I find that I am watching Facebook less and less. There are so many political posts. What is alarming is that the posts from the left and those from the right are so different that it is impossible to reconcile them. It’s like listening to two of your children describe a fight. Each tells you the facts that make them look good and the other guy look bad. You wind up with two stories that are so different that they sound like different events.
This behavior is normal………..for children.
But, in our political conversation, we see adults doing it……..all day, every day. This is particularly destructive in the media.
What is going on here?
I think that the problem is that, as a society, we have starting asking the wrong questions. We focus on the question, “what do I want, what will make me happy?” We have come untethered from the idea of “truth”. I’ll go one step further……as a society, we reject the concept of absolute truth. We do this because the truth has a way of interfering with our attempts to get what we want. We pick through the facts. We pick through the truths. We latch on to the truths that tell us that what we want is good…….and we discard the rest……just like the child in the fight.
Al Gore said it well……..some truths are inconvenient.
I am deeply concerned for our society and for our nation. I don’t see how we can function, when the left and the right operate on different sets of facts……. on different sets of truths.
One side sees peaceful protests over police brutality.
One side sees criminals attacking our cities.
One side sees a woman’s freedom of self determination.
One side sees the killing of a child.
“Alternate truths”
So much for politics……..but, what about Christianity?
I sense that Christianity is falling out of favor in our society. I hope I’m wrong………but a see a lot of churches with a lot of empty seats and a few old people. I recently read a book, “The God Delusion”. In it the author went to great lengths to explain why he objects to God and to the Bible.
Narrow minded
Judgemental
Misogynist
Homophobic
This is just the tip of the iceberg.
To sum it up, he basically says that he cannot accept a God who disagrees with him…….a God who denies his appetites. And he presents a series of solid arguments as to why his position is valid and the Bible is not. So far so good…….for the author.
In a word, the author of “The God Delusion” tells us that he is wiser than the Bible. In essence, he says that he can do a better job of running the world than God.
The trouble is that he is making the same mistake that we make in our political conversation. He is asking the wrong questions.
He is asking, “Do I approve of God?”
He is asking, “Do I like what the Bible says?”
He is asking, “Do I agree with the Bible?”……or, perhaps more to the point…….. “Does the Bible agree with me?”
He should be asking, “Is it true?”
Because, if the Bible is true, if God is real, then the fact that he……or you…… doesn’t approve is irrelevant.
If the Bible is true, then the truths……..the rules…..the standards apply to us all……….and the consequences await us all.
These truths, rules, standards……..and consequences will be applied to all of us………. individually. The fact that the majority of Americans might agree with you will be meaningless. The fact that the media elites might support your position will be meaningless. The fact that Jim Acosta or Sean Hannity might agree with you will be meaningless.
“Is the Bible true?”
This is the most important question that you will face during your lifetime.
Listen to the scientists, listen to the philosophers, listen to the clerics………..then listen to your heart, because the truth is in there………..the truth was put there……..by your creator.
Love God, Love your neighbor.
You have an eternal spirit, a soul.
You are going somewhere…….after you die.
There is good in this world and it will be rewarded.
There is evil in this world and it will be punished.
God will make things right………in the end.
There is forgiveness and reconciliation and you can have it for a song.
These things are true.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
John, NIV
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John, NIV
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John, NIV
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Paul, NIV
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free .”
Jesus, NIV