I was listening to the podcast of my favorite thinker and theologian Ravi Zacharias this morning, and Ravi’s fellow apologist Michael Ramsden (whom I also like very much) also spoke on the podcast.

Ramsden was telling about an appearance he made on British television a number of years ago, and they allowed atheists and others to call in and ask difficult questions of him. One of the questions he received was this: What about all the hateful things done in the name of Christianity?  What about all the wars?

Here is how he responded:

If you were to say to me, look at this country, the president of such-and-such democratic country, and you were to say, look at how he [the president of that country] is a tyrant, look at how he oppresses people. Democracy is a bad thing, I think it’s evil, I reject it out of hand.

I would say to you yes, but that’s not a democracy.

Similarly, you can say what about all the things done in the name of Christianity.  The simple response is, they’re not Christian. Just because you do something in the name of something doesn’t mean that it is [actually in conformity with the thing you have named].

How very, very, very true.

St. Augustine is credited with saying, “Never judge a philosophy by its abuse.” When people who claim to be Christians behave in ways that are not in conformity with Christian principles, which is wrong: Christian principles, or the one who is not in conformity with them? Just because someone who claims to be a Christian does something wrong, something in contradiction to Christian principles, this does not mean the Christian principles are deficient; rather, it means the person in question is deficient in his adherence to the philosophy to which he claims allegiance. This could be because perhaps he really isn’t a Christian in the first place, or it could be that he has simply allowed his own personal priorities to eclipse his fealty to the worldview with which he aligns himself.

We often hear members of the general public dismiss the Republican Party because “there’s no difference between the parties” or “they’re as bad as the Democrats” or “they’re as corrupt as the rest.”  Well, that may be true (in fact, recent years have taught me it is completely true of many people who call themselves “Republicans;” they behave liberally and sometimes corruptly just like Democrats.

But that does not mean that the documented values of the Republican Party are deficient. That only means that some who identify with the Republican Party are deficient. Is it a lot of “Republicans”?  Sadly, yes it is, these days.

But that does not mean the Republican Party (with it’s traditional American values at its heart) should be abandoned. Rather, it means good people need correct and restore those who have merely lost their way…and good people need to clean out the pretenders, the fakers, the frauds who are bringing discredit on their organization with their deliberate contempt of the documented values of the group with which they have identified themselves.

The same is true of Christianity. People should not cast aside or reject Christianity because there are some (perhaps many) who claim fealty to it, yet behave in ways contradicted by it. Those who are teachable should be corrected…and those who have no interest in being loyal to the teachings of Christ should be thrown out in discipline.

Let us not lose faith in that which is right, just because some who claim to be representative of that actually behave in contradiction.  Let us not confuse divergence with adherence.

*** Bob Ellis *** Is a conservative author  and Life and Liberty News contributor

More commentary from Bob Ellis can be seen daily on the American Clarion