While still an atheist and crime reporter for The Chicago Tribune, Christian apologist and best-selling author Lee Strobel says a story he covered decades ago about a "poverty-wracked" family and how they showed him the true meaning of Christmas through their actions still resonates with him. Strobel gave The Christian Post an exclusive on his "Making the Case for Christmas" story.

More than 14 years ago, Strobel authored The Case for Christ, a book about how as an atheist he first set out to disprove the existence of Jesus only to find irrefutable evidence for the Son of God. He then became a Christian. His Christian wife, Leslie, had been praying for his salvation all the while.

In writing about the Delgados – 60-year-old Perfecta and her granddaughters Lydia and Jenny – Strobel tells about having a yearning "to know Jesus" during his experience. more >>

Jailed Iranian pastor Behnam Irani, who was last month denied hospitalization despite his critical condition, wrote a letter from his prison cell days before Christmas, ministering to Christians in his country and thanking God for letting him share "very little of" Jesus' suffering on the cross.

"Despite the pressure and difficulties in prison, I am pleased to share, what is like a fountain, my Christian joy with you in the new Christmas days to come," wrote Irani, who is currently serving a six-year sentence, according to the letter translated by Minnesota-based Present Truth Ministries, which has missionaries and pastors working in various Middle Eastern countries.

"My brothers and sisters, I love you all. Christ has given you to me on Calvary. Even if I were sentenced to many years behind bars for the salvation of one of you, there would never be any complaint," said the pastor in his 40s in the letter, seemingly written to the people he has ministered to and Christian workers in Iran. more >>

When King James Bible Online asked the 110,000 users on its Facebook page if they believe Jesus was born on Dec. 25, Christmas Day, 83 percent of those who responded answered in the negative. A majority of the respondents also said Santa Claus is a "lie."

The date of the birth of Christ was among the four questions King James Bible Online asked as part of its survey, titled "What Do Christians Really Believe About Christmas," that was conducted this month.

Only 11 percent of the respondents said tradition is right about the date of Jesus' birth. Six percent marked "Not sure." more >>

The foundation of all logic lies in the simple statement, "God is love."

Such logic is to the universe what the steel skeleton is that keeps gales from blowing the Statue of Liberty apart, or the hefty keel of a great sailing vessel that holds her steady midst turbulent seas.

Einstein knew there was a unifying truth that gave coherence to all the structures in the universe. The great physicist was compelled to search for the "unifying field" partly because he was irritated by the emerging ideas of quantum mechanics, and strange implications of sub-atomic theory: apparently schizophrenic matter simultaneously particle and wave, and not seeming to exist anywhere specific until observed. more >>

Despite all the celebrations around us, many of us – including believers – might still be missing Christmas, if we are living in despair, feeling that God doesn't care or is not fulfilling His promises, says Pastor Brad Powell of NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Mich.

Many of us say the right things about Christmas and honor it in the right way, but underneath, it's a whole different thing, said Powell on Sunday night in his sermon titled "Peace on Earth," which was part of the megachurch's "Don't Miss Christmas" series.

It's like a "plague" in most of our lives, said Powell, pastor of NorthRidge for 23 years. "Christmas is the reality of what God has provided for each and every one of us." more >>

Scrooges in the church? R.C. Sproul, an author and theologian, says the church is full of them. They don't exactly hate Christmas but they complain about how others demean the holiday.

"We hear endless complaints of commercialism. We are constantly told to put Christ back into Christmas. We hear that the tradition of Santa Claus is a sacrilege. We listen to those acquainted with history murmur that Christmas isn't biblical," says Sproul, founder of Ligonier Ministries. "All this carping is but a modern dose of Scroogeism, our own sanctimonious profanation of the holy."

Sproul argues that it is simply unnecessary to try to put Christ back in Christmas because "Christ has never left Christmas." more >>