Journey Through Values: Truth
- by: Adam Sheffield 02/04/10
Man can certainly keep on lying... but he cannot make truth falsehood. He can certainly rebel...but he can accomplish nothing which abolishes the choice of God.
Karl Barth
Truth. When you Google it, you find everything from how to quit smoking websites to conspiracy laden newsletters from paranoid hermits. Even Herod, feigning as a philosopher, asked Jesus “What is truth?” in John 18. The wise old Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato hundreds of years before this conversation occurred pondered the same thing. And here in the year of our Lord 2010 we can ask the same question and we’d probably even get a wider variety of answers than they ever had. In this essay, we’ll see why “truth” falls where it does in the diagram below, we’ll examine how it affects the different ministries at The Journey as they embody and communicate truth as a value in real and personable ways to our community, and finally we’ll explore why we chose truth as a value.
Truth seems like an obvious value, an age-old archetype that any religious organization would have, but imagine if a religion promoted itself by saying “Falsehoods and lies are what we value!” Four words for that: Re-donk-u-lus! But beyond that obvious shot in the foot, why is it that we would value truth? First, let’s look at a definition of “truth” so we have the same operating definition. Dictionary.com says truth is
- The true or actual state of a matter
- A verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths
- An obvious or accepted fact; truism
- Honesty; integrity; truthfulness
- Ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience; the basic truths of life
Truth in our diagram…
Even though the triangle is cyclical, it does start with loving the Gospel/Truth. This is important to start with so that we have a basis for what we believe and where it comes from, and we’ll see that later in this essay. If you really liked all the people at The Journey but what we taught was complete garbage I hope you’d leave and find a place where the truth of God is elevated above any man and his personal agenda.
Truth in our ministry…
Again, can you imagine a church or religion saying, “We don’t believe in any one certain thing per say…if you have a belief then we’re probably ok with it and we invite you to throw it into our hodge-podge of beliefs.” Who would they be reaching? What would they be teaching? Without truth as a value, we don’t know who we’re reaching or what our mission or teachings are based on. This is why truth must be established before ministry can happen.
As we explore the value of “truth” deeper we’ll observe the chaos that can happen when truth is not valued. The inevitable rise of chaos in the absence of truth from our lives demonstrates for us that the value of “truth” is actually present in all of our ministry teams. From the greeters who welcome us at the doors to the message that is preached from the stage to the people who lock up the trailer back at the storage unit—honesty, integrity, and truthfulness must be in place.
Perhaps the ministry that takes place outside of Sunday mornings requires even more truthfulness though. Everyone that shows up at church expects truth from the message and the music and would be shocked if lies and heresy were spoken. But in the streets of Mill Creek, in the aisles of the grocery stores in Bothell, at the gas stations in Everett, and in the offices and cubicles wherever we work people will naturally look at us as just another selfish person and expect us to act in our own best interests unless we give them a reason to notice the truth, honesty, and integrity with which we live our lives in honor of Jesus.
If we don’t operate with truthfulness and with God’s Truth in our hearts and as our motivation, then how could people trust us or our motives for serving at The Mill Creek Festival, or at the Everett Gospel Mission, or when we do blanket drives or school supply drives? How will they know if it’s for our own glory or God’s if we don’t love them, as John says in I John 3:17-19, with both words and actions that line up with the truth that is in our hearts?
Truth in our values…
Unfortunately we don’t have time or space to explore God’s existence as a “fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience” in this small essay. Plus I’m not sure I’m smart enough to do that. But since this article is about truth anyway, we will, with our faith, believe that God does indeed exist as “a verified or indisputable fact” and is who he says he is which is the creator and redeemer of mankind. I’m sure that’s not too hard for most of us reading this anyway. And so, with God’s existence in place…we can now move on to his Word, for if someone did not exist, he surely would have nothing to say.
Often times in Christianese “truth” refers to the Bible, which is God’s spoken word written out. So if we look at truth in that way, then yes, The Journey does value God’s Word, which is why one of the three pillars that our mission statement rests upon is to Love the Gospel and why it is where the triangle begins for us as individuals in our relationship with Jesus as well as for us as a corporate body.
One of the reasons we so desire to elevate the Truth (Word of God) is to show others—as well as remind ourselves—that the message of greatest importance comes not from the leadership of The Journey or any other human, but from God, the author and perfecter of our faith. All of mankind is fickle and bound to desire different agendas in different seasons of life, but God, as well as his message, has stayed the same and will continue to stay the same for the rest of eternity. And while even the most devout Christian can fall and end up making ministry about glorifying themselves, God is the only one deserving glory and therefore cannot be wrong to demand that we glorify him through every aspect of life. And so, for its inerrancy and consistency, we value God’s Truth.
