DOCSLIB.ORG

Justthinking

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Justthinking VOLUME 24.3 I WWW.RZIM.ORG THE MAGAZINE OF RAVI ZACHARIAS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES JUST THINKING + MUST THE MORAL LAW HAVE A LAWGIVER? PAGE 02 LONGING TO COMFORT PAGE 22 NO MATTER THE COST PAGE 26 BY HIS HAND PAGE 30 Just Thinking is a teaching resource of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and exists to engender thoughtful engagement with apologetics, Scripture, and the whole of life. Danielle DuRant Editor Ravi Zacharias International Ministries 4725 Peachtree Corners Circle Suite 250 Norcross, Georgia 30092 770.449.6766 WWW.RZIM.ORG HELPING THE THINKER BELIEVE. HELPING THE BELIEVER THINK. TABLE of CONTENTS VOLUME 24.3 22 Longing To Comfort A painful situation with her young daughter causes Naomi Zacharias to look at her relationship with God in a new light—revealing how we often relegate God to the sidelines when grief or anger arises. 02 Must the Moral Law Have a Lawgiver? John Njoroge carefully examines the arguments made by atheists that we don’t need God to understand morality and offers several reasons why their conclusions are unsustainable. 26 No Matter the Cost Andy Bannister considers the troubling reality that many people, including Christians, lack conviction because they have no absolute sense of right and wrong. 36 One Question 30 As one who has stood before By His Hand various audiences around the “Without knowledge of self there world facing hard questions is no knowledge of God,” wrote for over four decades now, John Calvin. Danielle DuRant Ravi Zacharias can almost observes how the gospel offers predict one question he will the most plausible and hopeful get in nearly every setting, understanding of who we are whether in a public forum and why we are here. or private conversation. Must the Moral Law Have a Lawgiver? By John Njoroge Atheists don’t believe we need God to understand what is right and wrong. Yet, Christians point to a moral law that is written on our hearts by God, and our conscience testifies either for us or against us with regard to morality. [2] JUST THINKING • RAVI ZACHARIAS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES efore I respond directly to the entirety of one’s being, including the question raised in the title of mind—a major part of the Greatest this article, let me say a word Commandment (Matthew 22:37-8)—is Babout what I take to be the not only commanded in the Scriptures, place of arguments for God’s but it is also integral to spiritual growth. existence. To the person who has walked Moreover, it is true that a rational pres- with God for any length of time and who entation of the gospel routinely serves as has experienced firsthand the reality of the catalyst that propels many to faith in God’s work in his or her life, offering God. For some people, the way to their arguments for God’s existence can feel as heart is through their mind. And when awkward as planning a surprise birthday the will is right—when what we want is to party for Auntie Jenny in her presence. I submit to a reality not of our own mak- suppose most people do not believe in ing—we find that God has really put us in God as the end result of logically airtight a world fraught with clues of his holy pur- conclusions built upon indisputable suit. Among other things, we are rational premises; they are first confronted with beings, and it stands to reason that our their own sinfulness and the need to be minds, properly chastened, should not be reconciled with a Holy God as encapsu- at war with the truth, wherever it may be lated in the gospel message and then found. To quote the legendary scientist build a rational case for their newfound Galileo, faith as questions, and sometimes doubts, arise.1 We should be careful not to over- I do not feel obliged to believe that emphasize the intellect at the expense of the same God who has endowed us the will. Just like any other good thing our with senses, reason and intellect has Lord has freely given to us, we can use intended us to forego their use and reason to conceal our flight from Him. by some other means to give us When it comes to making a decision knowledge which we can attain either for or against God, the defining by them.2 issue is the deceptively simple question Jesus asked the disciples of John the So, what do our senses, reason, and Baptist who expressed interest in follow- intellect tell us regarding the existence of ing Jesus, “What do you want?” (John God? There are many different strands of 1:38). Doubt and skepticism are valid pos- evidence available to us in answer to this tures as long as they are motivated by the question. We could, for example, consider search for truth rather than a repudiation the origin and complexity of the universe, of it.What we want to be the case can the presence of information in the DNA, keep us from accepting what is in fact the the origin of life and consciousness, bibli- case, in spite of the amount of evidence at cal history, including the resurrection of our disposal. Elsewhere, Jesus puts it this Jesus, and our immediate experience of way, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God. In this article, I will concentrate on God will find out whether my teaching the moral nature of our universe, which I comes from God or whether I speak on take to be one of the peskiest pointers to my own” (John 7:17, emphasis added). God for anyone who is intent