And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14.16-17)
In many ways “truthiness” has replaced the “Truth” we once commonly shared. “Truthiness” (first coined by Stephen Colbert) is a way to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or “from the gut” without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.
Truthiness leads us to believe something if we see it on the Internet, hear it on the radio, or watch it on TV or in a movie. It could be something entirely manufactured as entertainment, social satire, or political propoganda and yet, if it seems true, it is true.
So what has happened to genuine Truth? Genuine Truth has been stacked somewhere on the junk heap of absolute terms once capitalized by people like the Poets, Philosophers, and Presidents. Love, Faith, Reason, all these definitive, absolute terms have now been relativized out of existence.
So, back to “truthiness”. According to truthiness, the Bible can say whatever we want it to say. It can say something different to each of us according to how we feel, according to our experiences, according to our ”interpretive grid” or “hermeneutic perspective”. This is what the world would want us to believe. The world doesn’t know the Spirit of truth and so it replaces truth with truthiness.
In the face of this, the exclusive truth of God’s Word is counter-cultural. It seems downright intolerant, even volatile. But those who have been transformed by the faith of Christ see things differently. We see Truth. Not that we always possess the Truth (we can never fully possess Truth – Truth possesses us). Not that we are always right (to say we’re always right is to be wrong already). But, we believe there is Truth. We believe in the One who is the Truth.
Clement of Alexandria once wrote -
“It is one thing to speak about the truth and quite another to see the Truth who teaches us himself.”
What concerns me Rev is that so many people are convinced they know “real Truth”…that God is on their side.
Do I need to say anything else, OTHER than September 11th 2001?????
Then you’ve got other religious groups who think they know the truth. You have your strident beliefs. They have theirs.
With everyone so convinced they know the Truth, how then does ANYONE figure out which Truth is “THEE TRUTH”?
Or is the answer as simple as “truthiness” as defined?
I pose this as e serious question Pete…in a Babel-esque world of different languages and cultures and yes, religions principally, who’s to say?
Has it come to this: we may have no other choice but to accept that when it comes to faith and spirituality, different strokes for different folks may be all that applies.
LK
The Pistol fires back: Competing claims for truth actually prove my point of the wrecklessness of “truthiness”. When we approach Truth, we need to take off our shoes as though we are standing on holy ground. We need to share Truth with simple, humble respect. Where there is arrogance, aggressiveness, and especially violence, the Truth that sets us free is trying to be suppressed. I can’t speak for other faith perspectives, but I have the conviction of faith that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Truth Christ presents isn’t the problem, it’s the “truthiness” of those who profess to be his followers that causes trouble.
Nice post!
The Pistol fires back: Thank you very much.
I see your point. And I agree with it.
The influx of false prophet, all professing to know and abide by every Christian tenet to the inth degree, does seem to be the real problem.
I appreciate your worldly view of the world, Pete. As a man of God and a Christian to be more specific, you obviously have your defined belief system, but you’ve never been one to view other cultures, beliefs and idioms myopically.
Nor do you do it with arrogance, anger and piety.
You are a joy to read and converse with, Sir.
I learn from you daily.
LK
The Pistol fires back: Thank you, very much. And I must say, with all sincerity, that I laugh with you daily. You’ve got one of the best blogs out there.
Maybe we should continuously ask ourselves: “Am I, on God’s side?”
I heard this once; and it makes sense. When we mention lawyers, or doctors, we say that they “practice”, their profession. It is their practice of their vocation, that makes them a lawyer or doctor.
The idea runs true with being a Christian, practicing Christ from the Christ in the Bible. For what it’s worth.
From the way I understand the Scripture, Matthew 7:7 gives instructions for finding The Truth about The Truth.
Grace and peace be with you.
The Pistol fires bacK: Good point and very relevant Scripture reference.
[...] Pete over at Necessary Therapy has another excellent post, that kind of flows in the general direction of yesterday’s [...]
What’s with those guys who say things like, “God has given me a word to share with you.”
Now, why in the world would God go through another person, to tell me something. I always thought God was a direct line communicator.
The Pistol fires back: First, thank you for the link from your site to this post. You are right to be skeptical about people claiming to speak for God. God does speak through people, but we should always check it with God’s Word – the Bible – to see if it is true.
Clement is the “schnizzle-dizzle”. “Truthiness” is someone speaking about something that they haven’t a clue about, and not only is that dangerous, it has a tendency to give Christianity a bad rap. If you take Christ at a His Word, those of us who have been given the Truth, can discern the difference; through the Holy Spirit.
The Pistol fires back: And no one of us can fully grasp the Truth, such that we are right every time. God won’t be man-handled this way.
The truth is, the Bible that you pick up and read today is a grossly bastardized version of the original scriptures, tainted over 2 millenium by those who would twist its content to suit their own political, power mongering goals.
The “Sad Truth” is that so many today are so afraid to embark on a search for the real truth, that they quickly embrace the “package deal” explanation offered by the world’s religions, just like some TV Dinner for the soul, so much easier than actually finding the proper ingredients and developing the recipe to prepare a real meal of truth for their souls. So terrified by their lack of awareness of where they came from, where they are going, and who/what/when/where/why they really are right now, that they turn away from any real chance to discover the truth, and stumble through their years, firmly clasping the security of their Bibles, closing their ears to any wisdom, their minds to the endless universe yet to be explored, and their hearts to any who do not validate their choice by daring to question the sanctity of their Book.
Come on, Pistol…..”GOD” is soooooooooo much more than that
The Pistol fires back: To say the Bible today is grossly bastardized is something akin to a conspiracy theorist. Actually, the basic consistency of manuscripts provides even more evidence for the authenticity of Scripture.
To seek truth in a vacuum, without the benefit of God’s Word, is to arrogantly assume we are smarter than generations of our spiritual ancestors before us. What we know flows from what God has revealed to them, and continues to reveal to us.
God is no doubt more than what is revealed in His Word, but what is revealed in His Word is all we need to know about God for our lives and for our faith.