‘My truth’ or ‘True Truth’

‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours’ was the fifth studio album, released in 1998 by the Welsh alternative rock band ‘Manic Street Preachers’. In spite of this idea that people can have their own truths, there is a universal conviction that there is an ultimate reality called truth. How much confusion there is on this topic. There is only one truth, the ‘true truth’ that God alone knows. This may differ from my perception of the truth, ‘my truth’.

There are many different voices speaking out in the news, social media, and our communities telling us their perception of what is true. If we want to know the truth, we need the facts to confirm what is truth and what is false.

In Law Courts witnesses give their understanding of the truth and this is supported by other evidence. The Judge and jury then have to make up their minds what the real truth is – but even this may not be quite right. There is the truth out there and we are trying to discover this. In medicine a patient complains of their symptoms and the doctor tries to diagnose the true cause of the problem. He is then helped by other investigations such as blood tests, x-rays and MRI scans. He is searching for the true cause of the problem so the optimal treatment can be offered.

In all such matters we are using a ‘dialectical process’ to try to come as near to the truth as we can. One theory is put forward and this holds sway until more evidence brings about a better answer. We instinctively know that the truth is ‘out there’ and we are trying to come to know it.

We understand how this process works in science and law but how does it apply to the biggest questions of life – the spiritual questions. What are we here for, how should we behave, what happens when we die? Science cannot answer such important questions.

NOMA

The evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould recognises that ethicss and scientific facts are very different areas of enquiry and that science cannot answer non material questions. He talks about ‘facts’ versus ‘values’ and suggested that the two do not overlap. NOMA is an acronym for ‘Non-overlapping magisteria’. He drew the word ‘magisterium’ from an encyclical ‘Humani generis’ delivered by Pope Pius XII in 1950 in which he stated that science understands the factual character of the natural world and religion operates in the realm of purposes, meanings and values. Stephen Jay Gould suggested that they do not overlap.

The Bible’s view is very different, it teaches that the two do overlap. It teaches that God created this world and everything in it for man to enjoy. It teaches that this has gone badly wrong because we have forgotten God and turned our backs on living in harmony with him. God then intervened and entered his world as Jesus, God’s Messiah. He and his followers started God’s church. There are many points in this story that logic and science can be used to check whether Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah, the Son of God, is ‘true truth’ or whether is is just a few people’s wishful thinking, ‘their truths’ that have spread through a variety of methods.

Romanticism and its effect today

The Romantics were a group of poets that were a part of the Romantic movement which marked a profound shift in sensibilities away from the ‘age of reason’ approach of Classicism. Looseness of form, nature, mortality and introspection are themes that heavily characterise the Romantics' poetry. The Romantics came in two generations, the first featuring the likes of Coleridge and Wordsworth, and later Byron, Shelley and Keats. The Romantics are generally characterised by poets who sought an intense relationship with nature and who believed that nature held healing powers that could bring peace and tranquility to individuals in an age of rapid technological change. Their thinking was based on a rejection of traditional standards of behaviour, they just wanted to enjoy life and experience all it has to offer. They emphasised the importance of the individual and that people should follow what they liked rather than imposed conventions and rules,. Many membersof the Romantic movement were openly promiscuous as Paul Johnson’s brilliant book, ‘Intellectuals’, has demonstrated.

Such thinkers and their followers today are acting as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they also were tempted by the fruit of ‘the tree of knowledge of good and evil’. In other words they wanted the right to decide what is right and wrong, not God. Satan told Eve, ‘When you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God’ They chose to eat from the tree that God had forbidden with awful consequences. Like Adam and Eve, many are seduced by what they see, “. . . pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom” (Genesis 3:1-7).

This rejection of authority, both moral and political, is now rife around the world. There is also a wilful independence from God that can be seen everywhere today. Where has ‘integrity’, doing what is right before God, gone? The opposite of integrity is ‘dis-integrity’ or ‘disintegration’. When people decide not to live as God has taught in his Word, their personal lives tend to disintegrate and that spreads to their family, society and eventually the nation. Isn’t this what we are witnessing?

The teaching of God’s Word

Jesus understood these issues about what people should live for clearly, and he taught that nothing matters more that being in the right with God. He claimed unambiguously the only way that this relationship can be obtained,

‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6

Like Adam and Eve our rejection of what God has said has led to a separation between God and ourselves, but there is hope as God has provided a way home. Jesus said it is the responsibility of all of us to seek, find and then live by God’s truth and that this is the path to freedom and peace:

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

No-one should go to the Bible to look for answers about nuclear physics or biochemistry as the books were written with the thinking and genre of those days. The truths it teaches are about God and his world, how he would enter this to save people from the consequences of their rebellion and how he wants people to live in harmony both with him and with other people. This message is timeless.

Jesus claimed to be the incarnation of God and repeatedly added that this would be substantiated by his resurrection on the third day after his crucifixion. The whole Bible emphasises that spiritual claims must be tested and this is important as many false leaders have appeared and keep doing so. Their claims can and should be tested by honest investigation – are they teaching and behaving in accordance with God’s truth?

