From Orthodoxy
to Evidence

Dr. David Shapiro was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home in New York—Hebrew school, synagogue on Shabbat, and a bar mitzvah marking his passage into manhood. But even as a child, David Shapiro felt disconnected. He did everything right, said the right prayers, followed the right customs—but couldn’t feel God. While others seemed full of reverence and faith, David wrestled with confusion and frustration.

Severe dyslexia made Hebrew and English equally difficult. Reading Scripture was exhausting. Science classes, however, offered structure and answers. Slowly, belief drained out of him. “Maybe there is no God,” he thought. The intellectual clarity of science, mixed with disappointment at religion, hardened into atheism.

He sought meaning through adrenaline. Military life, professional fighting, skydiving—if it made his heart race, he did it. The pain of his father’s abuse left deep scars, so he covered them—literally—with tattoos. “I didn’t want to see who I was,” he says. By the time his body was nearly covered, he had mastered the art of hiding in plain sight.

Then everything changed.

The Moment Everything Turned

His mother, a devout Jewish woman who had battled aggressive cancer for ten years, suddenly accepted Jesus as Lord just a week before she died. “Doctors had said she could pass any day for a decade,” David remembers. “Why accept Jesus then?”

A year later, his brother came to faith as well. David thought his family had lost their minds. Yet one morning, without warning, he woke up and told his wife, “I think I want to go to church.”

He wasn’t sure why.

He sat in the very back, avoiding everyone’s eyes, tattoos hidden under sleeves. He’d come to listen, not to belong. The sermon that day was about a heavenly Father who loves His children—a Father unlike any earthly one.

“I don’t cry,” he says, “but that message broke me.”

After service, a pastor handed him a Bible. “It was the first Bible I ever held,” David says. He took a week off work, opened it, and read straight through. Then again. And again. Three times in the first month. “I knew the Old Testament,” he says, “but when I read the New Testament, it completed the story.”

That week began a transformation that would reach across years, professions, and continents.

Learning to Read All Over Again

Dyslexia had haunted him since childhood. Yet, when he opened the Scriptures, comprehension flowed where it never had before. “It wasn’t that I could suddenly read better,” he says. “It was that I could understand what I read.”

He enrolled in college for Biblical Studies, then earned a master’s in Biblical Archaeology, and finally a doctorate in Religious Education. “That’s a God thing,” he laughs. “There’s no other explanation.” Today, Dr. Shapiro pastors, teaches, and co-hosts the The Boundless Bible podcast. The show began in his men’s Bible study—three very different minds with one goal: to explore the Word. One co-host walks with simple, childlike faith. Another is a Mensa-level thinker who sees deep symbolism in every verse. David brings grit, Jewish heritage, and a fighter’s directness.

Their on-air chemistry is raw and real. “We mess up. We correct each other. We laugh. We’re not trying to sound polished,” he says. “We take God seriously—but not ourselves.”

Science, Faith, and the Fight For Truth

Before his conversion, David had been the atheist who loved to debate believers. He listened to thinkers like John Lennox, Abdu Murray, and William Lane Craig—but only to find ammunition. After meeting Christ, he went back to those same debates and realized something: faith and reason weren’t enemies at all.

“Science is real,” he says. “But now I read discoveries and think, God said it first.” It fueled his passion for apologetics—the defense of the faith. But he learned something that reshaped his approach. “When someone says, ‘Why would God allow this?’ they’re not looking for a debate. They’re hurting. What they really need is compassion.”

The Roots That Deepen the Faith

Early on, David tried to leave his Jewish background behind. He thought Christianity replaced it. Now, he sees how intertwined the two are.

“In Hebrew, prayer is movement,” he explains. “When people pray at the Western Wall, that rocking motion is called shuckling. Prayer isn’t just words—it’s action. You pray, then you move with God.” Even familiar words hold layers. Shalom doesn’t just mean peace; it means wholeness and restoration. The feasts of Israel aren’t arbitrary—they tell a story of redemption pointing to Christ. “It doesn’t weaken Christianity,” David says. “It deepens it.”

He warns, however, against confusing God’s Word with human interpretation. “Some teachings come from the sages, not the Bible. They’re interesting, but they’re commentary—not Scripture. That’s why context is everything.”

David reached out to universities in Jerusalem and even the Israeli Antiquities Authority with his questions about archaeology and translation. “They were incredibly gracious,” he says. “You’d be amazed how many experts will answer if you just ask.”

Seeing the Fall—and Freedom—Through New Eyes

David loves exploring how ancient Jewish thought illuminates familiar Christian passages. “Some Jewish sages taught that Adam and Eve ate the fruit on purpose, believing they were fulfilling a divine mission to enter a fallen world,” he explains. “That’s not in the Bible—it’s interpretation—but it shows how different perspectives can be.”

