WHAT IS TRUTH?

(PART 2)

"People may disagree", someone once said, "about what the Bible says about homosexuality, for example, but we agree that God's Holy Word must never be used as a weapon to wound others." It's not God's Word that wounds people. It's not God's Word that hurts. People can misuse and abuse the Word of God as well as His teachings. History shows that. God's Word in Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." The Word of God is not simply a collection of words from God, a vehicle for communicating ideas; it is living, life-changing and dynamic as it works in us. With the incisiveness of a surgeon's knife, God's Word reveals who we are and what we are not. It penetrates the core of our moral and spiritual life. It discerns what is within us, both good and evil. The demands of God's Word requires decisions. God's Word convict us of sin. It's sin that hurts people. It is sin that causes suffering. It is sin that wounds people. That's what hurts. God's truth heals. God's truth point us, as a light, in the right direction to create peace, goodwill, good relationships, and a right relationship with God, and a good life, a righteous life. We don't have to apologise for the Word of God, truth, or anything that is there. But we're in a different age, in a different culture right now. To worsen things up, we are dealing with social media groups and other self-proclaimed individuals with different thinking who are now going after people of faith, churches, others who dare to speak the truth and stand for righteousness, especially the Word of God. No, no, no. It's not God's Word that hurts people. It's their sinful nature. It's actions that hurt people. And when that's taken out of context, when we forget what God's Word is to do, which is to bring us to God, to a relationship with Him that helps and heal. This is certainly something to think about in these difficult times that we're living in. Jesus is dragged before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Jewish leaders accuse Him of committing treason against Rome by proclaiming Himself a king. Pilate says to Jesus, "You are a king, then!" Jesus answers, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." There seems to have been no question in Pilate's mind that Jesus spoke the truth and was innocent of any crime. It also seems apparent that while recognising the truth, Pilate chose to reject it. It is a tragedy when we fail to recognise the truth. It is a greater tragedy when we recognise the truth but fail to heed it. Pilate replies, "What is truth?" (John 18:28-38). Pilate was cynical; he thought that all truth was relative. To many government officials, truth was whatever the majority of people agreed with or whatever helped advance their own personal power and political goals. When there is no standard or acknowledgement of truth , there is no basis for moral right and wrong. Justice becomes whatever works or whatever helps those in power. In Jesus and His Word we have a standard for truth and for our moral behaviour. Pilate may have said this sarcastically. He may have been stating a rhetorical question, since he and Jesus were engaged in a somewhat philosophical discussion. Or it may have been a weary comment from a disillusioned man who had become hopeless and cynical. It doesn't matter, this question is vital to anyone who wishes to find reason and purpose to life. "What is truth"? We live in a society in which truth is seen as relative. A common argument is, "What might be 'true' for you may not be 'true' for me. After all, 'truth' is based on personal feelings and to deny the validity of feelings is to be narrow-minded and bigoted." Increasingly, in our society if someone doesn’t accept the "truth" of the subjective, personal experience of the homosexual as virtuous then he is "homophobic," a word implying mental illness. It wasn’t that long ago that homosexual behaviour was viewed by most Christians as unnatural and immoral. Truth has become synonymous with tolerance. Many today deny the biblical truth that sexual experimentation before marriage is biologically and emotionally unhealthy. They claim that the biblical view is, at best, Victorian and, at worst, trying to suppress nature itself. The biblical teaching that human sexuality is to be reserved for marriage is looked down upon as intolerant. But is subjective experience the only determinate of reality? If a person truly believes he can stop a runaway train with his bare hands does his belief create reality, or does he jump on the tracks and get run over by the train? "What is truth?" (to be continued)