I was on a global Skype call with RZIM's senior leaders and Ravi Zacharias himself—the famous apologist whose ministry would eventually collapse after reporters uncovered decades of abuse. I was looking at an email Ravi had sent to a woman: "If you betray me here, I will have to end it." For a man whose entire ministry testimony began with a suicide attempt, this should have been impossible to ignore. But the call was filled with friends and mentors I respected. They assured me Ravi was innocent, and that if I understood Indian culture, I'd see this differently. So I stayed loyal. It wasn't that I weighed the evidence and found it wanting. It's that I couldn't weigh the evidence at all. The room I was in made the truth unthinkable.
John 5:30-47
"I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. I don't receive human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. John was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. "But I have a greater testimony than John's because of the works that the Father has given me to accomplish. These very works I am doing testify about me that the Father has sent me. The Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You have not heard his voice at any time, and you haven't seen his form. "You don't have his word residing in you, because you don't believe the one he sent. You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me. But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life. "I do not accept glory from people, but I know you—that you have no love for God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and yet you don't accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don't seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. But if you don't believe what he wrote, how will you believe my words?"
John presents Jesus on trial. The formal accusation is that Jesus deserves to die for claiming to be God. In response, Jesus calls four witnesses to his defense: the testimony of John the Baptist, his miracles, the Father, and Moses. Having proven his case, he diagnoses the spiritual condition of Israel's religious leaders: "You have no love for God within you." It's not an insult but a medical chart. Jesus is providing God's authoritative evaluation of their spiritual condition. He sees what's inside their hearts, and what he sees explains everything else about them. If they needed evidence, Jesus has provided twice as many witnesses as the law requires. He meets genuine skepticism with abundant proof. Verse 44 is the hardest question: "How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don't seek the glory that comes from the only God?" The word "glory" means approval, honor, or standing. They can only see what their community allows them to see. Everyone is getting their cue from everyone else about what is safe to believe, say, and do. When everyone agrees that Jesus is a threat, it's impossible to receive him as God. I've felt this pressure. The evidence about Ravi was like a blinding light, but everyone around me turned their backs on it. The social cost of seeing it was too high, so we sat in the darkness instead. Jesus finishes his case with a devastating reversal. His opponents are counting on Moses to be their advocate before God. But Jesus says that Moses will be their prosecutor. On the final day, Moses will explain that everything he wrote—most of the first five books of the Bible—pointed to Jesus. He will ask, "Why didn't you believe what I wrote? If you had, you would have believed in Jesus!" We can look at the Bible every day and never realize that it's inviting us to look at God. We can become so committed to our group's understanding of the truth that we become blind to the True One inviting us to believe. Why is Jesus so confrontational? He explains, "I say these things so you may be saved." He came in his Father's name to give us the glory we can never get from one another.
Have you ever quietly distanced yourself from a Christian truth or a friend because it became 'embarrassing' to be associated with them?
When has being in the wrong room made it hard for you to see something that should have been obvious?
Whose disapproval would cost you the most right now? How might that be shaping what you're able to believe?
Name one person or group whose approval might be distorting your vision. If you can, ask a trusted friend, "Do you think I change who I am when I am around [Name/Group]?"
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