Jonathan McKee Interviews Josh McDowell on The DaVinci Code
FROM: THE SOURCE FOR YOUTH MINISTRY
Jonathan and Josh grabbed an hour together in Josh's RV after one of his teaching sessions. They discussed everything from Josh's Da Vinci Code resources to evangelism and the Emergent Church. Sit back and relax as we eavesdrop into their conversation.
JONATHAN: You've just written a resource about Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code that we can put in the hands of our teenagers. The timing is perfect because Ron Howard's movie The Da Vinci Code is probably going to be fantastic and questions are going to surface... more than we've already seen from the book.
You've always been good at providing answers to tough questions. Name it: More than a Carpenter, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Answers to Tough Questions... Your research and your books have always been a valuable resource to youth workers, especially for people who have questions or doubts. What started you down the road of answering the questions of skeptics? That's kind of a unique ministry.
JOSH: I have always done that. I've always lived in the skeptic's world: universities, high schools... my whole life. That's where I got started.
JONATHAN: Did you have these doubts growing up or were you surrounded by people with doubts...?
JOSH: I wrote about this in More Than A Carpenter. I set out to write the book Evidence Demands a Verdict against Christianity, because I felt Christians had two brains. One was lost and one was out looking for it. I thought Christians were walking idiots.
I thought the Bible was written years after the time of Christ and full of myths, legend and fiction. I met these Christians whose lives were different and I said, "Why are you so different?" And they said, "Jesus Christ." I just laughed at them. But they challenged me to intellectually examine it. So I did it to refute them. And in the process I became a Christian.
Then I spent 13 years documenting why, which became Evidence Demands a Verdict... which was selected as one of the 100 most influential books of the last century. Out of that came then More Than A Carpenter. I did More Than A Carpenter in 48 hours. I just sat down with 12 legal pads, just like this (holding up a yellow legal pad) and just started writing. I never went to bed, never went to sleep or anything.
JONATHAN: Talk about your all-nighter!
JOSH: And more teenagers are reading it now than ever before. This just blows my mind. There are more teenagers seeking, quote "truth" right now than I've ever seen in 45 years of ministry.
I've always dealt with skeptics and I like to deal with cultural issues that potentially surface the truth. And this is why The Da Vinci Code is an ideal opportunity. I believe that The Da Vinci Code can be one of the most positive platforms that the church has had in 100 years to make truth known if we do it positively, winsomely and wholesomely. We don't dare to attack it, because that would be like attacking Ron Howard and Tom Hanks and it will backfire.
>>READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE
Jonathan and Josh grabbed an hour together in Josh's RV after one of his teaching sessions. They discussed everything from Josh's Da Vinci Code resources to evangelism and the Emergent Church. Sit back and relax as we eavesdrop into their conversation.JONATHAN: You've just written a resource about Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code that we can put in the hands of our teenagers. The timing is perfect because Ron Howard's movie The Da Vinci Code is probably going to be fantastic and questions are going to surface... more than we've already seen from the book.
You've always been good at providing answers to tough questions. Name it: More than a Carpenter, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Answers to Tough Questions... Your research and your books have always been a valuable resource to youth workers, especially for people who have questions or doubts. What started you down the road of answering the questions of skeptics? That's kind of a unique ministry.
JOSH: I have always done that. I've always lived in the skeptic's world: universities, high schools... my whole life. That's where I got started.
JONATHAN: Did you have these doubts growing up or were you surrounded by people with doubts...?
JOSH: I wrote about this in More Than A Carpenter. I set out to write the book Evidence Demands a Verdict against Christianity, because I felt Christians had two brains. One was lost and one was out looking for it. I thought Christians were walking idiots.
I thought the Bible was written years after the time of Christ and full of myths, legend and fiction. I met these Christians whose lives were different and I said, "Why are you so different?" And they said, "Jesus Christ." I just laughed at them. But they challenged me to intellectually examine it. So I did it to refute them. And in the process I became a Christian.
Then I spent 13 years documenting why, which became Evidence Demands a Verdict... which was selected as one of the 100 most influential books of the last century. Out of that came then More Than A Carpenter. I did More Than A Carpenter in 48 hours. I just sat down with 12 legal pads, just like this (holding up a yellow legal pad) and just started writing. I never went to bed, never went to sleep or anything.
JONATHAN: Talk about your all-nighter!
JOSH: And more teenagers are reading it now than ever before. This just blows my mind. There are more teenagers seeking, quote "truth" right now than I've ever seen in 45 years of ministry.
I've always dealt with skeptics and I like to deal with cultural issues that potentially surface the truth. And this is why The Da Vinci Code is an ideal opportunity. I believe that The Da Vinci Code can be one of the most positive platforms that the church has had in 100 years to make truth known if we do it positively, winsomely and wholesomely. We don't dare to attack it, because that would be like attacking Ron Howard and Tom Hanks and it will backfire.
>>READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE
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on Monday, April 03, 2006 at 11:56 a.m..
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