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THE QUARTERLY MAGAZINE OF RAVI ZACHARIAS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

VOLUME 26.3

JUSTTHINKING

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

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HELPING THE THINKER BELIEVE.

HELP ING THE BEL IEVER TH INK .

TABLE of CONTENTSVOLUME 26.3

29THINK AGAINNo Longer BoundRavi Zacharias offersan encouraging wordfor those bound by thechains of the past.

COVER: ©2018 KEN ORVIDAS

12“US” VERSUS “THEM”“Fair or not, people judge the credibility of a messageby the integrity of the messenger,” argues AbduMurray in an excerpt fromhis new book Saving Truth(Zondervan, 2018).

03A NOTE FROM THE EDITORWings To Fly

04EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUERavi Zacharias suggeststhat only when our heartsreceive God’s forgivenesscan we become instrumentsof true reconciliation.

10IN THIS HOUSE“Never in my young life hadI experienced a place sounlike anything I knew,”writes Margaret ManningShull about a trip to SouthAfrica as a young girl.

24A CRY FOR HELPJohn Njoroge poignantlyobserves, “Trying to meetour real needs withoutChrist is like trying to satisfy our thirst with salty water.”

26THE FORGETTABLEPOWER OF EMPATHYLowe Finney revisits the perhaps too-familiarBible story of Zacchaeusand Jesus’s surprisinginteraction with thisdespised tax collector.

RESIST CONFUSIONBy accurately describing the Culture of Confusion and how it has

affected our society, Abdu Murray seeks to awaken Westerners to the plight we find ourselves in. He also challenges Christians to consider how they have played a part in fostering the Culture of Confusion through bad

arguments, unwise labeling, and emotional attacks.

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Wings To Fly

JUST THINKING • VOLUME 26.3 [3]

Danielle DuRantEditor

THEY SWOOPED IN, a rush of wings, whirls,and whistles. Within a minute, they weregone. There must have been twodozen. I’ve not seen a single CedarWaxwing since, but the sight someyears ago of black-masked birdswith beaks of berries has stayedwith me. If I knew where to findthese magnificent red-tipped creatures again, I would rush tocatch a glimpse of them.

Their captivating visitation came tomind recently while reading of Zacchaeusin the Gospel of Luke. The name Zacchaeusmeans “innocent” or “clean”—and yet hislife up to this point has been seeminglyquite the opposite. While short in stature,his wealth and power are immense, for he isa chief tax collector. As such, he is despised.Zacchaeus not only collects money for theenemy Rome from his from fellow Jewsbut also profits from them by pocketinghis own concocted commissions.

Jesus is passing through Jericho onhis way to Jerusalem, just hours before histriumphal entry into the city and finalweek of his earthly life and ministry.Zacchaeus has heard about this magnificentJesus, and he is determined to catch aglimpse of him, running as fast as hisstunted legs can fly. Luke writes, “Hewanted to see who Jesus was, but becausehe was short he could not see over thecrowd. So he ran ahead and climbed asycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesuswas coming that way” (Luke 19:3-4).

Up in the tree, Zacchaeus is afforded abird’s-eye view of Jesus approaching.

The animosity toward this tax collector is evident: even though he

beats the crowds to Jesus, he still has to climb a tree in order to see him. He must

have expected to be shoved to the back once the crowds arrived. A blind beg-gar sitting by the road faces a similar

plight, and his story immediately precedes Zacchaeus’s. When he

learns that Jesus is passing by, he cries out,“Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”Luke tells us that “those who were in frontrebuked him, telling him to be silent. Buthe cried out all the more, ‘Son of David,have mercy on me!’” (see Luke 18:38-39).

One is poor, another powerful. Bothare shunned by their communities—bypeople who even try to thwart them frommeeting Jesus. What a tragedy!

But Jesus sees them and stops,bringing them healing, salvation, and aninvitation to intimacy: “Zacchaeus, hurryand come down, for I must stay at yourhouse today” (Luke 19:5). This is the wayof Jesus; “For the Son of Man came to seekand to save the lost” (verse 10).

And it is the way we are called to follow as followers of Christ: to love ourneighbors as ourselves, whatever theirplace or race, and even to love our enemies.Only with God’s indwelling Spirit can wedo this; only by his tender mercies andgrace have we been given eyes to see,hearts to love, and wings to fly.

[4] JUST THINKING • RAVI ZACHARIAS INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES

EVERY TRIBE AND TONGUE

By Ravi Zacharias


Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King,Jr. was assassinated, killed for hisefforts to create a society in which

all people accepted each other as equals.It was another one of those shots heardaround the world. The path of a fighterfor peace and justice is never smooth. It is profoundly moving to read how hestruggled with giving up on his ability tosucceed, or for that matter, giving up onlife itself. The nature of his strugglebrings to mind the words of a member ofthe British Parliament describing the battle William Wilberforce waged inEngland against slavery: “It was likepushing back a storm from a ragingAtlantic with a mop and a bucket.”

King’s personality, like manyreformers, was very complex. A reformer’stask is always bigger than he or she is, andtheir opponents can crush them withtaunts and despair. I see our world todaywith so much strife everywhere. Thepolitical scene is staggering under theweight of dissension and disrespect. I

certainly don’t recall seeing it like thisbefore, even from the time of my youth.Language and emotions are poison-tippedto send arrows into the heart of the oneseen as “the enemy.” And those who suf-fer the most are often those that have theleast with which to fight the oppression.

Racial pain is a deep pain because itgoes to the soul of one’s being. No one hasa choice over one’s birth. To be attackedwith racial prejudice is a form of murderbecause you are at risk just by virtue ofyour very being. Such a threat bringstogether stories of the past, the pain ofthe present, and cynicism for any solutionin the future. When confronted with suchan unshakable reality, sadly, it can breed aprejudice all its own.

I often think of the life of MahatmaGandhi and his indefatigable spirit tofight for the freedom of his people. I wasonly two years old he was assassinated. Asa young man, he practiced law in SouthAfrica and faced much discrimination.What he saw of racism in those days drove

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him away from the Christian faith, becausehe mistakenly judged a person’s profes-sion of a faith as being the substance ofthat faith. The truth is, you don’t judge abelief by its abuse. So fortunately, helater qualified the difference: “I liketheir Christ; I don’t like their Christian.”How ironic that the only message in theworld that frames humanity in God’simage, takes sin seriously, gives us themost glorious Scripture on love everpenned, and from beginning to end is amessage of reconciliation was seen as acruel belief because of the way it wasbeing lived out. Therein lies the tragedyof racism and the failure of Christendomto deal with it or to own up to its blunders.

But the truth is that prejudice ispresent in virtually every culture. India’sprejudice didn’t come just from theBritish. This is a visibly stratified societywhere often the most common reality isthat the common person has no voice.The caste system has taken a monumen-tal toll. Prejudice and slavery were notthe localized problem of America. Onewrong word in the Middle East about agroup of people and you can land beforethe authorities.

I recall one day in Toronto, alongwith my wife, talking to my grand-auntwho was over 100 years old. I asked herhow it was that though a particular groupof European missionaries led our ancestorsto Jesus, as a family in India we ended upin a different denomination. She was sur-prised by my question.

“You are the first one to ever ask methat question,” she said.

I was even more surprised by heranswer: “The missionaries that led ourforebears to Christ welcomed them tochurch, but would not take communionwith Indian believers. In contrast, theAnglicans did permit that. In fact, yourgreat-grandfather, who was a lawyer,fought that discrimination in court.”

Talk about a head-shaker! The terrible

reality of prejudice across the centuriesdenigrating or differentiating people is acalamity like unto little else. And it car-ried over even into the sacred expressionof Holy Communion. Evidently, for some,even God would not open his sacred riteto both races on equal footing. How irra-tional to preach the Cross but close thedoor to remembering it together. Such arethe vagaries of human prejudice.

Thankfully, there has been somechange within this generation of youngpeople who see the errors of the past. Butin some circles, prejudices still run deep.

