Actions and Words
In our culture, sincerity, integrity, and truth itself are quickly becoming scarce. Often, the mere appearance of morality and virtue is what is upheld—regardless of whether we follow through with it or not. This is at odds with the Judeo-Christian ethic upon which Western civilization is founded.
Unfortunately, at our core, we were born selfish beings. Despite our lofty aims, we continuously fall short, which can easily lead to despair. How are we to grapple with the ever-present tug of self-gratification that plagues our psyche?
In the wake of the revelations about Ravi Zacharias (among many others), it is time to examine ourselves, our actions, and what we truly believe.
Like many of you, I was shocked by the recent news about Ravi Zacharias, who had passed away last year in May of 2020 after a short battle with cancer. Here was a man who grew up in a very different cultural background than most of us (he spent his first 20 years in India before immigrating to Canada) and spoke openly about his attempted suicide at age 17. Following his suicide attempt, he embraced Christianity and devoted much of his life to giving lectures and seminars on philosophy and apologetics.
We frequently featured articles from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM) in this newsletter. Many of Ravi’s books adorn my bookshelf. I looked to Ravi as a reliable source of logic and truth, and so did millions of others who read his literature or listened to his lectures.
So I was quite let down when I discovered that Ravi had led a double life. At the time of this writing, RZIM itself had launched an investigation and published a report from a hired law firm on its findings. The evidence was irrefutable: Ravi was indeed a sexual predator who manipulated and exploited countless women.
When I had first heard the accusations many months ago, I didn’t want to believe it. It seemed so unlikely. Ravi appeared to be such a genuine, kind, and intelligent human being. But after reading the report (I will spare you the details—it is easy to find if you wish to read it—RZIM has been very transparent and has posted the report front and center on all their websites and social media), there is no question that those traits were merely appearances—something darker lurked deep inside.
One of the first questions that came to mind upon this discovery was, “Did he even believe the things he said?” The thing about this question is that I think it is not only an important question for someone who held celebrity/leader status such as Ravi, but I think it’s an important question for all of us.
In 2019, clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson was interviewed by Dennis Prager after giving a talk at a PragerU summit. Peterson has made it clear that he is not a theologian and comes from an evolutionary biology background, but he has nonetheless espoused the Biblical stories and the religious experience to be of the utmost importance for guiding humanity. In the interview, Prager asked Peterson a question that had been on many people’s minds: “Do you believe in God?”
Peterson answered thusly: “Who would have the audacity to claim that they believed in God, if they examined the way they lived?” Later on, he elaborated further that he believed faith is:
...to aim at the good with all your heart, to dispense with the malevolence and your desire for destruction and revenge and all of that. [It’s] to face things courageously, and to tell the truth—to speak the truth and to act it out. That’s what it means to believe. That’s what it means! It doesn’t mean to state it. It means to act it out. And unless you act it out, you should be very careful about claiming it. And so I’ve never been comfortable saying anything other than I try to act as if God exists, because God only knows what you’d be if you truly believed.
I am only speaking for myself here, but I tend to agree. What good is our word if we don’t follow through with it? What good are all our public displays of piety, if we’re unable to uphold such virtues with our actions? Without living it out, all our promises, all our moral proclamations, and all our discussions (well-intended or not) are left empty. Does anyone really believe when they say one thing and then do another?
These are difficult issues and questions, but I think the central morality and purpose we claim to guide our lives should be able to stand up to such criticisms. After all, our foundation is to be built upon stone and not sand, right?
Make no mistake—words are important. They are not trivial playthings to be thrown about and forgotten, but they only mean something if we follow through and make good on our speech. Just as our paper money is backed up by gold (or so we’re told), so too should our words be backed up by our actions.
Unsurprisingly, there are many, many passages about speaking the truth and holding firm to it throughout the Bible, as Ravi would have well known. It’s no secret that humanity has struggled with this for thousands of years, as we continue to struggle with it today.
All the lying, cheating, dishonesty, and deception has selfishness at its root—a desire for blatant self-preservation, cruelty, and indulgence that forsakes others and the world around you. Even Ravi himself wrote, “It is the animal who sins.” Despite his terrible flaws, I still find this to be true.
In Colossians, Paul makes his case (as he consistently does elsewhere) that we are to embark upon the great metaphor that is to define our lives: that we are to put to death all the selfish, animal ambitions that have hamstrung the progress of humanity since the beginning. Each new day, as the new sun rises, so too do we rise as new human beings.