How to find the truth

It would appear that many today look for answers to the big questions of life in strange ways, such as by chasing experiences. Some go to emotion-filled churches and sway rhymically with the music, others look for the supernatural in seances or seek out those who offer the miraculous. Others try to find answers ‘within themselves’. There are countless ways people try to find answers and Jesus talks about these.

The use of the spectacular to gain a following has been common practice for centuries. Crowds will always draw crowds. Claims that the supernatural is going to be witnessed is a great draw. Could this be one reason why there are some mega-chruches that draw in thousands?

One of the great advocates of the charismatic movement in the 1960’s, John Wimber, later acknowledged that some of the two of the main spectacular features that were promoted by that movement as signs of God’s working, the ‘Baptism of the Spirit’ and ‘Speaking in Tongues’ were wrong.1 He acknowledged that children with Down’s syndrome that he had prayed for had not been healed. Yet still today there are those who make unreal claims to those in need. Similarly no amputees have had their limbs restored in such meetings and the results for Alzheimers disease and blindness are similarly very poor. Things were very different in Jesus day, real miracles were occurring, the blind did see.

Yet, even then, there were some who were not convinced by the evidence Jesus demonstrated. A group of senior Jewish men asked Jesus to show them a miraculous sign, in spite of the fact that if they had followed him around they could have witnessed many extraordinary miracles and heard obvious sense in what he said. The Greek word used for ‘miraculous sign’ here is ‘semeion’ which literally means a ‘sign’ or ‘token’. This could be a miracle or anything spectacular that would convince people that the extraordinary was present. What Jesus said to them is very relevant to those who are seeking answers to the big questions of life in the wrong place, in a search for the spectacular or supernatural. Jesus replied,

“A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Matthew 12:38

Miracles and spectacular signs are not the answer - elsewhere we read,

“Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in his presence, they still would not believe in him.” John 12:37

Jesus refuses to oblige them by demonstrating a sign – he could have struck them dead as a sign of future judgment! Jesus himself is the most important sign that God has entered his world to save people – it is he they should be looking at. His character, his teaching and his fulfilment of Scriptural prophecies as well as his miracles all point to him as being someone very special indeed. Jesus knows full well that any who follow him because of any signs they witness will be spurious disciples as their interest is probably self-centred. Jesus knew that unfortunately there would be those who go down this spectacular route, even today, to gain followers:

“For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:24

Instead Jesus cites three ways that help an honest seeker after the truth - to be convinced about him.

1. The Sign of Jonah – historical evidence

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12::40

Jesus is clearly using the story of Jonah as a prophecy about what will happen to him after his death. Incidentally the Greek word translated here as a ‘fish’ can mean to any ‘sea creature’. Jesus had repeatedly told his disciples, when they were on their way to Jerusalem, that he would be killed and would rise again after three days.

“He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this . . .” Mark 8:31-32

Jesus is alluding to two sorts of evidence about himself. The first is the fact that he was about to rise from the dead after three days. That should be enough to convince anybody, particularly as there were so many witnesses to this fact. The second is the evidence from the Old Testament Scriptures about the coming Messiah. Over 330 of these prophecies have been fulfilled in Jesus and anyone can verify these. His human family background, his place of birth, his miracles, his death by crucifixion, his resurrection, the content of his teaching and also his status of being equal to God are all foretold.

2. The Response at Nineveh – evidence of conscience

“ The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew 12:41

The people of Nineveh were very depraved but when they were told that if they repented and turned back to taking God seriously they could be forgiven, they responded gratefully. Jesus compares them with the religious Jews he was talking to. The Jews had so many advantages but could not see their own need. They thought they were alright before God because they were religious. How many religious people make the same mistake? They think God will accept them because of their religious affiliation. In contrast Jesus taught that without a personal commitment to him and a determination to live as he wants, there can be no salvation.

If any reader has still not turned back to rely on the Lord Jesus for salvation, they must act before it is too late. The word ‘belief’ in the Bible does not simply mean agreement with a doctrine or involvement with a church but is a personal commitment to follow Jesus.

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:36

The evidence that godless people can repent and become godfearing individuals, should be a wake up call to people’s consciences and strong evidence that this path is right.

If the Ninevites could respond to a simple moral challenge, how much more should people who have the full revelation of Jesus repent and turn to him. His message is indeed compelling but there is so much more evidence for him being the hope of the world. He is much greater than Jonah!

3. The Queen of Sheba – evidence of ‘wisdom’

Truth is a wonderful idea and all people should seek the truth is all areas of life but especially when trying to answer the big questions of life. The search for wisdom is the search for truth.

“The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.” Matthew 12:42

There really is a judgment when each of us will stand before God. Jesus uses the example of the Queen of Sheba as yet another reason that people must believe in and follow him. She was attracted by accounts of the wisdom of Solomon and travelled a long way to understand life, as Solomon taught and demonstrated this. One of Solomon’s early Proverbs was,

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Proverbs 1:7

A search for truth involves an intellectual rigour but honest questioning will draw people to the truth. Students should search for a unified meaning in all areas of study. If there is one God then there should be unity in all he has created. A ‘university’ should be a place to find unity our of diversity, but unfortunately today many should be called ‘diversities’. The only unifying focus is a recognition of Jesus as the Christ of the one God. He brings rationality, historical facts, science and our instincts about to what is right all together. Questioning is not the opposite of faith but should be the route to faith. My books, ‘Cure for Life’ and ‘Stepping Stones to Faith’ both outline the types of evidence there is for belief in God and in the Christian faith, evidence that would win in any court of law.

