Posted on 05/29/2020 8:12:50 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Hospitalized after surviving a suicide attempt, someone gave seventeen-year-old Ravi Zacharias a Bible. Never having really looked at one, he started reading. He came upon these words: “Because I live, you also will live.” John 14:19. It changed his suicidal life and then it helped change the lives of millions of others.
My dad had recently died, then soon after I was dealing with cancer, and plenty of financial concerns. I asked God, “Why?” It was such a challenging time. Then I found someone who could answer “why” with Biblical wisdom—Ravi Zacharias.
Ravi spent much of his career answering tough questions from those wondering about a God who didn’t seem to care about evil, destruction, death, and disease. With Biblical accuracy, Ravi answered questions with calm assurance.
But mean-spirited questions, from those who denied God’s existence, never phased Ravi. He never used his keen intellect to demean others. Ravi often said that behind the question, is the questioner. Ravi always responded respectfully. One time a college student asked why God had allowed his mom to die of cancer. Ravi sympathetically said that cancer was just one more example of the broken world in which we live and die. And cancer didn’t spare Ravi either—a rare form took his life far too soon.
I will miss him. Ravi had such respect for people. It didn’t matter what they believed. He welcomed discussions. Yet, he never wavered in his own faith in Jesus. “We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right.”
Perhaps what made Ravi so authentic was his genuine love. In a world with many broken relationships, his view on love was this: “Love is hard work. It is the hardest work I know of, work from which you are never entitled to take a vacation.”
It’s so easy to be caustic in divisive times. What’s hard is to show what Ravi did so often in the heat of a debate—calmness. His well-chosen words never belittled the questioner and it revealed that he cared about them. “Respect for the right of another to be wrong does not mean the wrong is right.” Ravi never wavered in his faith—even if some never understood it.
As we lose great people of faith, it seems the void will never be filled. But Ravi left some final words to encourage us all in our journey, “Beginning well is a momentary thing; finishing well is a lifelong thing.” Ravi Zacharias finished very well—Heaven’s gain.
I loved that man!
I have always tried to maintain that kind of respectful irenic approach to Christian Apologetics. It is not always easy, and sometimes I slip up and can be sarcastic when attacked.
Ravi Zacharias has been an inspiration for me.
Ravi Zacharias memorial....live now....VP Pence speaking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZxZG9nkC0&feature=youtu.be
I would love to hear what he had to say about that.
To Finish Well.
.
Words to Live by.
Same here,
I’m a Super Sarc.
Y’all may have noticed.
My personal take on that is that The Holy Spirit spoke to him THROUGH that particular Scripture.
That has happened to me a number of times, and when I try to explain it to others, I don’t always have the words.
Maybe there is a book or video that explains it, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look, as he has so much material out there.
LOL...I hear you, FRiend! :-)
I always understood those words to mean that the Resurrection is the lynchpin of the Gospel. Christianity stands or falls on it. Without it, the Faith -like so many other cults - is just a bunch of platitudes. No matter how beautiful the platitudes may be, they are still just fairy tales. But the Risen Christ - and his influence on the modern world through the Holy Spirit - convicted Ravi’s heart.
“Thru Him
We Live!
“””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””
Thank you for asking as it caused my to do a quick search and I think I have an idea of what he meant after watching this brief video.
I think the final word ‘live’ is meant by Ravi to mean not to just exist, but to thrive with a purpose. I recently heard a message that at some point mentioned that God had greatness in mind for everyone. Through his suicide attempt, Ravi found the greatness God saw in him and then lived to fulfill it. And indeed he did!
Acts17:8
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