People think they are right. I guess that’s obvious, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat it. No one believes something because they think it’s wrong. If you believe something, you think your position is correct. You may have differing degrees of certainty, but, to some, extent, you are convinced of the truth of your beliefs.
There are other things you just haven’t thought about or don’t consider to be important enough to decide on. I had a language teacher in Argentina who told me she was agnostic, that she just didn’t know if there was a God or not. I told her the issue was important enough that she should really reach a conclusion one way or the other! But many of us are indifferent on a broad range of subjects.
It also takes a certain push to move us off of a position. That is, once we believe something, we tend to stay with that belief. We seek out like-minded people and read things that reinforce our beliefs. If we are in a loving church fellowship, we’re typically willing to believe what other members of that fellowship believe. And we aren’t going to question things just because.
If we go to a church that doesn’t use instruments, nothing in our Bible study will make us want to use instruments. If we go to a church that does use musical instruments, we won’t find anything in Scripture that will cause us to question that. We tend to believe that what we and others around us are doing is right.
That’s why there are so many subjects where some look at others and say, “Why can’t they see this?” or “How can they justify that?” Snake handling. Head coverings. Multiple cups in communion. Speaking in tongues. Church buildings. Saturday night Lord’s Supper. Church-supported children’s homes. Calling a man “Reverend” or “Pastor.” Baptism by immersion. So many topics that people marvel that others can’t see in the same way.
I write all of this not to point fingers at anyone, but to remind myself that I am subject to the same human tendencies as everyone else. I am influenced by my culture. I am predisposed by my background and present context. I read things as a 50-year-old Texan who has lived half of his adult life outside of the United States. I read as one raised in the churches of Christ and trained at an institution affiliated with those churches. I have my experiences that have shaped me, my sins that have warped me, the grace I’ve been shown that has challenged me to be more than what I am.
We approach Absolute Truth and grow in humility with every step we take toward that Truth. Where we once thought that we could dominate it, we come to see that we are incapable of fully grasping it. We realize that every expression of truth must be uttered with wonder and humility, for that Truth is greater than us. We don’t define it; it defines us. Every bit of that Truth that we see reminds us of how much we can’t see yet and how much of what we thought we’d seen before was an illusion.
In the end, we do well to remind ourselves that Truth isn’t really an it; Truth is a person.
We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true — even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
Interesting topic, Tim. I’m working on a documentary about a split in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in the 1970’s. The issue was biblical inerrancy. Was Jonah really swallowed by a fish, or is this a story that teaches us about the nature of God, etc.
http://www.frakesproductions.com/2012/seminex/
The controversy divided the Missouri Synod and ripped apart families, churches and institutions. It’s been almost 40 years and scars are yet to heal and emotions run very deep among Lutherans.
Excellent post, Tim. I especially like the last paragraph. Nicely stated.
Paul
“To be situated within a tradition does not limit the freedom of knowledge but makes it possible.” Gadamer – Truth and Fiction (2nd ed. P361)
“It also takes a certain push to move us off of a position. That is, once we believe something, we tend to stay with that belief”
For some it is near impossiable to change, it took to long to get to where they are.
But for those who readily change, they have doubts. I think it best to not change without seeing the flaw in what you already believe, not just because this new thing seems better, at the time.
“We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, ”
Tim, we also know Jesus spoke the following.
Jhn 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Jhn 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
So change for change sake could be instigated by something other than knowledge of truth. There are so many times that people are changed by something , said by man, that is not in the gospel just because of who that man is. We need to be very sure that man is not the “Prince of this world” in human form.
The “Word” the truth , came in human form, so we need to be careful to back our belief by the book. My motto is “if it ain’t in the book, it ain’t in my belief”
Big woops! That should have been Truth and Method by Hans Georg Gadamer
“To be situated within a tradition does not limit the freedom of knowledge but makes it possible.” From Truth and Method by Hans Georg Gadamer (2nd ed. p. 361)
“In the end, we do well to remind ourselves that Truth isn’t really an it; Truth is a person.”
Tim, can you explain this statement from scripture, or is this another “inferred truth” such as “the trinity”?
Jhn 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Jhn 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Jhn 4:24 God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.
Tim we are not left to our own devices here, we are told how we must worship God.
(in spirit and truth) We must truly love God in our spirit and soul, in order to worship him as he deserves, as he demands. (truth is a fact, not a person)
Deu 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find [him], if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Deu 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
Deu 26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Let’s look at what John said about false worship.
1Jo 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jo 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
We cannot worship God “in spirit and truth” until we rid our self of hate.
I just wondered where the “truth is a person” came from.
Tim,
I agree that we tend to believe along with those closest to us. I think further that when we have an idea of what we think the “puzzle” of reality should look like when all together, we only look for pieces that match that vision, rejecting any that don’t “fit.”
At the same time, it is possible to break out of that mold. When I was 17 I reached the conclusion, after studying various religions and even trying to devise my own belief system, that I needed to leave the Roman Catholic Church in which I’d been raised and become “Protestant.” Just the other day I heard an NPR report about a former United Methodist pastor who left the ministry after “coming out” as an atheist. She hadn’t always been an atheist, and those closest to her are theists. Additionally, one of my favorite programs on TV now is “Amish: Out of Order.” It provides an intriguing view into the lives of ex-Amish people, attempting to adjust to life in the “English” world.
So, my point is that people are able, although sometimes with great difficulty, to see beyond the narrow confines of their social group. The question is whether we’re willing to count the cost and then take the risk of acting on those new-found beliefs, turning them into convictions.
Laymond, what is the point? Why the insults? The negativity? Is there anything remotely Christian about the stuff you spew around the Internet?
What are you trying to achieve? And will you be proud of yourself once you achieve it?
This is not about truth nor a search for truth. You launch far too many personal attacks to try and hide behind that. Not just here, but on other sites as well.
I’m sick of it. Make some attempt to be constructive and civil, or feel free to take your toxicity elsewhere.
Tim, isn’t the objective also influenced on a greater scale by the American experience and the Reformation? If I can recognize my upbringing bias I still have the American bias and Reformation bias to weed through. How our entire expectation for what a church is and does has a truckload of cultural bias.
I struggle with how far do you just say this is how it is and work within it and this needs to change because it is unhealthy.
Good post, certainly has me thinking. :)
For Laymond – John 14:6, Jesus said, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”