Atheism is very much a faith but how few have honestly investigated the origins and consequences of that faith’s claims. The same goes for any faith system.

It is staggering that so many people follow Islam when there is much evidence that it cannot be true but was a late invention that suddenly appeared around 692 AD. Muhammed was said to have been born in 570 AD, dying in 632 AD. So why is there no mention of an Arab military leader called Muhammed, either on coins, on rock engravings or in the 7th century court documents of the Caliphs prior to 692 AD? Why did the direction of the Qibla of places of worship change so late? Why are there no quotes from the Quran prior to 692 AD if the seventh century Arab expansion was the result of this revelation? Why was Mecca largely unknown until the 8th century. Similar investigations concerning the origins of Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses reveals that they too are based on shaky evidence. There is clearly a great overlap between the true spiritual world and the use of logic, historical investigtion, and reconciling these with what out instincts tell us that there are real values such as truth, honesty, kindness and peace.

The search for wisdom or truth should be a vital ingredient if people are to find God’s way. I was surprised to hear a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who came to my door admitted that she had never investigated the origin of her faith – they are not encouraged to ask such questions. What a disaster a faith without wisdom is. Any true faith must be evidence based and this will require intellectual rigour.

Jesus finishes this summary about the best evidence by returning to the essential focus of any quest.

“ . . . now something greater than Solomon is here.” Matthew 12:42

The ‘something’ is clearly everything to do with Jesus. He claimed to be the only Son of God who was equal to his Father in heaven. This was such a staggering claim. The most important question anyone seeking for answers to life should be asking is:

“Who is Jesus and why should I follow him?”

In this short section Jesus has outlined the sort of evidence we should be looking for.

The Solution is in a Person

At first I was puzzled why Jesus then goes on to talk about an ‘impure spirit’ in this context.

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.” Matthew 12:42-45

Up to this point Jesus has been emphasising that the answer to life rests in himself. A commitment to him means that impure spirits will leave. However if that person does not continue to live in a close relationship with the Lord Jesus then their fate is worse than ever. A temporary clean up of a person’s life will not bring salvation. If a person’s life does not continue to be filled by the Lord Jesus, then impure spirits will return and again take over. It is then much harder to repent and turn again to Christ.

The story is told about Billy Graham, the great evangelist in the second half of the twentieth century. He was walking along a street one evening and saw a drunkard propping up a lamp-post. This man recognised Mr Graham and called out. I am one of your converts. Billy Graham replied,

“You may be one of my converts but you are clearly not one of Jesus Christ.”

The greatest evidence anyone can have is to walk daily with the Lord in control. Jesus himself said,

“If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” John 7:17

A real sense of assurance that we are on the right path will only be known by those who have repented and are choosing day by day to live as Jesus and the rest of Scripture teaches.

True truth

I once asked a group of hospital consultants what they would define as truth. After much thought one suggested, ‘Truth must be consensus’. He was defining ‘the truth’ as being the majority of ‘my truths’. This cannot be right as peoples’ perceptions are easily altered by the media and political and social pressures. There is clearly ‘real truth’. Plato (428-348 BC) recognised that truth can only be defined in absolute terms – truths are ideas compatible with God. He taught:

“You should not honour men more than truth.”

“God is truth and light his shadow.”

God’s truth is more important than even life itself. Christian martyrs have understood this.

It is only from God that we can obtain understanding. We use the logic he has given us to work on the questions we face. Science relies on the faith that there is a uniformity in the world. The Laws of Nature should properly be called the Laws of God as only a mind can create laws.

The Bible says that God’s Word is truth, it is by following what God teaches in His Word that we can know the answers to the big questions of life and become the sort of people we ought to be.

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17

When Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy he warned about those trying to introduce different ideas into the Christian faith that are not compatible with ‘the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus’. They were advocating ‘their truths’. In contrast Timothy is urged to teach the only real truth, the teachings that come from God through Jesus:

“This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all men . . .” 1 Timothy 2:3-5

Our investigations using the sciences can lead to some of the truths about the physical world but only if God has revealed himself and his thinking that we can find answers to the big questions. Any claims to speak for God must be testable – scams are everywhere! There are many conflicting voices that claim to be prophetic. They cannot all be true as their messages are so different. When we are convinced about Jesus and consequently accept the Spirit of Jesus the Christ to lead our lives, we will then experience the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Galatians 5:22) that makes life so satisfying and useful. We also find a new purpose, to live for our Saviour until we meet him face to face.

To live my life on ‘my truth’ based on a whim or idea that has not been thoroughly tested is stupidity itself. Any truth claim can and should be tested, ‘truth’ is what we all need

BVP

1http://thebriefing.com.au/1990/04/john-wimber-changes-his-mind/