Even the serpent wasn’t imagined as a garden snake. “In older writings, it’s described as an angelic being—massive, winged, almost human in form. That changes how you understand temptation.”

But through it all, he stresses discernment. “Interpretation can be useful,” he says. “Just know when you’re hearing God’s Word and when you’re hearing man’s idea about it.”

Discovering Jesus in Isaiah 53

The chapter that shattered his old worldview was Isaiah 53—the “suffering servant” prophecy. “I’d never heard it read growing up,” he says. “I didn’t reject Jesus; I just didn’t know He was there.” When he finally read it, the words hit like revelation: “He was pierced for our transgressions… by His wounds we are healed.”

Then he learned that the Great Isaiah Scroll found among the Dead Sea Scrolls preserved that very passage. “That sealed it for me,” he says. “Jesus wasn’t Plan B. He was always the plan.”

Suffering and the Strength That Follows

Years in the ring taught him that the hardest part of fighting isn’t the fight—it’s the training. “That’s life,” he says. “You take hits, you get bruised, and it prepares you for the next round.” He believes some pain is meant for personal growth—and some for someone else’s healing later. “We don’t like that answer,” he admits, “but it’s true.”

When he prays, it’s not to change God’s mind but to let God change his own. “I ask, ‘How can I use this? How can I honor God through what I’ve suffered?’ That’s when the pain starts to make sense.”

The Firefighter’s Chaplain

Dr. Shapiro also serves as a chaplain for a local fire department—not for victims, but for the firefighters themselves. “People think the crisis ends when the fire’s out,” he says. “It doesn’t. They replay it again and again, wondering what they could’ve done differently.”

He walks with them through those moments—listening, praying, and simply being there. “They risk their lives for strangers,” he says. “The least I can do is stand with them.”

He’s quick to remind others that the families suffer too. “Their spouses sit at home during a call, terrified. When firefighters come back shaken or quiet, their families carry that weight. They need prayer just as much.”

Sowers, Reapers, and the Freedom to Let Go

Over years of ministry, David has shared the Gospel with countless skeptics. Not once has someone converted in front of him—and he’s fine with that.

“I’ve learned my job is to plant seeds,” he says. “God’s the harvester. It takes the pressure off.”

That same perspective shapes his podcast. “We just put truth out there and trust God with what happens next.”

Two Books, One Mission

David’s first book, Jesus Christ, That’s a Lot of Evidence, releases in early 2026. It’s an apologetics book that weaves logic, archaeology, Jewish tradition, and personal experience into a single narrative. “It’s for people who think faith means shutting off your brain,” he says. “There’s so much evidence.”

His second book, The Pharisee I Didn’t See, follows in October 2026. It challenges believers to recognize how easily we slip into legalism. “When you walk into church and think, ‘I don’t like that worship song,’ you’ve missed the point. It wasn’t written for you,” he says with a grin. “We can become Pharisees without realizing it. The goal isn’t to shame anyone—it’s to see through Christ’s eyes instead of religion’s rules.”

A Word to the Global Church

Recently, David stood before nearly 2,000 Christian brick-kiln laborers living as slaves in a Muslim-majority region. They didn’t share his language, but they understood prayer. “They had nothing,” he says softly, “and yet they just wanted to hear that someone was praying for them.”

If he could tell the entire Church one thing, it would be this:

“God Himself is interceding for you right now. If you feel tired, overwhelmed, or done—He’s praying for your strength today. Tomorrow He’ll pray again. And again. You are not forgotten.”

Walking the Land of the Bible

David hopes to return to Israel soon. “I’ve been to Cairo and seen ancient sites, but I didn’t appreciate them back then,” he says. “Now, knowing what I know, I’d love to go back—to walk the ground, breathe the air, feel the history.”

He encourages every believer to visit if they can. “It’s not just stories. It’s history you can touch. When you see Qumran, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem—it all becomes real.”

For those worried about safety, he offers perspective. “My family lives there. They’ve served in the military. Most pilgrimage sites are heavily protected. As long as you stay with a group and follow your guide, it’s safer than people think.”

Looking Back—and Forward

If you had told David Shapiro years ago that he’d one day be a pastor, a scholar, a podcast host, and an author writing about Jesus, he would’ve laughed you out of the room. But the God who called him out of atheism is still writing the story.

“When I look back, I see how every part of my life connects,” he says. “The military taught me discipline. Fighting taught me endurance. My Jewish roots taught me reverence for the Word. All of it led me here.”

And as for the future? He’s still learning, still reading, still in awe of grace.

Listen & Connect: You can find the Boundless Bible podcast, book updates, and resources at drdavidshapiro.org.

Every story we share is made possible by believers who stand with this mission.