Here is the deepest mystery: Jesusdid not say much about what we callracial prejudice or discrimination, or forthat matter, even slavery. But his storieswere steeped in answers. The Jews had nodealings with the Samaritans and sawthem as a mongrel race. Jesus shockedthem with the story of the Good Samaritanthat showed up their hypocrisy. Thatphrase is now in our vocabulary. Thekeepers of the law despised those theysaw as less moral than themselves. Again,Jesus shocked them with the story of theprostitute who poured out her alabasterointment on the Savior’s feet. Her story istold wherever the gospel is preached. TheIsraelites of old hated the Roman’s rightto force them to carry his armaments for one mile. Jesus spoke of walking thesecond mile. That, too, is a phrase we usetoday. When Paul spoke of being called tothe Gentiles, the mob wanted to kill him.But the gospel was still preached to thewhole world.

What does all this say? That racialprejudice and other prejudices are notnew. Prejudice has existed from the timeof the first family when grace misunder-stood led to murder.

THE REAL PROBLEMSo where do we turn? I watch childrenand learn so much from them. Our grand-son Jude was recently taught in school


about slavery. It really shook him. He isonly six years old. He came back home,his eyes filled with tears, and told hismother how hurt he was to hear whatsome had done to others. So my daughterNaomi made sure he was told of the callingof Martin Luther King, Jr., and he startedto read about him and about others whohave fought that scourge.

Jude had a startling question. He

has a friend that comes from a differentpart of the world, and Jude asked, “Doyou think my friend might face prejudicein life?”

My daughter asked him why heasked that. This is exactly what he said:“My hypothesis is that if a person wantsto dislike you, they will find some reasonto do that.”

A six-year-old using the word“hypothesis” gets your attention. But whatis more profound is that his hypothesiswas right because the human heart iswrong. Racial prejudice is not the prob-lem. Racial prejudice is the symptom thatreveals the real problem. We all think weare superior in some way to others, andwe find reasons to dislike certain others.If in our hearts we spurn somebody, themind will find myriad reasons to justifythat cancer of the soul.

Of all people in the world, theChristian should lead the way in lovingpeople of all nations because we all areultimately created in God’s image. Ourcolor does not define us. Our social stature

doesn’t define us. Our soul defines us inthat we are infused by God’s value in us, andwe love because we are first loved by God,who is Spirit. Until the day dawns whenwe see everyone as having intrinsic soulworth, we will judge people by extrinsicappearances—yes, by color or some otherdistinction. How blind can we be?

There is a story in the Bible that talksof alienation and reconciliation. Jacob

had betrayed his brother,Esau, when he stole thefather’s blessing by pretend-ing to be who he was not.But God pursued Jacob untilJacob pleaded for God’sblessing.

“What is your name?’asked God.

Jacob knew he hadbeen cornered. There’s theapplication that stings. You

see, prejudice is not so much a wrongview of someone else as much as it is awrong view of oneself. We are not who wethink we are, as superior to others.

Having finally seen himself as Godsaw him, Jacob planned to meet withEsau, fearing the worst. When the momentof meeting came, God had already preparedEsau’s heart to forgive. Esau embraced hisbrother and in response Jacob said, “Ihave seen your face, which is like seeingthe face of God, and you have acceptedme” (Genesis 33:10).

What an incredible statement! Oh,the years of suffering and alienation thatensue when you make a discovery thatshould have been made earlier! The truthis that God has to work in the heart of thewrongdoer as well as in the heart of theone who has been wronged. Until then,the logic of unforgiveness will wreakhavoc. That is the world in which we live.The logic of revenge.

The German reformer Martin Lutherwas religious but almost “hated God”because he felt he could never be accepted

Of all people in the world,the Christian should leadthe way in loving people ofall nations because we allare ultimately created inGod’s image.


before Him. It dawned on him one daythat faith, righteousness, and grace aregifts to be received and cannot be earnedor worked for. The reformer was trans-formed first before he could carry themessage of grace to others. Oh, that wemight learn this! What a burden is lifted!Salvation is God’s gift. We cannot earn it.Forgiveness is a gift. We do not merit thatpardon. Receiving it is to truly understandGod’s love.

Fifty years after Martin Luther King,Jr., America is still struggling with thesematters because we have forgotten whatreally matters in life. In his acceptancespeech when he received the Nobel PeacePrize, Dr. King said, “Unarmed truth andunconditional love will have the final wordin reality.”

Think of that statement. Think again.What are we teaching in our schools?That science will save us. Science is thequeen of the disciplines. Or, our laws willsave us. Really? Which science tells usthat truth and love are the answers? Thatdoes not come from matter. That comesfrom the soul. We are already a nation oflaws. What laws have changed your heart?The mirror can tell you that your face isdirty, but the mirror will not wash yourface. The law can tell you that you are anoutlaw. But the law will not help yourheart love the law.

This is the time to go to the ultimateheart surgeon who will help us love withhis love. It’s time to turn from hate tolove. Time to turn from prejudice to anembrace. Time to admit we are proud andwrong-headed. Time to see in each otherthe face of God. That can only happenwhen we are first reconciled to God. Thenwe can be reconciled with one another.

Until then, the one from whom wehave not sought forgiveness or that we havenot forgiven will control us, and we moveinto the vortex of the worst kind of slavery,a prison of hate, a cloud of amnesia, or thedomination of a thirst for revenge.

That’s why Jesus did not deal withthe symptom. He dealt with the source. Ourhearts need to receive God’s forgiveness,and then we can become instruments oftrue reconciliation. When you find your truemaster, you find we are all slaves to God,because that is the ultimate freedom. Ah!What a Master we have, who gave himselffor us, who came to earth as a servant sothat we might know we are destined for akingdom. As C.S. Lewis observed, “Hiscompulsion is our liberation.”1

The hymn writer John Oxenhamsaid it well:

In Christ there is no east or west,in him no south or north,but one great fellowship of lovethroughout the whole wide earth.

In Christ shall true hearts everywheretheir high communion find;his service is the golden cordclose-binding humankind.

Join hands, disciples of the faith,Whate’er your race may be.All children of the living Godare surely kin to me.2

So may we follow the call of anotherhymn writer:

Let every tongue and every triberesponsive to his call,to him all majesty ascribe,and crown him Lord of all. 3

Ravi Zacharias is Founder and Presidentof Ravi Zacharias InternationalMinistries in Alpharetta, GA.

1 C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life (New York: HarperOne, 2017), 280.

2 John Oxenham, “In Christ There Is No East or West” (1908).

3 John Perronet, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” (1780).

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IN THISHOUSEBy Margaret Manning Shull

As a young girl, I had the unique opportu-nity to travel to South Africa. We stayedfor a month in December when I was justfive years old. My father’s parents and sis-ter had immigrated to South Africa fromBritain, and it was a rare opportunity totravel to see them. I can still remember theexcitement of climbing into the Pan Am jetthat would take me to what was surely aland full of adventure. The year was 1971.

Never in my young life had I experi-enced a place so unlike anything I knew.Growing up in the suburban Midwest ofthe United States, my world was filled withsnow and concrete, with winters lastinglong into April with rows and rows ofhouses lined with sidewalks. South Africa,by contrast, was a land of bright sunshine,

vast horizons, beautiful ocean beaches,rugged mountains, and diverse land-scapes—from the dusty Kalahari Desertto the mountainous coast of Cape Town.Every place was a startling, new discoveryof sights, smells, and experiences.

One such experience remains withme to this day. Thirsty after an afternoonat a trampoline park with my SouthAfrican cousins, we went in search of public drinking fountains. Seeing just suchan area not too far beyond where my tiredlegs could carry me, I ran ahead of the oth-ers in order to quench my thirst. Just as I leaned over to drink, a hand grabbed myshoulder and a loud, gruff voice told menot to drink from that fountain. It was for“coloreds” only.

This was the first time, as I reflectback on the event, that my skin colordetermined my standing in relation to oth-ers. I was too young and too thirsty tonotice the posted placards on the foun-tains, or, sadly, to notice that there wereonly whites on all of the beaches where wefrolicked as a family. Moreover, there wereonly white diners in the restaurants wherewe ate, and only whites in most of theareas and venues we visited. In fact, therewere posted designations for “whites” and “coloreds” at all the public placeswhere the two groups might meet. I didn’tunderstand that apartheid, at that time,was the national policy.

