By Timothy D. Holder

Have you heard of Ravi Zacharias?  Years ago I worked for a guy who suggested I listen to a bunch of tapes of Zacharias, a noted Christian speaker.  Honestly?  I didn’t want to do it.  The thought of sitting by myself in my apartment listening to six tapes of some guy I had never heard of droning on and on about stuff was demoralizing.  But since the man who made the suggestion was my boss, and I was on a one-year contract, well, I guess you can figure out where this is going.

 Imagine my surprise, though, when I found this Zacharias guy to be fascinating.  He talked about God, and why belief in God made sense.  He said that in the past, countries that had an understanding of God understood science and the universe better than people in countries that did not believe in the Jewish-Christian God.  It was riveting.  Seriously.

 Some Christians have a lot of hostility towards secular academia, and not totally without reason.  But Zacharias, the author of numerous books on apologetics and on other religions, has gone to college campuses to make his case for the reality of God.  Instead of avoiding academia, he has embraced it.

 I highly respect the ministry of Ravi Zacharias.  He is one influential Christian.  Look him up online and check out what he is doing.

By Timothy D. Holder

                President Barack Obama was recently awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, and it is interesting to me how people are characterizing this accomplishment.  Some people are saying that this is a fitting recognition for a great President or some other such variety of praise.  Critics are asking what, exactly, it was that the President did to earn the award.  One former President who won, Teddy Roosevelt, helped negotiate the end of a major Asian conflict (The Russo-Japanese War).  Ronald Reagan was never a winner, despite orchestrating the demise of the Soviet Union, and thus liberating the people of Eastern Europe.

                It is interesting to me that people can look at the same event (in this case, President Obama winning the Nobel), and have drastically different conclusions about it.  Our finite, human perspectives on things lead us to see the world differently from each other.

                Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something tangible in this world of ours that offered us truth without bias; clarity without propaganda?  Oh wait, there is: the Bible.

                Now of course people have varying interpretations of some of the things in the Bible.  Some people raise questions because they want to undermine the Scripture.  If they can cast doubt on the authority or accuracy of the Bible then they don’t have to change their behavior to conform to what the Bible says.  Sometimes, though, there are passages in Scripture that well-meaning Christians legitimately disagree on.  But a good bit of the Bible is quite straight forward.  Isn’t it nice that for those who are interested in the Truth, God has given us His Word?  I think so.