Stampeding Toward Truth: Ravi Zacharias's "Beyond Opinion"

Marching toward truth is not an easy task. Often times, discovering truth can be painful or uncomfortable. In our "postmodern" society, which is so quick to dismiss truth as ultimately relative and unknowable, it can be especially daunting, if not impossibly discouraging to stampede the truth. As I commented in my last blog, we can seek truth, and we can know it. In fact, the truth might just be seeking you.

Peter Kreeft comments, "If we do not love the truth, we will not seek it. If we do not seek it, we will not find it. If we do not find it, we will not know it. If we do not know it, we have failed our fundamental task in time, and quite likely also in eternity" (Zacharias 168). The most profound part of this statement is that the discovery of truth is cultivated first in human longing or craving for truth. Anytime we seek meaning in our personal lives, we are most definitely seeking truth. We, as humans, have a desire to understand--to comprehend the reasons for our existence, for our trials and tribulations, and ultimately, whether the end of our lives means the end of our beings, both physically and spiritually, or signifies a wondrous new beginning.

Moreover, in seeking truth, it is absolutely necessary to consider the soul--the spiritual realm within us. Without considering the spirit, we dismiss the presence of God within all of us, and more importantly the omnipresence that has a larger, more universal appeal than skeptics of scoffers would like to admit. Put it this way, while Christianity does not always reflect the messages of Christ's teachings in the Bible--often humanizing and corrupting truth with idolatrous rituals, fanatical or hegemonic evangelism, or claims to fame--there is undoubtedly a ubiquitous calling in Scripture for forgiveness, compassion, neighborly love, tolerance and peace that can only be attributed to a most benevolent and altruistic spiritual force within us all. Joe Boot argues in Zacharias' Beyond Opinion:

"As we invite skeptics on this search, we do so in humility and for their benefit, not so that we may pride ourselves on our superior understanding. The search itself purifies the heart, by the grace of God, as men and women are drawn to see and are made capable of understanding the reasonableness of our faith. True faith always seeks understanding. That faith and understanding unite us in love to God in Christ, who is both our way and destination, and gives us a sure and certain hope. That certitude surpasses a confidence in evidences" (177).

There is, in actuality, more truth--more confidence in an everlasting faith in God--than there is in acknowledgment of the time on one's wristwatch or the correct answers to mathematical problems, such as 10 x 10. For these things--time and mathematics--are merely human constructs set up to give meaning to our earthly lives, but these constructs are most definitely not designed to explain how the Earth and its axis were created (at the beginning of "time) to revolve continuously around the Sun, or how the answers to particular mathematical systems came to be in the first place. What actually exists transcends and mystifies human knowledge of existence. However, our desire is always to seek knowledge, and therefore move closer to God, and thus such human constructs--time, mathematics, and so on--are still of great importance. Boot states, "If we do not depend on Christ, if we build upon another foundation, if we rest on our arguments and abilities, we will utterly fail, for Christ is the wisdom and power of God. He is the image of the invisible God and the repository of wisdom and knowledge" (Zacharias 177).

Conversely, Isaiah Berlin, leading professor at the University of Oxford, argues that Monism (or a belief in one truth) "is one step away from despotism. If you meet someone who believes he knows he has the truth, then he is only one step from being a despot." Michael Ramsden responds to this statement with, "What about a truth filled with grace?....The reason God shines his light of moral judgment into our hearts is not to expose or shame us, but to transform us, because he is a gracious and compassionate God. God's love for us does not exist without judgment because without it, true intimacy and love with him would be impossible (Zacharias 148-151).

In all, it is the role of the Christian apologetics to inform skeptics, atheists, agnostics, and the like that the only way to know God is by first believing that he offers meaning and truth for our lives when we seek Him. But, we first must seek God. We must know Christ fully before we can believe in the power of his salvation and love. Our world can have meaning, but one must relinquish his or her pride first in order to seek God fully. Joe Boot gives a word of advice to fellow evangelists: "Even when people can see intellectually that they are wrong, they often still cling to their opinions simply as a matter of personal pride. We should not presumptuously present ourselves to them as their teachers, but rather as fellow learners pointing to the Teacher" (165).

I have reason to be faithful in Christ, and I have reason to believe that Jesus is the most reasonable path to God. Why? Once you delve into the Word and learn the power for good in Christ's teachings, there simply is no turning back. Are we willing to seek knowledge? Are we willing to admit that there is one reverential and undeniable truth? God loves us, and the path to a life of love and freedom--thereby foregoing the meaningless void we often ascribe ourselves to--is found in the salvation of Christ.