Posted on 05/19/2020 7:07:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Now that all Americans have seen the choice of what American is to remain, a Christian based civil society or the crime infested City-states where none are safe from evil, this voice in the wilderness will be sadly missed.
Take note, lost and dying world, at the picture of Ravi with his wife. Look full into his eyes and ask yourself, “Does this look like the face of one fearing death, or of one heading toward something far better?”
His testimony, for me, will always be what he said about salvation in Christ, “Christ did not come to make bad people good, but to make dead people live.” And, so, he heads off to enter into the “joy of the Lord”, to see Him face to face, to know the true meaning of what it means to live (”for to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”)
Looking forward to meeting you in glory, Brother Ravi!
What a great loss, but he’s now with the Savior he loved and served.
To live is Christ, to die is gain.
Someone above asked if "theologian" was the same thing as "apologist". I think the answer is "sometimes and sort of". One of the greatest Christian theologians in history was St. Thomas Aquinas, and most of his works could be categorized as "apologetics," because they are specifically interested in defending the faith against various objections.
In fact, they're structured according to a particular method: State the objection(s) ("It is said that ..."), state the teaching ("But I say that ..."), then refute the objections individually.
There are theologians who don't really fit the bill as apologists, and there are theologians who look down their noses at apologists as well.
What a beautiful gift to the church the Lord gave us.
Thank you for posting this sad but at the same time sobering news. Ravi Zacharias was one of Jesus’s warriors, as attested by the efforts the ‘other side’ took to try and discredit him. Thanks be to God, Ravi is home now, soon to return with Christ to receive his glorified body for eternal living.
Incredible man indeed.
Apologist or Apologetic?
You may ignore this comment!
(Forgive me but I am a language maven above all else, going so far as to miss the whole point of discussion by tracking some term of expression. If I seem to claim authority, I don’t mean to. I relate my observations and beg correction and contradiction. I am descriptivist, and not prescriptivist, and heaven forfend, one must never be proscriptivist! When you correct, please include the reasoning with my many thanks.)
English having so much vocabulary, any word can become attached to narrow connotation. One comment suggested, “I have nothing to apologize for.” Quickly someone corrected, but gradually fewer people correct and the usage change takes hold.
In current usage, please correct me, an “apologist” is one who speaks in defense of anything in a controversy. An “apologetic” is one who specializes in all aspects of the field of Christian apologetics. “Apologetic” as a noun in this sense is not in the dictionary yet. My Webster’s connects “apologetic” as a singular to the term “apologetics”. “Apologist” is still the correct term, but in fundamentalist or evangelical lingo, whether you say, “Ravi Zacharias, the Christian apologetic, has passed away” or “the Christian apologist”, you will probably not be corrected either way.
Google results showed an example from Twitter of “Ravi Zacharias, Christian Apologetic” and all others were “...Apologist” On that Twitter feed, “apologetic” used in this sense was routine but there was one correction, “I think we should speak the truth courageously and not be so apologetic.” This was largely ignored. One tweet praising Ravi played on the definition, “We need a Christian apologetic that is heard and seen.”
We would not use the verb “apologize” for making the argument, since other verbs more clearly specify the nature of the defense, e.g. “answer” or “argue” or “defend” etc. We do still use the word “apology” to mean the specific argument. You can argue any argument in your argument argumentatively, but you must never argue any apologetic in your apologetics, apologetically.
Proper apologizing must admit and take responsibility for the wrong.
Fred: “Hey Barney. I wanna apologize to you.”
Barney: “Huh? OK what is it?”
Fred: “Well I’m sorry ya took it wrong about Betty, but ya shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”
Barney: “Errr...dat ain’t no apology Fred.”
Fred: “Dagnabit Barn, I knew there was no point tryin’ to apologize to you!”
So the larger point, without apology I say that Ravi, the exemplary theodicist, was a hero to all Christian apologists, even an excellent apologist for apologetics, whenever someone would scold, “Bless God, just preach the Word!”
He will be missed.
In case you wish to learn more.
Would you be so kind as to see my comment #32?
Thanks for any comment, correction, and contradiction.
To Campion:
Substituting “apologetic” for “apologist” is an example of “noun-ification” or as someone put it “nounifimicalization”, the practice of changing a word to another part of speech, because you don’t know the existing word. The particle suffix “-ic” usually denoting an adjective, can sometimes denote a noun. In illustration I offer my epic, this limerick:
An apologetic from Carraig,
Was known as an angelic cleric,
But he ate only sweets,
So he lost both his feets,
Which happens to some diabetics.
Why do you think this is done?
Why is it OK sometimes but not other times?
Did you correct this time because others had already attempted correction. Any thoughts will be appreciated.
He has entered into eternal rest of the Great Feast. God will raise up others. May we be as faithful in proclaiming God’s truth as Ravi was.
I think that was the same age Adrian Rogers was when he died.
And, like Adrian Rogers, RZ will be teaching the world forever, thanks to technology.
AR continues to reach the world today. Had the fortune to see him in person sereval times.
I like his daughter’s comment:
“Ravi Zacharias, Now With Jesus”
Very similar to the message Oswald Chambers’ wife sent home when he died in Egypt:
“Oswald in His Presence”
Amen
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