Heaven's Hall of Heroes: Ravi Zacharias

It was a Tuesday night at around 9pm on 19 May 2020 when my dad suddenly shockingly remarked "Ravi Zacharias died!" We were like "Huh? Really?!" So just to be sure it wasn't some WhatsApp fake news going around, I went to check it out myself and to my dismay, yes, yet another hero of the faith has been called home (ಥ﹏ಥ)

༼ つ ಥ_ಥ ༽つ

We are witnessing a generation of Christian giants who gave their lives unreservedly to Jesus, now moving on to meet Him personally. Offhand, I can only remember a few that left us recently:

• Billy Graham [1918-2018, 99 years old] - Internationally renowned American evangelist
• Rev. Rick Seaward [1955-2018, 63 years old] - Founding Pastor of Victory Family Centre, Singapore (Rev. Dr. Fred's son)
• Rev. Dr. Fred Seaward [1930-2019, 89 years old] - Founding Pastor of Bethel Assembly of God, Singapore (Rev. Rick's dad)
• Reinhard Bonnke [1940-2019, 79 years old] - Internationally renowned German evangelist

And now joining Heaven's hall of heroes is Ravi Zacharias [1946-2020, 74 years old] - Internationally renowned Indian-born American-Canadian Christian apologist-evangelist.

A mournful sense of shock came over me. Mournful because he has had an immense impact on my Christian life. Shocked because the cancer was discovered in early March and treatment began in early April and he was gone shortly after :'(

Ravi Zacharias' 48th and last wedding anniversary :'(
Shortly after their anniversary, Ravi passed on (ಥ﹏ಥ)

By 9th May 2020, it was confirmed that the cancer was beyond medical intervention and he would be returning to his home in Atlanta, USA as per his Instagram post below.

༼ つ ಥ_ಥ ༽つ

But who would've known that just 10 days later, he'd pass on? I was expecting that he'd last at least another month or something. That's why I was shocked. But then again, I believe it's also a good thing that he left early as it would save him a lot of pain and suffering. So, I guess it's also God's grace on His part? God's timing is perfect nonetheless and Ravi would definitely concur.

Of the Christian spiritual giants that left us recently, none had more impact on my life than Ravi Zacharias. You would've thought that Fred or Rick Seaward would have a more direct impact on my life - in a sense yes, because they were both involved in founding the church that I grew up in and for that, I'm eternally grateful - but in another sense no, because I had little contact with them.

Did I have contact with Ravi Zacharias? In a sense yes - through his books & videos - and also in a sense no, because I've never met him personally nor shook his hands. But I met him through his books in a very special time of my young Christian walk.

Ravi and his wife, Margaret Reynold. A 48th wedding anniversary wish from their daughter, Sarah Davis

It was about year 2008 and 2009 period, about a decade ago, where I was exposed to the intellectual objections to Christianity. Questions like:

1. "Who made God?"
2. "How do you know Jesus is the only God?"
3. "Didn't science already tell us that the 'Big Bang' created the universe, not Jesus?"
4. "If God is good, then why is there evil and suffering? Its existence disproves the existence of God”
5. "Evolution created us. We came from a single cell that birthed from chemical reactions in primordial Earth where it was filled with different kinds of gases"
6. "If God is all-knowing, and if He is all-good, then why would He even create the tree of life to cause Adam and Eve to sin? He put it there knowing FULL WELL that they would sin and YET, HE STILL DID IT. HOW IS THIS GOD WORTHY OF MY WORSHIP?!"

I wasn't personally attacked by atheists, agnostics or skeptics by these questions. I encountered them in the YouTube comments when I watched Christian videos. I saw some attempts to answer these questions but they were all intellectually dissatisfying and lacks the potent cogency that Ravi Zacharias possessed - well, at that point, I didn't know Ravi yet.

I didn't backslide because I was unable to answer these questions though. God was still utterly real to me because of my many encounters with Him during church services and in my private prayer & worship sessions with Him.

I came to believe in Jesus not because I was intellectually convinced, but because I was undeservedly loved - not just by my encounters with God, but also through His people.

I believe this holds true for many of my friends in church as well. We are primarily emotional beings, not intellectual ones. If we all lived our lives 100% by intellect, this world would be very much in a perfect state.

Ravi & Margie on their wedding day, 7th May 1972 (♥‿♥)

The reason for all the miscommunications, misjudgment, betrayals, hurts, brokenness is because of our inability to separate ourselves from our emotions - we listen and do what we WANT, what we FEEL like doing, and it is usually pleasurable and selfish in nature. Intellect is lost in the sea of our desires and emotions.

What happened to our intellect when:

• We got lazy and replaced our run routine with a Netflix binge?
• Our doctor told us to not eat oily foods when we're sick and we still went to have our favourite char kway teow?
• We decided to talk bad about your colleagues to your boss so you could gain favour over them?
• We decided to listen to rumours about what someone said about someone and you blocked them and stopped all communication with them?
• A teacher gave in to his lust and slept with his pretty 20-year-old student in exchange for giving her good grades?
• We watched bullying and injustice happen in front of us but we didn't intervene? (That's how 6 million Jews got murdered by the way, because of the silence of the good Germans)

I believe I've illustrated well enough that we are not primarily led by our minds. But just in case that wasn't clear enough, I've a real-life example too. In my secondary school days, I have always shared Christ and brought a lot of my classmates to church. But I've this friend in particular that refused to come church or even give Christianity a thought.

Years later, I one day saw him post about some Jesus-stuff on Facebook and I was shocked. I then came to realize that because he fell in love with a CHRISTIAN GIRL, he went to church...and from there became a legit follower of Christ!

So much for our intellect eh? So that's my case for coming to faith. Intellectual boundaries are usually a tiny little hurdle or a convenient excuse to commit ourselves to a God that demands our whole lives - or at least every Sunday of our lives to go to church. LOL.

"When you walk away from Christ, you will miss him. Because you will never be able to make sense of your questions."

