Saturday, December 27, 2008

What About Truth?

I can remember the days in my faith when almost everything was pretty cut and dry. I had a clear understanding of what was of God and what was outside of God. If there was a doubt on how to think or believe in a particular situation, all I had to do was listen to the 'company' line and I had my doubt resolved.

I live in a different place now. Yes my physical address has changed several times since that thought pattern, however, the place of my faith is very different. I have come to find the place of black and white, clear right and wrong, of God or outside of God, is actually a pretty shallow place, which requires little faith or belief. It is not that there are no absolutes. There are things which are clearly outside of the will of God. Yet, the ability of us as humans to get that judgment right every time is fairly low.

So are we left to live as relativists? Your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth? By no means. There is an objective, absolute truth. There is a right and wrong. The challenge is found in our incomplete knowing of such things. It is not the failings of God, or Truth, it is the failings of us, humanity. The other side of that coin is not helpful either. To boil faith down to a prescribed set of rules and regulations, hello religious leaders of Jesus day. Jesus did not have much complimentary towards those folks.

What are we to do? I guess we are to engage our faith journey with brains in gear, and an understanding of a God that is so much greater than any one person, church, denomination or creed can hold.

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