Ravi Zacharias

Two question I keep asking. Can “bad” people do “good” things? Can “good” people do “bad” things?

Much has been written recently over what has emerged about Ravi Zacharias. Most of it not very gracious. Some downright judgemental.

In fact I turned off one YouTube talk after a few minutes as the guy suggested that Ravi is “now in hell”, quite clearly having not grasped the concept of salvation by grace!

Some month’s after writing this page I am inserting a link to a letter written by Ravi’s wife. An extract reads:-

“He was not perfect. He was a man. As his wife of 48 years, I know this more than anyone else. But his failures were not in this area. He was spectacularly self-disciplined in his conduct, especially where it would reflect poorly on the Lord. He denied himself every single day in order to fulfill his calling and be pleasing to the Lord. He trusted me implicitly and I, him. He loved me completely, even the aspects of my personality that he found frustrating. He was fully committed first to his God, then to me and to his children, and finally to those who looked to him as an example.

Such a man could not be guilty of what is being alleged and there is no evidence at all to support those allegations, not in his personal effects, his financial records, his correspondence, his actions observed by all who knew him over 74 yrs.“

Sadly in society as a whole we have seen a strange new legalism and judgmentalism emerge which flies in the face of the permissive worldview that we had before. From actresses to presidents people are being labelled, cancelled, vilified, even fired from their jobs because of who they are perceived to be.

The world goes one step further since it has no concept of sin and condemns anyone who does not abide by the current politically correct narrative.

Maybe you have experienced it in a small way through social media, being attacked for a viewpoint you have shared or an article by someone else that you thought had merit or mentioning someone who is “beyond the pale”. The hurt that can come from hearing what someone else thinks of you and what they think you believe.

All Christians know that as Paul wrote, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. The sad thing is that, despite knowing that, many Christians still expect their brothers and sisters not to sin, indeed to be perfect! The world goes one step further since it has no concept of sin and condemns anyone who does not abide by the current politically correct narrative.

Personally I feel nothing but sadness toward this amazing apologist who has given the world many great books and video talks. As he indulged his desires in later life he must have lived with an immense sense of failure for his actions and guilt for covering them up. He must have felt intense shame at letting down his wife, family and ministry partners. Intense shame!

As has been pointed out, others must have had an inkling of what he was doing and how he was spending the ministry’s finances. They probably simply could not believe this of such a lovely gentle man, which is certainly how he came across and I suspect is how he gained the favour of young women.

Ironically that gentleness will have come from Christ in him.

Prompted by events I have just finished reading one of Ravi’s books. It has the ironic title of “A Shattered Visage“. I would recommend the book as it is brilliant, but it seems to be virtually out of print and certainly not on Kindle. It seems fitting to let his own words speak.

He writes on page 142, “This is precisely the biblical starting point for moral rectitude: the recognition that the heart of every person is sinful, and that this predicament is spiritual“

page 144, “upholding the moral law as an expression of his love, in response to the love of God, is the sound of the Christian worshipping his maker. The moral law, then, is not seen as an imposition upon him from without; rather, it is a commitment born out of gratitude to the God whose love he has experienced. This relationship, undergirded and motivated by love, in recognition of who God is, forms the foundation of right and wrong.” “His moral behaviour in society is an outworking of the recognition of who God is and of how he stands in God’s sight.”

We should give thanks every moment of the day that God shows himself to us as a God of Love, Mercy and Forgiveness. He is entitled to be whatever He would choose to be – vengeful? sadistic? cruel? heartless? He chooses to be LOVE. We stand FORGIVEN and washed clean by the blood of Christ, and so does Ravi.

I like to think the best of people. I know that bad news travels faster than good. That where there is smoke there may not necessarily be fire. I would like to think that some of what is being said about Ravi is exaggerated.(Please don’t bother emailing or messaging to say that is wrong!)

At the end of the day Ravi’s teaching was not flawed. It, therefore he, helped people in their walk with Jesus. If he spoke and taught TRUTH, that stands. I will still listen to his talks. I will still read his books. His life’s work remains as a resource. His failing underscores that our hope is in Christ not our works.

Alisa Childers gives a great and very gracious staement in this video and worth a listen “When your lifeboat springs a leak“! As she says, the real concern for Ravi is if he went to his deathbed unrepentant for his sins. But Ravi was not her lifeboat. Her lifeboat was Jesus and Truth.

Here’s one very good reflection on what happened, from “Premier Christianity”.

Article “The problem of pedestals” in Premier Christianity

Another good observation on this sad situation

And lastly a very touching piece by Ravi’s son.

If we are in Jesus, we stand FORGIVEN and washed clean by the blood of Christ, and so does Ravi.

Postscript. I’m adding here one comment from a friend on Facebook.

Thanks Malcolm Peirce a really well written and thoughtful piece. What saddens me most is that I hear so few voices that are delving deep into some of the underlying issues that this high profile example of what has happened time and again within the Church raises. To focus on Ravi’s sin, and whether this one man was proud and unrepentant, is to fail to see some really significant lessons I believe that the Church needs to learn. Lessons of responsibility and accountability. To seek to throw away the entire life’s work of someone who contributed much to the lives of many is also to miss the point. From the perspective of someone who spent 30yrs as a single woman serving in various roles within churches of many different flavours, there are certain things I hope and pray that the Church as a whole will do in response to this sad case. I believe it’s long past time for some hard examination into how leaders (esp. high profile ones with big platforms) become unchallengeable and unaccountable. Why does this happen over and over? I also believe a positive response would be for churches to think about how they teach and discuss matters of sex and sexuality. Finally, I believe it’s long past time to take an honest, and quite possibly painful, look at how theologically weak the Church’s understanding of the role of women, and single women in particular, is. I know that many in leadership will say we cracked that nut years ago, but I have a strong hunch that if the large majority of the Church collectively had, then the truly awful events in this case may have been picked up sooner and certainly would not have been able to go on so long unchallenged. To fail to take the opportunity to do some collective, honest soul searching is to risk re-victimizing or blame/shaming the women who now have to live with the consequences of this man’s sin. Or even worse the pattern of sin might repeat itself in other places, damaging more lives.