For all the contrasts, here was a simi-larity between my suburban childhood andmy visit to South Africa. Where I grew up,there were only two children of color inmy elementary school and one was ofAsian heritage. I do not remember anyAfrican Americans in the suburban neigh-borhoods in which I grew up, and therewas no racial diversity in my church. Thissegregation was far less obvious to methan the intentional policies that made upthe apartheid system. Yet, hidden or inten-tional, the effects of a racist system werethe same. How could I not conclude, as ayoung girl, that race determined whereone lived, went to school, or worshipped?

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A seminary internship working withyoung children in Atlanta, Georgia, afford-ed me an alternative experience. I wouldbe the only white person in my internship.I was surprised at how readily boundariesseemed to give way to acceptance. I didn’tseem to be as strange to them as theymight have been had they visited me in thesuburbs of my childhood. Sharing thesame curly hair prompted one young girlto ask me if I was a “light-skinned black.” I felt honored that racial differences werenot the only thing she saw.

Yet, I would have been blind not tonotice that the opportunities afforded tome simply were not available in this place.And while other principalities conspired to decrease opportunity, I knew then thatmuch of what I took for granted did notexist for these young children. A simple,nutritious breakfast—always available tome—consisted of a soda or a bag of tostadachips from the local Taco Bell for many ofthe kids I met here.

All these experiences—from the sub-urbs to South Africa to the urban South—reveal aspects of the human tendency toseparate and divide. Yet, an alternativenarrative is presented in the Christiangospel. The redemption offered in the life,death, and resurrection of Jesus is univer-sally available. The reconciling work ofJesus Christ did not recognize the typicalcategories of human division and powerbut reached out to Jew and Greek, maleand female, bound and free persons. Theapostle Paul reminded the Ephesians thatthey “were at that time separate fromChrist, excluded… and strangers to thecovenants of promise…. But now in ChristJesus you who were formerly far off havebeen brought near…. For Jesus is ourpeace, who made both groups into one,and broke down the dividing wall.”1

The Scriptures challenge our humantendency to separate, divide, and control,and invite us to be transformed by thepeace and unity found in Jesus Christ. But is this just something to hope for in anas yet unrealized future?

F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandelacould not have been more different, but theyworked together to help end apartheid inSouth Africa. Even their most significantdifferences (which went far beyond thecolor of their skin) did not thwart theirwork toward a peaceful transition of power—when most thought bloodshed and vio-lence would ensue. Both men understoodthat unity and peace were not simply avision of an other-worldly future, butsomething that could be undertaken evenin the very messy, fraught, and difficultworld of the here and now.

“Peace does not fare well wherepoverty and deprivation reign,” said deKlerk. “Peace is gravely threatened byinter-group fear and envy…. Racial, class,and religious intolerance and prejudice are its mortal enemies…. In our quest forpeace we should constantly ask ourselveswhat we should do to create conditions inwhich peace can prosper.”2

We can look at the world around usand despair over human differences thatfeel insurmountable. There is so muchthat can engender cynicism and a sense of futility. Yet, for those who would seek adifferent story, we are invited to a housewhere there are no dividing walls that segregate human beings from each otherand from God. Built upon the foundationthat is Christ Jesus, this house is framedby restoration and renewal, forgivenessand reconciliation, generosity and grace,identity and belonging. In this house, Noone is shut out and all may come in.

Margaret Manning Shull is an adjunctmember of the speaking and writing teamat RZIM in Bellingham, Washington.

1 Ephesians 2:12-14.2 F. W. de Klerk, Acceptance and Nobel Lecture,

Editor Tore Frängsmyr, (Nobel Foundation),Stockholm, 1994, https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/klerk-lecture_en.html.


There’s an Arabic sayingthat often makes mesmile: “Kulna fil hawasawa.” It literally means“We’re all in the sameair,” roughly conveyingthe same idea as the

English saying, “We’re all in the sameboat.” But Arabic sayings tend to havezestier connotations than their Westerncounterparts. “Kulna fil hawa sawa” real-ly conveys the message, “We’re all in thesame stink,” particularly the stink of thehuman condition. It’s a pungent reminderthat all of us—yes, all of us includingChristians—have contributed to theCulture of Confusion’s stench.

In mid-2015, my news and socialmedia feeds were abuzz with urgent-seeming headlines bemoaning, “It’sAlready Starting!” and “That Didn’t TakeLong!” The articles insinuated that anLGBT activist leveraged the United StatesSupreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v.Hodges legalizing same-sex marriage tofile a federal lawsuit to outlaw the Bibleas hate speech.

Just three minutes of investigationrevealed this narrative was bogus—andobviously so. Yes, a gay man filed a lawsuitin a Michigan federal court1 against twoChristian publishers. But he did not seekto have the Bible “banned.” He soughtmoney for emotional distress, claiming thepublishers had mistranslated the Bible tobe unfavorable to homosexuals. And hedidn’t file his lawsuit after the Obergefelldecision. He filed it in 2008—seven yearsbefore the Supreme Court’s ruling. Notonly that, but the lawsuit was dismissedalmost as soon as it was filed. The judge, aprincipled jurist I had the privilege ofappearing before as an attorney, dismissedthe case because it had no basis in the lawand was “largely incomprehensible.”

“US” VERSUS“THEM”

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By Abdu Murray


In less time than a TV commercialbreak, I learned that this alarmist storywas false. And yet so many people werequick to believe an obviously untrue storyand propel it to viral status. The irony saddened me because some of those whoperpetuated the falsehood professed to follow Jesus, who claimed to be the veryembodiment of truth (John 14:6). Whetherthe story was propagated by those whoknew it was false or by those who wereduped into believing it was true, the factremains that Christians should havebehaved differently. A common phrase in Christian circles is that the church issupposed to be “in but not of” the broaderculture. In other words, Christians are toengage with the culture but not be undulyinfluenced by it. But so pervasive andseductive is the post-truth mindset that the church, at least to some degree, hasbecome in and of the Culture of Confusion.

Part of this behavior is a reaction tosociety’s growing perception of Christiansas enemies of progress and freedom. SomeChristians believe that battle lines havebeen drawn, which is why they get seducedinto believing and spreading false storiesabout people they see to be the enemy.That’s what makes the seductions of a post-truth Culture of Confusion all the moreinsidious. It plays on partial truths to goadus into believing and spreading untruths.

This is doubly sad because when thechurch has doubled down on its commit-ment to truth, especially in the face ofopposition, it has flourished, broughtcredibility to the gospel, and benefitedsociety. For Christians, now is not thetime to be seduced into making “them”look as bad as possible while making “us”look as sympathetic as possible. Now isthe time for compassionate, yet uncom-promisingly expressed, truth. If thechurch’s caving to the post-truth mindsethas contributed to the larger culturalproblem, then perhaps Christians’ redis-covered commitment to the truth canlead us back to the solution.

FIXING WHAT BUGS USNot long ago I spoke at a major universityin Canada on the topic “Disagreeing WithoutBeing Disagreeable.” A member of theaudience took to the microphone to posean interesting question. “I’m a softwareengineer,” he began. “Once we’ve designedthe software, we test it for things that bugus about it. Not just glitches, but thingsabout the software we personally don’tlike. If you were to do the same test onthe church, what would bug you about it?”

