The Truth About Truth

"My Beautiful Theory was Mugged by a Gang of Ugly Facts."

Welcome to my new blog...well, it's sort of new. It keeps popping up unexpectedly under different aliases. But no more wacky and whimsical acronyms, such as Pew-U   (Pastor Ed's Weekly Update) and SPIT (Strategic Planning   & Implementation Training).

In these mostly never-before-published blogs, I will be sharing my thoughts and reflections about faith and life  (and whatever else percolates up from the murky depths of my subconscious).
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I want to invite you to join me on a zigzag journey in the upside-down world of grace--a journey of lessons learned and opportunities lost, of undeserved blessings and inexplicable suffering, of failures redeemed and hopes restored. But first, an important caveat:

WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that this blogsite may be hazardous to your cherished ideas about life, faith and God. Theological certainties can burst like fragile soap bubbles at the touch of reality.​

TRUTH IS LIKE THAT. Its clear light penetrates the subterfuges of darkness we try to hide within. Lies and deception are woven into the fabric of our society. And  only those who love the truth can embrace its liberating power and walk as children of light in this world. 

Blaise Pascal the noted French mathematician, physicist and philosopher said: "Truth is so obscured nowadays and lies so well established that, unless we love the truth we shall never recognize it."

I've been a follower of Jesus Christ for over 50 years, and I am still learning how to navigate the mystifying realm we call faith. The more I grow in my understanding of the ways of God, the more I realize that my ways are not God's ways, and God's reasons are often beyond reason.

Usually, those who have all the "right" answers, have rarely gone beyond a surface exploration of the issues. Once they have found the "answer," they stop looking. Don't stop looking! Don't settle for a faith that doesn't require faith.

Scientists have discovered that the farther they penetrate the vast reaches of outer space or the infinitesimal realms of atomic sub-particles, the more mysterious reality becomes and the more questions they have. If the mystery of our physical universe causes a profound sense of wonder and awe, how much more the reality of the spiritual world.

Let me share with you some observations regarding truth.
First of all, truth is not determined by what you or I think of it or believe about it.

TRUTH IS TRUE. It is genuinely, factually and authoritatively true. Truth is inviolable and uncompromising. whether we know the truth or not, whether we understand the truth or not, whether we believe the truth or not--the truth remains the truth.

Winston Churchill, speaking of the unchanging nature of truth, stated: "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."

If we say that something is true, we mean that it conforms to the reality of what is. And when you argue with reality, you lose every time.

The gospel writers tell us that, when Jesus taught, "The crowds were amazed at His teaching: for he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law" (Matthew 7:28-29). Why did Jesus' words carry such authority that it amazed those who heard Him? The Greek word translated "authority" is the word "exousia," which literally translates as "to be out (from)," and conveys the idea that Jesus' authority was "out from himself," i.e., His authority was not a delegated authority derived from others. It was an inherent authority.

The teaching of Jesus was the sharp, clear, clarion call of truth. All his words were true because truth was the essence of his very nature. The psalmist declares of God, "All your words are true" (Psalm 119:160).

The writer of Hebrews expounds on the unchanging nature of God and truth: "Because God wanted the unchanging nature of God and truth: "Because God wanted the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie..." (Heb. 6:16-18).

The author says that our hope and assurance of becoming heirs of the promises of God are based on two unchangeable things: (1) God's PROMISE, which is absolutely trustworthy because God cannot lie, and (2) God's OATH, by which God reinforces the certainty of his promise, so that "we may be greatly encouraged."

Let me share with you a story that's been around for some time. It's one that I have often used to illustrate the unchanging nature of truth.

     The captain of the ship looked into the dark night and saw faint lights in the distance. Immediately, he told his signalman to send a message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south." Promptly a return message was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north."

     The captain, angered that his command had been ignored, sent a second message: "Alter your course 10 degrees south--I am the captain!" Soon another message   was received: "Alter your course 10 degrees north--I am a seaman third class."

     Immediately the captain sent a third message: "Alter   your course 10 degrees south--this is a battleship!" Then  the reply came :"Alter your course 10 degrees north--this   is a lighthouse." (Citation: Paul Aiello,Jr.,  Leadership, Vol.4, no.2).
Never argue with a lighthouse. You will lose every time!