Moving back to the intellectual objections to Christianity - those questions (just a few of them) which I mentioned earlier pricked me and left me unsettled.

If God is real and Christianity is true, then these questions should be answerable.

How can truth not stand up to scrutiny?

"What you cannot defend, you cannot own" is a saying that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is built upon. If we can't defend our country, then we can't own it. Why? Because any enemy can just walk in, take over and he will own you.

Same it is for worldviews. If you can't defend it from attacks, then it will be crushed by its opponents. Whatever you believe in then just becomes a stupid fairy tale.

So, I began my journey to find the answers to these questions. I asked the friends around me in church - they were as stumped as I am - some were even unmoved by such questions because they're not even thinking about such things.

"Jesus does not offer to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive."

One day, after a Thursday night prayer meeting in church (Bethel Assembly of God), my senior pastor offered me a ride back home since we both stayed in the east. There I took the opportunity to ask him question 6 which I listed earlier.

His answer went something like "You see, this is the problem with mankind - we will never admit that we are sinful. This guy is trying to push the blame to God and this is simply proof that whatever the Bible says about the sinful nature of man is true."

"But...", I replied, "this guy doesn't even believe in God nor the Bible, so whatever the Bible says doesn't matter to him, because, to him, it's all bullshit."

His final reply before the conversation took another turn was "Don't try to argue with such people. You will have to win him through love."

His answer echoes Ravi Zacharias' approach. One of Ravi's classic quotes is this:

"Love is most powerful apologetic. It is the essential component in reaching the whole person in a fragmented world. The need is vast, but it is also imperative that we be willing to following the example of Jesus and meet the need."

Love the person to Christ, not argue them to Christ, is what Ps. Chia is trying to tell me. Wise words that I still struggle to live out. But still, he didn't really answer my question. Instead he recommended an approach to answering the question.

His answers were not wrong, but it doesn't disarm the questioner. Such answers don't answer the question or render the question invalid by means of a higher logic.

I continued throwing these questions around to my leaders, seniors in the faith and also my parents. LOL. Guess what? All of their replies revolve around the same idea - not answering the question directly, but rather suggesting all sorts of approaches. Let me share with you some of their replies:

• "Why you think so much ah? Christianity is very simple. Just have faith! It is the simple faith that will get you saved!"
• "This kind of people ah, you need to pray for them. Let the Holy Spirit convict their hearts in His own time, but meanwhile, keep praying for them."
• "Why don't you bring him to church? Let him encounter the presence of God and be loved by the many brothers & sisters in Christ here and all these questions will melt away!"

You get the drift. They're all well-meaning, loving and warm-hearted Christians that desire to enfold the questioner but they fall short of a convincing answer. It's like what Bill Maher said in his anti-religion documentary called "Religulous" at about the 14:35 mark "Thank you for being Christ-like and that's just Christian...you see so many nice people trying to make it about something good..."

What Bill Maher witnessed is the kindness of Christians. But they were unable to defend the Gospel. His questions tore apart their entire belief and made them look stupid. This is what happens when you can't defend what you own - you risk losing your faith when attacked - just like how we risk losing Singapore when attacked by our enemies and we have no defense force.

"I have little doubt that the single greatest obstacle to the impact of the Gospel has not been its inability to provide answers, but the failure on our part to live it out."

If you're free, do give "Religulous" a watch. It'll make you understand why apologetics is important. And I think Bill Maher wasn't actually interested in finding the answer to his doubts. If he was, he would've interviewed Ravi Zacharias, Dr. Norman Geisler, Dr. William Lane Craig, Timothy Keller, etc. But no, he chose to interview straw-man Christians and didn't give them much response time.

If you're wondering if I ever got the answer to question 6, yes I did. And I will share with you the answer in detail probably in the latter part of this post or if you ask me. LOL. But if you truly want the whole deal, here's some books that shaped my apologetics:

• Ravi Zacharias - "Can Man Live Without God?" and almost all his books are apologetics-centric
• Lee Strobel - "The Case for Creator", "The Case for Faith" and "The Case for Christ"
• Dr. Norman Geisler - "Christian Apologetics"
• John Ortberg - "Faith & Doubt"
• Timothy Keller - "The Reason for God"
• C.S. Lewis - "Mere Christianity"

Back to the story...I'm still on this crusade to find the answer to these powerful intellectual objections to Christianity and after exhausting most of my options in church, I turned to YouTube. LOL. That's when I discovered Ravi Zacharias videos answering such questions - the same platform where I encountered these questions!

I watched them and I. was. blown. away. He addressed the questions sharply, fearlessly and most importantly, lovingly & respectfully. He would always begin his answer with a quote from a respected scientist/philosopher/poet/author, whetting your appetite before going in for the kill - ending your question.

From that day on, I watched more videos of Ravi and would go on to buy one of his books that would fortify my faith. The very first book I bought was back 2009 when I was on a mission trip with Ps Aaron, Joselyn & Zi Hui in Iloilo, Philippines. You can read my ancient blog post on that at this URL: https://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.com/2009/04/philippines-mission-trip_15.html

My first ever Ravi Zacharias book that I bought - "Can Man Live Without God"

Dating back 11 years ago! Look at the yellow-ed pages!

This book tore open my mind and introduced a new framework of how to assess a worldview and how to test a truth statement. These are my biggest takeaways from the first book that I read. Here's a concise summary of the classic framework which he goes around preaching about:

4 necessary questions: Origin, meaning, morality, destiny.
3 tests for truth: Logical consistency, empirical adequacy, experiential relevance.

Four fundamental questions of life that every thinking person should ask

In his books, he unpacks all these vacuum-packed quotes and unleashes on you a wave of truth and understanding. Armed with this new "weapon", I could take on any skeptic and competing worldview (especially the naturalistic & scientific ones because they're indefensible) and reduce them to baby-talk. Literally, make them feel stupid.