Paul writes in Chapter 3:9-10:
Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
I think a lot about this idea of renewal. It’s not always pleasant, but it’s necessary. In a forest, deadwood and brush that has accrued on the forest floor must be burned away periodically if it is to remain healthy. Now obviously you don’t want this dry deadwood to pile up so much that the whole forest burns up, but, to quote Peterson, “a little bit of fire at the right time can stop everything from burning to the ground.”
Likewise, if we are to learn from our mistakes and grow, we have to take part in this regenerative process where we let the dead parts of us burn away.
It’s completely appropriate, then, that God appears to Moses as the opposite of what would be considered normal—a burning bush, but one that is not consumed by the fire. This is wholly consistent with the idea of God as pure truth and pure good, and so when we are confronted with a hard truth, the dead in us—our inadequacies, our conceit, our primal cravings, whatever is being confronted—must burn off in the fire.
Peterson would go on to say that:
It’s self-deception and arrogance to be proud of your insufficiency. That’s a very foolish thing, and that means to cling to the parts of you that are dead.
Again, Paul writes to “put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;” and “to be made new in the attitude of your minds” (Ephesians 4:22-24).
In Romans, he wrote:
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (12:2).
This idea runs completely counter to the idea that is prevalent in our current society that states, “You are ok exactly as you are.” C.S. Lewis wrote, “Jesus Christ did not say, ‘Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.’” Currently, the penultimate virtue in our culture seems to be self-expression, but in a way that perversely exalts our shortcomings. Although (unfortunately) this appears to be nothing new for human history, thankfully there are prominent figures out there who are determined to quell such concepts. Peterson has also said:
You know how the modern idea is that you’re supposed to accept yourself? I think that’s an insane idea, by the way. Really, I can’t think of a more nihilistic idea than that “you’re already ok.” It’s like, no you’re not! And the reason that you’re not is because you could be way more than you are. So what do you want to be? Do you want to be ok as you are, or do you want to strive towards what’s better?”
Of course, no matter how hard we try, we are going to fail many times along the way. But that doesn’t mean we abandon the road. It doesn’t mean that we accept failure—that we are doomed creatures. C.S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity:
Perfect behavior may be as unattainable as perfect gear-changing when we drive; but it is a necessary ideal prescribed for all men by the very nature of the human machine, just as perfect gear-changing is an ideal prescribed for all drivers by the very nature of cars.
He continues:
To be sure, perfect arithmetic is ‘an ideal’; you will certainly make some mistakes in some calculations...[But] it would be idiotic not to try; for every mistake is going to cause you trouble later on.
We are going to stumble while making the journey up such a rocky path. That is just part of the process, but it is still better to push forward than to turn around and go the other way. We have to try, and we have to give it our best, no matter how hard it is. We owe it to God, to the people around us, and to ourselves.
As for Ravi, I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with his books. I still think his writings are great and I fondly recall reading his material, but it will be impossible not to associate it with his actions. I feel very sorry for his family, the people in his organization, and—most importantly—the women who endured his selfish, predatory behavior. I pray for all of them, and I would ask that you do the same.
As for Jordan Peterson, I would encourage you to watch his lecture series The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories. They are free with no ads on YouTube. I have found them very helpful and insightful, and they have inspired me to engage in Bible study (especially the early parts of The Old Testament). But like any teacher or speaker cut from any other cloth, some will like him and some will not. My friends and colleagues have found him either too religious or not religious enough, too conservative or too liberal, too soft or too hard. You’ll have to make up your own mind if you choose to follow along. He’s a flawed human being, just like anyone else, but I like what he has to say.
In any case, I pray that we can all live up to the idea of constantly renewing ourselves in the pursuit of the truth. It is incredibly important that we speak the truth, especially in a culture such as ours where it has become nearly taboo to do so. But more importantly, I pray that we embody the truth; that we would show love, kindness, and discipline when our instincts would tell us otherwise. It will be a continual, difficult path of development, but one that we are called to aim for. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Each day we are becoming a creature of splendid glory or one of unthinkable horror.” I pray sincerely for us all that it will be the former.
Sources:
Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: a Revised and Amplified Edition, with a New Introduction, of the Three Books Broadcast Talks, Christian Behaviour, and Beyond Personality. HarperOne, 2009.
Peterson, Jordan. (2017, July 17). Biblical Series VIII: The Phenomenology of the Divine [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/UoQdp2prfmM
Peterson, Jordan. (2017, August 13). Biblical Series XI: Sodom and Gomorrah [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/SKzpj0Ev8Xs
PragerU. (2019, May 23rd). Interview: Jordan Peterson and Dennis Prager at the 2019 PragerU summit [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/L47oJxwp6yg