The audience nervously laughed atthe hot-seat question. How would I, assomeone who’s spoken at many churchesaround the world, respond? While I thinkthe church is doing great things locallyand across the world, there are thingsthat could use changing.2 But first wehave to understand what we’re hoping todebug when we reference “the church.”Consider the fact that many people today,still the vast majority in the UnitedStates, call themselves Christians. Butdonning a label doesn’t equate to beingthe genuine article. Peering behind theveils, we see that only three out of tenAmericans are practicing Christians,meaning that Christian living, Bible read-ing, and regular church attendance areimportant to their lives.3 And given thatAmerica is still more religious than mostEuropean countries, Australia, or Canada,it’s safe to say that an even smaller per-centage of people in Western countriesare practicing Christians. “LegacyChristians,” as Dave Kinnaman and GabeLyons call them, are those for whomChristianity is “background noise thatcan safely be ignored.”4 While “three outof four U.S. adults have some Christianbackground . . . about three in fiveAmerican Christians are largely inactivein their faith.”5 Given these numbers, thesensationalistic or false stories purveyedin the trending social media posts comelargely—but not solely—from people forwhom being Christian is little more than


When Christians forgetthat, they create an “usversus them” paradigmleading to Christianshungrily gobbling upand passing along iffyarticles about how awful“they” are without amoment’s pause.

Too often, Christiansconveniently forget thefact that like everyoneelse, they need a Savior.

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a moniker that distinguishes them frompolitically left-leaning people.

Who I want to address here arepracticing Christians— men and womenfor whom Christianity is a way of life, reg-ular church attendance is their practice,and devotion to Jesus is their ultimateaim. When I refer to the church going for-ward, that is who I mean. Although prac-ticing Christians are less influenced bythe Culture of Confusion, the influence issignificant enough that we have to addressit. So to root out the bugs, we have to start there.

SEDUCTION IN TWO-PART HARMONYThe church has succumbed to post-truth’sexpression in two seemingly contraryways. On one hand, Christians have com-promised the clarity of Scripture for thesake of acceptance and to avoid conflict.On the other hand, Christians haveindulged the cultural practice of vilifyingthose with whom they disagree. Thesetwo seductions seem contradictory, butwhen they work together, they harmonizein a grisly dirge.

Let’s address the first post-truthseduction: making the gospel pill easier toswallow to avoid uncomfortable discus-sions with non-Christians and difficultBible passages that challenge our behav-ioral preferences. In our effort to be liked,Jesus’s famous statement, “Judge not lestye be judged,” is often misquoted. Many,including those in the church, interpretthis passage to mean that Jesus shunnedmoral judgment. And, so the argumentgoes, Christians have no place judging theactions of others in the broader culture.It’s quite telling that so few people quotethe entire context of Jesus’s words. Thefull passage reads:

“Judge not, that you be not judged.For with the judgment you pronounceyou will be judged, and with the measureyou use it will be measured to you. Why

do you see the speck that is in your broth-er’s eye, but do not notice the log that is inyour own eye? Or how can you say to yourbrother, ‘Let me take the speck out ofyour eye,’ when there is the log in yourown eye? You hypocrite, first take the logout of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of yourbrother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1–5).

It’s worth pausing for a moment tosee just how Jesus’s words actually expressa message opposite to what so many wanthim to have expressed. Jesus says thatwhen we remove the log from our owneye, we will see clearly how to judge ourbrother’s actions. Applied today, if thechurch gets the post-truth speck out of its own eye, it can bring clarity to a worldof confusion. In the full context, we seethat Jesus is saying that when we judge, it is to be for the improvement of others,not their condemnation.

So why do so many people, includingChristians, misapply Jesus’s statementsas a blanket prohibition against all judg-ment? There are as many reasons as thereare people who do so. One common reason is that Christians want to appeartolerant and likable, especially in a timewhen tolerance—though woefully misde-fined—is a chief virtue. Put plainly, many Christians have bought into whatKinnaman and Lyons call “the new moralcode” that people should not criticizesomeone else’s life choices. Can we see theseduction playing out right before oureyes? The post-truth Culture of Confusionelevates preferences and feelings overfacts and truth. And by elevating our pref-erences to be liked and feel accepted,Christians have misapplied the plaintruth of Jesus’s words and exchangedthem for pleasant cultural comforts. This brings to mind Dallas Willard’s aptassessment of the spiritual landscape, inwhich “most of what Americans do intheir religion now is done at the behest offeelings. . . . The quest for pleasure takes


over the house of God.”6 Willard’s indict-ment is true for some of us all of the time.And it is true for all of us at least some ofthe time.

The second seduction—that of usingthe truths of Scripture to bludgeon out-siders—brings a pendular swing of over-correcting our desire to be liked. Toooften, Christians conveniently forget thefact that like everyone else, they need aSavior. When Christians forget that, theycreate an “us versus them” paradigmleading to Christians hungrily gobblingup and passing along iffy articles abouthow awful “they” are without a moment’spause. Worse yet, Christians may makechurches so unwelcoming that they repelthe very people who could benefit fromwhat Jesus has to offer. Truth is onceagain sacrificed, but this time at the altarof a self-righteous higher agenda to standup to “them.” Fair or not, people judge thecredibility of a message by the integrity ofthe messenger. If the gospel message ofcompassion, forgiveness, and reconcilia-tion is proclaimed by those who seem tohave none of those qualities, it’s hard tosee how the broader culture’s responsecan be anything but concomitant dismayand anger.

DANCING TO A DIFFERENT TUNEThe way forward tempers both our need tobe liked and the importance of addressingdetrimental ideas and behaviors. A story inMarie Chapian’s book Of Whom the WorldWas Not Worthy comes to mind. Sherecounts the story of Jakob, a missionaryto the former Yugoslavia, who encountersCimmerman, a farmer who had lost muchto the country’s rampant violence and corruption. When Jakob tried to share thegospel message with him, Cimmermanwould have none of it. Angered by the clergy’s complicity in the ugliness,Cimmerman refused to hear Jakob out.“Those men of the cloth tortured andkilled my own nephew before my eyes,” he

spewed. “I saw him die in his own blood,and then I watched the killers calmly gen-uflect before the main altar of the church,cross themselves with holy water, and afew moments later their forks scrapedtheir plates as they ate their supper in theparish house.”7 Obviously, Cimmerman’sreaction had nothing to do with the gospelmessage’s truth or falsity. Church corrup-tion does not change the facts of Jesus’sdeath and resurrection. But the point isthis: Cimmerman dismissed the message(indeed, he dismissed Christ himself )based on his experiences with those whoclaimed to believe the message.

Today’s Cimmermans distrustChristians as ultraconservative, hypocrit-ical judging exclusivists. That is, ofcourse, a sweeping and unfair characteri-zation. Nevertheless, that perception per-sists and even grows. The broader culturehears Christians lament the erosion ofmarriage while believing that Christiansdivorce at the same rate as non-Christians.(They do not, but that is a common mis-perception.)8 Non-Christians see Christianssupporting conservative political leadersregardless of their sometimes seriousmoral failings, yet condemning liberalleaders for those same failings. While Ithink this mischaracterizes most genuineChristians, there are those louder-than-normal voices within the church whojudge with unmitigated bias and give fullvent to their anger at outsiders, “thosepeople,” without reflecting on their own sin.

The church can recapture its posi-tive cultural influence if it rekindles itspassion for the principles that revolution-ized the world so long ago. In sharp con-trast to our current adversarial attitudes,Jesus told us to love our enemies and topray for those who persecute us(Matthew 5:44). Christians are to be “thesalt of the earth” and “the light of theworld” (Matthew 5:13–14). But if thechurch sees everyone as enemies to bevanquished, it will lose its savor and its


brightness. What we need is neither com-placency nor indignation. What we needis wisdom.

A WISE TEMPERAMENTThe book of Proverbs provides a templatefor how Christians can once again be assavory as salt and illuminating as light in abitter and dark time. If there is a wordother than confused to describe the currentcultural mood, it hasto be angry. Fromprotests that flare upat a moment’s noticeto knee-jerk brandingothers with epithets,we seem to have lostour ability to be civilto one another in thethick of debate. Andthere seem to be fewer and fewer excep-tions in either secular or religious circles.And yet, thankfully, I experienced somerefreshing exceptions recently.

