The Devil and Ravi Zacharias

Scandal has engulfed the memory of Ravi Zacharias, the popular Christian apologist who died last May. He has been accused of several ethical lapses: of having falsified qualifications, of having an affair with a married woman, of having made sexual advances to employees at two massage parlours he owned. More may emerge. His own organization, after an interim report from an independent review, says they find the charges credible.

Fellow Christians are generally understanding. Most see him as a good man who fell to temptation. Who hasn’t? Did he really hurt more people than he helped? And the temptations must have been great.

This overlooks an essential point: Zacharias never admitted to any of it, and never showed any remorse.

This is what separates the sheep from the goats, and makes Zacharias a goat. It is the essential element of what we call “narcissism,” and what used to be more accurately called vice.

One sympathetic therapist suggested poor Zacharias perhaps suffered from “sex addiction.” Probably right: this is what vice is. It is an addiction to sin. This does not excuse it. This means one has thrown in one’s lot with sin. One has chosen the path downward.

Looking at Zacharias and his career give us a portrait of the narcissist. Of course he presented himself as a holy man. The narcissist always will: he will claim to be flawless. It is especially useful to contrast Zacharias’s behavior with that of Donald Trump, since so many falsely accuse Trump of narcissism.

Trump never claimed to be holy. But the biggest contrast between the two is that everyone seems to want to minimize what Zacharias did, and few seem to bear him ill will. The reaction is more sorrow than anger. By contrast, Trump provokes deep hatred, as well as strong affection. 

This is narcissism. The narcissist is concerned above all else with how he or she appears to the world. They do not, as often charged, have “delusions of grandeur.” They just want to appear better than they are; they will falsify credentials. They will hide any imperfection, and do whatever they think will please whoever is present. This is the opposite of Trump, who seems to delight in mixing it up. They are skilled manipulators. They are charming; the devil is a gentleman. This subverts just about everyone around them into enablers and flying monkeys. So the narcissist, unlike Trump, rarely has enemies. 

This illustrates the wisdom of Confucius’s observation: if a person has no friends, it is necessary to make enquiries. If a person has no enemies, it is necessary to make enquiries.

Trump, obviously, is the opposite of this. His friends are fiercely for him, and his enemies fiercely against him.

This is the mark of an honest man.