What made the Jesus Seminar unique, says Strobel, was not its liberal "scholarship" purporting to discredit Biblical accounts of Jesus but that it bypassed the usual academic channels to enthusiastically make its findings public. In case you haven't noticed, the recent "evangelistic" fervor against Christianity didn't begin with Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. They have just built on what the Jesus Seminar proselytizing debunkers started.

Strobel says that six major challenges are leaving many Christians scratching their heads and confusing seekers looking for the truth about Christ. He began his research on these challenges conceding to himself that if any were true, they "could change everything" about his beliefs. But, "for the sake of my own intellectual integrity, I needed answers." He then proceeded to investigate, by studying the evidence and interviewing the premiere scholars on each of these issues:

1. Scholars are uncovering a radically different Jesus in ancient documents just as credible as the Four Gospels, 2. The Bible's portrait of Jesus can't be trusted because the Church tampered with the text, 3. New explanations have refuted Jesus' resurrection, 4. Christianity's beliefs about Jesus were copied from pagan religions, 5. Jesus was an imposter who failed to fulfill the messianic prophecies, and 6. People should be free to pick and choose what to believe about Jesus.

I love Lee Strobel's ministry, maybe in large part because I began my spiritual journey as quite the skeptic as well, but also because I believe he has the unique skills, intellectual curiosity and personal integrity that position him to stand on the front lines defending Christ against today's puffed-up assailants.

Will you take Strobel's challenge and read the results of his study? As he says, "In the end, we'll discover together whether the Jesus of historic Christianity manages to emerge intact from the crucible of twenty-first-century skepticism."