Why Is My Atheist Son More Honest Than Ravi Zacharias?

My son ordered and ate a shawarma wrap, and when he went to pay for it with his debit card the card reader was down. The proprietor asked if he had cash, and he didn’t. So Peter said he would pay for it the next time he came in.

It wasn’t an establishment that he normally visited. But he came back later anyway, and when he did he told the proprietor to add 10 bucks onto his bill for the shawarma he had been unable to pay for previously. The man had forgotten about it, and did not seem to register what Peter was saying. So Peter explained it to him again, and my modestly-resourced, school-debt-laden son payed what he owed and walked away clean.

My son does not share my faith in God. But I rejoice in his honesty.

Peter’s shawarma incident came to mind as I contemplated the disquieting news of blatant lies perpetrated and maintained as policy on the part of evangelical organizations Focus on the Family (FOTF) Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, (RZIM), and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association (BGEA). It has recently come to light that FOTF represents itself to the IRS as a church, and RZIM and BGEA represent themselves as “associations of churches” (commonly known as denominations). These are lies. FOTF is not a church, and RZIM and BGEA are not denominations.

The motive for the lie is contested. A cynical possibility suggests itself: churches and denominations are not required, like other non-profits, to submit 990 forms that reveal the salaries of their pastors and executives. As a “church” or “denomination”, RZIM, BGEA and FOTF need not reveal how much they pay their respective presidents Ravi Zacharias, Franklin Graham, and Jim Daley. It is known to be a lot of money though. These men have gotten very rich off of Christian ministry.

Of course, none of these organizations has come out and said, “You got us. We decided to call ourselves churches so as to have the cover of IRS law that would keep donors from discovering how wealthy their gifts were making our executives.” Instead, they have presented less sinister-sounding motives. FOTF said it filed as a church to protect the anonymity of its donors, and to avoid having to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s mandate on coverage for contraception and other regulations. The BGEA said it wanted to avoid costs associated with filing 990s. RZIM said they were doing it because the BGEA and other organizations were doing it.

Let’s assume for the moment that these self-reported motivations are accurate (Gosh, it never occurred to us that now we wouldn’t have to report executive salaries! Why, that’s just an unintended consequence!). Fine. Let us say that we accept that. But the point stands. They are all still lying about their organizational status. Whatever their motive, it’s wrong to lie. Didn’t their parents teach them that? I haven’t (yet) gotten my atheist son to believe in God, but I am thankful to the God he refuses to acknowledge that a standard of integrity has filtered into him, and remains, and shows signs of its presence in a matter as simple as paying for fast food.

Christians must abide by the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and plain dealing. Those who do not do so must be held accountable by those who do. We Christians who value honesty must never broaden the platforms or amplify the voices of men and women who lie.

As I did a little digging in preparation for this essay I came across publically available evidence of the long history of lying on the part of noted Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias. His lies have been constant, deliberate, repeated, self-aggrandizing, well-documented, and utterly ministry-disqualifying. I maintain that any honest soul will agree with me wholeheartedly less than 20 minutes from now after simply watching the YouTube video “Lying For Lord Or Self? Hard Questions For Ravi Zacharias.” That video will lead you to others with even more damning evidence, but it is sufficient by itself to prove that Zacharias - like Bill Hybels and James MacDonald - is not a man of God. If you want to persuade an atheist of God’s reality, the worst thing you can do is give her a book by Ravi Zacharias. She will Google his name, discover his patterns of deceit, and have yet another excuse for being confirmed in her belief that God does not exist.

Zacharias is currently scheduled to speak in September at the Sing! 2020 conference in Nashville hosted by Keith and Kristyn Getty. I don’t know the Gettys, but I love them and their music and have no reason to doubt the authenticity of their Christian experience and testimony. My wife and I had the Getty/Townsend hymn “In Christ Alone” sung at our wedding. Are the Gettys uninformed about Zacharias’ disqualifying character issues? Can someone tell them? If the Gettys could spend just half an hour surveying the easily accessible information about Zacharias’ dishonesty and not in horror disinvite him to their conference, then with the deepest sadness of heart I will have to conclude, “I thought we were on the same page. I thought we were kindred spirits. I guess not.” Please, please, please, Gettys – not you too?

I have no definitive answer as to why my unbelieving son is more honest than celebrated apologist Ravi Zacharias. The question I pose in the title of this essay is rhetorical. But it is worth noting in passing that when a Christian is exposed as a habitual self-serving liar, there are people like me who speak up and say, “He’s not a real Christian.” But when an atheist lies, do his fellow atheists ever say, “There’s our proof – he’s not a real atheist”? I believe it would be wise to contemplate reasons for that disparity.

Meanwhile, fellow Christians, take a moment also to contemplate, in reverence and holy fear, this quote I read years ago in a sermon by C. H. Spurgeon:

If God has not made you honest, he has not saved your soul.