And The Truth Is

2009 June 01

by Tyler

If you’re a Coldplay fan, you might think I’m writing a post about their lyrical line “and the truth is, I miss you.” Sadly I am not, the posts about Coldplay shall take a hiatus for now.

How many times you have been countered in a discussion with someone who says they know “the truth”? This is quite common within Christianity. And certainly there are areas where truth is knowable and places where the Bible outlines this for us.

A professor of mine has often said, “God’s truth is knowable because he has given us his word (The Bible).” Yet, I often find myself thinking that much of what we claim to be know as truth is merely our own inclination or somewhat informed position.

We say the truth is that women are not supposed to be in church leadership and must submit to men.

Or we say that the truth is God desires complete equality between genders in all areas of life.

The truth is God would vote for a Republican or the truth is God is an independent.

Some of these convictions may very well be truth according to God, but we cannot fully know the truth on these subjects yet.

(This barely scratches the surface of the ways Christians abuse “truth”)

On many occasions there are well educated and respected people on various sides of arguments. Yet we end up shouting at each other with knowledge of what truth is.

I’m not saying Christianity and the Bible has a bunch of contradictions, just that the Bible isn’t exhaustive on the various subjects we argue over.

I have no problem with people having personal and theological convictions and living those out to the full.

What I do have a problem with is masking those convictions by calling them truth.

When do we cross the line in fighting for truth?

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http://www.aworshipfulheart.typepad.com jan owen

Tough question. I’d say when we stoop to behaving in unChristlike manners we have crossed a line. When I quit respecting you and instead am hurtful, when we stop listening to what others have to say and seeing them as human beings who also love God (I’m speaking of within the church here). But it can be hard – I have an acquaintance that smacks us all over the head with his version of the truth daily and it’s hard to continue to act and respond lovingly.

I also think another error can be in assuming other people’s beliefs. As you know I hold an egalitarian view of women in ministry. I am always very hurt when someone assumes that I am not submissive to my husband or any other authority in my life, or that I am okay with homosexuality, or that I am not feminine, or that I hold other views that I most definitely do not. Many times we can extrapolate (a math word I learned from my engineering husband and math teacher mom) a scripture and claim it infers things it does not implicitely (sp?) state. We assume things and that is – as we all know – dangerous.

In short, I believe when we quit acting like the body of Christ we have another issue entirely we need to deal with. When we are mean-spirited to one another, I don’t believe the truth we are trying so valiantly to defend is honored.

I don’t speak here of things such as the divinity of Christ or the inerrancy of scripture, btw, but more on points such as you have made.
http://www.shapingthespace.net David

Something I’ve always found hard to deal with is people who don’t seem to be able to draw that distinction .

All through the NT, we are shown that “the greatest of these is love”. Once love has gone, or is second best, we have a problem
http://www.aworshipfulheart.typepad.com jan owen

I would even go so far as to say at times we violate the very truth we claim to hold high when we violate the law of love. (James 2)
http://www.shapingthespace.net David

Absolutely!