What’s the truth?
The tinge of arthritis in my shoulder doesn’t care if I believe it’s there. The doc showed me proof, right there on the x-ray in black-and-white. The objective, observable, scientific truth is that I have a bit of arthritis in my shoulder. I can acknowledge it and deal with it, or lie about it and deny it. What I believe about the arthritis won’t change it or how it impacts me.
As a follower of Jesus, I believe Him when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Jesus didn’t force me into relationship with Him. I choose to accept His promises, His truth, by faith. My entire relationship with Jesus, with His truth, is based on belief. What I believe about Jesus drastically changes how He impacts my life.
Clearly, I believe Jesus is THE ultimate truth, and I wish everyone would follow Him. But faith cannot be imposed. Jesus didn’t try to force people to follow Him, and we shouldn’t, either.
So the doc can’t force me to believe in my arthritis, and I can’t force others to believe in Jesus. But the impacts of failure-to-believe are quite different, because the nature of the truths are different.
# # #
Post-truth: Oxford Dictionaries’ 2016 word of the year for 2016.
The dictionary defines “post-truth” as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” In other words, post-truth denotes circumstances in which truth has become irrelevant in shaping public opinion.
We now operate in a culture in which data doesn’t matter and repetitive lies, presented as “beliefs,” become “truth.” It’s progressively easier to prey on the fears of the marginalized with emotional appeals based on false information. Lies are couched as opinions, and we’re told everyone’s entitled to their opinion. But objective untruth doesn’t become true because it’s an opinion, and so we move into post-truth.
Jesus’ followers are pretty good about professing their confidence in the truth of His words. That’s a good thing.
Seems to me that we ought to just as eagerly embrace the objective truth God created. While we seek to shine Jesus’ light into a dark world, we should stand on a platform that promotes, and doesn’t fear, education and knowledge. We ought to oppose efforts to conceal the facts behind fear-based emotional arguments.
Our integrity, I think, requires that we stand not only for Jesus’ truth but for ALL truth.
I hope you and I work to reverse this post-truth trend. I hope we seek the information behind the opinions, even when it’s uncomfortable. I hope we’re willing to base our arguments on facts, not emotions.
I hope we’re willing to look at the evidence, and to change our minds if that’s where the evidence leads.
Most of all, let’s value people–because that’s what Jesus did.