10/04/22 Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth in the age of mass marketed spirituality Ravi Zachariah

Why I picked this book up: I have been reading MANY Psychology books for work recently and I wanted a break so I decided to read a Christian author. One of my favorite apologists is this author. I hesitated after hearing the claim of the sex scandal I have not looked into, really enjoy this author so I picked this book up. This book opened my eyes to eastern religious mentality

Thoughts: Overall I really enjoyed this book. Ravi is a n intelligent man. He structures his books really well, educates, is very thought provoking. He nailed it about a lot is psychological concepts from the east saying things but not saying anything at all. Some something bing not not being at all. For example one other book, Eckhart Tolle, wrote about focusing on the now really dug that concept but Ravi was so solid in his rational, and God focused thoughts I felt he is well grounded, cogent, rational and comfortable.

Why I finished this read: I finished because for me this was a page turner, challenged my thought process and the book to me just ended too soon.

Stars rating: 5 out of 5 for me. ( )

Quite thought provoking. Zacharias was able to crystalize my concerns and misgivings about the creeping of New Age Spirituality into our everyday culture and attempt to explain why this view is so popular as well as provide arguments against its belief system. ( )

Ravi Zacharias' book, Why Jesus? Rediscovering His Truth In An Age of Mass Marketed Spirituality, responds to the ever increasing interest in Spirituality in Western Culture. Since the 6o's, Americans have become more and more enamored with Eastern philosophies such as Hinduism and Buddhism, but in the "American Way," have felt free to take bits and pieces of a myriad of belief systems, often blending them with the Christian roots that are part of our heritage.

Zacharias, a great observer of history and analyst of popular culture, takes time to review how this came about. In his very readable style, he details the onset of the New Spirituality and the major players that have popularized it. Among them, Deepak Chopra, a mover and shaker in the movement, shows up early and often in Zacharias' tome, and is exposed as someone who has borrowed deeply from his Hindu roots, but doesn't credit his sources, much to the dismay of actual Hindu scholars who have called him to task. Chopra blends scientific terms lifted from quantum physics into his spiritual theorizing, but when questioned by an actual scientist, Richard Dawkins, Chopra responds that his use of scientific language is a metaphor. Though the explanation didn't seem to satisfy Dawkins, it still wows many in his mass audience.

Zacharias looks for truth and relevance, faith and reason, as he compares the world's major belief systems, and the New Age Spirituality that has recently emerged, to the claims of Jesus. As Zacharias mentions in the close of the introduction to his book, "Coming to the right conclusion on a matter such as this will define eternity."

A very readable and informative book, I recommend this to all who are intrigued by the claims of the New Spirituality. ( )

This started out as a five star review! I love Ravi's writing! He's opinionated, intelligent and interesting. He seeds his discussion with fascinating, relevant stories.

Ravi challenges the truthfulness of contemporary religion—mostly, what he calls "New Spirituality"—in the early pages of his book, and promises to steer us away from mass marketed shallowness toward the Truth. Capital T. It's a noble quest.

Says Ravi, "I have followed through on my promise to pursue truth and have devoted my life to the study and understanding of all the major religions and systems of belief in the world." He poses a question: "If the truth is so important [in the courtroom], how much more important is it in the search for the spiritual answers to our deepest hungers?" He quotes Winston Churchill: "The most valuable thing in the world is the truth." He concludes, "Nothing is so destructive as running from the truth."

With this intoxicating buildup, he raises our expectations for great revelation. Yes, Ravi! Bring us the TRUTH! Can I hear an amen?

Instead, Ravi embarks on a 272-page quest to discredit the competition (Ravi has a serious thing about Chopra and Oprah, and their feel-good religions; at least a quarter of the book is dedicated to the "deplorable and manipulative" Deepak Chopra). I kept waiting to learn about Jesus. Why Jesus? The best answer I could find is that Ravi likes Jesus-the-person, the man who befriended sinners and played with children on his lap. Jesus "makes reality beautiful." Well, heck, I think Jesus is cool, too.

Five stars if you love passionate ridicule and prefer attack to defense. One star if you're hoping to uncover a reason to turn to Jesus. Ravi keeps promising, but never delivers ... he actually never even tries, beyond a few of his own feel-good descriptions in the final few pages.

Tell you what—my next review will be a book with an identical title: "Why Jesus?" We'll see if a second attempt makes more progress. ( )