on turning Nevertheless, there is indeed a his or her back on Him. place for taking a step back to consider In what follows, I will offer some the nature of the rational evidence that of the reasons why I believe we cannot may be marshaled in defense of our faith. make adequate sense of our experience of The process of loving God with the morality without God. My goal is not to JUST THINKING • VOLUME 24.3 [3] focus on the moral argument as a whole you must affirm a moral law on but on the obligatory or normative aspect the basis of which to differentiate of the moral law that I will argue cries out between good and evil. But when for a moral lawgiver. As the philosopher you admit to a moral law, you must Immanuel Kant noted several centuries posit a moral lawgiver.3 ago, morality is largely constituted by cat- egorical imperatives: nonnegotiable rules of Now, anyone who may be unfamil- behavior to which every human being iar with the academic literature on the must conform. I will argue that such a source of our moral intuitions might be demand makes sense only if there exists a surprised to learn that most philosophers moral lawgiver who made us as moral who teach ethics, including atheists, agents capable of apprehending an objec- accept almost each one of the claims tive moral standard external to us and Ravi makes in the above quote. In popu- applying it to ourselves. We exist in a lar culture (and in a few academic circles world that comes packaged with a moral as well), there are various attempts to law that we did not invent. We discover it explain morality in terms of evolution, and once we do, we find that we are bound social contracts, relativism, etc.4 Much of by it. This is, indeed, our Father’s world! the interaction on moral issues tends to take place at that level in popular circles. THE MORAL ARGUMENT And because there exists a gap between Like hundreds of other young men and the academy and the so-called masses women I have met in my travels around (and we are all members of the “masses” the globe, my first foray into system- outside our professional or academic atized philosophical thinking as it applies disciplines), addressing these topics in to Christian apologetics was occasioned the manner in which the masses grapple by a “chance” encounter with the spell- with them is vitally important. But binding lectures and messages of Ravi academic ethicists realize that morality Zacharias, especially his 1992 Veritas is too central and binding a reality in Forum lectures at Harvard University human experience to be relegated either that eventually found their way into his to individual or collective human will, provocatively titled book Can Man Live desires, or beliefs. Nor can it be Without God. I was barely out of my adequately understood on the basis teenage years, and I had traveled to the of social contracts or evolution. US to study medicine. But God used That morality is objective, binding, Ravi’s messages to lead me on a different and inevitable is most evident to us when path as I came to terms with the infinite we are either the victims of injustice or value of God’s Word, properly communi- when our sympathies for the helpless are cated. The rest, as they say, is history. awakened. Everything within us cries out One of the points Ravi emphasized against such experiences. A number of in his lectures, one that I found to be years ago, I read a story about a woman quite persuasive, was the fact that there is who had given birth through C-section in a very compelling link between morality a certain country. In the process of the and God. Here is a succinct summary of delivery, something went horribly wrong.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Tracing Kairos: the Modern Applicability of St. Augustine Kelly D
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 Tracing Kairos: The Modern Applicability of St. Augustine Kelly D. Israel Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES TRACING KAIROS: THE MODERN APPLICABILITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE By KELLY D. ISRAEL A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008 Copyright © 2008 Kelly D. Israel All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Kelly D. Israel, defended on April 16, 2008. _____________________ Kristie S. Fleckenstein Professor Directing Thesis ____________________ Elaine Treharne Committee Member ____________________ Kathleen Blake Yancey Committee Member Approved: ____________________ R.M. Berry, Chair, English Department The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract v 1. AN IMPOSSIBLE APPLICABILITY 6 2. A RHETORICAL SITUATION ACROSS TIME 14 The Modern Rhetorical Situation 14 A Redefinition 19 Synthesizing the Modern and Medieval: A Rhetorical Situation for All Times 26 Framework of Analysis 27 3. THE RHETORICAL SITUATION OF ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 28 On Christian Doctrine 28 Exigence 30 Audience 33 Constraints 39 Rhetor 40 Ethics 43 Conclusion 45 4. THE RHETORICAL SITUATION OF JESUS AMONG OTHER GODS 46 Jesus Among Other Gods 48 Exigence 49 Audience 51 Constraints 53 Rhetor 55 iii Ethics 55 Conclusion 59 5. DETERMINING AN IMPOSSIBLE APPLICABILITY 60 Exigences 60 Audiences 62 Constraints 63 Rhetors 65 Ethics 65 Conclusions 66 WORKS CITED 68 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 71 iv ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to test the applicability of ancient texts to contemporary concerns.
