By Ife J. Ibitayo
Last week, the Lighten Group announced that they are shutting down. What is the Lighten Group? It is the ministry of Ravi Zacharias’ daughter.
Ravi Zacharias was one of the most well-known Christian apologists of the 21st century. He passed away two years ago, but the fallout from his sexual misconduct continues to cast a long shadow over his entire ministry. Recent investigations have also revealed a startling history of libidinous behavior and inexcusable coverup throughout the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination.
The Standard for Others
Why is it so damaging when priests and pastors commit sexual scandal? If a famous actor and a famous pastor both sleep around, both will be condemned for their actions. But the blowback for the pastor will surely be greater. Why? Because the standard of right living that the pastor puts forth will (likely) be far higher.
From the Ten Commandments (“Thou shalt not commit adultery”) to the Sermon on the Mount (“I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”), the Bible is filled with appeals to purity. Visit church once and you’ll be lucky not to hear a message against fornication and pornography.
So when a famous apologist writes, “sexuality is sacred, and using it for amusement brings diminishing returns“, but he secretly stores hundreds of sexual pictures on his cellphone for his own pleasure and amusement, the fallout will rightly be tremendous.
The Standard for Ourselves
The apostle Paul said, “We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, we are called to live up to a standard that none of us can attain. The Bible’s answer to this is grace, but many of us Christians respond with self-righteousness instead. Speaking about His chosen people in the Old Testament, God said, “All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens…Yet they say to each other, ‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!’ These people are a stench in My nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away’” (Isaiah 65:3, 5).
When we uphold “purity culture” where young women are condemned for exposing their thighs but male pastors are protected when they expose themselves, we surely become an acrid stench in the nose of the world too. As Jesus Himself said, “We’re straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel” (Matthew 23:24).
Conclusion
So what’s the answer then? Should we throw out the Bible with the bathwater of hypocrisy? Or Should we accept the fallibility that lies within all of us and stop calling people up and calling people out?
We can’t, otherwise we will cease being the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:13-16). Rather, we must be willing to call ourselves up and call ourselves out. We must look on others with eyes of grace and ourselves with eyes of justice, and only then will our two standards become one.
“‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?'”
(Matthew 7:3)