That possibility is a certainty to Strobel, a former legal editor of The Chicago Tribune who turned to Christ in 1981 after noticing that his wife, Leslie, seemed happier as a new Christian.

Quickly, he reached the conclusion that "if Jesus weren't real, I would need to worship the person who created the character. Jesus is so far beyond what I can comprehend," he said.

A self-professed skeptic, Strobel set out to put his faith to the test by attempting to prove that belief in God is "good science." He questioned and quizzed scientific scholars on the strength and weaknesses of both Darwinism and intelligent design, and came away with an almost ironic conclusion.

"In my opinion, it takes more faith to believe in Darwinism and its underlying premise of naturalism than to believe in a creative designer," he commented.

Strobel points out several "stretches" that need to be made when putting faith in Darwinism. Among them:

• Nothing produces everything;

• Non-life produces life;

• Randomness produces fine-tuning

But perhaps the biggest stumbling block to Darwinism is the idea that consciousness can evolve from unconsciousness. In other words, a blob of lifeless matter can somehow awake into awareness.

Strobel does not dismiss evolution entirely, only its attempts to explain creation and its broad claim that even the most complex life forms began as primordial sludge.