Ravi Zacharias, an Indian-born Canadian-American Christian apologist, devoted his life to spreading and defending evangelical Protestantism.
His journey from atheism to Christianity began at 17 when he found hope in the words of John 14:19, “Because I live, you also will live.”
This pivotal moment marked his path as an evangelist and apologist, committed to the pursuit of truth.
The founder of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), Zacharias authored numerous Christian bestsellers, earning him great respect within the evangelical community.
His passion led him to speak across the globe, including prestigious institutions and global forums.
He focused on building bridges of understanding, advocating for respectful dialogue over condemnation.
Despite facing criticism and a battle with cancer, his steadfast commitment to his faith never wavered.
Zacharias passed away in May 2020, but his legacy continues through his children’s involvement in RZIM.
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Here are some of the best quotes from Ravi Zacharias for you.
Top 10 Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“You cannot talk about evil without assuming a moral framework.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“If God is the author of life, there must be a script.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Time is the brush of God, as he paints his masterpiece on the heart of humanity.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Every worldview has to bring together reason and faith.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Every religion at its core is exclusive.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“What is right has to win the day over what we may see as rights.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Wonder is retained by wise pondering.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“What you applaud you encourage, but beware what you celebrate…” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“It was not the volume of sin that sent Christ to the cross; it was the fact of sin.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“When we talk politics, we moralize. When we talk morality, we politicize.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
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Best Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“Having the answers is not essential to living. What is essential is the sense of God’s presence during dark seasons of questioning.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Only God is able to humble us without humiliating us and to exalt us without flattering us.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Love is hard work. It is the hardest work I know of, work from which you are never entitled to take a vacation.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Competence is a big word. It is important. I almost want to nuance it with the idea of giftedness because sometimes you can teach a lot of skills on exposition but a person may not have the competence or the giftedness to do it. Therefore, it is very important to have that.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Yes, if truth is not undergirded by love, it makes the possessor of that truth obnoxious and the truth repulsive.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Christianity is not a political theory. It is not even a cultural theory. It is, at its root, all about changing the heart of each man and woman, boy and girl, so that we begin to think God’s thoughts and act in accordance with his character.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“I think the media plays into the hands of false induction, genuine seduction taking place, wrong deductions, and the inevitable reductions. That’s the way and the path of the visual.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“By the time I was a young man, I lived with two deep struggles: I longed to become a cricketer, and I performed miserably in school. Cricket and tennis were all that I lived for. In India, this was a formula for failure.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Isn’t it ironic that after 70 years Russia wants God back while we are trying to kick him out?” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“To be born in India is to arrive into the world swimming in religion.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“How have we come to a place in society where millions of babies can be slaughtered and disposed of in the name of progress? Shocking but real.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The more we see the unconscionable ends to which the human spirit can descend when it is determined to remain autonomous, the more our confidence in human methods diminishes.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The world is larger and more beautiful than my little struggle.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“You can easily substitute the intellect for true devotion. Devotion comes from the heart, and from the will. The intellect, you can cerebrally answer things, but you make a big mistake when that happens.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Love is the greatest apologetic. It is the essential component in reaching the whole person in a fragmented world. The need is vast, but it is also imperative that we be willing to follow the example of Jesus and meet the need.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Love is as much a question of the will as it is of the emotion. And if you WILL to love somebody, you can.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The older we become, the more difficult it is to fill our hearts with wonder. Only God is big enough to keep filling us with wonder.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Unless I understand the Cross, I cannot understand why my commitment to what is right must be precedence over what I prefer.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Like a child who suddenly stops sobbing when he is clasped in the arms of his mother, such will be the grip of heaven upon our souls.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Amazing Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“Ours is not a problem of the intellect but of spiritual poverty. That is why we need a Savior.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“An expenditure of words without income of ideas will lead to intellectual bankruptcy.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“What is the message of Christmas? It is the birth of the One who promised peace, joy and love.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“When you find your definitions in God, you find the very purpose for which you were created. Put your hand into God’s hand, know His absolutes, demonstrate His love, present His truth, and the message of redemption and transformation will take hold.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Jesus does not offer to make bad people good but to make dead people alive.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“God put enough into the world to make faith in Him a reasonable thing. But He left enough out to make it impossible to live by reason alone.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“To allow God to be God we must follow Him for who He is and what He intends, and not for what we want and what we prefer.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The biggest difference between Jesus Christ and ethical and moral teachers who have been deified by man. Is that these moralists came to make bad people good. Jesus came to make dead people live!” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“There is no greater discovery than seeing God as the author of your destiny.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Conviction is not merely an opinion. It is something rooted so deeply in the conscience that to change a conviction would be to change the very essence of who you are.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“I am absolutely convinced that meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain; meaninglessness comes from being weary of pleasure. And that is why we find ourselves emptied of meaning with our pantries still full.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The loneliest people in the world are those who have exhausted pleasure and come away empty.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“There are so many needs in the world, and our hearts cannot carry them all. You must walk to the priorities God has set before you.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Spiritual Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“God is the shaper of your heart. God does not display his work in abstract terms. He prefers the concrete, and this means that at the end of your life one of three things will happen to your heart: it will grow hard, it will be broken, or it will be tender. Nobody escapes.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Truth by definition excludes.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“My longings, my hopes, my dreams, and my every effort has been to live for Him who rescued me, to study for Him who gave me this mind, to serve Him who fashioned my will, and to speak for Him who gave me a voice.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The purity of man is the absence of something, the purity of Jesus is the presence of something.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Only when holiness and worship meet can evil be conquered. For that, only the Christian message has the answer.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“No matter how much we try to run away from this thirst for the answer to life, for the meaning of life, the intensity only gets stronger and stronger. We cannot escape these spiritual hungers.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The denial of an objective moral law, based on the compulsion to deny the existence of God, results ultimately in the denial of evil itself.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Does that not sound odd to you? When God decides who should live or die, he is immoral, When you decide who should live or die, it’s your moral right. There was a pin-drop silence.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Famous Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“What we need is not a religion that is right where we are right, but one that is right where we are wrong.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“If you believe in subjective morality, why do you lock your doors at night?” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“In the gospel message, the beginning of change occurs in the heart of each individual. This heart change makes a difference in the home, then in the community, and ultimately in the nation- and in turn it shapes the future of a cultural ethos.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“I thank the Lord that, even though things were so wrong in my life here, I finally was brought to the realization of what all those struggles were about. There are some wonderful things from your painful past, things with a beauty you may not have realized at the time.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“As Paul Little has pointed out, “If God were to stamp out evil today, he would do a complete job. His action would have to include our lies and personal impurities, our lack of love, and our failure to do good. Suppose God were to decree that at midnight tonight all evil would be removed from the universe – who of us would still be here after midnight?” 23.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Malcolm Muggeridge, that peripatetic journalist who traveled the globe for more than six decades of his life, said that if God is dead somebody else is going to have to take His place. It will either be megalomania or erotomania, the drive for power or the drive for pleasure, the clenched fist or the phallus, Hitler or Hugh Hefner. To.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Atheism is an exercise in intellectual contempt.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Sometimes the very presence of God is barred by our presuppositions and our intense and constant desire for triumph.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“When we have overcome absence with phone calls, winglessness with airplanes, summer heat with air-conditioning – when we have overcome all these and much more besides, then there will abide two things with which we must cope: the evil in our hearts and death.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Grace misunderstood will always lead to jealousy.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Time isn’t just a fleeting thing. It never moves forward without engraving its mark upon the heart.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“For many in our high-paced world, despair is not a moment; it is a way of life.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“We are redefining terms and rewriting laws and removing fences everywhere you turn, and we seem to think we can do that with impunity.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“It is easier to hide behind philosophical arguments, heavily footnoted for effect, than it is to admit our hurts, our confusions, our loves, and our passions in the marketplace of life’s heartfelt transactions.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Powerful Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“Goodness can endure a few moments; holiness is life-defining.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The day that each person willingly accepts himself or herself for who he or she is and acknowledges the uniqueness of God’s framing process marks the beginning of a journey to seeing the handiwork of God in each life.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“I have little doubt that the single greatest obstacle to the impact of the gospel has not been its inability to provide answers, but the failure on our part to live it out.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“All religions do not point to God.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only an ignorance of all religions but also a caricatured view of even the best-known ones. Every religion at its core is exclusive.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Truth is that which affirms propositionally the nature of reality as it is.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The New Atheists are not open or willing to go where the evidence leads, unless that evidence sustains their own naturalistic assumptions. They have covertly reduced all philosophical thought and deduction to – ironically-fait h!” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“It is the resurrection that makes Good Friday good.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Evil is a violation of purpose, the purpose of your creator and mine.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Having killed God, the atheist is left with no reason for being, no morality to espouse, no meaning to life, and no hope beyond the grave.