Truth Is Not Relative

Teaching an adult Sunday school class is one of my passions.

One of my goals is to challenge my students with material that requires them to think.

You see, God not only wants our hearts, he wants our minds as well.

Matthew 22:37-38 (NET) - Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.

Teaching requires a great deal of learning on my part as well.

Most will define learning as the acquisition of new knowledge.

But, there is more to it than that.

It also means being willing to unlearn some things along the way.

The worlds of art, music and literature have ways of shaping our way of thinking.

A number of things we hold to be true as Christians have been shaped by these as well.

Even things that do not necessarily stand up to the test of Scripture.

One of the men I admire from history is Jan Hus who was martyred in 1415.

Hus said, “Therefore faithful Christian, seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, speak the truth, adhere to truth and defend truth to the death.”

Hus understood that real truth was of God and therefore needed to be treated as such.

Hus continually sought the truth throughout his life.

He understood that “truth prevails.”

Or, at least it should.

I find it more than a bit disturbing that in today’s world, truth has been marginalized.

We have even found ways of making truth a relative concept.

We might, for example, say that what is true for one individual might not be true for another.

I wonder what Hus would have to say about that?

Hus knew that contradictory statements could not possibly both be the truth.

Hus even said that if shown a better truth, he would relinquish the one he held in favor of the superior.

Hus lived in constant search of the truth.

He was even willing to die defending it.

In today’s world, we tend to treat the truth lightly.

This is most unfortunate.

John 14:6 (NET) - Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 8:31-32 (NET) - Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

We do others a disservice when we allow the truth to be marginalized.

As Christians we have a moral obligation to defend the truth.

Of course, this will mean disagreeing with others from time to time.

That is fine as long as we remember we must love everyone including those with whom we disagree.

That means disagreeing without becoming disagreeable ourselves.

It means loving those who may choose not to love us in return… and that’s the truth.

Matthew 22:39-40 (NET) - The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, October 19, 2018.

I will be back here on Friday, October 26, 2018