This post is mainly to help believers who are hurt by this news and are looking for ways to move forward. This isn’t a stunt to earn more likes or destroy anyone’s reputation but rather is a means to help us process and understand this issue more in-depth.

For those unaware of the issue. Below is the link for the statement from the Board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and access to an independent investigation report also available on their website.

https://www.rzim.org/read/rzim-updates/board-statement

Here are 9 thoughts on this subject.

However, these are brief answers; I would highly recommend that you watch some videos from reputed YouTubers on this subject.

Mike Winger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcWeZS3cnNo

Whaddo You Meme??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwW6sYI-XGM

Spencer Smith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krITfMlNzRI&t=0s

David wood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArlP-NuFCig&t=0s

One: Grieve and empathy for the victims 

Romans 12:15 tells us to weep with those who weep.

We should not ignore the feelings of those victims who were caught in this scandal. 

We should demonstrate our compassion and grace towards them by praying for their healing as a body of Christ. 

The victims also deserve to be publicly vindicated, much as they were accused of being guilty. 

We should also pray and empathize with Ravi’s family, who would have to live with this news for the rest of their lives. 

Two: David also sinned against Bathsheba? 

This incident is not similar to the story of David and Bathsheba. David agonized over his sins and confessed and repented of them (see Psalm 32 and 51); in the end, there was God’s forgiveness and restoration. 

In the case of Ravi, we are uncertain whether he even repented. There is no evidence within the investigation report to suggest that he repented or had any remorse for his actions. Even in past RZIM Board statements, Ravi displayed no notion of Ravi accepting any guilt instead only of denial.

Although, if he did repent, God is indefinitely graceful and merciful to redeem him. 

Three: Let him without sin cast the first stone. 

This use of the above phrase is a wrong abuse of scripture, indicating that you could never talk bad about anyone and not convict anyone about anything. However, scripture demands that we publicly rebuke the leader as public as their ministry is. 

1 Timothy 5:20 (NKJV)

Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.

Four: It is just gossip. 

No. Refer to point 3. We have a biblical mandate to rebuke sin, and it is essential to keep each other accountable. 

Five: Ravi can’t defend himself, so we should ignore this. 

This reasoning is being ignorant of the real issue.

The only reason this scandal has come up is because he isn’t around to cover it up with the massive amount of influence, resources, and bias of faithful followers.

Paul in the book of Timothy highlights that some sins of people are only noticeable after they die.  

1 Timothy 5:24 (NKJV)

Some men’s sins are clearly evident, preceding them to judgment, but those of some men follow later.

Also, suppose we could really apply the reasoning that we cannot speak of the dead. In that case, the gospel writers should not have spoken about Judas because they wrote about him after he had died and couldn’t defend himself. 

Six: All sin is the same:

This is not true and is not consistent with what the Bible teaches. 

Yes, while every sin is an act of rebellion against a holy God and brings death, yet there are still some sins that carry much more severe consequences than others and thus receive severer punishment in this life and the next. 

Seven: Non-believers will use the scandal against us. 

Non-believers have always been talking against the faith even before this incident, and nothing will change. 

We should be firm in our stance that it is Christ who is the focus and not man. The biblical truths and facts are not diminished because of the faults and failings of the messenger. 

True Christianity is a factual religion. Jesus really did die for your sins, and He truly loves you; however, the messenger is optional. We need to focus on Christ and the truth about Him. 

Eight: We should stop idolizing leaders

Our faith should be in Jesus, not people. No one should lose their faith in Jesus, the morally impeccable God-man who went to the cross for us, because anyone else, no matter how gifted, talented, and well-known, fails drastically.

We should note that out of all teachers in human history, only Christ was able to stand blameless and true to the values that He preached.

Nine: How do we place our Trust Pastors and Christian Leaders?

Yes, this is hard to do, but isn’t this part of the fall and consequence of living in a fallen world?

The same Bible that shows flawed people and immoral and prideful spiritual leaders also show people of integrity growing in grace and genuinely serving Jesus.