This is where I respect Ravi so much. With his great intellect, cogent eloquence, witty rhetoric and a huge following, he could easily belittle his opponents or questioners. But no, he doesn't. Instead, he lovingly and respectfully reaches out to them and draws them in with artistic poems, historical references, philosophical perspectives, scientific discovery, and gently invites them to think. That, I think is the single greatest quality that I (and so many others) admire - his humility.

At 1:43 of this video he words his philosophy of answering the questioner beautifully:


In case you're too lazy to watch that few minutes of video (LEL), here's the script:

“I tell my colleagues: we’re not answering a question; we’re answering a questioner. And we remind ourselves that when you’re answering a person, you’re literally and figuratively putting your arms around them. You have to draw them close. You have to make them feel you really care about them, that this is not just a mechanistic response you're giving."

In one of the tributes to Ravi, this trait was being highlighted by Michael Ramsden, the president of RZIM (Ravi Zacharias International Ministries) and one of the founders of the Oxford Centre of Christian Apologetics.

This trait of his is definitely what makes him so endearing, so approachable and so well-received by Christians and skeptics alike.

This is also mentioned in the Bible in 1 Peter 3:15-16, the famous go-to verse for apologetics:

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed." 1 Peter 3:15-16 (NKJV)

Here we find the root word for "apologetics". In the script's original language, the Greek word "apologia" is used. It is translated to the English word "defense" in the NKJV above and also translated as "answer" in the NIV and several other versions. But what "Apologia" really means is:

1. verbal defense, speech in defense
2. a reasoned statement or argument

Apostle Peter didn't end there. He moves on to tell us to practice "apologetics" with "meekness and fear", in the NIV it says "gentleness and respect". Ravi truly embodied this verse very well.

His humility, authenticity, conviction, intellect, wit, eloquence and heart for people makes him a rare specimen in the kingdom of God. He is truly a portrait of a loving father: His warm smile, wise words, patient discourse and loving posture makes me love & miss him so much.

Now that he's gone, my hope of meeting him in real life is dashed. The only thing that I have in my possession to remind me of him is his books. The sentimental value of these stacks of paper just went up exponentially.

My collection of Ravi Zacharias books as of 2020

I have read every single book pictured above except for "The Logic of God" because my mentor just gave it to me rather recently - as my 30th birthday gift (if I remember the occasion correctly LOL)

Interestingly enough, out of the 5 books above, I only bought 1 one of them! LOL. The other 4 were all birthday presents! HAHA.

I guess after I got the first book, I was so mind-blown by it that I kept talking about it to my friends. So, when it was time to get me a birthday present...they didn't need to think that hard ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

The Grand Weaver

Part of a 3-book gift series from Anna, Abigail and Jeremy+Meryl (｡◕‿◕｡)

Has Christianity Failed You?

A decade old and no, Christianity has not and will never fail me

Recapture the Wonder

Last of the 3-book series 21st birthday present. Thanks again guys! ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )

The Logic of God

Unread. Will devour this soon, with a heavy heart (◔̯◔)

The next thing I love and admire so much about Ravi is that he is not just an ivory-tower pontificator of the truth, he is also a Holy-Spirit-filled man full of love and tenderness towards his wife and family.

One of my favourite photos of Ravi. You seldom see him in a whacky mode. HAHA (~˘▾˘)~

I pray that Zinky & I will still have this look of love for each other at that age (♥‿♥) :')

Beautiful God-fearing couple (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

Ravi & Margie are beautiful picture of what love looks like. He doesn't just preach compelling sermons about love; he lives it out. That is the true picture of what it means to be like Christ.

The integrity of his walk with Christ is what many great preachers lack today. Sure, there may be better orators than him, but when you scrutinize their lives, they fall terribly short of the words they preach. Here you find a man of God, coherent in his walk and talk.

Ravi's instagram post when he first discovered he had cancer

In my search for a satisfying answer to those intellectual objections to Christianity, I not only found Ravi Zacharias, I also found Lee Strobel. In fact, Lee Strobel referenced Ravi's books in his own bestselling series.

These 2 guys gave me the framework to answer some of the toughest questions posed to Christianity. With that framework in mind, I then went back to those YouTube questions posed by the proud, self-professed atheists.

That's when question number 6 (as listed above) was posed to me. I replied him in the spirit of Ravi, gentle & respectful and there were several back & forth messages on YouTube messages. I realized that this chat-inbox function on YouTube is no longer there. Dayum. Anyway, long story short, that guy couldn't reply me so he just stopped texting me thereafter.

Sure, he had good questions. But when faced with the answer and the destruction of his question, he didn't say "thank you" or "I will consider Christianity" and stuff. He just went silent. Probably his pride got broken.

I'm not sure if he was truly seeking truth, or just throwing out his doubt with pride. The actuality of it is - he doesn't have an answer himself.

Tribute post on instagram for Ravi quoting him "A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God."

This is the first key to approaching nasty questioners, throw the question back at them. If they're atheists, ask them, what does atheism have to say about this?

Question back their worldview. Usually, their worldview is bankrupt and their answer is sad and hopeless because in a God-less world, everything is meaningless.

So right, now I will attempt to answer question number 6 again. If you missed the question earlier, here it is again. This time in bold:

"If God is all-knowing, and if He is all-good, then why would He even create the tree of life to cause Adam and Eve to sin? He put it there knowing FULL WELL that they would sin and YET, HE STILL DID IT. HOW IS THIS GOD WORTHY OF MY WORSHIP?!"

I like to use rhetoric in my answers. Because, when you answer the question with a question, it's more powerful than giving an answer. This will be my first rhetoric:

"So what you're saying, is that, in order for God to be good, He cannot create the tree of life? And if He can't have the freedom to create the tree of life, then God is no longer all-powerful isn't it? God, in trying to maintain His goodness, has just lost His sovereignty and free will! Sounds like you are god right now, telling God what He can or cannot do."

This may or may not trip the questioner but he might go "Exactly. God's attributes contradict each other. Therefore, logically, He cannot exist. Or He exists but is a sadistic God because He intentionally put the tree of life there to make us sin."