    [Show full text]
  • Ravi Zacharias Interview.Indd
    KNOWING & DOING A Teaching Quarterly for Discipleship of Heart and Mind This article originally appeared in the Summer 2002 issue of Knowing & Doing. C.S. LEWIS INSTITUTE A Conversation with: RAVI ZACHARIAS Reprinted by permission from Decision magazine, March 2002 RECENT EVENTS HAVE FOCUSED A GREAT DEAL OF to raise the dead, a power they do not attribute to ATTENTION ON WORLD RELIGIONS. HOW DO ADHERENTS Mohammed, so that’s a conflicting response. OF OTHER RELIGIONS VIEW CHRISTIANITY? As a Christian apologist, I present a defense of the Christian faith in various settings around the Every culture is basically an expression of its world- globe. I have found that if you build a proper foun- view and its religion. Theologian Paul Tillich said, dation for what the Christian faith is all about, as “Religion is the substance of culture, culture is the you lead up to the cross, the listeners sit in stunned form of religion.”1 In most countries religion has silence. They immediately recognize that Christian- worked itself into the fabric of the culture. There- ity stands in stark contrast to everything that other fore, when people view Christianity, it is inescap- worldviews affirm and assert. They know that true able that they will view it within the framework of power is being expressed in the cross—restraint, their historical experience. mercy, forgiveness—all when the very One who is In India, for example, many people find it impos- offering those things had the capacity to counter sible to separate Christianity from the days of the instead with force and with domination.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Book the Real Face of Atheism Kindle
    THE REAL FACE OF ATHEISM PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ravi Zacharias | 185 pages | 09 Sep 2004 | Baker Publishing Group | 9780801065118 | English | Ada, MI, United States The Real Face of Atheism PDF Book How does this influence my existence? They discuss the nature of argument and worldview. Zacharia practically states that when there is no objective morality or Moral Law , we mess everything up because we are not able to grasp what is right or wrong without a God telling us what is right or wrong. Average rating 4. Paperback , pages. Shelves: philosophy , christian , apologetics. It falls flat for several reasons not least of which is Euthyphro's dilemma. Living Without God. You would do yourself and your friends a favor by reading this book and passing one on to them. He confidently refutes Harris's claims that God is nothing more than a figment of one's imagination and that Christians regularly practice intolerance and hatred around the globe. Why are we presented with the curious choice between either committing to peculiar concepts about immaterial deities or letting go entirely of a host of consoling, subtle and effective rituals and practices for which there is no equivalent in secular society? In much of the Muslim world, religion is the central foundation upon which family, community, morality, and identity are built. A Reasonable God. In America, and elsewhere, a vigorous dispute between 'intelligent design' and Darwinism is seriously undermining and restricting the teaching of science. If you had infinite knowledge, then you would be the very god that you are saying does not exist.
