Synopsis: In this brilliant and compelling defense of the Christian
faith, Ravi Zacharias shows how affirming the reality of God's existence
matters urgently in our everyday lives. According to Zacharias, how you answer
the questions of God's existence will impact your relationship with others,
your commitment to integrity, your attitude toward morality, and your
perception of truth. (from the online description)Review: Ravi Zacharias is perhaps the foremost Christian apologetics of the current age. This book is a written transcript, edited for readability, of his many lectures on the nature of Christianity. Zacharias's work is intellectual, but accessible to someone who isn't well studied in philosophy or ethics. While he tends to wander, and it may take him a few chapters to get to his original point, but every paragraph is worth reading. He moves the reader through a philosophical look at some of the questions against Christianity and how to logically counter those questions.
But rather than expound on the details, I’ve included a collection of my favorite quotes from the book:
“Antitheism provides every reason to be immoral and is
bereft of any objective point of reference with which to condemn any choice. “
pg 32
“If life itself is purposeless, ethics falls into disarray.
As Dostoevsky said, if God is dead everything is justifiable.” Pg. 39
“That scrutiny in search of truth is demanded before one
submits to the claims of any religion.
But here is the point: Why is that same scrutiny not given to the thinking that
directs a life lived without God? In short, where is antitheism when it hurts?”
Pg. 50
I say to you with emphasis that the older you get, the more
it takes to fill our heart with wonder, and only God is big enough to do that.”
Pg. 89
The answer is both subtle and daring. The fundamental
problem Jesus was exposing to Pilate and to the world is not the paucy of
available truth; it is more often the hypocrisy of our search. Truthfulness in
the heart, said Jesus, precedes truth in the objective realm. Intent is prior
to content. The most provocative statement Jesus made during that penetrating
conversation was that the truthfulness or falsity of an individual’s heart was revealed
by that person’s response to Him. The implication was uncompromising. He was,
and is, the truth. What you do with Him reveals more about you than it does
about Him.” Pg. 98
“Realistically, what passes for love today would be more
aptly described as self-gratification or indulgence.” Pg. 105
“Once true love is
understood, the world is opened up to a heartwarming truth. Love and sacrifice
go together, and in the spending of love is the enriching of the spirit. The
more one consumes love selfishly, the more wretched and impoverished one
becomes.” Pg. 107
“D.H. Lawrence was right when he said the deepest hunger of
the human heart goes beyond love – Jesus called that “beyond” worship. And
Wolfe was right: there is that sense of cosmic loneliness apart from God. Jesus
said, “I have come that you may have life, and that you may have it more
abundantly” (John 10: 10 NKJV). In Christ that loneliness is conquered as the
hungers of the human heart are met and the struggles of the intellect are
answered.” Pg. 112
“It is absolutely imperative to understand that when an
antagonist of the Christian faith poses a question of the Christian, he or she
must, in turn, be willing first to justify the questions within the context of
his or her own presuppositions. Second, he or she must also answer the question
on the basis of those presuppositions. In other words, the questioner is also
obliged to answer the same question. An attitude that says, “You can’t answer
my question, and therefore I can believe whatever I want to believe, “ is
intellectual hypocrisy.” Pg. 126
Bookmarks: 7 of 10
Awards: None
ISBN: 0-8499-3943-7
Year Published: 1994
Date Finished: 10-7-2016
Pages: 219