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Where the eye is focused, there the imagination finds its raw material. The right focus must be won at immense cost and discipline. Train the eye to see the good, and the imagination will follow suit.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“When your life is changed by Jesus, you are a new creature. God not only changes what you do, He also changes what you want to do.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Success is more difficult to handle than failure.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“You cannot really have the world and hold on to it. It is all too temporary and the more you try to hold on to it, the more it actually holds you. By contrast, the more you hold on to the true and the good, the more you are free to really live.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Wise Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“The person who demands a sign and at the same time has already determined that anything that cannot be explained scientifically is meaningless is not merely stacking the deck; he is losing at his own game.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Changes in language often reflect the changing values of a culture.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The first and foremost reality is that suffering and death are not only enemies of life, but a means of reminding us of life’s twin realities, love and hate.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“God trained Moses in a palace to use him in a desert. He trained Joseph in a desert to use him in a palace.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“You can only learn so much from books. You can only learn so much from education. Ultimately, it is the wisdom of God that will carry you through in the toughest situations of life.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“In naturalism, man is actually very insignificant, but arrogates to himself stupendous power. In Christianity, man is actually the apex of created significance, but is called to see it in abject humility.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Justice is the handmaiden of truth, and when truth dies, justice is buried with it.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“We all want Canaan without going through the wilderness.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The grace of forgiveness, because God Himself has paid the price, is a Christian distinctive and stands splendidly against our hate-filled, unforgiving world. God’s forgiveness gives us a fresh start.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Only through repentance and faith in Christ can anyone be saved. No religious activity will be sufficient, only true faith in Jesus Christ alone.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Worship is a posture of life that takes as its primary purpose the understanding of what it really means to love and revere God.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“What I believe in my heart must make sense in my mind.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The four absolutes we all have in our minds: love, justice, evil, and forgiveness.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The purpose of prayer and of God’s call in your life isn’t to make you number one in the world’s eyes but to make Him number one in your life.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“You’ll never get to a person’s soul until you understand their hurts.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“In today’s society, looking good and feeling good often trumps doing good and being good. And some people don’t know the difference anymore.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“One often sees a call only in retrospect. This too is God’s design. God often reinforces our faith after we trust him, not before.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Top Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“An argument may remove doubt, but only the Holy Spirit can convict of truth.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“My premise is that the popular aphorism that ‘all religions are fundamentally the same and only superficially different’ simply is not true. It is more correct to say that all religions are, at best, superficially similar but fundamentally different.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Whenever you try to break God’s moral law, you end up breaking yourself and hurting others – all while proving His law in the process.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“God makes appointments with us in our disappointments. To see the pattern we must take three steps involving the heart, the mind, and the cross.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“A mood can be a dangerous state of mind, because it can crush reason under the weight of feeling.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“My goal is to satisfy the hunger and longing for those who are seeking the truth.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Who is God? Who are we? What is our purpose? All these questions remain unanswered. I want to reach the genuine seeker of spiritual well-being. My goal is to satisfy the hunger and longing for those who are seeking the truth.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The primary purpose of a home is to reflect and to distribute the love of Christ. Anything that usurps that is idolatrous.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“I do not believe that one can earnestly seek and find the priceless treasure of God’s call without a devout prayer life. That is where God speaks.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“When we look into the human heart we see the lust, the greed, the hate, the pride, the anger, and the jealousies that are so destructive. This is at the heart of the human predicament, and the Scriptures call this condition sin.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The Cross of Christ is the crux of history. Without the Cross, history cannot be defined or corrected.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Our sense of wonder is a blessing from God, given so that we would be continually amazed at His beauty and creation.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Popular Ravi Zacharias Quotes
“Love is a command, not just a feeling. Somehow, in the romantic world of music and theater we have made love to be what it is not. We have so mixed it with beauty and charm and sensuality and contact that we have robbed it of its higher call of cherishing and nurturing.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“We cannot discuss human rights, when we are denying people the right to live.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Respect for the right of another to be wrong does not mean that the wrong is right.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Truth cannot be sacrificed at the altar of pretended tolerance. Real tolerance is deference to all ideas, not indifference to the truth.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“For the Christian, worship is co-extensive with life. Life is already an expression of worship.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Everyone – pantheist, atheist, skeptic, polytheist – has to answer these questions: ‘Where did I come from? What is life’s meaning? How do I define right from wrong and what happens to me when I die?’ Those are the fulcrum points of our existence.