    [Show full text]
  • Just Thinking
    VOLUME 20.3 I WWW.RZIM.ORG JTHUE MAGS AZINET OF RATVI ZAHCHARIIASN INTERNKATIONIALN MINISG TRIES The Heart of Ap olog etics PAGE 14 + ENGAGING THE HAPPY THINKING PAGAN PAGE 2 IS RELIGION A CRUTCH? PAGE 10 Just Thinking is a teaching resource of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and exists to engender thoughtful engagement with apologetics, Scripture, and the whole of life. Danielle DuRant Editor Ravi Zacharias International Ministries 4725 Peachtree Corners Circle Suite 250 Norcross, Georgia 30092 770.449.6766 WWW.RZIM.ORG HELPING THE THINKER BELIEVE. HELPING THE BELIEVER THINK. TABLE of CONTENTS VOLUME 20.3 2 Engaging the Happy 14 The Heart of Apologetics Thinking Pagan As Alister McGrath points out in his What does it mean when people book Mere Apologetics , apologetics are content with life without is not a set of techniques for winning bothering about the question of God? people to Christ or a set of argumen - Recently Ravi Zacharias sat down tative templates designed to win with Danielle DuRant to discuss the debates. Rather, it is a willingness idea of the “happy thinking pagan.” to work with God in helping people discover and turn to his glory. We are to “follow Him” by casting our 10 Is Religion a Crutch? nets out to everyone and pointing Believers are often caricatured as them to the greater reality of God being weak and naïve—the kind and the risen Christ. of people who need their faith as a crutch just to get them through life. But as Simon Wenham notes, the 26 Think Again truth of the matter is that Jesus never offered a crutch, only a cross.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 in the UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT for the NORTHERN DISTRICT of GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION COMPLAINT Plaintiffs Derek Carrier A
    Case 1:21-cv-03161-TWT Document 1 Filed 08/04/21 Page 1 of 30 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA ATLANTA DIVISION DEREK CARRIER and DORA Case No.: CARRIER, individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated; CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT Plaintiffs, DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL vs. RAVI ZACHARIAS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES, INC., a 501(c)(3) Corporation; RZIM PRODUCTIONS, INC., a Georgia Non-Profit Corporation; MARGARET ZACHARIAS, in her Capacity as ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF RAVI KUMAR ZACHARIAS, Defendants. COMPLAINT Plaintiffs Derek Carrier and Dora Carrier (“Plaintiffs”), on their own behalf and on behalf of all others similarly situated (“Class Members”), bring this class action against Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Inc., RZIM Productions, Inc. (together, “RZIM”), and Margaret Zacharias, in her capacity as the Administrator of the Estate of Ravi Kumar Zacharias (“Estate”) (collectively 1 Case 1:21-cv-03161-TWT Document 1 Filed 08/04/21 Page 2 of 30 “Defendants”) and complain and allege the following upon personal knowledge as to their own experiences, and based upon on information and belief as to other matters: INTRODUCTION 1. This is a class action lawsuit brought against Defendants by Plaintiffs on behalf of themselves and similarly situated donors and consumers who donated funds to Defendants to support Defendants’ Christian apologetic ministry, outreach, training, and other programming. 2. Since at least 2004, RZIM, led by Zacharias, has deceived faithful Christians, soliciting their financial support for its purported mission of Christian evangelism, apologetic defense of Christianity, and humanitarian efforts. Defendants bilked tens—if not hundreds—of millions of dollars from well- meaning donors who believed RZIM and Zacharias to be faith-filled Christian leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • The End of Reason Copyright © 2008 by Ravi Zacharias Requests for Information Should Be Addressed To: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
    The End of Reason Copyright © 2008 by Ravi Zacharias Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zacharias, Ravi K. The end of reason : a response to the new atheists / Ravi Zacharias. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-310-28251-8 (hardcover) 1. Apologetics. 2. Chris tian ity and atheism. I. Title. BT1103. Z34 2008 239'.7 — dc22 2007039358 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Internet addresses printed in this book are offered as a resource to you. These are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of Zondervan, nor do we vouch for the content of these sites for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — elec- tronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth and Asso- ciates, Inc. Interior design by Beth Shagene Printed in the United States of America 08 09 10 11 12 13 • 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0310282519_endreason_hc.indd 4 1/31/08 1:31:29 PM CONTENTS Foreword / 7 Prologue / 13 The End of Reason / 21 Notes / 129 Subject Index / 137 0310282519_endreason_hc.indd 5 1/31/08 1:31:29 PM FOREWORD hortly after Sam Harris published his first poi- Sson pen letter against religion, The End of Faith, I invited him to debate a Chris tian on my televi- sion show.
