I'm reading one of the most challenging books right now, that I have read in a long time. "The Cost of Certainty" by Jeremy Young. While the book is totally resonating with me it is also totally rocking my world.
The culture of the church that I have grown up in is one that promotes certainty at all levels and costs. The goal is to be certain what truth is and to be certain that what we believe about God is absolutely correct. Can I just say that seems a bit arrogant to me!
I was in dialog recently, with a guy who God is using to really challenge me, about the idea of absolute truth. After a comment he made another guy in the group posed this question:
"So are you saying that you don't believe that there is absolute truth"
His response: "I'm not at all saying that I don't believe in absolute truth. As a matter of fact I am quite confident that there is absolute truth! However, what I am saying is that who do I think I am to say that I have discovered what absolute truth is"
wow! That was my response. Now I know that there will be those who read this and think that I have gone off the deep end. (Did you just now come to that conclusion?)
I will also say that most who have that feeling are those who have grown up in the same culture that I did that has caused us to think we have it all figured out and have held certainty up as the goal in life.
One of my greatest desires in life is to learn and grow. I've concluded that I can't do that if all I seek to expose myself to are things that further validate and embed what I already believe. Where's the learning in that?
So, while the book is a bit of a stretch I will press on and seek to know God more. In that process I think I may just have to settle on the reality that He (God) will become even more mysterious to me!
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8 comments:
How to know/find "absolute truth" in a religion based on "faith"; tough question. As a matter of fact, each religion (Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist...) feels their religion is based on absolute truth, but is, in fact, faith based. My next question would be (regarding religion) what is the difference between absolute truth, faith, and opinion?
Hey Joe,
Sounds like a good book, I will look for it in the future. Just like to make a few comments. Many of the Christian writers I have been reading or listening to on podcast have been struggling with this notion of truth: How do we hold on to truth (which by definition is absolute), but at the same time not seem dogmatic or draconian.
Jesus said we will worship 'in Spirit and in Truth.' Many times He started a saying with 'Truly. I say to you..' Many passages, in John especially, He talked on truth, including the famous 'you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free.'
The idea we have forgotten is that we are suppose to worship in Spirit, as well as Truth. The Spirit defined by Paul includes love, joy, peace, etc (Galatians) should be the spirit in which we bring the Truth of our convictions. 'Being wise as serpents but gentle as doves.'
Archbishop William Temple said this about worship:
"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God.
It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose.
And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable."
We should pursue His Truth in our Worship but temper it with His love, His Spirit.
Again, haven't read the book so don't know his arguments, breaking a philosophical rule. But I have been coming across this line of thinking in many Christian circles and wanted to add to the debate here.
Mike,
Faith is based upon truth. I am a Christian because its truth claims answer all the questions of life. I am not of another faith because their truth claims fall short.
An opinion is based on personal feeling or emotion. 'Chocolate cake is better than brownies' or 'Van Halen is the greatest rock band' are examples of opinion.
Truth exist outside of our personal feeling or opinions. The law of gravity exist, whether you like it or not. Logic exist whether you use it or not. And so does God. In fact, Christian George in his new book Sex, Sushi and Salvation says 'That God could have destroyed the world in the flood and would have not lost one ounce of Glory." That to me is a true statement that leads to a very liberating idea: God exist and but I dont have to. I exist because of His love for me. And that to me, is the answer to this debate. God, who is the author of Truth, the Logos, and with His Spirit, the Love,created us. And we should humbly proclaim His truth in the same love He created us.
And no other 'religion' has that truth claim.
Mike, Greg, and others
Great conversation! Let me add a few comments. The Bible doesn't define a lot of things, in my opinion, but it does give us a clear definition of FAITH. Now I set out in this blog to talk about truth and it quickly shifted into a dialog about faith, and I think they are two WAY different discussion. Hebrews tells us what faith is and I won't type it all out here. Let me give you a quote from the book I'm reading.
"Faith may be described as an attitude of trust adopted in the face of our ignorance of God."
Real FAITH is rooted in our admitting that we are WAY uncertain about a lot of what we have put our hope in.
It's great to talk about the law of gravity and that is a good analogy but it does break down a bit. We use the argument of gravity a lot in Christianity but nobody argues with it (gravity) because everybody has dropped something and seen it fall to the ground. It doesn't take faith to buy into gravity. However, faith in the TRUTH of God is not quite so clear. Maybe it is to someone who has "walked" with Him for a while but not to others. I think this is what the quote in the book speaks to. I'll share more in another post.
Can't wait to read the book.
But this is why I jumped into this discussion. I see a split between faith and truth in the authors I read. But to me, they are the same thing to me. The reason I used gravity is just to say that some things exist even if we don't know or believe in them. But if Christians lived by their faith, then God' truth would be as evident as gravity.
Thank you both for the explanation. Sorry to have lead this subject off track, that wasn't my intention.
No Way Mike!
You did not lead us off track at all! You lead us down a road where we could have a thought provoking conversation. This is so needed in our culture and in our churches. Too often we just buy into whatever with no thought and no growing or stretching. I am so thankful for guys like you who engage the dialog and make us stretch and think. Keep commenting man I love it!
Yeah, Mike, keep posting. Along with Joe's blog, I hope to discuss on Chris' and Mike's blog. Would love the see the church community take advantage of this medium. We live such busy lives that it makes sense to have a place to communicate what we are thinking. I emailed Joe to say that I wanted a place like this to talk because I don't get to discuss these issues much. But I also didn't want to get off topic or start heated debates. Just have a place to talk freely. So please, keep posting and tell others.
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