{"id":61,"date":"2022-09-01T20:06:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T00:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/northwestpassage.us\/?page_id=61"},"modified":"2022-10-06T17:12:40","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T21:12:40","slug":"truth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/northwestpassage.us\/?page_id=61","title":{"rendered":"Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019m continuing a series on the Foundations of Faith. This series was inspired by one of the last books written by Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, and Harold Fickett entitled The Faith Given Once for All<\/em>. My first three messages were: \u201cGod Is\u201d, \u201cGod has Spoken\u201d and \u201cThe God Revealed to Us.\u201d As Christians, we believe that most of what we know about the character of God, comes through special revelation \u2013 especially what is recorded in the Bible. The creation clearly God\u2019s infinite power and genius; but what we know about how God wants to relate to us came through a patient, progressive revelation of God to the Jewish people and culminating in Jesus and His apostles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how do we truly know that this is the truth. And beyond knowing that there is a God, how do we know that truth can be discerned accurately and consistently by people of every generation? This is an important question; for there have always been contradictory views among people about what is true, what is right, what is good, what is evil, and how good people should live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, let\u2019s define truth. Truth is simply what really is that which is in accordance with fact or reality. Truth can also be defined as a fact or belief that is accepted as true. As long as people can perceive reality accurately then there is the possibility of knowing truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The night before Jesus\u2019 crucifixion, John relates a brief conversation between Jesus and the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus, \u00a0\u201cSo You are a king?\u201d Jesus answered,\u00a0\u201cYou say\u00a0correctly\u00a0<\/em>that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world,\u00a0to testify to the truth.\u00a0Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.\u201d\u00a038\u00a0<\/sup>Pilate said to Him, \u201cWhat is truth?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can imagine the cynical dismissal in Pilate\u2019s voice towards a condemned prophet from a backwater subject people of mighty Rome asserting that people who know truth listened to Jesus. To men like Pilate, truth in non-material matters was whatever those in power said was truth. It was for the mighty to define what was just and right, and the weak had no rights except to serve the mighty. To Pilate, Jesus was just another hapless, innocent person condemned to die for being an enemy to an important stakeholder in his prefecture, the Jewish Sanhedrin or high court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But our Western civilization is built on different presuppositions that, ironically, derive from the Christian faith, which asserts that truth is ultimately found in a man who is also God incarnate, Jesus Christ. Christian belief, as did the Jewish belief that preceded, argues that truth derives from the God of Truth; and it is this one, holy God who both created our cosmos and who has the right to decide what is right and true within it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Colson wrote: \u201cThe question of truth \u2013 of a common and knowable reality that exists independently of our perception \u2013 is the great fault line of Western culture today. The dominant point of view dismisses the ideal. The fastest way to provoke scorn from most university professors is to use the words reality <\/em>and truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy does this word truth breed such animosity? Because rebellious human nature resists truth\u2019s claims. If something is really true, it must be true not just for the person saying it but for the person hearing it. And the fact is, we don\u2019t want to obey a higher authority from any quarter \u2013 especially what purports to be from God \u2013 for fear it will impinge upon our personal autonomy. We cling to the idea that we create our own truth.\u201d [Chuck Colson, The Faith<\/em>\u2026, p. 59]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colson gives three sources of truth that are generally accepted outside of the special revelation of scripture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth in the book of nature<\/em>. A 12th<\/sup> century saint named Victor (1096-1141) wrote, \u201cThis whole visible world is a book written by the finger of\u00a0God.\u201d David said much the same thing 2,000 years before in Psalm 19: \u201cThe\u00a0heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their\u00a0expanse is declaring the work of His hands. 2\u00a0<\/sup>Day to\u00a0day pours forth speech, and\u00a0night to night reveals knowledge.\u201d<\/strong> Mankind has learned from thousands of years of experience that the world and heavens function by orderly laws, such as gravity, day and night, the seasons of the year, waxing and waning moons, and sowing and reaping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth through reason<\/em>. Reason is the ability to test ideas or facts, the most basic of which is the law of non-contradiction<\/em>. The law of non-contradiction states that contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time. The two propositions “A is B” and “A is not B” are mutually exclusive. Only one of these propositions can be true. For example, 2+2=4 and 2+2\u22604 are mutually exclusive statements. Only answer is correct, that is, 2+2 always equals 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We use the law of non-contradiction in deciding which statements of facts are true when presented with opposing propositions. The challenge is in knowing which declarations of fact are more believable when presented with opposing statements. This is especially challenging when people are confronted with proving facts in legal and criminal cases, and deciding whether or not to convict someone of a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth through conscience<\/em>. There is a moral law written within every human being that enjoins us to do good to others and refrain from others. We know a basic rule of reciprocity \u2013 the Golden Rule \u2013 that is recognized in every advanced culture. \u201cDo unto others as you would have them do unto you.\u201d We learn right from wrong through instruction as children, but also from the hurt we feel when someone does wrong to us. Everyone feels injustice when they are the victim of it. The Bible says in Romans 12:15, that the moral \u201claw is written in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colson writes, \u201cOur understanding of the universality of the moral law and our consciences\u2019 abilities to understand it has been compromised by today\u2019s cultural relativism. This is why many young people, even Christian young people, blanch when I ask them if they believe there are any moral absolutes. But then when I ask them whether it would be right for someone to steal their wallet or to kill someone because they were a Jew or to push an old lady crossing the street into traffic, there is often an \u201cAha!