    [Show full text]
  • The Existence of God in an Age of Reason Page 1 of 6 © 2011 by Craig B
    Christian Apologetics Study Series: Lesson #2 (Student key) Additional Notes The Existence of God In an Age of Reason by Craig B. Esvelt, D.Min Introduction: North America, once considered Christian not only by itself but by other nations around the world, can no longer make that claim. So far "It is extremely dangerous in the presence have we moved from our Judeo-Christian moorings that in the 1960's a of God to discuss His existence." - Soren number of philosophers and liberal theologians popularized a "God is dead" Kierkegaard movement, the culmination of a spiritual repression which found impetus a century earlier in the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, who provided atheism with a philosophical basis, and Charles Darwin, who offered a scientific rationale. Today atheism is implicitly taught throughout our public school systems because public education, in its attempt at being pluralistically "neutral" (an impossible task!), ignores God altogether. So God has become "dead" to most recent generations, not through atheistic propaganda but because of a perceived irrelevance to all academic disciplines--a vanishing character like the fading smile of Alice In Wonderland's Cheshire cat. Added to that has been a more aggressive and vindictive expression of atheism in recent years, in part, a backlash of the 911 terrorist attacks where religion in general and Christianity in particular were tarred along with religious extremism and held up as an oppressive threat to human welfare and social progress. How can a believer respond to such an assault on faith? The Human Dilemma Before proceeding further, it would be wise to note some biblical presuppositions that have a bearing on understanding why there is so much controversy over the issue of belief in God.
    [Show full text]
  • {Download PDF} the End of Reason a Response To
    THE END OF REASON A RESPONSE TO THE NEW ATHEISTS 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ravi K Zacharias | 9780310282518 | | | | | The End of Reason A Response to the New Atheists 1st edition PDF Book And so on. His argument is this: something came from nothing - therefore there is "a non-physical entity that explains its own existence and is uncaused", that something shows intelligence! Zacharias, a former atheist, found Christ when he was confined to a hospital bed after a botched suicide attempt. About Ravi Zacharias. Lion Books: London. Their arguments are not new. The main divisions within the contemporary atheist movement, however, are based around wider political themes. Ravi Z. Search Article Search Search. Zacharias presents a study of the Christ of scripture, prophecy and the inherent morality of the Ten Commandments. Unabridged MP3 CD. Nearly everything else was riddled with logical fallacies that could be spotted by anyone who stayed awake through Philosophy For the quartet, God may not be real, and all religions may be lies, but somehow, someway, the Protestantism of their youths is still a bit truer than all the other religions. Hook S The new failure of nerve. He was founder and chairman of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries www. Ravi K. On-going debates around these issues raise wider questions about the general direction of the atheist movement, with many arguing that it cannot be fully effective and achieve its political ambitions without first becoming a more inclusive and welcoming place. It is clearly possible to say that someone like Hitler was wrong in moral terms without reference to scripture" Letter Zacharias constantly berates Harris for "appealing to [the readers] emotions", an irrelevant facet of Harris's methods, even though almost every single one of his own arguments rely on boring parables and personal experiences that do exactly that! Suitability of environment.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Made God?: and Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions Of
    WHO MADE GOD? Also by Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler Is Your Church Ready? Motivating Leaders to Live an Apologetic Life ZONDERVAN Who Made God? Copyright © 2003 by Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan. ePub Edition JULY 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-31530-8 Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Who made God? : and answers to over 100 other tough questions of faith / Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler, general editors.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Apologetics. 2. Christianity—Miscellanea. I. Zacharias, Ravi K. II. Geisler, Norman L. BT1103.W48 2003 239—dc21 2003008436 All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Scriptures marked NASB are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.
