Sam was brought up in a Jewish home in New York City. He grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust and could not reconcile a good God who would allow the Holocaust to happen. His rabbi’s answer did not comfort him, but made him question even more. Serving in Vietnam, Sam saw firsthand the horrors of war and human depravity. Life took him to San Francisco where he met people who said Jesus was Jewish – he decided to go to their Bible study to laugh at them but God had something else in mind.