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Many Christians have so busied themselves with programs and activities that they no longer know how to be silent and meditate on God’s word or recognize the mysteries that are in the Person of Christ.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“One of the greatest failures of our generation is not living out the biblical precepts which we so clearly articulate.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Jesus and Buddha cannot both be right.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The use or abuse of Christianity in contradiction to the very message of the gospel reveals not the gospel for what it is, but the heart of man. That is why atheism is so bankrupt as a view of life, for it miserably fails to deal with the human condition as it really is.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The loss of something that is never thought of, felt, or sought for when lost is not a loss at all.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“As I see our world, I have never seen greater confusion, greater loss of meaning, greater uncertainty, and greater fear of what looms in front of us. Politics has gotten out of control everywhere. Nobody sees a mascot or a leader, and everyone wants to know what really lies ahead here.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The antitheist is quick to excoriate all religious belief by generically laying the blame at the door of all who claim to be religious, without distinction. By the same measure, why is there not an equal enthusiasm to distribute blame for violence engendered by some of the irreligious?” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Where destruction is the motive, unity is dangerous.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Truth is not only a matter of offense, in that it makes certain assertions. It is also a matter of defense in that it must be able to make a cogent and sensible response to the counterpoints that are raised.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“In the pursuit of truth, intent is prior to content, or to the availability of it. The love of truth and the willingness to submit to its demands is the first step.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
Quotes by Ravi Zacharias
“The mocker will not have the last laugh. You see, dancing on the grave of an extinguished Christianity is farcical at best. Because the grave is empty. And the one who knows the way out of the grave sits in the heavens and laughs.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The atheist risk everything for the present and the future, on the basis of a belief that we are uncaused by any intelligent being. We just happen to be here. That one is willing to live and die in that belief is a very high price to pay for conjecture.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Where destruction is the motive, unity is dangerous. For example, if I have evil intent and I galvanize that evil intent with many others, the capacity to destroy is immense. Where goodness is the motive, unity is phenomenal and actually has some good issues to it.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Jesus came to save souls in his fathers’ name with love and only love that is why he turned up as a man, so why can’t we see his real message?” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“With no fact as a referent, what is normative is purely a matter of preference.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“It is theoretically and practically impossible to build any community apart from love and justice. If only one of these two is focused upon, an inevitable extremism and perversion follow.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“But life’s joys are only joys if they can be shared.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“More than anything else, prayer enables you to see your own heart and brings you into alignment with God’s heart. Prayer is not a monologue in which we imagine ourselves to be communing with God. Rather, it is a dialogue through which God fashions your heart and makes his dream of you a reality. It is truly the treasured gift of the Christian that through direct answers and not-so-direct answers, the follower of Jesus begins to love God for who he is, not for what he may get out of him.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Freedom can be destroyed, not just by its retraction, but also by its abuse.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“You see misery, you see misfortune, you see pain, you see suffering. It’s all part of the fatalistic way of looking at life.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Even the once-doubting Sir Lionel Luckhoo, identified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful attorney in the world, was forced to conclude after an exhaustive analysis of the evidence, “I say unequivocally that the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so overwhelming that it compels acceptance by proof which leaves absolutely no room for doubt.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“History is a grim reminder of what happens to those who think they have no law but themselves.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Without the will, marriage is a mockery; without emotion, it is a drudgery. You need both.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, has a more direct bearing on the moral choices made by individuals or the purposes pursued by society than belief or disbelief in God.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Teaching at best beckons us to morality, but it is not in itself efficacious. Teaching is like a mirror. It can show you if your face is dirty, but it the mirror will not wash your face.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The single most important thread in working through your disappointments is that your heart and mind ponder and grasp what the cross of Jesus Christ is all about. There is no pattern without the cross. There is no Good News without it. That is what the gospel is all about.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The Biblical world-view is the only one that accepts the reality of evil and suffering while giving both the cause and the purpose, while offering God-given strength and sustenance in the midst of it.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“You cannot have a boundary-less existence, because your neighbor has his own boundaries, and who is going to give you the ethics between the two boundaries? If there is no objective moral law, relativism will take hold, and relativism ultimately will lead to self-destruction.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Our intellect is not intended to be an end in itself, but only a means to the very mind of God.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate, and it has just let you down.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“What does it mean to be human? It means we are created in the image of God for the glorious reality of being in permanent fellowship with Him.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
“Beginning well is a momentary thing; finishing well is a lifelong thing.” ~ (Ravi Zacharias).
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Short Biography of Ravi Zacharias
Ravi Zacharias was an Indian-born Canadian-American Christian evangelist who founded Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and authored over thirty books.
He was known for hosting radio programs and engaging in Christian apologetics for over forty years.