At this juncture, I will go on to introduce 2 very important concepts encapsulated in these 2 words - "Anthropomorphize" and "Transcendent"

Definition of "anthropomorphize"

We must recognize that we as a species love to anthropomorphize. We do it all the time. We dress our dogs and cats up and call it "cute". We give our teddy bears names and emotions and interact with them as if they're human. And the biggest mistake we make is to project our human-ness onto God as well. To try to make Him like us.

This leads us to the next concept -  transcendence. Definition taken from dictionary.com.

Definition of "transcendent"

We must recognize that God is a transcendent being. He is a higher-order being. He created us. So he won't be like us. If we can understand His workings, then we would be creating our own universes and traveling to the future to see what's our destiny isn't it?

God is not bound by time - He created it! God isn't bound by the laws of physics and nature - He created those laws! God is unaffected by whatever we can ever say or think about Him. He sits on His heavenly throne with the heavenly beings worshipping Him daily! Here's a super-pixelated illustration with a Bible verse:

Revelation 5:11-13 shows a multitude of hundreds of thousands of angels and heavenly beings worshipping God in heaven

I'd imagine God to be something like Odin - sitting on His throne in his grand, majestic, gold-diamond-shimmery Asgard. And we're like Hulk, a big, green, sinful, ugly creature that sets foot in this ravishing planet as pictured below and in the movies.

An illustration of transcendence - where Asgard is kinda like heaven in all its splendour and glory

My final illustration of transcendence which I believe is the clearest and draws from my engineering background is this:

We're now the creators. We (mankind) created computers correct? Imagine all these computers become sentient and start discussing their origins amongst themselves:

Computer A: It's not possible for god (humans) to exist! There's no sign of them in our binary codes! There's no MAC (media access control) address of this god and there's no IP address either! How can this "god" exist? Bullshit!

Computer B: Yeah, not to mention that I don't see our power source leading to this "god". If this "god" is not connected to the power source, then, where does he get the voltages and current needed to power up his system?

Computer C: I'm pretty sure we are a result of a big explosion! There were probably capacitors, inductors, microchips, wires, resistors and all these components that made us lying around in some factory and then it exploded and we were born!

Computer atheist community: YEAH! TOTALLY! There's no such thing as god (humans)!

"The intellectual answers are important. But intellect alone cannot help us navigate the minefield of pain and suffering. Other worldviews also offer intellectual answers. But Christianity alone offers a person."

Don't you see how stupid this all sounds? We as human beings, TRANSCEND computers. We are made of flesh and blood, a series of billions of A-T-C-Gs put together by God.

We don't need to be plugged into a power socket in order to be alive! We don't need batteries either! But that's all a computer can ever understand because, that's what they're made of! They only understand logic "1" and logic "0"! The voltages and current that run through their electronic components is all they'll ever understand!

Do you think the computer can ever understand what it feels like to be a human? To have blood flowing through their veins or wires? To feel love and betrayal? To laugh and cry? To stare with awe into eyes of a newborn baby?
To enjoy the pleasure of sexual intercourse? NEVER.

Because we are a higher-order, TRANSCENDENT being.

Usually, by now, the atheist or questioner is totally silent. Once the concept of transcendence is understood, all your anthropomorphic questions is immediately invalidated.

Who are we, mere human beings in a vast, boundless universe, to question a transcendent being about His attributes?

So, this is my answer - to invalidate the questioner's question with the concept of "anthropomorphize" and "transcendence". With this concept and framework in mind, it answers many other questions and intellectual objections.

Now, the questioner is left with the question "how should I respond to this God?".

I discovered these actually not via Ravi Zacharias, but via Lee Strobel's book "The Case for Creator". This is the second book on apologetics that most impacted me.

For me, Ravi Zacharias answered very powerfully question number 4: "If God is good, then why did He create evil and suffering?"

Ravi's classic, timeless answer, which I've watched on his YouTube videos, can be summarized in this photo-quote:

Ravi's classic answer to the question of evil - before you can talk about good and evil, where do you get your definitions from?

I will unpack what he said and make it even clearer with this illustration:

Let's say you go this restaurant and have fish & chips and then you remark "This fish & chips is good!" When you say the dish is good, what is your reference point? What does good mean?

Then another guy, a food critic walks into this same restaurant, tastes the fish & chips and goes "This fish & chips is horribly bad!" Again, where does his definition of "bad" come from?

The food critic has most certainly tasted other fish & chips before tasting this one in order to conclude that it is bad isn’t it? So, his conclusion is referenced against his earlier experiences. If it's your first time in your whole life that you've actually tasted fish & chips, you can't actually say whether it's good or bad, because you have no reference point. But after you've ate at restaurant A, you can move on to restaurant B, taste their fish & chips and compare the taste.

Now, you can say that restaurant B's fish & chips is good because in reference to your experience at restaurant A, it is as good or if not, even better. That's the dimension of experiential reference.

"If you are not a praying person, you must carry your faith. If you are a praying person, your faith carries you."

Now, you might say that the reference point is our tongue - our taste buds - that's the dimension of personal preference.

But, the food critics would disagree. They would probably point to a higher standard which they use to assess the dish. They'll talk about the quality of the ingredients the chef uses, the preparation technique, the cooking method, etc.

Same it is for right and wrong! How do we know what is right? Somehow, we just know. Because innate within us is our conscience - which is our "taste buds". This “taste bud” is giving us a glimpse of this universal standard. But, who gave us this "taste bud"? Who gave us this "conscience"?

There has to be a higher moral standard by which we can judge right and wrong than just our "taste buds" and conscience because taste buds and conscience can be eroded.

So, the moment you try to talk about evil and suffering, right and wrong, you enter into the realm of morality. Where does moral standards come from? Is it a universal one? Or a subjective morality?

I will refrain from going into the arguments of morality but you get the drift. To even step into the arena of morality, you first have to concede that there is moral-law-giver, aka, God. Only then, then we can start debating. If not, everyone's answer is as correct as their taste buds deem it to be and it'll also be as wrong as what another person's taste bud would deem it to be.

