The Danger of Celebrity Culture (Part 1 of Thinking Through the Ravi Zacharias Scandal)

Approximate Reading Time: 6 minutes

(This article also includes a podcast discussion. Click the play button below, or subscribe and listen on your Apple or Google podcast app.)

The Christian community continues to lose prominent figures in America. As each year goes by, more men and women are compromising, sometimes even completely losing, ministries that God has used in the lives of individuals and even entire churches. The most recent, and perhaps one of the most surprising in recent memory, is the late Ravi Zacharias. Although his ministry had been tarnished after an online affair was revealed several years ago, it wasn’t until his death that we’ve seen a horrible side to what was happening while Ravi traveled the world and defended the truth of God. 

(If you aren’t familiar with Ravi Zacharias, I’d encourage you to read on anyway. Little of what I’ll say after this next section requires you to be familiar with his work.)

The who and what happened

Ravi Zacharias was a prominent apologist, someone who was dedicated to taking part in formal debates and showing why the Christian faith is founded on truth. While I haven’t heard more than a few hours of his speaking, many would agree that Ravi’s greatest appeal was how accessible he was. His style of teaching, storytelling, and debating were easy for anyone to listen to, which makes it unsurprising that God used him in the lives of so many people.

After his passing, events took place that required those in charge of his ministry to launch an investigation into claims of adultery that extended far beyond what Ravi repented of years ago. A 12-page report was recently released that reveals the double life being led by someone who, by all appearances, was a man of deep faith and conviction. I’ll caution you that the report isn’t graphic, but it’s blunt about what occurred between Ravi Zacharias and a number of women, most of whom worked at massage parlors.

In short, we see that Ravi used his fame, position, and money to coerce or manipulate women into a number of sexual favors, including intercourse, along with at least one other woman he had an intense and extended relationship with. One woman with a Christian background was even led to believe that a sexual relationship with him was somehow honoring to God.

There is a lot going on in this story, and it’s possible we haven’t even heard from the last of the victims. So what should we do about this? How do we process the hurt of these women, the rightful destruction of Ravi’s legacy, and the many Christians who are confused and possibly filled with doubt? 

Over a series of short articles, I’d like to share a few thoughts that may be helpful to others as we use a biblical worldview to think through such a difficult topic.

The danger of celebrity culture

This is the most obvious problem we see, and it’s the one most people are talking about. It’s not that Ravi’s sexual sin was somehow worse than another man who frequently commits adultery, although one could argue it was more frequent because his position of authority and access to money allowed him to be more aggressive about it. Instead, his fall is so shocking to the average person because of the high pedestal he was placed on.

When we look at pastors and teachers, we see them as something other and beyond ourselves. We know they’re sinners, but surely they aren’t sinners like us. We assume they’ve somehow “arrived” at a point in their walk with Christ that they no longer fight against their flesh with the same intensity and regularity as the rest of us. We assume the very best and grant them an extraordinary level of trust and hope that makes their sin feel like even more of a betrayal.

If we look at our culture, this isn’t terribly surprising. We are constantly seeking truth from big names, often giving them more authority in our lives than our local pastor whom God has charged to care for us. Many of us can go to our bookshelves or YouTube watch history and see a few fairly prominent names show up over and over again, and even our conversations often use the phrase “Well, I heard [big name Christian] say…”

There are a number of reasons we’re all guilty of this. Idolatry is often at the heart of it, even if we don’t realize it. We often elevate individuals because it’s simply what we’ve been conditioned to do. Just as those outside the church will follow the lives and political opinion of their favorite celebrity, we wrap that same form of celebrity worship in Christian clothes and devour everything produced by certain people, buying all their books, accepting whatever they teach, or traveling across the country to hear them perform.

And when we take a Christian and elevate them to the degree that we think they’re special, it shouldn’t surprise us when they believe it as well. As soon as they take their eyes off Christ, it’s easy to start listening to everyone who says they’re an amazing and genuine servant of Christ. When our love of sin starts mixing with how people view us, no one is immune from the temptation to keep up appearances while hiding sin. And the more a person can get away with sin, the more they want to pursue it, all while feeling justified because people keep are still following them. Ravi’s sin is his responsibility, but we should use this opportunity to reflect on whether we gave a man more power and authority than a sinner in constant need of Christ’s grace could manage.

For when one person says, “I am with Paul,” and another, “I am with Apollos,” are you not ordinary people?  What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now the one who plants and the one who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. (1 Corinthians 3:4-8)

As Christians, the fall of such a prominent name is a wake-up call. It shows us how much faith and trust we placed in a person who likely doesn’t even know us, nor are they necessarily responsible for the health of our souls. It reveals to us that we’ve put our trust in the teachings of a man or woman, rather than letting them be nothing more than a tool God uses to lead us to Jesus Christ. 

If you’re someone who feels like their faith has been challenged because of all the good Ravi did in your life, take comfort. God uses imperfect, broken people to accomplish His perfect plans. If God used a sinful person in your life, nothing that sinful person does can erase what God has done. Ravi’s public work may be unusable now, but that doesn’t make the good God did through him a total waste. Turn your eyes to Christ, pray for the grace to forgive Ravi’s sin and betrayal, and continue growing in your faith and love for Jesus Christ.

(How could people who were once on the right path get so lost in sin or false teaching? Check back tomorrow for “The Toxic Desires for ‘Yes Men'”)