{"id":8000,"date":"2023-10-13T10:16:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T14:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=8000"},"modified":"2023-10-13T13:29:15","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T17:29:15","slug":"lee-strobel-says-he-shared-case-for-christianity-with-playboy-founder-hugh-hefner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/10\/lee-strobel-says-he-shared-case-for-christianity-with-playboy-founder-hugh-hefner.html","title":{"rendered":"Lee Strobel Says He Shared ‘Case For Christianity’ With Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner"},"content":{"rendered":"
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leestrobel.com | Inset: s_bukley-Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christian author Lee Strobel has been making his case for Christianity for years, but he never thought he would have the opportunity to make that case in front of a man who many would consider the most famous \u201chedonist\u201d on the planet.<\/p>\n

The 71-year-old recently shared his story at First Baptist Dallas in front of a congregation that gathered to hear from one of Christianity\u2019s most well-known apologists, along with worship sessions led by Dove Award-winning and Grammy-nominated band Newsboys and Dove Award-winning artist Benjamin William Hastings. Strobel told the crowd, \u201cI found myself in the most unlikely place for any Evangelical Christian. I was in the living room of the opulent Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, California, getting ready to interview Hugh Hefner, the notorious hedonist and founder of Playboy magazine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strobel admitted that he \u201cwasn\u2019t a fan\u201d of what he called Hefner\u2019s \u201cnarcissistic\u201d philosophy, but when their conversation veered into spiritual things, the author said he was surprised by Hefner\u2019s views. According to Strobel, the late Playboy founder professed a \u201cminimal\u201d belief in a god that \u201cis kind of the beginning of it all, the great unknown, but certainly, he said, not in the God of Christianity.<\/p>\n

Strobel recalled Hefner saying, \u201cHe\u2019s a little too childlike for me.\u201d It wasn\u2019t until Strobel asked Hefner about his thoughts on the evidence of Christ\u2019s resurrection that, said Strobel, Hefner\u2019s \u201ceyes lit up.\u201d He recalled Hefner saying, \u201cIf one had any real evidence that Jesus did indeed return from the dead, then that is the beginning of the dropping of a series of dominoes that takes us to all kinds of wonderful places.\u201d<\/p>\n