Sometimes though, the word “truth” lends itself to the idea of absolute truth, which in the post-modern era (the one we’re in now) has come under attack. Apparently in the last 50-60 years it has become un-politically correct to believe unwaveringly in something and to then say so. The Journey believes in absolute truths such as the existence of God and John 14:6 where Jesus states that he is “the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” We believe undeniably in life after death and that Jesus is the Son of God who came and died for our sins and rose from the grave.
Now that the topic was brought up there may be some wondering inquisitively about absolute truths, so let’s explore that for a second. No one can disprove absolute truths. It is logically inconsistent to state that they don’t exist because by saying, “There are no absolute truths,” an absolute truth is stated. Therefore, absolute truths must exist. The Journey believes in absolute truths so when we say, “Absolute truths must exist,” another absolute truth is stated. So either way it is only logical to believe that they do indeed exist.
Let’s look at the consequences of not having truth as a core value and correspondingly not believing in absolute truths to help us better understand why it is so important to have truth as one of our values . . .
Without having beliefs based on “verified, indisputable facts and principles” or having a “fundamental reality that transcends perceptions and experience” and without living in honesty and integrity with one another, what we have left is relativism—a doctrine instructing that truth and morality are matters of personal choice and perception and not absolute. Relativism asserts that what is accepted as truth is relative to a person's situation or standpoint, and it denies that any standpoint is uniquely privileged over all others (What’s right for you is not necessarily right for me).
If truth is relative, then absolute right and absolute wrong become doubtful and obscure. Moral codes, ethics, and—in extreme cases—even laws would become subjugated to an individual’s interpretation and desire to or not to follow them. For example, a person sees a red light but doesn’t feel it’s right for them to stop at it and so plows through the intersection . . . or a company goes and wipes out all the rain forests, depleting the food sources and way of life for those who live there as well as getting rid of the trees providing us all with oxygen. The company executives might say, “Well this is very good for me!” even though it’s not good for anyone else in the world.
Or a man on a suicide mission walks into a public market, pushes the button, and blows himself and 55 others up. He certainly thought he was right in completing his mission, but who says, “Well, we live in a world of relativism so even though that wasn’t a right choice for me, I’m glad he was able to make the choice that was right for him.” No! We would all say that is immoral, unethical, and criminal! Absolute truths must exist, lest we live in chaos.
Relativism doesn’t just put our physical lives in danger though. Even our personal beliefs are attacked by post-modernism and relativism when truth is dead. A post-modern person might say “You can believe what you want to believe as long as you don’t force it on anyone.” The problem with this though is that it’s hypocritical because they have now forced their beliefs on others. In reality, when we don’t stand up for the truth of God and the fact that Jesus is absolutely the only way to God we are calling God a liar, showing how lazy we are by not engaging in further discussion with the other person, and making ourselves cowardly hypocrites.
Saying we value truth—and more specifically God’s Truth—as Christians means we must get to the point where we can tell others that we believe that Jesus is the Christ and that they aren’t going to heaven without him (in a much nicer way of course).
If truth is relative, then only subjective and indefinite answers exist for questions like “Does God exist?” “Am I an accident, or am I fearfully and wonderfully created by God?” “Is there life after death?” and “What’s the purpose and meaning of life?” If we’re wrong on any one of those first three, then we haven’t really lost anything. If we’re right, we’ve gained forgiveness of sins and eternal life along with all the others we helped guide to the Truth.
So is there any absolute or real truth in this complex and uncertain world? There absolutely is, but it shall not be found in the subjective minds of finite humans, not even from the brightest minds or most enlightened souls, nor does it gently rest in the purest hearts. We receive absolute truth from the mouth of the Creator of all that is. God is the only thing that is constant regardless of where you look in time or space. He is outside of the laws of physics that govern our universe. In fact, he is the one who governs them and everything else discovered and un- in our universe. Therefore, he is the only source from which truth can come.
While not everyone will take Jesus’ words in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” as applying to them if they don’t believe in absolute truths, the funny thing about absolute truths is that they don’t require us to believe in them before they become true. They just are.
And that’s why it is vital to have truth as one of our values. That is why they are indispensible in our ministry. That is why we cannot survive on this earth with others without valuing truth in our interactions and without having God’s truth hidden in our hearts so deeply that we don’t even think about it. God’s truth must permeate who we are from the inside out. We must ingest it and allow it to surge through our veins with our blood, pour out of our sweat glands, run out of our mouths when we speak, and have it observed when we act.
Truth is self-sustaining. It does not need us to believe in it to be true. That would make it mere opinion.
Truth is everlasting. It does not start and end with one person. That would make it relative.
Truth is unmoving. It does not need to seek anything out. That would make it unable to be found.
Truth is unchanging. It does not shift forms or phases. That would make it but wishes and wants.
Truth is reality. It does not need to be molded in order to fit our ideas. That would make it useless.
Truth is.
A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.
~John Calvin
