Does truth really matter?

Does 'truth' really matter?

Some years ago, over 30 to be exact, I used to travel with a Bible in my suitcase. Was that unusual? In a way, because I wasn't a Christian; I couldn't actually understand the Bible (it was hard to understand) but I still wanted it to accompany me anywhere I travelled.

At the end of April, 1979, I gave my life to Christ at a Billy Graham Crusade in Sydney. Again, something very unusual happened.

The Bible that seemed obscured came alive to me very profoundly ... this was the birth of a passion ... a passion for truth which I know many of you share too.

Although I knew next to nothing about the finer points of the 'Christian faith', I quickly left a liberal church (I was attending for a couple of weeks after my conversion) with an inward conviction that it's simply not cool of anybody to challenge the authority of the Bible. I decided to join an evangelical church where the gospel was preached faithfully & truth was believed to be found within its covers. My passion for truth continued.

To cut a long story short, my strong inward desire to know more about 'truth' (as found in the Bible) saw me resign from teaching, complete a theological qualification, pursue another theological qualification, then embark on a ministry as a 'Bible Studies' teacher at a Christian School.

This 'passion for truth' continues unabated to this day - it is a significant part of who I am & who you are too hopefully; we are seekers after 'truth' together as we study His Word & take it seriously. The Holy Spirit is keen to guide us into truth and keep us there!

As I cast my mind back 30 years I recall clearly that the belief in 'absolute truth' was being openly attacked by many interest groups within our culture (e.g. secular humanists). Christians were being challenged to give up any notions of 'absolute truth'; for 'truth' was only relative & in practical terms, unreliable.

Today's intellectual climate is that of 'postmodernism' which refuses to value even 'commonly accepted truth'. In fact, it claims that we should all be 'deconstructing' truth; thereby giving us our own brand of truth from whatever we read, see & do. It's up to us to see 'truth' in our own terms - the thought of 'absolute truth' is abhorrent to a postmodernist.

As an aside, I, like many others, remain indebted to the late Francis Schaeffer (Christian philosopher/theologian) who taught that 'true truth' (absolute truth) was logical, intellectual, Christian, relevant, precious ... and true!

As Christians, no matter what our brand names are (in this blog I am addressing these issues to Christians - my brothers & sisters in Christ - without thoughts of any particular denomination) we all should value 'true truth' very highly.

Jesus highlighted this very clearly when He discussed the topic of worship with a Samaritan woman. And by 'worship' I don't mean the local Sunday church service but our total 24/7 lifestyle that we offer to Him as 'living sacrifices' (Romans 12.1-3).

In John 4:21-24 Jesus claims that true worship must involve truth. Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

True worship & truth are inextricably linked; 'truth' here ultimately being truth about God & truth about His Son, Jesus.

We also note that true worship is to be determined by God - not us.

Jesus, in John 8:32, said, "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." This tells us that truth is not just cerebral - it has many practical benefits. Truth leads to freedom, not bondage. Truth leads us to Jesus and to salvation. Therefore, we are led into liberation as Christians; not slavery to others. Even here I am not alluding just to cults. There are 'toxic' Christian churches where distortions of doctrine have led Christians into a form of spiritual slavery, not freedom.

Bad doctrine can mean slave chains; good doctrine leads to freedom.

Truth matters ... it matters a lot!

How then, do we access 'truth'?

There is a myth that by believing in the 'big doctrines' that unify us as Christians (e.g. the deity of Christ) then that is all we need to believe. “That's enough truth - the big stuff - no more for me!”

This is not true!

It is true that so called 'secondary doctrines' can divide us (& this is often needless) but it is not true that all things about God are, therefore, unimportant.

Jesus, in Matthew 4.1 – 4, speaks about us feeding on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Apparently, when God speaks, we don't decide that some of His words are unimportant!