\u201d moment.\u201d [p.58]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little children know right from wrong when another child snatches the toy out of their hands. They cry \u201cThat\u2019s mine!\u201d That\u2019s the moral law exhibited at<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would add another source of truth, upon which the Bible relies: truth through eyewitnesses<\/em>. Yes, history has repeatedly shown that eyewitness testimony is imperfect, and that different people can perceive or interpret the same event differently. But eyewitnesses can be reliable, and the more eyewitnesses, the more reliable they generally are. If that were not true, then science itself could not be validated, since it depends on the ability of humans to actually perceive, record and evaluate data received by our senses or through instruments of our making. The rule of law depends largely on eyewitnesses and forensic data. So does our ability to share stories and experiences with each other and build shared meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reason we can trust the revelation of God in the Bible more than any other source is that it\u2019s built on eyewitness testimonies of direct interventions of God in the lives of real people and recorded and interpreted by devout men of integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m glad that we have a jury system comprised of, we hope, impartial citizens. It\u2019s an imperfect system, but better than letting judges alone decide criminal cases. For one person is more likely to let their biases prevail than twelve people reasoning together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discerning truth in matters that cannot be tested empirically is more challenging still. Unfortunately, the modern world has defaulted too often to science to give us answers to questions they cannot verify through testing empirically. Who or what created the universe is one such question? Who or what gave the physical laws, subatomic particles and matter their properties are other foundational questions that cannot be answered empirically? They just are what they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the deeper questions that form the worldviews of society are more challenging still. All worldviews have to grapple with four fundamental questions that pertain to all people: our origins, meaning, morality and destiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Apostle John, who lived the longest of the original apostles by far, according to strong Church tradition. John lived into the 90s of the first century \u2013 more than sixty years after Jesus\u2019 death and resurrection. So he was the last faithful eyewitness of the launching of Christ\u2019s kingdom, starting with Pentecost. John understood how critically important knowing truth is to faith. Without truth, faith is merely fanciful religion, built upon man-made mythologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John made it perfectly clear where he saw truth residing. John 1:14, 17 says forthrightly, \u201cAnd the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and\u00a0truth. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and\u00a0truth\u00a0were realized through Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/strong> Two thousand years later, people can take those words for granted as some kind of religious wish-fulfillment. But to a living eyewitness of Jesus\u2019 life, death and resurrection, these were profound declarations of ultimate Truth of the highest order. God, who dwelt among us, personified divine glory full of divine generosity and truth toward us. And Jesus\u2019 grace and truth transcended what \u2013 to Jews like John \u2013 was previously the highest revelation of God\u2019s covenant loyalty and justice \u2013 the Law of Moses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth mattered greatly to the Apostle John, and all the other apostles as well. All of them suffered, and all but John died adhering to the Truth, Jesus Christ. So let\u2019s look more deeply, with Colson and Fickett, at Why Truth Matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truth Matters Because the Heart of What We Believe is at Stake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting in the nineteenth century in Germany, theologians began questioning the integrity of biblical revelation, and the historical integrity of the gospels of Jesus Christ. Emphasis was placed on the inner experience of the believer as the primary barometer of Protestant Christianity, and those who espoused the fundamental doctrines of the faith were lampooned in the seminaries and universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What resulted was a form of \u201cliberal Christianity\u201d that effectively repudiated critical beliefs, like the divinity of Jesus Christ, his vicarious atonement and resurrection from the dead. This effectively gutted historic Christianity, leaving only a maudlin social gospel in its place. Theological liberalism tragically led multitudes to perdition by ignoring the need of repentance to faith, and diminishing the critical work of Jesus\u2019 death for our justification, lauding it merely as an exemplary of act of love. Divine judgment was deemphasized, so that church attenders felt no urgency to respond to the gospels claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this the Apostle\u2019s teaching declared, \u201c\u00a0for all\u00a0have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,\u00a024\u00a0<\/sup>being justified as a gift\u00a0by His grace through\u00a0the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;\u00a025\u00a0<\/sup>whom God displayed publicly as\u00a0a\u00a0propitiation\u00a0in His blood through faith.\u00a0This was<\/em>\u00a0to demonstrate His righteousness,\u00a0because in the\u00a0forbearance of God He\u00a0passed over the sins previously committed;\u00a026\u00a0<\/sup>for the demonstration,\u00a0I say,<\/em> of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who\u00a0has faith in Jesus.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our sin and separation from the glory of God made it essential that God redeem us through Christ\u2019s death. Being holy, God had to satisfy or propitiate His innate justice and wrath against sin. Christ\u2019s death accomplished this, so that God receives the glory for justifying us who have faith. Liberal Christianity minimized and ignored this teaching, which was at the heart of the gospel preached by Paul and the other apostles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without Truth the Gospel is Perverted<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colson says, \u201cWeakening our commitment to the truth allows us to undermine the Gospel without arousing even a protest.