a shady reputation as the first witness, the rapid growth of the early Church, etc)
Truth
In the end, Strobel found himself alone with “an avalanche of evidence” from experts and scholarly sources that Jesus was in fact the son of God, who was crucified and rose again. Strobel put his pen down.
He realised that it would require more faith for him to maintain his atheism than to put his trust in Jesus. It was a moment of truth. And transformation.
Set free by the Truth, Strobel ultimately left reporting and became a Christian pastor.
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