Ravi zacharias who is jesus

Belief in the equal value of every life is a bequest only of the Christian faith. View 1 comment. Oct 20, Lee Harmon rated it liked it. This started out as a five star review! I love Ravi's writing! He's opinionated, intelligent and interesting. He seeds his discussion with fascinating, relevant stories. Ravi challenges the truthfulness of contemporary religion—mostly, what he calls "New Spirituality"—in the early pages of his book, and promises to steer us away from mass marketed shallowness toward the Truth.

Capital T. It's a noble quest. Says Ravi, "I have followed through on my promise to pursue truth and have devoted my lif This started out as a five star review! Says Ravi, "I have followed through on my promise to pursue truth and have devoted my life to the study and understanding of all the major religions and systems of belief in the world.

Yes, Ravi! Can I hear an amen? Instead, Ravi embarks on a page quest to discredit the competition Ravi has a serious thing about Chopra and Oprah, and their feel-good religions; at least a quarter of the book is dedicated to the "deplorable and manipulative" Deepak Chopra. I kept waiting to learn about Jesus.

The best answer I could find is that Ravi likes Jesus-the-person, the man who befriended sinners and played with children on his lap. Jesus "makes reality beautiful. Five stars if you love passionate ridicule and prefer attack to defense. One star if you're hoping to uncover a reason to turn to Jesus. Ravi keeps promising, but never delivers Tell you what—my next review will be a book with an identical title: "Why Jesus? View all 5 comments.

Jan 23, J. Park rated it really liked it Shelves: christian. This is a shortened review. For full review click here. Summary: Dr. Ravi Zacharias writes a searing, incisive work on the New Age movement that has invaded every facet of Western American thinking. Taking to task two well known proponents, Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, there are no minced words as Dr. Ravi utterly upturns many of the preposterous assertions given by nebulous, exploitative, "Oneness" religion endorsed by the two celebrities.

We also find that such strange religion has been endo This is a shortened review. We also find that such strange religion has been endorsed by us, an unwitting generation fooled by foolish claims. Strengths: I was almost taken aback by the force of Dr.

Ravi's barbs against the New Spirituality. Had I not known that Dr. Ravi is one of the world's most compassionate evangelists today, I may have mistaken some of his writing as aggression. But I sense his urgency: he is fighting for the truth, as many of us today live in a blind fog of capitulation to relativism.

Ravi's no-nonsense clarity by itself will knock most readers out of their reverie, quickly exposing how many strange lies we have believed. The opening chapters may take time to settle in since Dr.

Ravi hits the ground running. While at first I sensed almost a "conspiracy theorist" vibe in the way he approaches visual media and celebrity antics, I was soon on board with the many concrete examples Dr. Ravi offers of our deteriorating times. When he begins his attack on relativism is when the book takes off and continues soaring.

It's something we've always known but never confront: that a self-referential starting point for morality leads to inevitable chaos and greed. As always, Dr. Ravi has such a clear-headed voice with a rich vocabulary that at times it will take you several moments to breathe it in. If you're used to reading some of what passes for literature today, particularly "Christian literature," be ready for a serious undertaking. There are not many kind words for Deepak Chopra, a self-proclaimed mystical guru who has combined quantum physics, Christianity, and Hinduism into a hybrid mess of self-help programs.

I suspected no real malice on Dr. Ravi's part here, as he only points out what many others simply will not: that Deepak Chopra is a profit-driven hack. His contradictory ideas, amassed fortune, one-size-fits-all religion, and upside-down ideas about Jesus reveal an opportunist who has unfortunately taken some Christian churches by storm. Just reading excerpts of Chopra's work without any extra explanation was cringe-inducing. For Oprah Winfrey, it appears Dr. Ravi is much kinder.

He presumes that success may have taken Oprah down a fork in the road where she has abandoned Christianity for a safe, believe-all mentality. Oprah is much a product of today's New Spirituality as she has shaped it herself, still using the name of Jesus but perhaps for profitable reasons.

