Truth

My wife recently posted a response on Facebook to the following question:

"I am always facinated that "christians" ... for being a group with a "commion beleif" are so often not on the same page, or even the same book. So which interpretation, understaning, belief is THE TRUTH?"

It is a very good question and I was so impressed with my wife's response to it that I wanted to post it here:

Maybe we should get a little creative and come at this from a different angle - truth. The dictionary says: that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. Everyone is uniquely wired to perceive life around them. Some are more ...daring, such as the explorers, risk takers, etc., some are more intellectual, scientists, mathematicians, etc., some are more creatively endowed, artists, muscians, etc., I think God made everybody different because it delighted him to do so. And so everyone will approach truths and interpret them according to the way they were designed to process their findings or experience. I think there are infinite ways to arrive at or discover a truth. And I know he loves revealing truths in various and creative ways. And it’s interesting if we decide to go seeking after a particular truth, that we usually have to do some digging to discover just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

There seems to be an infinite number of truths jammed with new facts waiting to be discovered. I don’t believe that Christians have the market cornered on truth. There’s just too many out there. I also think that God is in the midst of each truth that is discovered. I believe God gets pretty excited when a Physicist discovers a new mathematical formula that enables him to know how something works. That new formula set that physicist free to do more of what he was wired to do. People like Danny, which I think are wired intellectually, love to dig deeply into textbooks, compare theologies and translations to arrive as close as they can to the clearest picture of God in this world. People, like myself, arrive at discovering God by developing a relationship with Jesus. My truth is my experience, which is difficult to put down in words. Generally artists are reflective and intuitive. I wouldn’t do well as a scientist, but the way I’m wired, e.g. being quiet, slow to speak and reflective, allows me to see and witness God in everyone everywhere I go. I have arrived at the truth of God from a different perspective.

I don’t think the truth is revealed in the midst of labels, such as saved and unsaved which creates the tension of “us versus them”. I think many Christians are too black and white to see a truth in front of their nose, to the point where they can’t see that God is actively involved with everyone. So I think you can arrive at “truth” about God using several sources, personal experience, etc. If you really want to know him, you definitely will discover him to the depth that you are willing to go. He really wants to be discovered, and understood.

Concerning the truth about God, depends on just how far an individual will go to understand someone. Sometimes I think it depends on how well we do with intimacy. Sometimes I think it depends on how many facts we are able to hold and assimilate to begin to grasp the complexities of God. Maybe it’s both combined. No one has the complete picture. Wouldn’t it be something if we could just sit down together, put our differences and pettiness aside, and compare and assemble as much information as we can about God to see just how far we’ve come in understanding him. Then perhaps we could just relax and enjoy the journey.