Jesus Among Other Gods Chapter 1 Summary

Zacharias Book Review

Ravi Zacharias is an excellent apologist as well as a unique writer who makes his arguments from both philosophical and theological standpoints. The point of “Jesus Among Other Gods” is not really to disprove or discredit any of the other world religions outside of Christianity. Dr. Zacharias does not go in depth on any one world religion, but he does focus a little on Hindu and Buddhist beliefs. He begins to divide the book into seven different chapters, sharing the unique claims that Jesus made and then contrasts the that truth with the founders of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism; he does this with compelling insight and passionate conviction. In his first chapter he shares his personal journey from despair and meaninglessness to his discovery that Jesus
is who He said He is.
Dr. Zacharias continues in chapter two talking about the biblical concept of heaven and our spiritual makeup with other views. Chapter three and four touch on the characteristics of our souls and the desire we have for reason. He expands on the importance of faith, and even more on where unbelief takes us if we’re not careful. Chapter five is a great chapter on the different approaches of suffering and he concludes his book talking about the truthfulness of God and how it connects to living and evil. Ravi Zacharias’ purpose in writing “Jesus Among Other Gods” was to dive into the idealist view that all faiths lead to the same place which could not be further from the truth. When examined and put into practice there is a radical difference between each religion’s teachings. While some religions do have similar practices and beliefs, even those similarities come to a point
where they become different.
Throughout his book, he addresses some hard questions in life, not only to show the major belief differences in our religions but to illustrate how Jesus is the only sustainable answer. Questions like, What Jesus who he claimed to be? what role does reason and logic play into belief and faith? What will happen after we die? If God is good and loving, why is there suffering in the world? Zacharias tackles these questions with a humble spirit behind him followed by his transparent thoughts and stories of a man’s journey to seek out what was true, which religion offered truth and how that changed his life and many others.
If there was a part of this book that I was a discontent with, it would have to be in chapter five, where Dr. Zacharias unpacks the question about why there is suffering in the world and what part, if any, God plays in it. The first argument he addresses from the usual skeptic in the idea that if evil exist, then God cannot; this is just not reasonable and Dr. Zacharias does a great job explaining that. My discontent comes when he addresses the second argument of the skeptic. The skeptic essentially reasons that if God exists, then He would make us always choose good. Dr. Zacharias says “If God can do anything at all, even that which is mutually exclusive, then He can also contradict His character, which would be an implication render the problem of evil moot, needing no defense.” There are many things God cannot do, and I would have loved for him to expound on that more thoroughly. Even as a child in Sunday school, we are taught that “God can do anything,” but that statement is incorrect. There is no ill intent but it does not change the fact that it is not true. We know that God must be consistent with His own nature, and He cannot violate His own nature. Therefore, God cannot lie, He cannot stop being God, He cannot deny Himself, and He cannot be tempted by evil. Why? Because He is God. With that being said, I did not see a clear weakness in the text. It is just my personal preference that Dr. Zacharias would have explained the truth that there are actually things God cannot do for the believers out there that maybe do not realize they have been taught that, and especially for the skeptic that believes that is the position all believers take.
In chapter four, Ravi Zacharias begins a section called “The Reality Experienced” by quoting Paul Waitman in his book called “The Integrity of Worship”. He explains what worship means and in the paragraph he shares with us that the experience of worship can, and should, bring us back to a place of humility where we look beyond the needs of ourselves and begin to look towards what God is calling us to. Paul Waitman says, “And how often have we asked that worship bless our souls with peace only to hear the lesson for the day is calling us to a holy warfare?” I wrote a big fat WOW in my book over this quote. Dr. Zacharias follows that quote by explaining why the task of the Church is not to make God relevant to the people, but that God beckons us to be become relevant to Him. In chapter three Ravi Zacharias’ begins to talk about faith and reason, and how we have created a faith market which focuses on anything but truth and on everything that signals pragmatism. The simple phrases like, “if it weren’t for my faith I don’t know what I would have done”. Before Ravi begins to speak on what faith is, he begins talking about what faith is not. Faith is not information that to fit into the mold of one’s desire, it’s not authentically to reason, and it’s not just a will to believe. A common misunderstand of faith that we assume is that it’s a crutch for those who are hurt or need something beyond themselves that will somehow rescue them. . Ravi says “In its essence faith is a confidence in the person of Jesus Christ and in His power, so that even when His power does not serve my end, my confidence in Him remains because of who He is”. He also begins a comparison between Moses and Abraham, Moses being a someone for whom the implications of trust were not easy. God pursued Moses relentlessly until He understood that the God he served expected His trust. Abraham being on the other end of that, he hungered for the Lord and that was willing to walk in faith with minimal outward proof. Ravi Zacharias concludes by describing the two different types of his children, ones that need little proof and evidence and others who long for more regardless of where you stand, he works in agreement with a revelation of His character.