I felt a sincere compassion here for Oprah, as often success is harder to deal with than pain. Ravi makes note of this in one of the best chapters of the book, "The Ties That Bind," in which pleasure and pain reveal our need for something more than chants and chimes and daytime television therapy.

Weaknesses: For a book called Why Jesus? I was hoping for more of him. The last couple chapters, Dr. Ravi makes him the spotlight, but some of this is rushed and pieces feel missing. While the affront on New Age is well done, the exposition of Christ himself is left a bit wanting. There are also times, as with his last book , that Dr. Ravi spins some complex concepts that may lose you fast. I tried my best to read slowly through the more verbose sections, but could only conclude that Dr.

Ravi is a much, much smarter man than I. Bottom Line: This is an excellent work on a subject that must gain more awareness. We live in a time now where values are easily compromised, vulgarities are the new normal, and the weight of relativism makes relationships impossible.

Ravi Zacharias' clear, hard-hitting approach is at times a freight train and other times a precise scalpel, cutting away to the true heart of the matter. We must ask ourselves the tough questions of identity and purpose without numbing ourselves with mantras and oils and safety. I highly recommend it to those who are seeking Truth amidst so many "truths. Recommended to Eric by: Brandon Wolfram. The tone of this book is typical of other works by Ravi Zacharias in that it deals with heavy philosophical and theological concepts using a folksy vernacular.

However, the polemical tone of Why Jesus? Zacharias does a service to the church in pointing out in detail the false teachings and untenable philosophical positions of certain named guru The tone of this book is typical of other works by Ravi Zacharias in that it deals with heavy philosophical and theological concepts using a folksy vernacular. Zacharias does a service to the church in pointing out in detail the false teachings and untenable philosophical positions of certain named gurus of the contemporary popular religious scene, including Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra.

Zacharias does maintain his constant position that the only hope for us individually or as a society is Jesus, as the historically understood son of God, very God himself, the perfect and necessary sacrifice for our sins. As such, Zacharias continues to do service to the church. Apr 23, Laila rated it it was amazing Shelves: read-non-fiction.

From the handful of books that I've had read from this author, I think this is his best work yet. Gold nuggets are everywhere in this book, so read slowly, you'll miss it if you rush the process. I agree with the author's distaste of the attacks on Christianity by the like of atheists, academia, humanists, the new spiritualist figures to advance their respective agenda, yet silence on Islam--intellectual cowardice much, indeed.

While it's commendable for one to seek knowledge and use acquired knowledge to better oneself in the world or whatever one's pursuit in life, I agree with the author's caution that "knowledge without character is deadly. Jun 07, Grace rated it it was amazing. Fantastic book. So many gems. I began this audio book before his death and finished it soon after his home-going.

He has made such an impact for the Kingdom and his books will continue to do so. Dec 12, Ross Blocher rated it it was ok. Ravi Zacharias is an apologist, and as one might expect from the title, he's going to be making a case for why you should believe in Jesus. Christianity is compared here with a number of other religions, religious figures and philosophies, but primarily Deepak Chopra, Oprah he has fun with the rhyming there , Swami Vivekananda, Paramahansa Yogananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Hinduism in general, "The New Spirituality" New Age , and atheism.

Very little time is spent on Buddhism and Islam, and Ju Ravi Zacharias is an apologist, and as one might expect from the title, he's going to be making a case for why you should believe in Jesus. Very little time is spent on Buddhism and Islam, and Judaism and Jainism are only mentioned in passing. A whole host of other religions, from Mormonism on down, are summarily ignored - this is primarily aimed at New Age spirituality, the Hinduism Zacharias was raised with, and of course!

The targets of Zacharias's critiques are distinct from his targeted readers. I cannot help but feel this was written for people who are already Christians, presumably to encourage them not to pursue some of these other paths, or to strengthen their resolve in calling loved ones away from errors of belief. The truth of Christianity is assumed here, and Zacharias does not waste any breath backing up his bold statements of Christian superiority.

