Daniel Goldberg was having a rough go at life. Really rough.
He looked like a man who had never experienced a problem. At least, not one he couldn’t conquer. But that was only the exterior.
Despite being an award-winning commercial real estate banker, Daniel’s ambition and drive never seemed to answer those deep interior questions of “Who am I?” and “Where am I going?” He had fought drug addiction much of his life, and he lost his marriage in divorce all while trying to keep it together on the outside. He lived for worldly success and recognition— which he earned—but things were not working for him. Daniel’s life was coming apart at the seams. He was a shell of a man. Raised a Jew but calling himself an atheist, Dan knew that he was a lost soul, one who really needed a miracle—if miracles even existed...
That miracle arrived through The Passion of the Christ.
Dan and his fiancee, Marsha Witt, were interviewed for the TV special “Changed Lives: Miracles of the Passion” at his home
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in West Palm Beach, Florida. There they gave us a very personal behind-the-scenes story of how that miracle happened.
Tell us about the Dan Goldberg we might have met two years ago.
With a shake of his head and a wry smile that tells a story in itself, Dan leaned back in the thick sofa with Marsha seated next to him, and began his tale.
Dan Goldberg was a very lost soul two years ago, someone who had just gotten divorced and was trying to regain his identity. Right after the dissolution of my marriage, I spent a lot of time just trying to figure things out. I was very confused. I began to write as much as I could on paper; trying to find myself.
I thought I was being a very spiritual person, but I think I was merely philosophizing my own thoughts on what had gone wrong in my life. I didn’t know who I was. I was just kind of lost.
How were you lost?
I had no foundation of faith. When I was a young kid, I was an atheist. My family was.. .we were Jewish, but we were very reformed. We really didn’t have any structured beliefs. Holidays were mereiy getting together with family; we would have eaten bacon on Hanukkah!
Throughout my teenage years, I was a drug addict. I did horrible things to my body.
As Dan continues, he shows us some photos of himself growing up. There we see a teenage boy, like anybody’s kid, with long hair and wide smiles; one great disguise that probably had a lot of people fooled as to the pain that was going on inside.
How did you navigate through that period of your life?
I knew what I had to do to get through each day. I did drugs. That helped. I went to school, came home, and did some more drugs. I went through drug rehabilitation centers.Two of them, It wasn't easy.
Sometimes I ask myself that same question: “How did I get here?”
What was the beginning of the process that brought you to the place you are in today?
I think a lot of it had to do with meeting Marsha.
Marsha, a pretty woman with eyes that light up the room, nuzzles against Dan’s shoulder. There’s no question that these two are in love. But the man she’s in love with today is very different from the man she met two years ago.
We worked at the same bank; we were friends. Dan was so much fun to
be around; he made work a different experience. When the bank we worked at together was closed down, we still kept in touch. When we met up again at a friend’s barbeque, he asked me out for dinner; coffee, and then the relationship grew from there. It was like an instant connection, instant friends.
The way she was living her life was so attractive to me. It was something I didn't have. Marsha was brought up in a great home, and she is a wonderfully spiritual person. She has this free spirit-type of personality, and inside I felt so trapped.There was a dimension of what she had that I was so intrigued by and so wanted to be a part of. I just needed to learn more about it. I’m so grateful I did.
How did you learn more?
Just by going to church, being around her, knowing what kind of background she had, being around such wonderful unconditional love. Just such a closeness and forgiveness of people. And I thought, Man, this is totally for me. Surrounding myself with her and her faith helped me to understand some of the things that happened in my life and why I was able to get through them.
Being with Marsha made me want answers to the questions I had. I wanted more; I wanted to understand what this spiritual thing was. You see, I had no idea,
It’s said that “opposites attract.. .but they usually don’t stay together very long.” Would Marsha want to stay with a man
who at heart was a lost soul? Could Dan truly embrace a relationship with a woman who was so very different from him— someone who truly knew who she was when he didn’t know who he was?
The answer would grow from an experience with a God Dan didn’t even believe in, but soon would meet, up close and personal.
When The Passion of the Christ came out, Marsha’s church, where she now works, went to see it.The pastor actually rented the entire movie theater so that all of the staff in the church could view it in the morning. Unfortunately, I was working, so I couldn’t go see it.
So, Marsha, you had the chance to see the movie first without Dan. What was it like for you?
Marsha’s usually bright, expressive face turned solemn as she recalled the experience.
I have always read in the Bible how the Lord died, but I was not prepared for what I saw on the screen. In the Bible it says about the crucifixion that Jesus was bloodied and disfigured. However until I saw it as it was on the screen, my mind had never fully grasped it.
After seeing The Passion, I was broken... so broken inside. I wanted to find the joy in Jesus' death because He
died for me. Yet watching His death portrayed in the theater; all I could think about was how horrible it was. It was really, really hard for me.
Later I said to Dan, “You know, you're going to have to prepare yourself for what you are going to see.”
Wanting to go to the film, Dan wasted no time and went to a screening the following night. There is no way he could have known what was waiting for him.
The movie affected me beyond comprehension. Here I was, this guy who came from being an atheist, being a drug addict, being unstructured, not being able to say the word “Jesus Christ” two years ago, being somebody who was so incredibly lost, sitting in a movie theater and finding Jesus Christ.
All my life I’ve treated myself horribly and treated other people horribly. I took drugs, skipped school, and refused to believe that
there even was a God.
And then, there on the screen, before my eyes is this Jesus Christ, being beaten beyond recognition and yet having the love in His heart to forgive those who were crucifying Him by saying, “Forgive them; they know not what they do.”
I cried like a baby.
Behind his glasses Dan’s eyes were clear and resolute. He leaned forward as he recalled the turning point for him in the film.
Then came the part in the movie where Jesus’ mom was remembering a moment when Jesus was a little boy. As a child,
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He had fallen down and she ran to pick him up. Now, as Jesus carries the cross, He falls again. She runs to Him and kneels beside him.
Jesus puts His hand on her face and speaks. "I make all things new."
That's what it was for me. Jesus was making all things new for me.
Here was a man who was lost, without identity, without purpose, a failure in marriage, a failure in so much of life, living only for the accolades of other bankers. And here was God speaking directly to him in that theater; saying, "Dan—I can make you a new life! I make all things new!"
Dan Goldberg’s miracle had begun.