Lori Anne Thompson responds to Margie Zacharias

Welcome back to Defenders Voice. This is Dr.Paul. Thank you for joining us today. Hope you are all doing well. Defenders Voice is about defending the truth against the falsehoods of our time. This channel is dedicated to answering your questions. You can send your questions to info@doctorpaul.org. In today’s episode, I will answer the question: What is your response to Lori Anne Thompson’s reaction to Margie Zacharias’ letter. 

Very good question. First of all, some of you wrote to me asking why I changed my position on Ravi. Actually, I did not. The Christian world has been bitterly divided over Ravi’s affair. 

I came across four groups of people. 

1. Ravi was purely good
2. Ravi was a good man with some evil deeds
3. Ravi was an evil man with some good deeds
4. Ravi was purely evil

    You will belong to one of those 4 groups. You can look for it. 

On one hand, we have people who say Ravi never sinned. On the other hand, we have people who say he was a purely evil man. I am staying away from these two extremes. I took the 2nd position: Ravi was a good man with some evil deeds. I never changed that position since the news about his scandal broke out. Because I took this 2nd position, some of my videos were about the good things he did and some were about his evil deeds. So, when I make a video about the good things he did, you might think I am Pro-Ravi and when I make a video about the evil things he did, you might think I am Anti-Ravi. It appears I am all over the place, but the fact is, so far, I have not changed my position. 

   Margie Zacharias wrote a letter defending the character of her late husband Ravi Zacharias. Reacting to this letter, Lori Anne Thompson, posted on twitter. She wrote, ‘I have been made aware that there is a ‘letter’ circulating. I want you to know that while I am grieved by the contents of the letter, I have no direct comment to offer. It is too costly to my whole frame and family to engage in public defence of the utterly indefensible’. 

   I am writing an entire book on Ravi titled ‘Reading Ravi’s Mind: A Psychoanalytic Study’. It will be out next summer. So, keep looking for it. In the meantime, I will release my research findings through these videos on my channel. 

    As you are aware, Lori Anne Thompson was involved with Ravi Zacharias in a sexting relationship. When she wanted to disclose that relationship to her family and the world, Ravi stopped her efforts and made her sign a Nondisclosure Agreement with a lump sum payment. 

    Yesterday Pew Research released a study in which it was found that over half of evangelical Christians now say that casual sex is acceptable. Sadly, we have been lowering God’s standards over many decades now. In Genesis chapter 39, we see an encounter between Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Joseph finds himself working in the home of Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife, we don’t know her name, the Bible does not inform us – she lusts after Joseph. 

     One day, Joseph goes into their home and Potiphar’s wife forces him for a physical relationship. Joseph rebukes her and says, ‘No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

   Joseph emphasizes the sacredness of marriage. He says, ‘Your husband trusted me so much that he left everything under my care. Involving with you would be a wicked sin against your husband and God’. 

    In marriage, husband and wife leave their parents and become one flesh. If you sin against one partner, you sin against both of them, because they are united in one flesh. Genesis 2:24 says,  a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Genesis 2:24

They become one flesh. If you sin with one of them, you sinned against the other. So, every woman who willfully engaged in sin with Ravi sinned against Margie. By involving with Ravi, Lori sinned against Margie. 

    So, Lori should ask Margie for forgiveness. Margie should ask Lori for forgiveness on behalf of her husband, Ravi. She should ask the victims of Ravi for forgiveness on behalf of her late husband. She should release Lori from NDA so that she could speak her mind to the world. So, both should stop their bitterness, forgive each other and close this chapter. 

    Margie and Lori both claim to be Christians. They both hail from Canada. When I was a teenager growing up in India, a missionary came to our town from Canada. His name was John Wesley Kemp. He preached the gospel, I got saved and he baptized me. He gave me a Canadian flag. It was a beautiful flag. You will see a red maple leaf in the center. A red maple leaf: it is a symbol of maturity, it is a symbol of Canadian sacrifice during World War I. When I saw that flag I thought it resonated with Christian message. 

   Christianity is a faith of sacrifice. God sacrificed His Son to offer us the gift of forgiveness. As we mature in Christian faith, we should be more willing to forgive people who wronged us. 

 We pray in Lord’s prayer, 

   “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 

your kingdom come, your will be done, 

on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us today our daily bread. 

And forgive us our debts, as we 

also have forgiven our debtors. 

And lead us not into temptation, 

but deliver us from the evil one.”

Note these words, forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors

God forgave our debts, so we should forgive our debtors

Jesus said, For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly father will also forgive you. 

         Matthew 6:14 

When we forgive people who sin against us, God will forgive our sins. 

So, both Margie and Lori should put their knives down and forgive each other in the spirit of Christ.