\u201d Modern liberalism has emphasized loving one\u2019s neighbor, while diminishing the greater commandment to love God with all one\u2019s heart, mind and soul. And the God the Great Commandment referred to is exclusively the God of the Bible, and no other. You cannot love God until you clearly identify who God is and what God desires of us; and to do that, you must have an unwavering source of authority \u2013 sacred scripture that is focused on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is tragic that many of what used to be the strongest Protestant denominations in our land, affirmation of the divinity of Christ, the atonement of Christ, and the authority of the Bible has been laid aside. But the Apostle Paul declared in his great chapter on the resurrection of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 15: \u201cNow\u00a0I make known to you, brethren, the\u00a0gospel which I preached to you, which also you received,\u00a0in which also you stand,\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>by which also you are saved,\u00a0if you hold fast\u00a0the word which I preached to you,\u00a0unless you believed in vain. 3\u00a0<\/sup>For\u00a0I delivered to you\u00a0as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died\u00a0for our sins\u00a0according to the Scriptures,\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>and that He was buried, and that He was\u00a0raised on the third day\u00a0according to the Scriptures.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul made it clear in this opening declaration that adherence to this simple gospel message was essential for salvation. Christ\u2019s death, burial and resurrection is of first importance; and its significance is grounded in prophetic affirmations from the Old Testament that were the Scriptures in Paul\u2019s day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul went on to say that if Christ had not risen from the dead our faith is in vain. In effect, Christianity from the first century till now has been an exercise in futility. But the billions of people whose worldviews and lives have been shaped by this gospel message, and which laid the foundations of Western Civilization, proves otherwise. Western civilization became the most influential in world history precisely because it was built on the sure foundation of the Christian religion which in turn serves to proclaim salvation through the risen Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colson says forsaking truth perverts the mission of the Church. \u201cWhen truth is abandoned, therapy takes its place. We learn how to cope with our problems instead of curing them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejection of Truth Results in Biblical Illiteracy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPollster George Barna has discovered that most churchgoing adults reject the accuracy of the Bible, the existence of Satan, and the sinlessness of Jesus. Many see no need to evangelize and believe that good works are one of the keys to persuading God to forgive their sins\u2026. When given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1 percent of adult believers agreed with or accepted all thirteen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it any wonder that the rest of the world is skeptical of the claims of Christianity when so many of its adherents are so ignorant of core doctrines? Barna concluded \u201cthis is an age of anarchy\u2026 the Church is rotting from the inside out, crippled by abiblical theology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going deeper than that, the denial of truth distorts our perception and understanding of reality, which attacks the glory of God. The nullification of truth in understanding humanity says, in effect, that God cannot be trusted to guide us and so we are cut loose to define the reality that works for us. It upends God as the Designer and Sovereign of all existence. That is precisely where Satan wants us to be; for humans separated from God are like lambs separated from the shepherd. Humans who dismiss the notion of truth are prey before a forest of spiritual predators lying in wait to attack and devour hapless souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejection of Truth Leads to Ethical Confusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colson wrote, \u201cDenial of the truth of God\u2019s revelation undermines any attempt to deal with contemporary ethical questions, particularly in regard sexuality, which plays a major role in all of our lives. It\u2019s often the place we want to make up our own rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing is more profoundly human than our sexuality, and no pleasure drive affects human thinking and behavior more than our sex drive. The division of the human race between male and female is the foundation of human society; for conceiving and nurturing offspring demands a prolonged partnership between the opposite sexes, which gave rise to marriage and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human sexual identity, marriage, and family to foundational to the human race and identity. When you blur the reality of these issues you nullify our core identity and repudiate the God who made man male and female. Yet this is exactly what is happening throughout the very civilization that first elevated human rights \u2013 Western Civilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renowned author J.K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter series, has recently been attacked viciously in social media for affirming a woman who has pleaded for protection of women only private areas \u2013 that is, bathrooms, dressing rooms or women\u2019s sports. She has been called a TERF \u2013 Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist for simply asserting that women are distinct from biological males and need protection from predatory males. As a survivor herself of prior sexual abuse, she pointed out that nullifying women\u2019s rights to claim exclusivity as females is another attack on women and feminity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Christians, we must repudiate any and every act of intimidation or violence against other people who differ from us. People who deeply feel they are other than their genes indicate need compassion. This world has never been a level playing field for truth \u2013 not since the Father of lies invaded it. So people will always oppose God\u2019s will Just as with those who cannot fathom the existence of God, or believe that God could become a man in Christ, we must hold in loving tension those who sincerely perceive the are someone trapped in the body of the opposite sex<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who harm LGBTQ people are playing the devil\u2019s game; but so are those who seek to harm non-LGBTQ people for refusing to affirm that there are as many genders as people want to imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must affirm biological reality as the Creator\u2019s original design and intent. We must also be kind to the rare anomalies \u2013 genetic hermaphroditism \u2013 where people have aspects of both and female within them. Such people derive only compassion and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rejection of Truth Undermines Cultural Development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rejecting Truth Leads to False Gods<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n