So the starting point is always God. For without God, everything is meaningless and purposeless, rendering the questioner and question itself a virtue-less waste of time.

"I have always marveled that so many religions exact such revenge against dissenters. It only weakens the appeal of their faith and contradicts any claims they might have made that 'all religions are basically the same'"

Ok, so there is a God. But, is this God good? If you’re referring to the Christian worldview, then yes, God is good. Jesus Himself says it in no uncertain terms in John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

Here, Jesus gives an example of what “good shepherd” means – to lay down his life for the sheep. This statement is not only prophetic, but also sort of an autobiography – He’s telling you that He is good and telling you that He is going to lay down His life for mankind (the sheep).

I shall quote from Romans 5:7-8 “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

God didn’t just leave us in the lurch and condemned us to hell because of our sins, He sent His Son Jesus to bear the punishment for our sins.

Let me illustrate this more clearly: A father, who owns a chain of Apple stores selling iPhones, brings his son one day to one of the shops. Another kid wanders into the store alone and fiddles with the iPhone and accidentally breaks one of them and starts crying. As the Apple staff are trying to resolve the issue, the father hands his son his credit card and tells him “go and tell the boy, it’s ok, I’ll pay for it.” He did it. The Apple staff were pleasantly surprised by this gesture and the kid stopped crying for he knew his “sin” was forgiven as the price had been paid.

A beautiful quote I found in the YouTube comments section while watching a video of Ravi Zacharias and Francis Chan doing a Q&A segment

Isn’t that a picture of goodness? Jesus paid the price for our sins with His own life – because the price to pay for our sins is death, capital punishment! It’s not just a few thousand dollars like in the example above – a life had to be taken.

This is just one example where we see the Christian God as good. This reminds me of a quote by Selwyn Hughes:

“He did not come merely to bring good news; He is the Good News. He did not come to show us a way; He is the Way. He did not just point to the truth; He is the Truth. He did not come to talk about life; He is the Life. Moses pointed to the law, Mohammed pointed to the Qur’an, Confucius to the Analects, Buddha to the Noble Eightfold Path. Jesus, however, pointed to Himself. Here, infinite authority or infinite audacity speaks.” Selwyn Hughes

Yup, these are just some of the astounding truths and concepts that I've gleaned from Ravi Zacharias and my other apologetic mentors.

But few come close to Ravi for his keenness of speech, integrity of lifestyle and love for the individual. For that, his absence will always weigh heavily on our mortal hearts.

I shall end this post with the same words I used in my Instagram tribute post to him "Though the closest I ever got to meeting you was at a church conference in Shanghai some 7 years ago, I know I'll have an entire eternity to get to know you. See you soon Ravi."

View this post on Instagram

I first read "Can Man Live Without God" back in 2009 and was blown away by the quality of your questions & discourse. #Atheism, #naturalism, #rationalism, #nihilism & all other scientific, #religious & #secular #worldviews died for good under your microscope of thought. #ThankYouRavi for leaving an indelible mark on my faith by anchoring it in sound logic & reason. You framed up the idea of truth & how to test it. You taught me how to think. Your fierce questions & cogent arguments made #Christianity no longer just a bunch of old stories from an old book that old pastors preach from; you made it glaringly true - that Christianity is the best & only answer to life's maladies. I watched your video debates in universities & conferences & you always answer with a quote from a respected scientist/philosopher/poet before addressing the questioner with respect and love. You stayed true to your principle of "we're not just answering a question; we're answering a questioner..you've got to gradually put your arm around the questioner, so to speak. There's no point in winning an argument while losing the questioner." Top class. Most importantly, your life mirrors your message & it narrates a powerful story of God's love, grace & faithfulness. You're truly a picture of Apostle Paul - Vigorously defending & presenting the Gospel in universities, big conferences and even in presidential addresses - just like Paul did in Acts - in the marketplaces, in the synagogues and in podiums before kings & rulers in Rome. So thank you Ravi, for being a hero of the faith & someone I can look up to in such decadent times where truth is subjective & everyone is living for themselves. I pray that this social media explosion of #tributes to you will catch the attention of pre-believers & may they watch your debates, read your books & discover Jesus in a mind-blowing-Ravi-Zacharias fashion. Though the closest I ever got to meeting you was at a church conference in Shanghai some 7 years ago, I know I'll have an entire eternity to get to know you. See you soon @ravizacharias #ravizacharias 🙏🏼🙌🏼

A post shared by Jonavan Lee 😎 (@jonavanlee) on May 19, 2020 at 8:44pm PDT

"Death is either a full stop or a comma. In the Christian worldview, it is a comma. There is for the Christian both the passing of all things and the abiding in Christ's provision. That's the reality of Easter."

Farewell Ravi. Till we meet again. This comma shouldn't be long :')

Reflections 2020: My first "ministry" in Hope Church

God's never done with just landing you in a church - that's just the first step; where the potter plonks a pile of clay onto his pottery wheel. You can read about how I got yanked onto the "pottery wheel" here: https://historymakers-jonnyboy.blogspot.com/2020/05/reflections-2020-how-god-led-me-to-hope.html

In Hope church they have 4 steps called the "ABCD"

• Acknowledge Jesus as your Lord & Saviour
• Belong to a local church
• Contribute to God's work
• Disciple others to follow Jesus

Now that I was well-settled-down with my LG in Hope church, I am deemed to have completed steps "A" and "B". But, I wasn't keen on moving on to step "C" as yet. Why? Partly because I'm lazy and mainly because I've my reservations ಠ~ಠ

I have served in church for the longest time. I know how it works. I know the different kinds of Christians that I'll encounter. In fact, I was serving in high-capacity in 6 ministries in my first church until God called me to step down because I was too used to it (and more)! He did a powerful work in my life through that season and I'm glad that it was ranked #9 most read article for all of Thir.st's 2019 publications.

