I was working on reviewing a book by Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale called “Jesus Among Secular Gods”. I knew Ravi was battling cancer, and this would be a great time to release a review on it for those that have never heard of him. When Ravi passed away on May 19, 2020, my heart sank. I didn’t have the review completed. I then thought it would be a great time to release it shortly after his death, but life found a way of keeping me from finishing the book. When September rolled around, the legacy of Zacharias came under fire by the allegations of three women claiming he performed sexual misconduct on them. My heart sank. This was one of my greatest heroes of Christian apologetics. How could this be? At first I was suspicious. Why would they make these accusations months after Ravi died? But when I learned that they were not doing it for money, attention, or apologies, my fears of Ravi being guilty only grew. I wanted to hold out hope still. But I knew then it was not a great time to release the review.
December 2020 rolled around when RZIM decided to publish an early update suggesting that Ravi likely was guilty of these allegations. This dashed my fading hope into a mere sliver knowing it would take a miracle for Ravi to be innocent of this. Having said that, it was not wise of RZIM to publish this information without the full details. If the investigation was going to be completed in one to two months, they could have waited. It made no sense for RZIM to talk about something when they did not have the full information. Even if Ravi is likely guilty of these accusations, and no matter how strong the evidence is, you should never comment on something until the investigation is fully complete. But now that the investigation is done and over with, and my hope completely empty, I have taken time to reflect.
I struggled with writing my thoughts on Ravi Zacharias because I don’t want to be that person that appears to be cashing in on clicks or attention off of someone’s death or misfortune. I don’t even know how much more I can add since this has already been well documented by many. The reasons I am responding to this is because I have written about some of Zacharias’ work. I have also been on record stating that Ravi is one of my top 3 apologists of this century; Which is something I still stand by. As for finding a great time to release that review, I have realized there is no ‘great’ time. Why would I still do this after what Ravi has done? Well, because this is not just Ravi’s words. He teamed up with Vince Vitale to write this book. Half of these chapters are written by Vince, so it would not be fair to shelf this review because of Ravi’s actions. Also, I am not reviewing a person’s character, I am reviewing the knowledge that Ravi and Vince share.
These allegations are not only confirmed as true, the details are even worse than I could ever possibly imagine, my heart breaks for these women. I cannot imagine the past handful of years seeing these images and scenes that are now scared in their memory. It is so easy for someone to tell them “Why didn’t you report him right away?” But to be honest, I don’t blame them for not sharing this information at the time. Here these women are trying to build experience towards furthering their careers, and the very person that is committing detestable sexual advances on them is their own boss. If they speak up, it could have destroyed their careers and garner unwanted attention. So I get it. It may have not been the right choice to stay silent, but I get it. And yet despite Ravi’s deplorable actions, these women had the class and consideration to not tarnish Ravi’s career while he was still alive.
My heart also breaks for the Zacharias family. I hope they reach out to these women. It would be a great start towards any type of healing. As for Ravi, I felt like he died twice. First his life, and now his legacy. As strange as this sounds though, I am kind of not surprised by this. You see because I am used to people failing me. Whether it be churches, pastors, or Christians, they have all failed me. But here’s the thing… I have also failed others in my life too. We all fail each other to one degree or another. Maybe I just got so sick of people failing me, I wanted to pursue someone who did not fail. I learned pretty quickly in my life that I should not pin my faith on people. I certainly do not want people to pin their faith on me. All the more reason all of us need Jesus.
What is kind of haunting now is the fact that it brings a different perspective to the 2016/2017 controversy in which he was accused of soliciting nude photos from Lori Anne Thompson. While a private settlement was made, the fact there was a pay out with a non disclosure agreement cannot be viewed the same way anymore.
As I reflect on all of this, I realize that this should not challenge a Christian’s faith. Their faith should rest on the character of God; not a fallen man. BUT it does challenge people’s perception of Christianity. Many who condemn the church as ‘full of hypocrites’ as reason for their disbelief is evidence of this thinking. In no way do we diminish the offence and violation, but we should not define a man by his error. The sinful behaviour of man shows that we are powerless to change our fallen nature. Every moment we are to choose God’s grace and die to ourselves daily. Christian leaders and prominent public figures are more accountable for their behaviour because of their influence on so many. When they fail, it has a great negative impact on those seeking validation of the truth of Christianity. But I will say this; While Ravi is held to a higher standard, Christians are held to a standard too. Maybe not as high as Ravi, but they too are to emulate and exhibit the character of Christ. The world is watching Christianity no matter who the person is.
As for RZIM, I have no clue what they will do next. This is a ministry that has been humbled to its knees in embarrassment, regret, and repentance. They will have to figure out how to rebuild trust once again which is never easy. Will they remove Zacharias’ content? Will they rebrand? It does not make much of a difference to me. You can erase Ravi, but you cannot erase the many people that came to Christ through his words.
Going forward, will I do more reviews of Zacharias Books? The quick answer is probably not. But not for the reasons people may think. There are simply so many great authors out there that I never want to focus on too many books on a single author. I always like to do a few, and then move one to the next one. With so many books out there, I can’t review them all. I have to be careful and selective on which ones I choose to review. There is technically one last book that Ravi co-authored once again with Vince called ‘Jesus for You’. While I would not have a problem reviewing it, the topic is not something that really stands out in a way that inspires me to read it. As for his previous works, there may be one or two I would consider exploring, but at this point, likely not.
It is always sad when our heroes fail us. But we must remember there is a far greater hero in a greater story that will never fail us.