I was blessed with the opportunityto speak at an open forum alongside RaviZacharias at my alma mater, theUniversity of Michigan, on the topic“What Does It Mean To Be Human?”Every one of the 3,500 seats at HillAuditorium was filled by atheists, agnos-tics, Christians, and people from differentreligious faiths. During the question-and-answer period, an erudite young manidentifying himself as an atheist openedhis question with an interesting com-ment: “I first want to thank the universityfor allowing this event to happen on cam-pus so that we can hear and interact withdiffering viewpoints. I didn’t see any carson fire or broken windows.” Of course, hewas referring to recent incidents at theUniversity of California at Berkeleywhere protestors ignited fires and dam-aged property in reaction to a lightningrod speaker who had come to that cam-pus. In the weeks surrounding theBerkeley incident, the news was awash

with similar stories at other prestigiousuniversities. In March 2017, students atMiddlebury College in Vermont protesteda speech by controversial scholar CharlesMurray. The protest erupted into physicalassaults against both Murray and aMiddlebury faculty member, leaving herwith a twisted neck and a visit to the ER.

The stunning applicability of ages-old biblical wisdom shows how holy writ

remains eternallycontemporary. InProverbs 29, Solomonwrote that “Scoffersset a city aflame, butthe wise turn awaywrath. . . . A fool givesfull vent to [anger],but [the] wise … quietly holds it

back” (Proverbs 29:8, 11). At Berkeley,Middlebury College, and other similarinstitutions, some protesters gave fullvent to their anger, yet those protestscould have happened without mayhemand violence.

Contrast has a way of clarifyingthings, as author Os Guinness would say.Our open forum at the University ofMichigan had its share of challengingquestions. In fact, most of the questionscame from skeptics. The evening was lively,yet civil. The students didn’t shut usdown; they engaged with ideas they maynot have agreed with. And thankfully Raviand I were able to articulate our Christianpositions on life’s biggest questions with-out compromise, all the while holdingeach questioner’s dignity as sacrosanct.Happily, that same civility carried over to an even bigger crowd the next day atMichigan State University and again thefollowing week at Indiana University. Wewere able to disagree because we intend-ed to do so agreeably. In the days follow-ing those events, we had the pleasure ofseeing some who started out disagreeingend up agreeing and embracing the


gospel. Weeks before taking the podiumsat those schools, we prayed specificallyfor ears to be sensitive, tongues to bejudicious, and hearts to be compassion-ate. Again, in the wise words of Solomon,“Whoever restrains his words has knowl-edge, and he who has a cool spirit is a manof understanding” (Proverbs 17:27).

Let’s pause once more for self-assessment. Lest Christians think thatSolomon’s wisdom applies only to others,we must remember that in the Culture ofConfusion, we are as susceptible to thekind of anger that erupted at Berkeley,Middlebury, and elsewhere. As I writethis, I’ve just read a message from aChristian friend lamenting how Christianscast aside Solomon’s advice and accostedboth him and a Muslim for just having acalm conversation about their differentreligious beliefs. The group of Christiansbegan yelling at the Muslim for being a“liar” and my friend for being a “charlatan”just because he refused to polemicize thediscussion. In the Culture of Confusion,it’s seductively easy for any one of us toturn civility into a vice.

What a contrast to the attitude theapostle Paul passed down to his protégéTitus. “Remind them . . . to speak evil ofno one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle,and to show perfect courtesy toward allpeople” (Titus 3:1–2). Paul wasn’t againstengaging in reasoned argument, but hewas against quarreling, especially thekind that results in vilifying someoneelse. Why is it so important for Christiansto speak evil of no one (yes, no one) and toshow perfect courtesy toward all people(yes, all people)? Because the gospel mes-sage teaches that all of us are broken peo-ple, given to sin, anger, and even hatred.Those who claim allegiance to Christ areto be washed of such things, not by theirown goodness, but by God’s mercy andgrace. As Paul continues, “For we our-selves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and

pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating oneanother” (v. 3).

One wonders if the people whoaccosted my friend and the Muslim hewas chatting with had taken time toreflect on Paul’s words before giving fullvent to their anger. What result did theyexpect? Did they expect the Muslim tosuddenly drop all of his deeply held con-victions because the decibel level hadincreased? Or, more likely, did theyexpect to set the situation aflame andbring heat, not light? Thankfully, myfriend stayed in the conversation andnurtured his friendship with the Muslim.It is when we have a cool spirit, turn awaywrath, and withhold our anger that ourwords—the message of the gospel of peaceand clarity— can be heard. Students heardthe gospel at the universities we visitedbecause we were able to express our con-victions without degrading anyone. And,thankfully, my friend was able to share hisbeliefs because he saw a person, not a target.With this kind of renewal and regeneration,Christians can—and should—speak withconviction and courage in the face ofopposition, but we must do so in a waythat recognizes that “we” were once—andin some ways still are—“them.”

WISE WORDSI often remind myself of another popularsaying: “It is better to remain silent and bethought a fool than to open your mouthand remove all doubt.” That contemporaryidiom is a paraphrase of Solomon’s cen-turies-old advice: “The tongue of the wisecommends knowledge, but the mouths offools pour out folly” (Proverbs 15:2).

Today it’s not only incredibly easy tobroadcast our opinions or spread dubiousstories, it’s also fashionable to do so hastily.With the advent of YouTube, Twitter,Facebook (a digital triumvirate ConanO’Brien has called “YouTwitFace”), andother social media platforms, everyone


has become a journalist. But few of ustake the time to verify our sources. This is true of the wider culture and sadly ofChristians as well. Recall the Bible law-suit discussed above. That was fake news,plain and simple, propagated at a break-neck pace by those bearing the nameChristian. When we hear the term “thespeed of light,” we think of the fastestsomething can travel. But in the socialmedia age, perhaps we should change thephrase to “the speed of lies.”

Thankfully, there are manyChristians who take great pains to shareaccurate stories and engage honestly withothers. When they do, they emulateanother biblical proverb: “One who walksin integrity will be safe, but whoever fol-lows crooked ways will fall into the Pit”(Proverbs 28:18, NRSV). Integrity is thekey word here, and we desperately needmore of it. Integrity takes years to buildand only moments to destroy. With all ofthe misinformation and disinformation, itwould be easy to say that we should aban-don the whole enterprise of social mediaengagement. Judging by the hunchedgazes I observe at airports, though, socialmedia use doesn’t appear to be fading. IfChristians are to meaningfully contributeto the cultural conversation through socialmedia, they must do so with integrity.9

Now the temptation is to quickly spreadstories that uphold Christian views andvalues (perhaps even with some exaggera-tions) because “the other side” allegedlyspreads misinformation so quickly thatwe have to level the playing field regard-less of which “side” we’re on. That tactic isemblematic of what the post-truth Cultureof Confusion is all about. It must not bethe church’s teacher.

When our digital or verbal discussionslack integrity, there are consequencesbeyond mere misinformation. The shrap-nel of our hasty and angry explosionswound real people. Christian social com-mentator Ed Stetzer called his fellow

Christians to account for perpetuating adebunked conspiracy theory about thetragic death of Seth Rich, who onceworked for the Democratic NationalCommittee.10 The barrage of conspiracytheories that followed his murder forcedSeth Rich’s parents to relive the tragedy.In their anguished words, “With everyconspiratorial flare-up, we are forced torelive Seth’s murder and a small piece ofus dies as more of Seth’s memory is tornaway from us.”11

It’s a deep enough wound to buryyour child. To have your memories of himstripped of sentimentality because ofpolitical machinations inflicts a deeperwound yet. Regardless of your politics oryour religion, the Rich family’s wakingnightmare ought to give us pause beforewe carelessly click “share” even one moretime. Indeed, Jesus’s words on this pointare direct and convicting: “On the day ofjudgment you will have to give an accountfor every careless word you utter; for byyour words you will be justified, and byyour words you will be condemned”(Matthew 12:36–37 NRSV).

Those should be soul-shudderingwords for followers of Christ. Words aremeant to convey truth and bring life, notpeddle falsehood or foster pain. That’swhy God judges careless words so severe-ly. In Christ, God himself is the Wordmade flesh (John 1:1, 14). If Christians arehis ambassadors, then they are called tocarefully choose their words. Do ourwords convey truth? Do they convey life?Only then will our words be wise andclear in a Culture of Confusion.

