We live in a culture that is defiant of any notion of truth. "What is truth?" Pilate asked ~ John 18:38.
What is your truth is not my truth... that is pretty much what Pilate meant. Jesus said, "Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice" and Pilate said, "What is truth"? Sadly that is where are today in this country and other nations that follow our lead. The Spirit of Pilate is alive today in our universities and governments and churches. We live in a culture that is defiant of truth. We are anti-truth. If that is true, we must ask ... what is truth?
People say there is truth in all kinds of ism (s); for instance, culturalism where in we find 'truth' in the cultural data crystallized by traditions and customs.
Surveys show that 36 and older state that there are no moral absolutes. Why is that? Is it really because there is no truth today? Those at the other end of the surveys tell us that morality and truth depend upon individual preference and circumstances. Here is a list of truth ism (s) being applied today.
Humanism says that man is the truth.
Mysticism says that intuition is the truth.
Skepticism says that no one can know the truth.
Hedonism says whatever feels good is the truth.
Secularism says that the present world is the truth.
Relativism says that in each situation there is truth.
Pluralism says that everyone has a piece of the truth.
Existentialism says that self determination is the truth.
Positivism says that whatever man confesses is the truth.
Pragmatism says that whatever works for you is the truth.
Soren Kierkegaard said that there is no truth in the masses. What did he mean by that? It is exactly what Pilate meant. Kierkegaard wrote, "There is a view of life which conceives that where the crowd is, there is also the truth, and that in truth itself there is need of having the crowd on its side. There is another view of life which conceives that wherever there is a crowd there is untruth ...even if every individual, each for himself in private, were to be in possession of the truth, yet in case they were all to get together in a crowd—a crowd to which any decisive significance is attributed, a voting noisy audible crowd—untruth would at once be in evidence." ~ SK
What is truth? Is there any absolute truth that does not entangle us in lies? Yes, it is the way, the life and the truth ~ Jesus Christ. Those outside of the truth of Jesus Christ hold down the truth of God.... they exchange the truth of God for a lie. And, sadly, this is the hour in which we live. We have a culture and society that has exchanged the truth of God for a lie. It is the departure from or walking away from truth that is our demise and fall (as it was) into doubt, error and into the chaos of a very dark social imagination!
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
ReplyDeleteJohn 14:6.
Those in Christ are called to the Truth in Him and what that Truth says about them is the Truth for it is His Truth!
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ReplyDeleteHe is the absolute truth - Jesus Christ! "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" ~ COL 1:17.
ReplyDeleteand you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32.
ReplyDeleteI speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit--Romans 9:1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not; which refers to being in Christ, a converted person, one born again, and renewed in the spirit of my mind, what I am about to speak is truth, and no lie; for I know that Christ is the God of truth, who is truth itself, I appeal to him as the true God, the searcher of hearts, that what I now deliver is truth, and nothing but truth...
ReplyDeleteGod's Word is truth. The problem in our culture therefore is twofold. First - very few (even in the churches) actually have read and continue to read God's Word. Second - people then say that it depends upon your interpretation - as if one can interpret Scripture any way that you want. But the fact is that Scripture is usually very clear about what it is saying. Those who want to dilute truth through the "interpretation game" just don't want to face the truth when God states what He says plainly and clearly.
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