Jesus Among Other Gods

A Born Indian Hindu Tackles the Claims of Jesus Christ

Your next door neighbor is a Hindu. The man who works on your car recently converted to Buddhism. The woman in the pew next to you believes there is more than one path to God. How can the average Christian articulate the uniqueness of Christ in this modern pluralistic world? In his new foundational book, Jesus Among Other Gods (Word Publishing, August 2000), Dr. Ravi Zacharias thoroughly examines Jesus Christ as He relates to the mindset of the skeptic and intellectual.

Jesus Among Other Gods is a thoughtful explanation of the person of Jesus Christ—His claims, His promises and His uniqueness—contrasted with the divinity represented Hinduism and Buddhism. No one is better to compare these religions than Dr. Ravi Zacharias, a man born and raised in India as a part of the highest caste of Hinduism, a man who converted to Christianity after a failed suicide attempt as a young teen, a man who chaired Alliance Theological Seminary’s evangelism and contemporary thought department, a man who has traveled to more than 50 countries debating the prevailing religious philosophies.

In Jesus Among Other Gods, Dr. Zacharias answers the most probing questions of the skeptic, cynic and believer alike. Numerous presuppositions about Jesus and religion are tossed about daily, and Dr. Zacharias addresses each in his profound book:

“Hey, I’m a good person, so I’ll go to heaven.”
“There can’t be a God because of all the evil in the world.”
“Jesus was a cannibal and promotes cannibalism.”
“There are many paths to God—Christianity is simply one of them.”
“All religions are basically the same.”
“Is my pain because of my sin?”
“Is God the author of pain?”
“No rational, thinking intellectual would really believe in Jesus or the Bible.”
“My parents believed in God—their faith is good enough to save me.”
“How could I follow a God who thousands have been needlessly slaughtered in his name?”

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Jesus Among Other Gods, page two

Dr. Zacharias explains why it is difficult for today’s pluralistic society to accept the unique claims of Jesus. “Philosophically, you can believe anything, so long as you don’t claim it to be true,” Dr. Zacharias writes. “Morally, you can practice anything, so long as you do not claim a ‘better’ way. Religiously, you can believe anything, as long as you do not bring Jesus Christ into it. If a spiritual idea is eastern, it is granted critical immunity; if western, it is thoroughly criticized.”

Through personal stories, rational antidotes and classic literature, Dr. Zacharias describes a God who profoundly fulfills man’s most intimate longings in the person of Jesus Christ. “In writing this book, I have come to realize that it is not that God needs to be relevant to us. It is the very counter-perspective of God which beckons us to become relevant to Him.”

Jesus Among Other Gods will be releasing in August 2000 simultaneously with a youth edition and a multi-session video curriculum—all designed to instigate discussion about the person of Jesus Christ. Dr. Zacharias’ reasoning is simple: “I am convinced that there are tens of thousands of students turned out of our universities whose minds have been trained to disbelieve God, any contrary argument or evidence notwithstanding. It my deepest prayer that this book may spark the debate anew.”

Dr. Ravi Zacharias is the founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, an organization dedicated to evangelism under girded by apologetics, reaching the thinker and opinion makers of the world. Dr. Zacharias has spoken in more than 50 countries, including the Middle East, Vietnam and Cambodia and in numerous universities worldwide. Born in India in 1946, he immigrated to Canada with his family 20 year later. Dr. Zacharias is the author of four additional books and is the host of a weekly radio program, “Let My People Think,” heard on more than 850 radio stations worldwide.

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May 2000