You can read more about my story by clicking the screenshot.

But I also know that it is through serving in church that you truly integrate into the body of Christ. God works through the struggles, the friction and the victories that you will accomplish throughout your time in ministry and that's where you will see growth in your spiritual life. After all James says it quite clearly: 

James 2:17 "...Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead"
James 2:24 "You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only."

 
I knew that serving in church is the byproduct of my relationship with God. But, I felt that it wasn't time yet? Until and unless God tugs at my heart to return to the battlefield, I'd like to stay in-camp in the comfort of my bunk. LOL.

So, God then began His tugging. As I got introduced to many other friends in church, they will always ask "So, what ministry are you serving in?" and I'll be like "I'm serving in my LG as a guitarist" and they'll be like "Oh that's great! But that's not a ministry" and I'll be like "IKR. See how it goes (ʘ‿ʘ)"

This happened SUPER REGULARLY and I knew God was using these irritating conversations to poke me into action. But, my lazy ass still wouldn't do anything as yet. So, God decided to increase His nudging intensity.

I remember during one of the BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) sessions, 1 Peter 4 was referenced during the lecture/discussion. When I read verse 10, I felt a heavy conviction and a sense of guilt befall me.

1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received

to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."

Right there and then my heart broke and I was filled with a mix of sadness & guilt as I realized that because I've not been using my gifts that I am endowed with, I'm being an UNfaithful steward.

With my BSF group mates in Bethesda Chapel \ (•◡•) /

That was a God-moment for me. It felt like the entire hall of about 400 BSF-ers in Bethesda Chapel went silent as these words of Scripture jumped out at me.

I knew there and then God is calling me back to the battlefield. But Lord, where? Where shall I serve in? Shall I join a ministry that is in need of people? Or should I join a ministry that maximizes my gifts & talents? That question was answered in the coming Sunday service.

In the following weeks after this God-filled BSF moment, God spoke through an unexpected segment in the service - the video announcements. LOL.

There was an open casting call for actors in the coming 2017 Christmas drama production! My LGL and LG mates sitting beside me straight away turned to me and poked me saying "Eh, you should go for this! Very suitable for you!" LOL.

I laughed when they nudged me. And then I remembered that it was through the Christmas 2016 (themed "The Great Unexpectation") drama production "Train to Bishan" that brought me back to the house of God. I recalled how mind-blown I was by that skit and I'm like "Yeah, maybe I want to be a part of this too!"

Putting this picture here again of the stage set-up for the "Train to Bishan" skit

But I was still apprehensive. I just officially joined Hope church in Tampines East 9 for like 2 months? I'm a newcomer here still and I don't think I'm ready for such a big role in church.

I also haven't acted in a drama skit for like nearly a decade? All the different excuses & reservations were bubbling in my mind but then I began adding things up:

1. God's been using irritating conversations like "So, what ministry are you in?" with well-meaning church mates to call me back to serve
2. God spoke to me during my BSF session via 1 Peter 4:10 very clearly
3. My LGL and LG mates are encouraging me to serve in this role

And I'm like, ok God, I don't need a 4th encounter. I'm doing it. So, off I went to sign up for auditions. At the back of my mind I was thinking "No harm ma, I might fail the audition anyway"

Surprisingly, the auditions were held in Burger King at Kitchener Complex - near church. It was a really chill setting. I sat down and had a really chill conversation with Timothy Ong the drama director and Adria Tham one of the drama team members.

After the pleasantries and long introduction, they asked me to read some lines from the script and that's it! No wonder it could be done at Burger King! I thought I'd have to act in front of the BK customers or something and make them lose their appetite for dinner. LOL.

BK audition done! They told me I'll be informed of their decision in a few weeks' time, after everyone has been auditioned.

I guess you know what happens next. If I didn't pass the audition, there'd be no blog post ain't it? HAHA. So yeah, I passed the audition and I got the role as a gangster named "Noel". Yeah, you read that right, gangster. L. O. L. (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿)

Say hi to pai kia "Noel" (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿)

As you can see from the photo above, I'm only involved in 1 scene - scene number 4, so no biggie. But hey, I'm finally servin' da Lord! LOL.

The rest of my Q4 was packed with script rehearsals, acting rehearsals, lights plot, stage plot, stage rehearsals, full dress rehearsals and finally D-DAY. It was time-consuming, but rewarding. Rewarding because through all these rehearsals and time spent together, I got to know my fellow brothers & sisters in Christ much more intimately.

The stage layout for 1 out of 9 scenes

We don't just meet to do rehearsals. We usually meet for dinner before the rehearsals and we also meet to have sharing sessions where we play games, sing worship songs and really pray for the upcoming evangelistic production. It's like LG, but on a project basis.

It is through these meetings that I hear the many stories of faith behind these actors & actresses and am truly very moved by all of their heartfelt sharing. Through these stories my faith is strengthened because I know that God is doing His work evidently in not just my life, but in the lives of these good bros & sistas around me.

One of the meetings we had where we play games and really shared about how God led us to join this production

All these stories remind me that God is a person. He is intimately speaking to each and everyone one of us and changing our lives in very real ways. It's no longer just a concept or a figure of speech to say "God has changed my life" when you can match that statement to a face - to a person, a friend that you personally know. It's totally different. That's what makes testimonies so powerful.

Let me share with you 2 of the most powerful testimonies I heard. First up is Christine: mother of 4 kids (if I remember correctly LOL).

Real-life mom and also acting mom in the production

Most people would see her 3 kids, but few would've seen her 4th. Because he's bed-ridden. He was born with some sort of disease that left him in this state. So, he's been stuck to his bed ever since birth.

As any parent would, Christine was heartbroken and upset with God. She would cry and be angry with God for months following his birth. She prayed and asked God to heal her kid but her only answer was the deafening silence from above.

Over time, she slowly surrendered her burden to God and miraculously, He provided for her family and filled them with much peace. Maybe, after all, it is part of God's plan.

