Truth

What is truth? That was the topic of yesterday morning's sermon. I realize that is a really deep question and my last post was about chocolate cake! However, I can be deep, too - sometimes. We often hear about truth in our culture today, however, usually we hear that there really is no absolute truth. As a matter of a fact, this is what Wikipedia says about truth.

"There is no single definition of truth about which the majority of scholars agree..." And we wonder what could be wrong with our society today....hmmm.

We can see this play out all around us, and not only in secular society. We see it in the church, too, when teenagers say, "Well, I wouldn't do it, but I really shouldn't tell her what to do." Or when church leaders say, "Truth is a hard word." Or when the church refuses to face issues like adultry, fornication, drunkeness, and gossip within its congregation and instead use watered down phrases like "affair," "lover," "alcoholism," and "busybody." I'm sorry, but these things are sins and need to be called sins. However, so are the sins in my life, and I can only hope that I have pastors and friends who love me enough to confront me if my walk is not bearing fruit.

We have no reason to wonder what is wrong with our society today when we don't have the guts to define a word as simple as truth. Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." He also says to Pilate, that the main reason He came to earth was to "testify to the truth." These and many other verses can be found in the book of John. God is Truth and Jesus was the physical manifestation of it.

There is such a thing as absolute truth and I am doing my children a disservice if we do not teach them that. They have to be able to define truth, because they are going to be confronted over and over with the lies. The lies that say that if it feels good to you, then it must be ok. The lies that say that God doesn't really care whether you have sex before you get married as long as you are in love. The lies that say that sure God exists, but He would want you to be happy, so if it doesn't make you feel happy, God must not want you to do it. Even those who say they do not believe in "absolutes" are in fact, telling you that they are absolutely sure there is no such thing. This tells me that they do not really know what they believe and I want my children to know, not only what, but in Whom they believe!