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Know more about Dr. Ravi Zacharias. |
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A guide by Kendal B. Hunter (Provo, UT United States)
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“AND YOUR POINT IS?” Dr. Ravi Zacharias is a gem. He is one of these gifted thinkers that can also touch the heart in addition to reaching the mind. Mind you, he is not a dry logician, but is rather engaging. Unlike most public speaker executive types, he has a very good feel for humor, especially in illustrating the truth. He comes in a long line of Christian thinkers. I realize that the Honorable Governor Jesse Venture thinks that such a thing is an oxymoron. But we are neither ox nor moron, and there is an easy way to verify his statement, namely read a good Christian apologist and judge on your own. “IN THE BEGINNING . . .” A Shattered Visage: The Real Face of Atheism  is Dr. Zacharias’s first book. It is not his best book, since his ideas are still in embryo, but even then, an acorn will eventually become an oak tree. It is Dr. Zacharias’s “Q” document, the source for all his other books. It is not as bad as some of the reviews have made it out to be, and, indeed, it is a great guide map for Dr. Zacharias’s ideas, and his other books.He covers all of his main talking points in this book, such as the ravages of Nietzsche, the problem of pain, the problem of death, and the ways in which Christianity deals with these problems. Par of the problem with Dr. Zacharias’s approach is that it involves thinking and facts, which most people tend to keep at arms distance. However, there are certain people whose reason resonates with reasoning, so I encourage Dr. Zacharias in these areas. After all, we are told not to judge. “SECOND THINGS SECOND.” Can Man Live without God is Dr. Zacharias’s sophomore book, and probably his best . . . so far. It is an intellectual tour de force of the history and implications of the current antitheism that is all the rage at universities. I marked my copy to such a degree that it looks like a coloring book. Every sentence is a thought-gem.Dr. Zacharias holds atheism up to the mirror of Christ, and then we see the shattered visage. The idea of Christ, like atheism, has severe and far-reaching implications. Let’s be honest, if the tomb WAS really empty doesn’t that turn everything upside down, from the Enron debacle to how we drive on the freeway? Dr. Zacharias explores the implications of Christ on humanity. “INTO HEART OF DARKNESS” Deliver Us From Evil is Dr. Zacharias’s third book, and it deals not with mere philosophy, but it is a voyage straight into the heart of darkness. That isn’t tragedy in the air, but it is pure evil. You read the newspapers, and Dr. Zacharias wrestles with the issues manfully. He has some sharp criticisms for Christians, especially pastors, who have abandoned their duties, and therefore, are accessories to today’s crimes.By the way, Chapter 2 begins with a story about two married Christian medical students who, when the wife was unexpectedly pregnant, decided to perform an abortion at home, and accidentally killed the wife with too much anesthetic. The story still scratches across my soul. It is that level of evil that Dr. Zacharias deals with in this book. “OUT OF THE HEART OF DARKNESS” Book four, Cries Of The Heart takes a more personal approach to the existential malaise that is miring the world. He deals considerably with pain and suffering. Yet he asks a profound question, “If it is right, why do I feel so bad.”He has an appendix devoted specifically to Job, who is history’s test case in the study of pain. He makes the point that there is a necessary opposition in the world. It allows evil which enables us to understand the good to a sharper degree. Above it all is the Cross of Christ. “A SORT OF HOMECOMING” DR. Zacharias hails from India, and he makes an intellectual journey home with books five Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims Of The Christian Message . He puts Christ (not Christianity, mind you) in the areas with Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Joseph Smith once said that by contrarieties, truth is manifest, or in other words, we need a comparison to see how things are the same and different. We believe God is good, but that idea only becomes meaningful when we compare God to Loki, Thor, Zeus, Hermes, or whatnot.This book is a very respectful book, and it conveys Dr. Zacharias’s quite and gentle voice as he underscores what makes Christianity so special. Please keep in mind that I, too, am not a member of Dr. Zacharias’s denomination, but I respect his mind and ideas. “SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW” B. H. Roberts was described as only being able to think in book lengths, and Dr. Zacharias has a similar affliction. His six brainchild The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha , therefore, is special, since it is a small, easy read book, digestible in one setting. It is a hypothetical trialogue between Jesus, Buddha and a young prostitute dying of AIDS.One again, Dr. Zacharias goes into the heat of things and to the heart of the matter, getting a lot of intellectual dirt under the fingernails of his mind. Rough philosophizing like this is not an academic plaything, but hits us where the rubber meets the road. “9/11” In response to the 9/11 attacks, Dr. Zacharias has written a small, but powerful book, Light in the Shadow of Jihad: The Struggle for Truth . It deals with philosophical implications of the attack, discusses the surge of radical Islam, and where God was during the attack.I’m still digesting the book, still weighing the ideas and thought that Dr. Zacharias had put into the book. I love his mind, and recommend this book for anyone who wonders. “SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN” Dr. Zacharias has two children’s books, The Merchant and the Thief: A Folktale of Godly Wisdom The Broken Promise. I haven’t read them, so no comment.GOOD AND EVIL/CHARMING AND BOARING Dr. Zacharias continues his "Great Converstaions" series with Sense and Sensuality: Jesus Talks to Oscar Wilde on the Pursuit of Pleasure (Great Conversations Series) a tialogue of Jesus, Oscar Wilde, and Rene Descartes. Descartes serves as the Savior's "Second" in the discussion, and serves the same role that George MacDonald sereves in C. S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce."This book is livelyer than "The Lotus and the Cross," due to Oscar Wilde's wiit and silvertongue. Inadvertantly, Dr. Z underscores the limits of humor, in addition to the laws and principles undergirtding pleasure. That is a novel idea to people--pleasue is not like a pie-eating contest, but more like a fine banquet, with the appetizer, main course, and dessert. “BROTHERHOOD OF THE BRAIN” God gave us mind to worship him, and if you liked these books, then I recommend: Mere Christianity The Abolition of Man C.S. Lewis for the Third Millennium : Six Essays on the Abolition of Man A Summa of the Summa Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy “SO WHAT’S A GOOD MORMON BOY LIKE YOU WRITING A REVIEW LIKE THIS?” As I mentioned, I am Protestant, and am not of Dr. Zacharias’s denomination, but I am a Christian and am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and our foundation text is The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Official Edition) , which is the book you have heard about but have never read.This list is more of a tribute to good thinking about religious things. There is a dearth of religion and a dearth of thinking, and I wonder if there is a connection between the two. Socrates said that wonder was the beginning of philosophy (Theaetetus 155d), and wonder can be the first inkling of religion. I hope we can increase thought and religion in the world. |
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| “IN THE BEGINNING . . .” | |||||
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| “SECOND THINGS SECOND.” | |||||
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| “INTO HEART OF DARKNESS” | |||||
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| “OUT OF THE HEART OF DARKNESS” | |||||
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| “A SORT OF HOMECOMING” | |||||
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| “SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW” | |||||
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| “9/11” | |||||
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| “SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN” | |||||
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| GOOD AND EVIL/CHARMING AND BOARING | |||||
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| “BROTHERHOOD OF THE BRAIN | |||||
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| “SO WHAT’S A GOOD MORMON BOY LIKE YOU WRITING A REVIEW LIKE THIS?” | |||||
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