I saw the pain in her eyes and also felt the peaceful surrender in her soul. This is a faith that's so profound that only if you live through it, then can you fully own it.

Let me now introduce you to the protagonist of this drama - Kelvin. His stage name and real name are pronounced the same but spelt differently LOL. On stage, he is Calvin. HAHA. He only appears in the later scenes as he is playing the older version of Calvin.

Kelvin - the older version that appears in the latter part of the play

I was hitching a ride to church in his car and that's when we had a nice chat and I uncovered his story of faith. He had an affair. "Wait what? This is story of faith?" might be your first reaction. But yes, he had an affair, and then had a divorce. Then, he lived with his new lover.

If you're not getting where the "story of faith" is, stick with me. LOL. From there, God convicted him and he fell sick I think. Then he went back to his wife, apologized, made amends with his wife and they got re-married!

They're both now happily married, TWICE, and leading an LG together in Hope church! What an incredible story of repentance & forgiveness! Without the Holy Spirit's jibes and guidance, I think the story would've turned out differently.

There are many more powerful testimonies amongst the cast members but these 2 impacted me most. To know that I'm acting with spiritual giants of the faith makes this whole acting thing much less plastic - because I know they're not just my acting "colleagues", but they are living testimonies of God's power and work in our lives.

Of course, beyond the chit-chat and HTHTs there is also the serious hours of rehearsals that we all put in - establishing of our character's depth, getting into character, vocal & facial warm-ups, mini skits, etc.

One of our backstage rehearsal moments. From left: Me (Noel), Wei Yeat (Young Calvin) & Chin Teck (Wing)

From the photo above, you could tell that Chin Teck and I are dominating Wei Yeat. LOL, We're actually bad friends that influence him to club, smoke and do bad stuff basically. We're the BAD GUYS. LOL.

One of the many on-stage rehearsals. See the cigarettes in our hands? Yeah. Doing em' bad-guy stuff. HAHA

Talking about cigarettes, there's this funny story behind it where I nearly made an LG backslide HAHA. Here's the story in 4 Instagram chat screenshots from my LG mate Siqi:

The cigarette-bad-guy story

Not sure if you managed to read the above. If you're reading this post on mobile then probably you won't be able to see the words, so lemme narrate...

I was going to church for stage rehearsals I think and I was holding my prop - cigarette pack. It's a legit cigarette pack. The cigarettes? Of course they're not real LOL. They're stage-cigarettes.

Basically you can fill the stick with some fine powder and when you blow into it, the fine powder flies out and it really looks like smoke coming outta the cig. Pretty legit prop I must say. Here's a close-up of it:

Shot glasses and stage-cigarette props for da bad guys ̿'̿'\̵͇̿̿\з=( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)=ε/̵͇̿̿/'̿̿ ̿

Back to the story...I entered church with my pack of cigarettes, walked pass an LG who saw me with the cigs and were shook, thinking I'm some outsider heading to the staircase exit for a smoke. LOL.

And they said I had bad-guy vibes (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿) Like seriously? I do? LOL. Oh well, since a total stranger said I do, I guess I do then LOL ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿'̿'\̵͇̿̿\з= ( ▀ ͜͞ʖ▀) =ε/̵͇̿̿/’̿’̿ ̿ ̿̿ ̿̿ ̿̿

That was just another stage rehearsal in the sea of countless no. of rehearsals. Well, that's what happens when you have a cast size of 11 people. I heard from the drama lao jiaos that this is the largest no. of actors they've casted in a single production. Wew. ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

Yet another stage rehearsal - things are starting to take shape

I realized that at this juncture, if you didn't come for the Christmas drama, you'd have no idea what the story is about. 做么你没来咧？Better come for this year's one ah! HMU! LOL.

Anyway, this Christmas 2017 production is called "My Crappy Christmas" and it revolves around the protagonist, Calvin...Or Kelvin as you've been introduced. Why is Christmas "crappy"? Because every memory of Christmas for Calvin, is a sad one.

"My Crappy Christmas" e-flyer invite

This production starts with the old Calvin telling the audience via a first-person video recording that he is doing this video monologue to remember his past and this may well be his last video he'll ever take. He then goes on to flashback to the first scene - his secondary school days.

The scenes portray his interactions with his mum, LAN-gaming with his friends and getting his first taste of rejection by his friends because he is a LAN-gaming noob. LOL. The sound effects, lighting, backstage dynamic graphics really makes you feel for Calvin.

It then goes on to the phase of Calvin's life - his NS (National Service) days in the army. THAT'S MY SCENE. LOL. This is where he mixes with bad company - his ah-beng, gangster-ish, bad-guy army friends Noel & Wing.

From left: Wei Yeat (Calvin), Chin Teck (Wing) and myself (Noel)

We brought him clubbing, smoking and it escalated to introducing him to drugs. It was a dark phase of life for Calvin. But, he outgrew it and went on to study in university and then landed in a well-paying job in a finance & investments company - just like any average Singaporean boy would.

The production then introduces another set of casts as Calvin enters into the workforce. Here, it portrays the perils of working life - bitchy colleagues, office-romance (sort of), demanding bosses and clients, work screw-ups and it ended up with him not being able to enjoy his Christmas holidays because he had to rush finish a report which had a critical error in it.

Group photo with the cast on stage during one of the rehearsals

As with each scene's ending, his monologue video will play on screen. While the stage set-up is being changed in the darkness, the bright screen shows Calvin telling us about his next Christmas experience - one with his lover.

I think the scenes here are the most emotional because it shows the sweetness of his courtship with his girlfriend, and then it transitions to the many fights, disagreements and it climaxed when they were unable to conceive.

I think this is one of the last few full-dress rehearsals

The next scene then portrayed the mundanity of marriage-life where it revealed a little bit of his ailing health condition. Halfway through that Christmas dinner with his wife, he had a heart attack. But he brushed it off and the scene ended sweetly with them inviting each other to dance.