Anger isn’t necessarily opposed towise and compassionate words. Whenexercised with wisdom and restraint,anger can lead to positive change. Greed,racial discrimination, sexual harassment,and other injustices ought to anger us.But may I say that anger, even if legitimate,can become sinful if unchecked by godlylove for others and for the truth? Anger—


even when directed at the appropriatethings—can be sinful if it causes us to sacrifice clarity and truth for the sake ofself-vindication. Susanna Wesley, famedpreacher John Wesley’s mother, wiselytaught her children about sin’s invidiouscreep into even our most legitimate moti-vations: “Whatever weakens your reason,impairs the tenderness of your conscience,obscures your sense of God, or takes offyour relish of spiritual things: in short,whatever increases the strength andauthority of your body over your mind,that thing is sin to you, however innocentit may be in itself.”12

We would do well to heed her words.Our indignation over the deterioration ofthe culture may be legitimate, but it canlead to sinful bitterness. Our anger oversickness, poverty, and moral decay maylead us to act, but it can also ensnare usinto caring more about causes than aboutthe people those causes were meant tohelp. That’s the fundamental dangerinherent in failing to wisely use words.When we dance with the post-truthCulture of Confusion, the culture doesn’tchange. It changes us, and not for the better. When we are so eager to believethe worst about others, we bring out theworst in ourselves. C. S. Lewis warned usagainst letting that darkness creep in:

Suppose one reads a story of filthyatrocities in the paper. Then supposethat something turns up suggestingthat the story might not be quitetrue, or not quite so bad as it wasmade out. Is one’s first feeling,“Thank God, even they aren’t quiteso bad as that,” or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determi-nation to cling to the first story forthe sheer pleasure of thinking yourenemies are as bad as possible? If itis the second then it is, I am afraid,the first step in a process which, iffollowed to the end, will make us into devils.13

We may see ourselves reflected in Lewis’s words more than we care to. May we rise above such heart-cloudingcynicism. May the church have a wisetemperament that leads to wise wordssaturated with integrity and temperedwith grace. And may those wise wordslead to wise actions.

WISE ACTIONSA central Christian principle is that allpeople are made in the image of God.Accordingly, all people must be treatedwith dignity and respect even (especially)when their ideas or behaviors challenge usor must be challenged by us. In Jesus’s day,a teacher of the law challenged him toidentify which commandment was thegreatest. “You shall love the Lord your Godwith all your heart and with all your souland with all your mind. This is the greatand first commandment.” He continued,“And a second is like it: You shall love yourneighbor as yourself. On these two com-mandments depend all the Law and theProphets” (Matthew 22:37–40). Jesusemphasized loving God and loving the people he created.

It’s fascinating that Jesus paired the command to love people with thecommand to love God. The legal scholarsof his day would have thought this to be ablasphemous elevation of humanity. ButJesus did so because the person challeng-ing him was a Pharisee, one who had dedicated his life to following all 613 lawsin the Torah, but who had forgotten aboutcaring for others in the process. In otherwords, in his zeal to express his love ofGod, he failed to love people. And in doingso, he actually failed to truly love God.One cannot love God but fail to love thepeople he created. That doesn’t requireunconditional agreement or affirmationwith everything a person believes or does.But it does entail compassion for thatperson. That love has motivatedChristians historically. Paul Lee Tan


expressed that “a Christian is a mindthrough which Christ thinks, a heartthrough which Christ loves, a mouththrough which Christ speaks, a handthrough which Christ helps.”14 In the daysof the Roman Empire, both before andafter Emperor Constantine’s conversion,Christians founded hospitals to care forall the people who needed help. And itwas Christians, suffering under tremen-dous persecution in the Roman Empire,who aided the Roman pagans and boundtheir wounds nevertheless. As DavidBentley Hart explains, “Even the [pagan] emperor Julian, who was all tooconscious of the hypocrisies of whichChristians are capable, was forced tolament, in a letter to a pagan priest, ‘It is adisgrace that these impious Galileans carenot only for their own poor but for ours aswell.’”15 From the second century throughthe fourteenth and beyond, Christiansrushed into plague-infected areas to aidthe sick and dying while others fled,sometimes dying from the plague them-selves. It was Christians who led thecharge in England and the United Statesto end the vile slave trade.

Mark Twain is credited as saying,“History doesn’t repeat, but it sure doesrhyme.” Today, although there are goodsecular and non-Christian organizationsmaking a difference, Christians often stilllead the way. From starting universitieslike Harvard, Oxford, and others tofounding hospitals, to caring for the sickin Ebola-stricken West Africa only to con-tract Ebola themselves, those Christianswhose actions are consistent with theirwords are helping to change the hearts ofthe very people who once opposed them.The coupling of wise words and wiseactions doesn’t just get things done, itgets things— and people—changed.Matthew Parris, the well-known atheist,describes how the gospel message out-paces secular efforts to change the des-perate situation in his African homeland.

In an article entitled “As an Atheist, ITruly Believe Africa Needs God,” Parriswrote that secular “education and trainingalone will not do. In Africa, Christianitychanges people’s hearts. It brings a spiri-tual transformation. The rebirth is real.The change is good.”16

Pause for a moment on the paradox-ical depth of Parris’s carefully chosenwords. He’s saying the Christian messagehas made the difference in Africa. Thatmessage is at once about the depravity ofevery human heart and the dignity ofevery human being. History indeed hasrhymed. And when the gospel is the cen-tral chorus, the melody can be beautiful.

WEARING THE TRUTH AS A COATAnd so we return to Jakob and Cimmer-man. Jakob had tried to share the gospelwith Cimmerman, and Cimmerman resisted by pointing out that the corruptchurch leaders wore their fancy clothesand holy garments to conceal the filthinessof their hearts.

Jakob posed a question to theembittered Cimmerman. He askedCimmerman to suppose that someonehad stolen his coat and boots and thenrobbed someone. What wouldCimmerman say when the authoritiescame to arrest him as the misidentifiedperpetrator because the robber wore hisstolen coat? Obviously, he would say thatsomeone had stolen his coat, pretendingto be him. Still unmoved, Cimmermanreplied, “I do not believe in the name ofyour God.”

In the ensuing year, Jakob cultivateda friendship with Cimmerman. Cracksformed in Cimmerman’s stony veneer. He not only heard Jakob’s words but sawhis temperament and benefited from his kindness. One day, looking at hisfriend through tearful eyes, Cimmermanexpressed his newfound love of Jesus. Hetold Jakob, “You wear his coat well.”17

The post-truth Culture of Confusionis angry at Christians and rejects the mes-sage we carry. We must honestly assessour part in perpetuating the confusionand fomenting the anger. Centuries afterSolomon, the apostle Paul wrote thatwhen Christians encounter non-Christians,we are to be wise. “Let your speech alwaysbe gracious, seasoned with salt,” Paul tellsus, “so that you may know how you oughtto answer each person” (Colossians 4:6).Notice that Paul didn’t say that we are toanswer each question, challenge, contro-versy, or political issue. We are to answerpeople. Questions and controversies don’tneed answers. People do.

The confusion and anger swirlingabout can be daunting. But if we haveintegrity and courage, we can change per-ceptions of the church and the gospel itcarries. Integrity is the currency of truth.Courage is its backbone. When we adoptboth, and perhaps only then, can thechurch wear Jesus’ coat well for all to see.

Abdu Murray is North American Directorat Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Adapted from Saving Truth by AbduMurray. Copyright © 2018 by Abdu H.Murray. Used by permission of Zondervan.www.zondervan.com.

1 See Fowler v. Thomas Nelson Publishing, 2009U.S. Dist. Lexis 17245 (E.D. Mich. 2009).

2 My initial response was that it sometimesbugs me that people, especially Christians, area bit too eager to pick at flaws they see in theirlocal churches’ pastors. Any critique shouldbe measured with due respect for what thechurch is doing right. The fact is, being a pas-tor is a much tougher job than it used to be.

3 David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, Good Faith:Being a Christian When Society Thinks You’reIrrelevant and Extreme (Grand Rapids, MI:Baker, 2016), 27.