However, after his death in May 2020, several allegations of sexual misconduct emerged.
| Full Name | Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias |
| Born | 26 March 1946, Chennai, India |
| Died | 19 May 2020 (age 74 years), Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
| Spouse | Margaret Reynolds (m. 1972) |
| Children | Naomi Zacharias, Sarah Zacharias Davis, Nathan Zacharias |
| Alma Mater | Trinity International University |
| Citizenship | Canada, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Christian apologist, founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries |
| Website | www.rzim.org, www.rzimindia.in |
An investigation by a law firm confirmed these allegations, leading to his posthumous ordination revocation and his books being pulled from publication.
Zacharias had a controversial academic and personal life, including disputed claims about his educational background and accusations of sexual abuse.
Quick Facts about Ravi Zacharias
- Ravi Zacharias was born in India and moved to Canada with his family in 1966.
- He became a Christian at 17 after a suicide attempt and a transformative experience with the Bible.
- Zacharias earned his undergraduate degree from Ontario Bible College and an M.Div. from Trinity International University.
- He spent over 40 years in Christian apologetics, founding Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).
- Zacharias authored more than 30 books on Christianity and apologetics.
- He hosted radio programs “Let My People Think” and “Just Thinking.”
- Zacharias was ordained by the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA).
- He evangelized in South Vietnam, Cambodia, and later, India.
- Zacharias spoke at the first International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983.
- He founded RZIM in Toronto, Canada, in 1984, later moving its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia.
- In 1989, he spoke in Moscow and engaged with political and military leaders.
- Zacharias was a keynote speaker at the first Veritas Forum at Harvard University in 1992.
- He spoke at various academic institutions, including the University of Georgia and Penn State.
- In 2004, he spoke at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, engaging in dialogue with the LDS Church.
- Zacharias was involved in events like the National Day of Prayer and ecumenical meetings with Pope Francis.
- He co-founded the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA) in 2006.
- In 2009, Zacharias signed the Manhattan Declaration, supporting life, marriage, and religious freedom.
- He served on Marco Rubio’s “Dignity of Life” advisory panel in 2016.
- Zacharias and his wife earned over $500,000 from RZIM in 2015.
- He argued that a coherent worldview must address origin, meaning, morality, and destiny.
- Zacharias emphasized the uniqueness of Christianity in answering existential questions.
- He focused on integrating abstract reasoning into one’s worldview.
- Controversies arose over his academic credentials, including claims about studying at Cambridge and Oxford.
- He was accused of exaggerating his qualifications, like being a visiting scholar at Cambridge.
- Critics and websites challenged the accuracy of his educational and academic claims.
- Posthumously, Zacharias faced serious allegations of sexual misconduct.
- A law firm confirmed the allegations in 2021, leading RZIM to issue an apology.
- RZIM announced plans to change its name and remove Zacharias-related materials.
- The C&MA revoked his ordination, and HarperCollins decided to take his books out of print.
- Zacharias’ life and career reflect a complex legacy of evangelical ministry and posthumous controversy.
Top Questions about Ravi Zacharias
A: Ravi Zacharias was an Indian-born Canadian-American Christian apologist, speaker, and writer, known for founding Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and defending Christianity for forty-eight years.
A: He was born on March 26, 1946, in Madras, India.
A: At seventeen, Ravi attempted to take his own life by swallowing poison, but a pivotal moment in the hospital changed his perspective on life and faith.
A: His view changed when he was introduced to a Bible verse from John 14, which led him to believe in God and dedicate his life to Christian ministry.
A: They moved to Canada in 1966, where Ravi later met his future wife, Margie, and pursued his education and early ministry work.
A: Before founding his ministry, Ravi did missionary work in South Vietnam, served in Cambodia, and taught at Alliance Theological Seminary.
A: The primary goal was to show that Christianity provided the only worldview that satisfactorily answered life’s great existential questions.
A: He believed in addressing worldview questions on three levels: logic, feelings, and the right to make moral judgments.
A: In 2017, there were allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior, which were initially resolved in a non-disclosure agreement.
A: RZIM hired a company to conduct an investigation into the further accusations, and the claims were corroborated.
A: It suggests that the truth of God remains unchanged despite the failings of His followers, citing biblical figures who also had lapses but whose lives God used for His purposes.
A: Ravi passed away on May 19, 2020, due to a rare spinal cancer.
A: He is survived by his wife, a son, two daughters, and five grandchildren.
A: His mission was to present and defend the truth of Jesus Christ, aiming to lead others to find life in Him.
A: Despite his shortcomings, his effectiveness in ministry was attributed to God’s enabling work through him, reaching many for Christ.