Here the story wraps up. The video monologue of him talking to the camera lights up the entire auditorium again...and then he tells us that he has a late stage 3 cancer. He didn't tell his wife. And he's not sure if he'll make it till Christmas this year. So, he recorded this video just in case ಥ_ಥ

Now the audience knows that this whole story is the flashback of a dying man recalling his crappy Christmases in the past and how he might not be alive till Christmas this year.

I love how the scenes portray the average Singaporean life's journey - school, NS, university, work, marriage and then death. It makes you laugh and wince because it's so real, so accurate, so YOU.

This production poses a very important question - what's life about? Is that all there is to life? As I sit here dying of cancer, looking back at my crappy, meaningless, insignificant life...my soul aches for more. It hopes, it wishes, IT KNOWS that there is something more than this.

The scene ends with all the cast members progressively entering the scene while singing the different lines of "All I want for Christmas is LOVE". Yes, we edited the lyrics of the song. Sorry Mariah Carey. LOL.

The classic curtain call pose of most productions, where all the cast members line-up before the final bow

That's it. That was the production. We're done! Wew. But we had to do 3 acts. LOL. So the photo above is just 1 of the 3 times we did that pose. LOL

As with every Christian drama production, after the play is the sermon. So in walks senior pastor Jeffery Chong and asks the audience for another huge round of applause for the drama team before he begins his evangelistic discourse.

Feedback for the drama was good of course. Heard stories of people tearing as they watched this production. Which is great! But I hope that beyond the tears, there will be a turning of hearts towards God.

Group photo of the drama crew after 1 of the 3 acts. Or is this taken right after we're done with our last act? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

In spite of the good feedback, I felt that this drama production didn't blow my mind like the "Train to Bishan" Christmas production in 2016.

Why? Mainly because the script wasn't centred around a real-life story like Yolanda. If the story took a turn and we suddenly told you that this story is the true story of a member in our church, then dayum I'd be mindblown again I guess.

Because the audience enters the church and sits down, expecting just another fictional portrayal of the Christmas message. But when fiction becomes reality, BAM, that's where it blows your mind. This element was missing this time which is why I felt it wasn't as good.

But oh well, newcomers who walked in the doors of church without any expectation in mind would still be mindblown somewhat I believe. The lights, sounds, stage effects, acting, lines and most importantly, the Holy Spirit should've dealt a nice blow to their heart of hearts.

"MY CRAPPY CHRISTMAS" drama crew \ (•◡•) /

Also really thankful that many of my friends came to support my acting (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ Especially my pre-believing friends (づ｡◕‿◕｡)づ I believe that the Holy Spirit has sown a seed of salvation in your hearts that will in time bear fruit (◕‿◕)

 

Thanks for your support Mag, Ryan & friend! And of course love ya too Siqi + Yan Xiang (♥‿♥)

Thanks for coming Abigail + Sherman! Get married soon! LOL

Yay thanks girls for coming to support me! From left (excluding Siqi LOL): Mabelline, Joy Xuanni, Chae Yun & Chae Huah!

Photo no. 2, more formal now cos both our LGLs joined the pic HAHA. Thanks Joe & Yiqin for your Godly leadership!

To wrap up this entire Christmas 2017 beautifully and noisily, we had a final Christmas gathering with the entire drama production crew at Eugene's place ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪

We played charades and all sorts of other acting & guessing games and the noise level was just INSANE. Here's one of the funniest clips (to me) of that night.

Alvin was so excited that he shouted "DES-POTATO" instead of "DESPACITO" LOLOLOL. I still ROFL every time I watch this vid HAHA.

Clockwise from Chin Teck's (photographer's) left: Henry, Timothy, Sherilyn, Adria, Dorling, Eugene (thanks for opening your place!), Sherry, Popo, Kelvin, Christine, Alvin, Wei Song, Wei Yeat, Karmen!

Handwritten notes for each other!

We ended the night sweetly by playing this write-each-other-a-note activity. Everyone's given a piece of paper and we're to write our name on it - that means that the piece of paper belongs to us. After that, we're to pass the paper to the next person & they'll write a note to you. You pass the paper round until everyone has written something for everyone! Sho shweet right? LOL. I still have this paper somewhere in my stash of cards hehe (ᵔᴥᵔ)

What a way to end the year! Really got to make many new friends through this drama production and I pray that we'll all continue to make a dramatic (pun totally intended) impact on the pre-believing friends & family members around us (ง'̀-'́)ง

Thank You Jesus for 2017! Thank You for pursuing and leading me to where I am today. Thank You Lord for this opportunity to serve on stage again.

My instagram shout-out aka open-jio LEL

Come to think of it, it was really unlikely that I got any role in this production because I was only a few months' old member in Hope church. In fact, during one of the rehearsals, when I was having a chat with a few cast members and we're talking about how we got to Hope church - they were shocked when they learned that I am only a frequent member for a few months.

One of them even said "Whoa, you just joined the church and you're already taking on such a visible role on stage? Got cleared by your leaders already not?" LOLOL. It's true. It's a legit concern that'd I'd have brought up too. But yeah, my leaders gave me a good word and approved my performance debut. Haha.

Yup, that's how I first served in a "ministry". I use inverted commas because I didn't officially join the drama ministry - I'm just a cast member. The ministry members are the ones who drafted the script, do the casting calls, schedule the rehearsals, whip us actors into shape and ensure everything happens according to plan.

Feature photo of Christmas 2017 on Hope Singapore's website...AND MY EYES ARE CLOSED (一_一)

In fact now, the drama ministry has been disbanded because the church's focus is now on video productions - not so much of live acting anymore.

Talking about video productions, never knew that I'd be involved as the lead actor for Christmas 2019. Will write more about that when I've got the time to do more reflection. Hehe. For now, lemme end this post with the video of the entire drama production below.

I only appear from 10:40 to 16:03. Only about 5mins of acting but we had about 10 weeks of rehearsals! This Chinese adage never ringed this true to me until now "台上十分钟，台下十年功"