4 Ibid.5 Ibid.

6 Kinnaman and Lyons, Good Faith, 59, quotingDallas Willard, Knowing Christ Today (NewYork: HarperOne, 2009), 199–200.

7 Marie Chapian, Of Whom the World Was NotWorthy (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1978), 122.

8 Bradley R. E. Wright, Christians Are Hate-FilledHypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told(Bloomington, MN: Bethany House, 2010).

9 For guidance on ethical uses of social media,see Brian Wassom, What Would Jesus Post?(Nashville: Westbow, 2013).

10 Ed Stetzer, “Christians, Repent (Yes, Repent)of Spreading Conspiracy Theories and FakeNews — It’s Bearing False Witness,”Christianity Today Online, May 31, 2017,www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2017/may/christians-repent-conspiracy-theory-fake-news.html.

11 Mary Rich and Joel Rich, “We’re Seth Rich’sParents: Stop Politicizing Our Son’s Murder,”Washington Post, May 23, 2017, www.wash-ingtonpost.com/opinions/were-seth-richs-parents-stop-politicizing-our-sons-murder/2017/05/23/164cf4dc-3fee-11e7–9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.21f23f46aec9.

12 Adam Clarke, Memoirs of the Wesley Family(London: J. Kershaw, 1823), 270 (emphasismine).

13 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (San Francisco:HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 118.

14 Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX:Bible Communications, 1996).

15 David Bentley Hart, quoting Julian, Epistle22, Atheist Delusions: The ChristianRevolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (NewHaven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 45.

16 Matthew Parris, “As an Atheist, I TrulyBelieve Africa Needs God,” December 27,2008, www.thetimes.co.uk/article/as-an-atheist-i-truly-believe-africa-needs-god-3xj9bm80h8m (emphasis mine).

17 Chapian, Of Whom the World Was NotWorthy, 123.


Vincenzo Ricardo. If that name does notmean much to you, you are not alone. Itdoes not seem to have meant much toanyone else except, perhaps, him whobore it. In fact it was not even his name.His real name was Vincenzo Riccardi, andnobody seemed to get it right after thesensational discovery of his mummifiedbody in Southampton, New York. He hadbeen dead for thirteen months, but histelevision was still on, and his body waspropped up in a chair in front of it.1 Thetelevision was his only companion, andthough it had much to tell him, it did not care whether he lived or died.

Riccardi’s story raises many unset-tling questions. How can a human beingvanish for over a year and not be missedby anyone? Where was his family? Whatabout his relatives? Why was the powerstill on in his house? Whatever theanswers are to these and other questions,one thing is clear: Riccardi was a lonelyindividual whose life can be summed up in one word, alienation.

You see, Riccardi was blind, so henever really watched television; he neededthis virtual reality to feed his need for

By John Njoroge

A CRY FOR HELPUntil we are properly

related to God, our trueidentity and potential

will always elude us. Novirtual reality or gadget

can even begin to addressthe problem, for they

only give back to us whatwe have put into them.



real companionship. Moreover, his violentoutbursts and paranoid behavior mayhave played a role in driving people awayfrom him.2

This is indeed a tragic and extremetale, but it makes a powerful statementabout how cold and lonely life can be formany across the globe. Even those whoseem to have it all are not immune to thepangs of loneliness and alienation. TheChristian story attests that alienationaffects us at three different levels. We arealienated from ourselves, from others,and most significantly, we are alienatedfrom God. That is the reality in which weexist. The restoration process involves allthree dimensions, but it begins with aproper relationship with God. We cannotget along with ourselves or with othersuntil we are properly related to God. Thegood news of the Christian gospel is thatabundant restoration is available to allwho want it.

This process is well illustrated in anencounter Jesus had with another deeplywounded man who lived in a cemetery(see Mark 5: 1-20). Relatives, and perhapsfriends, had tried unsuccessfully to bindhim with iron chains to keep him home.He preferred to live among the tombs(alienation from others), cutting himselfwith stones, his identity concealed in hisnew name: “Legion” (alienation fromself ). His mind and body were hopelesslyenslaved by Satan’s agents, and his lifewas no longer his own (alienation fromGod). It took an encounter with Jesus forthe man to be fully restored, “dressed andin his right mind” (verse 15). Only thencould he follow Jesus’s command to goback to his family and tell them what Godhad done for him.

The restoration process remains thesame today. Until we are properly relatedto God, our true identity and potentialwill always elude us. No virtual reality orgadget can even begin to address theproblem, for they only give back to us

what we have put into them. They are likethe message in a bottle which a castawayon a remote island excitedly received,only to realize that it was a cry for helpthat he himself had sent out monthsbefore. As Augustine prayed, “You havemade us for Yourself, and our hearts arerestless until they find their rest in You.”We are finite creatures, created for a rela-tionship with an Infinite Being, and nofinite substitute can ever meet our deep-est needs. Trying to meet our real needswithout Christ is like trying to satisfy ourthirst with salty water: the more we drink,the thirstier we become. This is a surepath to various sorts of addictions.

But when we turn toward the Breadof Life who offers himself up, calling eachone of us to the table by name, lonelinessis countered with the hope of embrace.We become members of God’s extendedfamily. With Abraham, we look “forwardto the city with foundations whose archi-tect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10).Day by day, we learn to trust God as wetravel with others along a heavily troddenpath that never disappoints. Friends andrelatives may desert us, but we are neveralone. We may grieve and lament, butnever like those without hope. We havepeace and joy within, and even in our ownhour of need, others can still find theirway to God through us. The alternative is a crippling sense of isolation and alien-ation within a worldly system whoseofferings, however sophisticated andwell-intentioned, can never arouse usfrom spiritual death.

John Njoroge is a member of the speakingteam at Ravi Zacharias InternationalMinistries in Nairobi, Kenya.

1 Erika Hayasaki, “He Died in Vast Isolation,”Los Angeles Times (March 31, 2007), online athttp://articles.latimes.com/2007/mar/31/nation/na-alone31.

2 Ibid.


PERCHED ABOVE THE altar in St. Mark’sBasilica in Venice hang the CiboriumColumns.1 Its artist is unknown. Constructedin the early 1300s from alabaster, thecolumns hold numerous carvings depictingvarious stories, among them, the life ofJesus. There are so many stories—108 infact—that one can easily lose track of allthat is displayed.

On one particular panel, apparently,Jesus talks to Zacchaeus, who reaches out

of some tree branches to participate inwhat must have been a truly entertainingconversation. After all, this conversationwith Jesus resulted in a divine home-visit,a meal, and a turnaround in Zacchaeus’slife profound enough to warrant itsrecording and retelling by Doctor Luke(see Luke 19:1-10). Over the last 25 years,I’ve seen the Ciborium Columns and, presumably, this panel a few times. But Iremember nothing about it.

THE FORGETTABLEPOWER OF EMPATHY

By Lowe Finney

©2018 KEN ORVIDAS


Some of us remember the story ofZacchaeus for various reasons describedto us as young children in song and story.He was a “wee little man.” He climbed upin a sycamore tree. He was a despised taxcollector.

But like this work of art, is there alsoa piece of this story that is forgettable?

Maybe we have forgotten that thestory of Zacchaeus is a story about thehuman heart. Here, it is easy to overlook thefact that Zacchaeus’s heart was changedbecause Jesus intentionally engagedZacchaeus where Zacchaeus was. Jesus didnot have to do this in the way described inthe story. As God, he could have had thesame result by simply waving his hand andleaving Zacchaeus in the tree. He couldhave gone to Zacchaeus’s office and confronted him in the midst of cheating apoor resident of Jerusalem. He could haverevealed himself to Zacchaeus in a vision.Jesus had an infinite number of ways tomake himself known, and arguably, each ofthese ways could have resulted in the changein Zacchaeus’s life.

So why interact with the corrupt Jewishofficial in this earthy, tedious, personalfashion? Too bad the Ciborium Columnsare not helpful here.