Why would I, an atheist, read this book? My sister gave it to me as a gift, and I felt I should spend some time with it and learn more about Ravi Zacharias's arguments in favor of belief. When my sister had first told me about Ravi, I spent some time watching his videos online and reading his Wikipedia article. Zacharias's thinking seems fairly in lockstep with other well-known apologists in the same vein as William Lane Craig, and his major contribution seems to be his I would say fairly arbitrary list of requirements for a sound worldview.

I remember at the time hearing him provide an atheistic quote that he said was written on the walls in the Nazi concentration camps. I looked it up, and that turned out to be a falsehood. More damning, I caught him plagiarizing in this book.

More on that later. First, I'll share some of the things we agree on. Zacharias feels that there is ultimate truth to be discovered, and that people can't just determine their own truths. Religions come built-in with exclusivity claims, and the simple fact of saying that something is true implies that alternate beliefs must therefore be considered false. We share an irritation at vaguely-worded spiritual sayings, such as Chopra's "Quantum healing involves a shift in the fields of energy information, so as to bring about a correction in an idea that has gone wrong.

We also agree that Indian food is the planet's finest cuisine. After that, we depart, and I find many of Zacharias's positions to be double standards when compared with his other beliefs. At one point he mocks an eastern text that was written anonymously yet borrowed the name of a famous yogi.

A short while later he invokes Solomon as the author of Ecclesiastes exactly the same situation being the case there, with scholarly consensus being that Ecclesiastes was written in BCE at the earliest. The same could be said about the anonymous Gospel authors. Ravi rightly lambasts Deepak Chopra's nonsensical use of the word "quantum", citing the authority of real scientists. At the same time, he seems perfectly willing to reject science that counters Christian representations of cosmology or evolution though he doesn't discuss those topics in this book.

Ravi is quick to point out the moral transgressions of other religious leaders, and clearly points to those sins as revealing flaws in their philosophies. When he points out the mistakes of Christian leaders, he is quick to state that they were not following Christianity fully or correctly, and the problem is not with the beliefs themselves.

Zacharias is very quick to ascribe motives to other people. He states that Heath Ledger killed himself because his mind had internalized the character of Joker from Batman. I assume no one would need me to point out how that not only makes no sense in terms of the character, but is incredibly disrespectful to Ledger's memory and any depression he may have struggled with.

Plenty of other actors have killed themselves after NOT playing awful characters, and plenty of actors who have played awful characters have not killed themselves. Gottfried is making a statement about the nature of humor and that it can never come too soon, whereas Ravi is assuming that the power of the camera has corrupted Gottfried's heart.

Ravi's treatment of John Lennon is similarly bizarre and offensive. In another story, Ravi tells the sad story of a church member who came out as homosexual, and whose life fell apart with alcohol and depression.

The passage is dripping with the homophobic implication that it was being gay that "[overtook] his life and [left] it in shambles. In general, Ravi Zacharias seems very unaware of how media works, and seems to suspect some sort of conspiracy at play.

He'll ascribe the voice of a single journalist or director to the whole of entertainment media, as if they speak with a singular voice.

Description of my condition, the provision for my malady. This is the only answer in the world that offers you a savior. The only answer in the world that offers you a savior. They asked me to speak on the search for absolutes in a relativistic culture. And especially in the early hours of the morning, just about before breakfast, to speak to people from so many countries and walk, very cautiously it was a toughie.

You have to take about 16 minutes or so, 15 minutes to talk in terms of general understanding. And the last two to three minutes, bring an answer from the Christian perspective. So I said this to them. I said there are four areas in which you look for absolutes: evil, justice, love and forgiveness.

Evil, justice, love and forgiveness. I said, you talk about evil empires when you get together here, what do you mean by that? You look for just society. What do you mean by justice? You leave your loved ones back home, and you are here and you miss them. They were listening at the edge of their seats. I said, I have just two, three minutes left.