But, before you start making dogmatic assertions in papal tones, read on.

Another observation that I want to point out regarding truth is the DUAL-NATURE of truth: truth always has two sides. Truth is like bologna: no matter how thin you slice it, it always has two sides. Or, as Aesop once said: "Every truth has two sides. It is well to look at both before we commit ourselves to either."

In fact--just to make the truth about the truth even more complex and confusing--sometimes two contradictory pictures of reality can both be true! And both false!!

Let me illustrate: for thousands of years, philosophers and scientists alike have debated about the fundamental nature of light. Sometimes light behaves like a wave. But other times, light acts like a stream of particles. So Which is it? Waves? Particles? Or, something else completely?

In 1921, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Peace Prize in physics for his answers to these questions. He called his discovery "The Photoelectric Effect," and he summed it up this way: "We have two contradictory pictures of reality; separately, neither of them fully explains the phenomena of light, but together they do."

Closely-related to the dual nature of truth, but distinctly-different from it, is the TWO-DIMENSIONAL aspect of truth: the eternal/spiritual dimension and the material/temporal dimension. What happens in the spiritual dimension can profoundly affect what happens in the material dimension, and vice-versa. What may be true in one dimension, may  not be true in another dimension. Consider the example of Abraham:

"Against all hope Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations...without weakening in his faith he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead--since he was about a hundred years old--and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, But was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised" (Romans 4:18-21).

Abraham was able to look at the physical reality ("as good as dead") without wavering in faith because he looked beyond the physical reality to greater reality--the spiritual reality. Faith is not denying reality, it is seeing a greater reality.

The apostle Paul makes this two-dimensional aspect of truth even more clearly in his second letter to the Corinthians:

"Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

Oscar Wilde was right when he said: "The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

Although truth is objective, our perception of truth is entirely subjective. The fact of the matter is that we see things not as THEY are, but as WE are. When you think  about it, our viewpoints are shaped by countless variables: personality, background, personal experiences, culture, upbringing, needs gender, etc. We see life through a series of filters. The truth is that we are all hopelessly biased.

It's amazing that any two people could agree on anything   at all (maybe that is why Jesus said that if any two or three of us could agree on anything, He would personally show   up to see that!).

Add to the equation this fact: none of us sees ALL of reality. Even the wisest among us sees only a tiny silver of the whole. So in addition to being hopelessly biased, we are helplessly ignorant as well. Based on our tiny little silver of biased perception, we adamantly declare the most dogmatic statements with an air of absolute authority.

So, is there "real" reality? Is there "true" truth? Is there any hope of seeing things for what they really are? Or, are we left to wander endlessly in a wilderness of subjectivity?

According to the Word of God, wisdom is the ability to see life from God's perspective. David, in Psalm 36:9, gives us the key: "...in [God's] light we see light." It's only in the light of God's divine illumination that we can see the revelation of reality. It is in the light of God's Word, and in the Person of Jesus Christ, that we discover the truth about truth. As one person has astutely pointed out: "Faith is not a leap in the dark, it is a step towards the light."

Finally, let me leave with you this concluding thought about truth:

Truth IS stranger than fiction, and funnier as well.

Someone once said to me, "You're really funny." My immediate reply was, "I'm not funny. Life is funny. I'm just more aware than most people of how funny life really is." Humor is defined as the ability to perceive the ludicrous, the comical, and the absurd in human life. 

I know that animals don't have a sense of humor, and I am convinced that angels cannot appreciate a good joke. Apparently, only the race of Adam shares this aspect of the image of God--the capacity to laugh. And if you can laugh at yourself, you'll always have plenty to laugh about.

If these blogs actually help you in some way--they challenge you, they inspire you or they just expose the absolute silliness of the things we do in the name of God--then, by all means leave a comment. Or, if I've hit a sensitive nerve, let me know that too. According to Dan B. Allender, the mark of leadership is that, given enough time, a leader will manage to disappoint or offend everyone. So, if I haven't offended or disappointed you yet, just give me time.
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