Ravi Zacharias: Another Fallen Christian Idol

The Work of Separating the Message from the Messenger

“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” my German grandmother frequently instructed me. It is a saying many of us are familiar with, and I never gave it much thought. But over the years, I had relied on this idiom countless times to enable me to hold on tight to the truth of a message — especially when someone I adored did not walk their talk.

Wikipedia explains,

“Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater” is an idiomatic expression for an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad, or in other words, rejecting the favorable along with the unfavorable. This idiom derives from a German proverb, das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten. The earliest record of this phrase is in 1512.

Last week, an article in the Washington Post grabbed my attention. The headline read, Evangelist Ravi Zacharias engaged in sexual misconduct, report says.

Ravi Zacharias, a towering Indian American evangelist who helped legions worldwide believe in Christianity through a ministry focused on open questioning and truth-seeking, led a double life, pressuring multiple massage therapists for sexual attention — including women who accused him of sexual aggression and one who accused him of rape, according to an independent report released Thursday

In my mind, Ravi Zacharias immediately became the bathwater, and the message he preached was the baby. I am not the final judge and jury of this most unholy man, but it is my business to discern Zacharias (the messenger) from the message of good Christian theology, which he excelled in.

Unfortunately, this gives potent ammunition for many to point their finger at a religion corrupted by a leader’s hypocrisy. And that is the sad irony. Christian apologetics is a branch of Christian theology that defends Christianity against objections. And now Ravi Zacharias has fueled the fire for another powerful complaint against the Christian faith with his nefarious behavior.

That is how I attacked the Christian faith before I became a Christian. And it was Ravi’s words that helped me see the logic in a very confusing religion. He was not afraid to field the hard questions thrown at him from a very skeptical post-modern culture.

With his superb critical thinking and intelligence, I and many like myself could believe in the Jesus of the Bible without looking like a brain-washed idiot.

I am not an avid follower of him like some, and my heart goes out to all of them. He has forever tarnished his legacy. The cruel assault on several women and victimization of God’s family, will take years to heal.

As for me, I continue to recall that he was just the messenger, the dirty bathwater. Holding on tight to the message, the baby, the Christ, I am both grieved and grateful.