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Ravi Zacharias believes the church should be spending more time on the fundamentals. Evangelist, apologist, and host of the weekly radio program "Let My People Think," for over 20 years Zacharias has been addressing basic questions—such as, Does God exist? Who is Jesus? Can I trust the Bible?—and intellectual doubts of the thinking nonbeliever. And since his appearance at Amsterdam '83, Billy Graham's landmark international conference on evangelism, Zacharias has been in demand as a speaker on university campuses throughout the world.

A native of India, Zacharias was born into a family of prestige and power. His father served in key positions under the governments of Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Even as a boy, Zacharias felt overwhelmed by the pressure of following in his father's steps. This pressure sent him off on a personal quest for purpose and truth in life-a quest that took him to the very depths of despair. Ultimately, he found the purpose and truth he sought in the Christian faith. Today he is determined to help others make that same discovery.

"We are living in a world of graduate-level skepticism," says Zacharias. "An undergraduate response will not do. We must be equipped to answer the world's toughest questions." In Zacharias's latest book, "Can Man Live Without God" (Word), he challenges Christians to answer those tough questions with relevance and reason. He recently spoke to CT about his life and ministry.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY:

Five generations ago your ancestors were from the highest of the Hindu priesthood. With such a strong cultural and religious heritage, what led to your conversion to Christianity?

RAVI ZACHARIAS:

Although my ancestors were Hindu, my immediate family was nominally Christian. My personal conversion took place in a hospital room. I was there because, as a teenager, I had lost all purpose for life itself and had attempted suicide. I believed then and am convinced even more now that outside of God, life is utterly meaningless.

In that hospital room, through the Scriptures, particularly in John 14, I found the answer to my searching. In that chapter, Jesus declares, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me." That spoke volumes to me, because in that verse Jesus is responding to Thomas. It was the apostle Thomas who came to India in the first century to spread the gospel. He was martyred just six miles away from where I was born.

So as I reflected on Jesus being "the truth," I began to realize that the answers to my questions might lie in him. I prayed a simple prayer to Jesus, telling him that I would leave no stone unturned in my pursuit of truth if he would take me out of that bed. Five days later, I walked out of that hospital a new man.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY:

Did you sense a calling to ministry at that point?

RAVI ZACHARIAS:

No. It began sometime after my conversion. One pivotal incident occurred as I was walking with a friend who had just received Christ. We came upon a Griffith Thomas commentary on the book of Romans that was in a garbage bin outside my home.

I still don't know who threw it there, but we picked it up and began to study it line after line. We soon began a Bible study using Thomas's book as a guide. Slowly, the doctrine of justification by faith became rooted in our hearts.

Many other incidents intertwined, but my final calling came at the age of 20 when my family immigrated to Canada. I began to work in the business world. But I sensed in my heart a yearning to preach, because I saw the emptiness in people all around me-an emptiness I once felt. So I decided to take a step of faith, which led to Ontario Bible College and theological training at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

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November 14 1994, Vol. 38, No. 13