The choice between God and science: in essence that choice was presented to us by Stephen Hawking in his latest book, where he claimed that God was not needed to create the universe. This week we’ll finish hearing a response to that claim from Ravi Zacharias. Joining Ravi is Dr. John Lennox.
Ravi Zacharias believes that over the past forty years movements like New Age spirituality and society's obsession with human potential have combined like a "perfect storm" to redefine for popular culture what has been for centuries the classic biblical definition of the person, work, and teaching of Jesus Christ. In Why Jesus?, Ravi Zacharias looks at the impact of this "storm" by discussing the 60s-70s "Age of Aquarius," actor Shirley MacLaine's book and TV series Out On a Limb, author James Redfield (The Celestine Prophecy), Rhonda Byrne (The Secret), Dan Brown (The Da Vinci Code), and other books by Eckart Tolle, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, the Dali Lama, and Marianne Williamson.
Special attention will be given to the influence of Oprah Winfrey's media platform in reshaping society by introducing and promoting certain books and authors. Major New Age and human potential tenets will be discussed like: the belief that we are all gods and have to discover our divinity; Jesus was only a good teacher; Christianity is but one among many ways to eternal life; reincarnation is real; Jesus was married; truth is relative; there is no sin; and perfection is possible.
The truth of and the arguments for the bodily resurrection of Jesus will be presented as the most important argument for the exclusive claims about Jesus and Christianity.
Ravi Zacharias has spoken in over fifty countries and in numerous universities worldwide, notably Harvard and Princeton. He was born in India in 1946 and immigrated to Canada twenty years later. While pursuing a career in business management, his interest in theology grew. Ravi received his Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has also been honored by the conferring of a Doctor of Divinity degree from Houghton College, a Doctor of Laws degree from Asbury College, and a Doctor of Divinity degree from Tyndale College and Seminary, Toronto. Ravi has written several books, including Cries of the Heart and Jesus Among Other Gods. He and his family reside in Atlanta, Georgia.