In her book The Empathy Exams,Leslie Jamison describes her time as a“medical actor” as she role-played differ-ent patients for the benefit of medicalschool students.2 Following the exchanges,Jamison documents how the medical stu-dent performed and to what extent thestudent was able to empathize with the“patient.” She points out that the studentswere not expected simply to possess anattitude of concern for the patient but thatthe student was expected to appropriatelygive life to that concern and, hence, make itevident in the heart of the patient.3 Withinthis setting, Jamison describes empathy:

Empathy isn’t just something thathappens to us—a meteor shower of

synapses firing across the brain—it’s also a choice we make: to payattention, to extend ourselves. It’smade of exertion, that dowdiercousin of impulse. Sometimes wecare for another because we know weshould, or because it’s asked for, butthis doesn’t make our caring hollow.The act of choosing simply meanswe’ve committed ourselves to a set of behaviors greater than the sum of our individual inclinations: I willlisten to his sadness, even when I’mdeep in my own.4

And so the point of Zacchaeus’s storycomes into focus: empathy. Empathy isabout choosing a common vantage pointand an intentionally shared perspective.Jesus knew that prior to any change in theheart of Zacchaeus, he needed to confront thedespised tax collector. But his confrontationdid not come in a confrontational manner.It came as an invitation. He had to getclose without encroaching. He had toreveal himself in a way that would spurZacchaeus to decide for himself that hewanted to follow this non-traditional king.Jesus didn’t just go eat with Zacchaeus toshare a meal. He went because it wasimportant that Zacchaeus see Jesus eatingin Zacchaeus’s home. Zacchaeus needed tosee Jesus seeing Zacchaeus’s world asZacchaeus himself saw it. Zacchaeus neededto see Jesus choosing to see and stay withZacchaeus. This is the whole point ofempathy. Not just that it’s done, but thatthe other person sees and experiencesanother’s kind regard of them, another’seffort to try on the same pair of shoes.

So what was the effect of Jesus coming to Zacchaeus? In Zacchaeus’s eyes, Jesus is now cloaked in a robe ofundeniable credibility. His view of life hasnow, to his eyes, been honored, and this inturn opens him to desire living a changedlife. Instead of taking, Zacchaeus begangiving. Instead of cheating, he restored


abundantly. As Luke records, “Zacchaeusstood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord!Here and now I give half of my possessionsto the poor, and if I have cheated anybodyout of anything, I will pay back four timesthe amount’” (verse 8).

Empathy—the choice to sit and payattention—was the door through whichChrist walked into Zacchaeus’s life. Havewe forgotten this crucial detail?

Even at a time when “ChooseEmpathy” shirts adorn those striving forsocial change and in an age where interac-tion is based increasingly on technologicalmeans and remote interface, there is yet anever-present challenge to engage person-ally and across the boundaries of culture,race, status, or tribe. Empathy reminds usthat we need to be old-fashioned in ourrelationships. It is the ultimate first step inour understanding of and love for others.It requires effort. It requires more thansimply saying, “That’s too bad” or “I feelfor you” or “I feel your pain.” It demandsextending ourselves.

Jesus routinely modeled this kind ofempathy by pushing his listeners into theplace of the “other.” He positioned hisministry so as to show that others do morethan simply open our eyes to their problems.They can open our hearts to what it meansto be forgotten, hurt, and crushed, andlikewise, accepted, forgiven, and healed—and thereby prompted to go out as achanged community.

Jesus declared (in what is now knownas the Golden Rule), “Do to others as youwould have them do to you.”5 The Judeo-Christian worldview is unique in its abilityto explain why empathy matters, forempathy is the response to the recognitionthat another person has inherent worth.

The British theologian RichardBauckham writes:

God’s approbation and appreciationof every part of his creation are conveyed by the refrain, repeated at

each stage of creation: “God saw thatit was good.” This indicates that eachpart of creation has its own valuethat does not depend for its value on other parts.6

Did you catch that? Any other frame-work for assessing the worth of another—for example, utility or power—is dismissed.Rather, the created thing simply inhabitingthose characteristics endowed by its creatorgives the creation its self-contained value.

God made it able, and it was good?Not quite. God made it useful, and it wasgood? Wrong again. God created it, and itwas good. Yes!

Sensing and understanding thisindwelling, objective value—the veryimage of God in each of us—leaves us littleoption but to peer into another person’scontext and join them in their journey.

And so Zacchaeus’s alabaster facebeckons from the top of the altar to lookpast the tree and into a life. Even the bestart cannot completely convey the need andcertainly cannot fully extend the balm. Jesus,however, by going, entering, sitting with,and listening to, does both. Lest we forget.

Lowe Finney is a member of the speakingteam at RZIM.

1 The ciborium columns stand at the center ofthe presbytery of Basilica di San Marco, SanMarco, Venice. There are 108 with one ormore figures representing the life of Mary and the life and passion of Jesus Christ. For further information, seehttp://www.basilicasanmarco.it/basilica/scultura/le-colonne-del-ciborio/?lang=en.

2 Leslie Jamison, The Empathy Exams(Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2014).3 Ibid., 3.4 Ibid., 23.5 See Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31.6 Richard Bauckham, The Bible in theContemporary World: Hermeneutical Ventures (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), 82.


By Ravi Zacharias

THINKAGAIN

YOU MAY RECALL me telling the story ofbeing in a country some years ago where Iwas introduced to a man who had a dailyhabit of taking his little boy up a hill. Theman would point over the border and tellhis son, “Your duty in life is to kill as manyof them on the other side as you can.”

Even today it is hard for me to com-prehend this. Tragically, this man couldnever shut the gate on the past. And so hedragged the heavy carcass of historicalprejudice and draped that corpse over theshoulders of the next generation as areminder to continue the carnage.

Sadly, we discover the seeds of hateand separation in the opening pages ofScripture and within the very first family.Incredibly, the first murder in the Bibledid not occur because of two irreconcilablepolitical theories. The murder of a man by

his own brother was an act unmistakablyborne out of their differing responses toGod! Trapped by the temporal, Cain wasdeluded by the belief that he could vanquishspiritual reality with brute force. God sawthe inevitable result of the jealousy andhatred deep within Cain’s heart, and in achallenge that would determine his des-tiny, warned him to deal with it. “If you dowhat is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin iscrouching at the door; it desires to haveyou, but you must master it” (Genesis 4:7).

Tragically, Cain ignored God’s words,and taking matters into his own hands, hekilled his brother Abel.

As extreme as these life experiencesmay sound, who of us has not struggledwith anger, forgiveness, and pride? Yet weare called as followers of Christ to love our

TRAVIS GITTHENS

No Longer Bound


neighbors as ourselves and to “Be kind toone another, tenderhearted, forgiving oneanother, as God in Christ forgave you”(Ephesians 4:32). Why? Because Scripturetells us that every life is valuable to God:“For you created my inmost being; youknit me together in my mother’s womb,”uttered the psalmist David. “I praise youbecause I am fearfully and wonderfullymade” (Psalm 139: 13-14).

At its core life is sacred and of ines-timable value, whether it is the life of adarling child in the fresh blossom of child-hood, or the life of an elderly, weak, and frailrecluse. We are each made in God’s sacredimage. Think of this truth! That is whymurder is described in Scripture for whatit is: an attack upon God’s image. That isalso why we are told, “Everyone who hateshis brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15).Murder and even hateful words areattempts to destroy God’s image in anoth-er and to deny one’s value and spiritualessence. It is that essence which gives usour dignity and our worth. It is thatessence which is our glory and true home.

I find it quite remarkable that Jesusdid not specifically address some of thepressing social issues of his day. Rather, he went to the heart of what separates us from God and what transforms: we are sinners in need of God’s cleansing forgiveness and restoration.

The truth is, we desperately need aSavior, every one of us, whatever our pastand whatever our present. We need a Godwho not only changes what we do, butwhat we want to do. Scripture promisesthat “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold,the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

No longer are we bound by chains of thepast, never to shut the gate. Rather, if weare in Christ, we are filled with God’s Spirit and “the fruit of the Spirit is love,joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”(Galatians 5:22-23).

What a hope and what a promise!

Warm Regards,

Ravi

For more information or to make a contribution, please contact:

Ravi Zacharias International Ministries3755 Mansell Road Alpharetta, Georgia 30022

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