    [Show full text]
  • Science Destroys the Evolutionary Paradigm
    SCIENCE DESTROYS THE EVOLUTIONARY PARADIGM An Inservice Manual for Young-Earth Creationists Free Images – Snappygoat.com Materialistic Naturalism, an Immoral and Incoherent Philosophy!!! Dr. Jim Pagels – 4/18/2018 1 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:9-11 This book along with its predecessors including Apologetic Resources, Lesson Plans for Biblical Apologetics and Touching Lives through Apologetics, a Counseling Perspective are offered free for personal and professional use in ministry, being available as downloads on the Michigan District website under schools-curriculum. Scriptural references are typically taken from the English Standard Version (ESV) although the King James Version (KJV) is also periodically utilized. 2 Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..…….5 Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………...6 Intended Audience ……………………………………………………………………………....8 Inservice Perspective……….…………………………………………………………….……..9 Inservice Questionnaire……………………………………………………………..…………10 1. Evolution, an Attack on the Supernatural Nature of God…………………………………..21 2. In Search of Truth…………………………………………………………………………..23 3. Creation Apologetics, Simple for Some, Incomprehensible to Others………..……..…….35 4. Two Typical Approaches to Young Earth Creationism……………………………………38 5. The Absolute Veracity of the Supernatural…………………….…………………………..40 6. A Tactical Approach to Creationism………………………….………………………..…..43 7.
    [Show full text]
  • Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias Was Once Brought to a Curious Building
    Foundations. Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias was once brought to a curious building. It was specifically built to show the view of postmodernism where there is no real objective truth. You had staircases that ended without reaching a floor, doors that opened into a wall, and pillars that went from the floor to the ceiling or vice­versa without touching the other side. When asked what he thought about this layout, Ravi responded with “I wonder if the builder used the same technique on the foundation.” Indeed, one wouldn’t. The foundation is everything. If you do not have a solid foundation to your house, your house will not last. In the same way, what is the foundation for your faith? Is it an experience? Is it a feeling? Or is it that you believe firmly that Jesus rose from the dead? The foundation determines how strong the building of your faith is. in the bible. Matthew 7:24­27 These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae Ravi K. Zacharias Ordination
    CURRICULUM VITAE RAVI K. ZACHARIAS ORDINATION Ordained by The Christian and Missionary Alliance, 1980 Licensed as a National Evangelist by The Christian and Missionary Alliance in the United States, 1977-present Licensed by The Christian and Missionary Alliance of Canada, 1972-77 Founded RZIM in 1984 RAVI ZACHARIAS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES Founded RZIM in 1984 As of 2020, RZIM has 16 legal entities globally including offices in the US, Canada, Peru, the United Kingdom, Romania, Turkey, South Africa, Singapore, and India. RZIM is comprised of a global team of more than 250 employees, including nearly 100 itinerant speakers. Let My People Think, a weekly radio program, airs on over 2,000 outlets in 32 countries. A Spanish-language version entitled Pensemos airs on over 200 outlets in 25 countries. Just Thinking, a weekday 15-minute radio program, airs on over 1250 outlets in 20 countries. Just a Thought, a one-minute radio program, airs on over 500 outlets in 7 countries. Let My People Think, a TV program, is broadcast on 31 stations in Canada and Belize, with global coverage into Africa, China, and Europe. A version of this program airs in India. The Zacharias Institute—an apologetics training center in the US with a global reach—launched in 2017. Wellspring International—RZIM’s humanitarian arm, established in 2004— identifies and provides financial grants and accountability to existing organizations aiding women and children at risk and provides individual scholarships to support education, healthcare, and basic living needs. In 2019, Wellspring International assisted over 8,500 individuals through grants to 14 organizations across 11 countries for those affected by human trafficking, natural disaster, and poverty.
    [Show full text]