I want to ask you this question: Where in the world that these four converge at a moment in history? Where did evil, justice, love and forgiveness converge at a moment in history?

You know what? Zacharias, I come from an atheistic country. My president commanded that I come here and every day I wake up and I wonder, what am I doing here? Why am I here? I came here to find God and to find Jesus Christ in my life. One more, one more simple illustration — years ago, I had the privilege of being at a gathering in Ramallah, in Jerusalem, talking to one of the four founders of Hamas. I was taken by some friends and he was agitated.

And nor will I tell you his answer. And you and I may never see each other again, not far from where you and I are sitting is a hill.

Sheikh, my comment to you is this: until you and I receive the son that God has provided, we will be offering our own sons and daughters on the battlefields of this world for position, for power and for land and for prestige? He just looked at me, and the Archbishop who was leading the delegation figured it was time to go.

So I was walking away about to go down the stairs and the Archbishop put his arm around me. And we walked out, and since the Archbishop was the guest of honor, the Sheikh was bidding goodbye to him. But suddenly I saw him running towards me and he turned me around — solidly built guy. And with two titanium rods in my back, I figured I was going to be history.

He patted me on my face, kissed me on both sides of my face. I hope I will see you again someday. A lot. Can I simplify it to one statement? And what I want to say to you is this: Forgiveness is so easily spoken of.

You ask a Buddhist or a Hindu: what do you know about forgiveness? I pay my debt. I have to pay. These are not pejorative statements. These are doctrinally legitimate statements of what they believe: you pay; you pay; you pay. Christ offers you forgiveness by paying the penalty himself. And so the elementary school teacher writes this:. Thirdly, his equipment in suffering.

His equipment in suffering. And one of my chapters included how the various other worldviews deal with suffering. There are no answers there; there are no answers there. But you turn to the gospel writers and you turn to the teachings of Jesus who reminds you and me that he took our suffering, took our wounds, took our transgressions.

And not only that, how he equips us, how he empowers us, how he indwells us in order to be able to walk through this lonely life and through this journey. You may be feeling some pain today. Jesus lifts us beyond the building and pays the human body the highest compliment by making it His dwelling place, the place where He meets with us. Even today He would overturn the tables of those who make it a marketplace for their own lust, greed, and wealth.

Philosophically, you can believe anything so as you do not claim it a better way. Religiously, you can hold to anything, so long as you do not bring Jesus Christ into it. If a spiritual idea is eastern, it is granted critical immunity; if western, it is thoroughly criticized. Thus, a journalist can walk into a church and mock its carryings on, but he or she dare not do the same if the ceremony is from eastern fold.

Such is the mood at the end of the twentieth century. A mood can be a dangerous state of mind, because it can crush reason under the weight of feeling. But that is precisely what I believe postmodernism best represents - a mood. All religions do not point to God.

All religions do not say that all religions are the same. At the heart of every religion is an uncompromising commitment to a particular way of defining who God is or is not and accordingly, of defining life's purpose. Anything that usurps that is idolatrous. It is also a matter of defense in that it must be able to make a cogent and sensible response to the counterpoints that are raised. Luminaries leave libraries and write their memoirs; He left one book, penned by ordinary people.

Deliverers speak of winning through might and conquest; He spoke of a place in the heart. In all of these, there emerges an instruction, a way of living. It is not Zoroaster to whom you turn. It is Zoroaster to whom you listen. It is not Buddha who delivers you; it is his Noble Truths that instruct you. It is not Mohammed who transforms you; it is the beauty of the Koran that woos you.

By contrast, Jesus did not only teach or expound His message. David continued ministry with YFC in India for some time, and Zacharias continued to attend his group meetings. Advertise With Us Submit News. Listen Podcasts. Contests Chicken Chef Lunch Break. All Rights Reserved. In fact, it was David who called Zacharias to preach for the first time, ever. Share this story:.