Atheist Col. Ingersol talked to Gen. Lew Wallace about making a movie about Christ that would strip away the divine myths and portray him as a man. Wallace researched the idea and became a believer. He then wrote the book “Ben Hur” which was later made into an Academy Award-winning movie.<\/p>\n
[version from Janbonus.doc, DYNAMIC PREACHING, Winter 1992:]<\/p>\n
Do you remember the story of Bob Ingersol? He was a famous and learned unbeliever of the last century. He was riding on a train by the side of General Lew Wallace, who was the governor of New Mexico and who was also not a Christian. Ingersol said to Wallace, “Why do you not write a book that sets forth the truth about this deceiver, Jesus Christ?” Wallace said, “I had not thought of such a thing, but I believe I will.” So he studied the life of our Lord, and became a great and devout Christian, and wrote one of the noblest books of faith of all time. It is called BEN HUR. Do you remember the subtitle? It is: BEN HUR (A Story of the Christ).<\/p>\n
========================
\nAnother version:<\/p>\n
Many of us have read the novel \u201cBen Hur\u201d or we have seen the 1959 movie version.<\/p>\n
It is the thrilling story of Judah Ben-Hur and his conversion to Christianity. One of the most moving scenes of the movie is the crucifixion of Christ on Calvary.<\/p>\n
The author of Ben Hur was politician Lew Wallace (1827-1905). The man who challenged Wallace to write Ben Hur was Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899). Neither Wallace nor Ingersoll was a Christian. Ingersoll was a lawyer and an agnostic who over a thirty-year period attacked Christianity at every opportunity.<\/p>\n
One day Ingersoll and Wallace were riding together on a train when Ingersoll challenged Wallace, who was also a capable writer, to write a novel on the life of Christ. Ingersoll’s suggestion was that an interesting novel could be written on the moral character of Jesus. \u201cIt will be a best-seller,\u201d Ingersoll told Wallace.<\/p>\n
Wallace accepted Ingersoll’s challenge and during the time he was governor of the New Mexico Territory, Wallace wrote Ben Hur. But a strange thing happened as Wallace wrote his novel. In studying the life of Jesus from the Gospels, Wallace was saved!<\/p>\n
It has happened again and again through history. When a sinner takes seriously the claims of Jesus Christ as they are presented in the Gospels, he is transformed as he is discovers life’s greatest treasure.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
J. B. Fowler, Basic Bible Sermons on Philippians (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991) 85<\/p>\n
================
\nAnother version from the Fredericksburg Collection:<\/p>\n
It is said that General Lew Wallace, of Civil War fame, was traveling to New Mexico, where he had just been appointed as governor of the territory by that name. He discovered on the train as a fellow traveler the great agnostic Robert Ingersoll, with whom he was acquainted.<\/p>\n
After a time of conversation, Wallace said, \u201cIngersoll, I wish you would talk to me about religion.\u201d Said Ingersoll, \u201cWhat do you want me to talk about?\u201d \u201cIs there a God?\u201d said Wallace. \u201cI don’t know; do you?\u201d was the reply. \u201cIs there a hereafter?\u201d Again the reply, \u201cI don’t know; do you?\u201d And again Wallace asked, \u201cWas Christ divine?\u201d To which Ingersoll gave the same reply. Wallace said, \u201cThere’s your text — go ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
For over an hour, until he left the train, Ingersoll poured out his arguments against the Christian religion. After Robert Ingersoll left the train, Wallace kept thinking. He was silenced and questioning in the wake of the other’s brilliant tirade. But he was stirred to look for himself and see what grounds there were for belief in the Bible. He read books, talked with others, and made special trips in his investigation on Christ and the Bible.<\/p>\n
The result was that he became convinced of the truth of God’s Word, and he declared his verdict that Jesus was indeed the divine Son of God by writing \u201cBen-Hur.\u201d Wallace left his personal testimony as follows: \u201cAfter six years given to the impartial investigation of Christianity as to its truth or falsity, I have come to the deliberate conclusion that Christ Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews, the Savior of the world, and my personal Savior.\u201d<\/p>\n
(\u201cChoice Illus.\u201d W.W. Clay, pg. 33-34)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Atheist Col. Ingersol talked to Gen. Lew Wallace about making a movie about Christ that would strip away the divine myths and portray him as a man. Wallace researched the idea and became a believer. He then wrote the book “Ben Hur” which was later made into an Academy Award-winning movie. [version from Janbonus.doc, DYNAMIC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[58,59,57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}