In fact, Paul gives his young pastor mate named Timothy some good advice in 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Paul believes that all Scripture is 'God -breathed' not just some of it. He goes on to challenge all of us that to be thoroughly equipped for every good work - we need to know the whole Bible. That means the book of Hosea, not just the Gospel of John. That's a lot of truth!

We, as fellow believers, are rightly concerned about the insidious inroads of postmodernism; that is, "... your truth is OK; my different truth is OK too, as is his different truth and her deconstructed truth".

But I pose the challenge to us all (regardless of our denominational flavours) - is there sometimes also a postmodern view of truth in the broad church - that big conglomerate we call 'Christianity'?

Do we say, "Look, we all have our distinctive "Christian truths'. They obviously contradict but that's OK - it's your [deconstructed] truth. Your truth about God is OK; my different truth about God is OK as is their different 'truth' about God." If you think I may be slightly paranoid, think about God as Trinity. Are we at liberty to deconstruct the Trinity?

What about this? "Look, we all have our distinctive "Christian truths'. They obviously contradict, but that's OK - it's your [deconstructed] truth. Your truth about the Gospel is OK; my different truth about the Gospel is OK as is their different 'truth' about the Gospel." Paul answers the deconstructionists very bluntly but clearly in Galatians 1.6-10.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

"So, let's all be unified and not divide over doctrine - does doctrine really matter - indeed, does truth really matter"? Some may say. So, does all truth matter?

My answer to that is yes. The Bible makes a big deal about truth (check out a concordance) - as it does about love. I love that verse in Ephesians 4.15 which says, "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ."

Some years ago I learned something vital about truth that has made an indelible mark in my heart and it's this:

Truth is not ultimately an abstract reality - to a Christian, Truth is ultimately a Man ... Jesus.

John 14 .6 states this wonderfully; "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Do you have a passion for truth?

It’s an interesting question. Some may interpret that question as a quest for truth which is fully achievable and one can acquire a huge quantity of truth that can fill lots of suburban swimming pools.

“I have a lot of truth, you don't,” one may claim.

Apart from this being 'not true'; it's plainly arrogant because the pursuit of truth can be a purely academic & self centred exercise. Therefore, the final result must be pride.

I hope I haven't given you that impression in this blog. If I have, I am genuinely sorry.

Because if Jesus IS Truth (He doesn’t just speak about truth - He IS truth), then a Christian passion for truth must result in humility not pride.

I confess that the humility bit has escaped me at times.

But I have learned this: To have a passion for truth - is to have a passion for Jesus.

Let me encourage you to keep loving (Biblical) truth, for you are loving Jesus. You are not at ease with error. You don't like it, you don't tolerate it.

But be careful.

The Bible (truth) tells us (by the author of the Word: the Holy Spirit) that unity within the Body of Christ is to be pursued with 'effort": "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace". Ephesians 4.3

We are all at different stages of maturity as believers - to divide over non-essentials is not the will of God (see Romans 14).

For example, one of you may believe in a young earth (10,000 years old). However, one of you may believe in a cosmos that bears the creative mark, by God, of billions of years. There is, therefore, disagreement about 'truth'. Do these 2 people, therefore, cease to fellowship? Truth dictates that they don't. Love dictates that this is not to happen.

However, know this - one of them is wrong! Ouch! I not only wanted to give postmodernism a final uppercut but to reiterate an earlier point I made. That is, “all Scripture” is important – even the so called secondary doctrines. It’s what we do with them that’s important – especially in relationship with each other.

I, for one, am not going to give up my secondary doctrines for the sake of unity. In fact, some of these doctrines I hold are very precious before my Lord – some of them I am still working through.

This website bears the subtitle “... a passion for truth”. Please read it as a passion for Jesus - we 5 very ordinary & flawed guys are far from the source of all truth (that is not what we mean by this subtitle) but we do know Someone who is – Jesus.

Let me leave you with this verse from Proverbs 23.23 which speaks so powerfully about 'truth':

 Buy the truth and do not sell it;
       get wisdom, discipline and understanding.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

SR Cracknell