His Will Blog

It has been said that we live in a post-truth world. If so, it represents the influence of postmodernism, a cultural shift away from reason, certainty, and absolute truth. Postmodernism sees truth-claims as tools used by those in power to control other people. This mood is expressed in statements like, “I cannot say with certainty that something is true. All I can claim is that this is my point of view. What is true for me may or may not be true for you.”

This denies the validity of any universal story or narrative that claims to explain the meaning of life. History is meaningless except for the meaning individuals impose upon it. In religion, all truth claims are said to be equally valid. The only belief that is not tolerated is intolerance.

In politics, misinformation and propaganda get spread around through social media until they become the “truth” that consumers choose to believe. These “alternative facts” reinforce fear, prejudice and outright hatred toward political opponents. As we have seen recently in our nation’s capitol, this sometimes leads to political violence and domestic terrorism.

Another expression of the postmodern view is, “You create your own truth.” It is like going to an art gallery. People see in the art what they want to see. “That’s just your interpretation” is another favorite cliche. It is often trotted out whenever the Bible’s standards of morality are presented to challenge people’s conduct. This can become an easy diversion from having to face the implications of belief.

A skeptic said to his Christian friend, “What you Christians say about Jesus being the only way to God, well, that’s just your interpretation.” His friend opened the Bible to Acts 4:12 and asked him to read it aloud:
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

The Christian said, “I understand that to mean that Jesus is the one by whom we must be saved. How do you understand it?” His friend squirmed a bit. Realizing the weakness of his “interpretation” argument, he got up and walked away without a word.

It was in a world like ours that the apostle Paul wrote to his young disciple Timothy. Timothy lived in Ephesus, a marketplace of competing religious ideas and philosophies. It is refreshing to read Paul’s straightforward comments about truth. Truth is absolute, knowable, and trustworthy. It is centered in Jesus. It is to be safeguarded and proclaimed by the church.

“I am writing you these instructions so that if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great: He (Jesus) appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:14-16).

Among other things, Paul was describing the church as a family. Believers in Jesus are children of God, and the church is said to be his household on earth. The church will be at its best when it looks and feels less like an institution and more like a family, This adds to its credibility in proclaiming truth in a postmodern environment.

The philosophical ambiguity of postmodernism leads to instability. Uncertainty prevails. Institutions are unreliable, leaders cannot be trusted, marriages are impermanent, morality is negotiable and God is whoever or whatever we make of him or her. Paul flatly contradicts this. “The church of the living God” he says, is to be like a supportive pillar and foundation for the truth. These metaphors imply strength and certainty.

Then Paul composed or quoted a hymn to Jesus which is a wonderful creedal statement. “Beyond all question” is another way of saying that these truths are beyond dispute, universally acknowledged by all believers. The gospel is “great,” of sublime importance. These transcendent truths about Jesus are the common confession of the universal church.

“He appeared in the flesh” means that Jesus lived and died in a physical body. In his flesh he suffered on a cross to pay for our sins. He “was vindicated by the Spirit” most likely refers to his bodily resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:11).

He “was seen by angels” is possibly a reference to our Lord’s ascension and exaltation in the heavenly realm where he now ministers to the church as our great high priest and intercessor (Hebrews 4:14-16; 1 John 2:1-2).

He is being “preached among the nations” and believed on throughout the world. This means that his gospel is universally relevant in all cultures and nationalities. This contradicts the denials of postmodernism which say there is no such thing as an over-arching meta-narrative which is an absolute and final explanation of reality.

The Bible says that there is such an explanation of reality. It is not truth as I personally interpret it, or as I wish it to be. It is not one truth among many equally valid options. It is what Francis Schaeffer called “true truth,” the “truth that is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21).

This takes us out of the realm of propaganda and philosophy and lifts us to the higher realm of God’s eternal truth. Consider the following implications.

First, truth may be known and experienced. Truth was “revealed in the flesh.” Pilate may ask, “What is truth?” Truth was standing right in front of him! Pilate may crucify truth, but truth will be vindicated when Jesus rises from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. These historical facts validate Jesus’ claim, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).

Second, truth is universal. It is not a mere sociological construct. It is equally valid for East and West, South and North. The gospel has the same power to save in Asia as it does in Africa. It is proclaimed throughout all nations of the world.

Third, the truth is to be believed. Jesus said that God’s word is truth (John 17:17). It is God’s grand narrative, the story of his mighty interventions in human history and his plan to claim a people for himself. It reveals the undeniable divine wisdom in the man Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus told Pilate at his trial, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37).

Paul’s great hymn is an invitation to you to enjoy the stability and clarity of God’s truth as you live in the uncertainty of postmodern times.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

This past week Coach Brad Self suspended indefinitely one of his University of Kansas basketball players for his part in a brawl at the end of a game against Kansas State. The Big Twelve Conference swiftly suspended three other players for their part in the melee. The fight earned reprimands for both schools from the league. Conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby said, “This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated and these suspensions reflect the severity of last night’s events.”

Playing by the rules is something everybody understands. We know that there are boundaries and rules that apply to both sides. That’s what is behind the instant replay timeouts that interrupt football and basketball games these days. It’s a desire for the right call to reward the right players for playing the right way, according to the rules of the game.

This is true of life. It is impossible to play the game of basketball unless it is played according to the rules within the boundaries of the court. In the same way life is to be lived in cooperation with the moral standards which God has built into his universe. Morality is living life in agreement with God. The game has to played within the boundaries.

Unfortunately, there are those who want to pretend there are no boundaries. A team of doctoral students went into the streets of Boston with clipboards and video cameras, interviewing people about their beliefs. One of the questions was, “How do you determine what’s right and wrong; are there moral absolutes?”

The answers they got reveal how postmodern views on morality have influenced our society. A college student was adamant: “I don’t think there’s such a thing as an absolute. I think society tries to give you their beliefs about what’s right and wrong, but really, you just have to bring it down to what is morally right for you.”

Another man on the street added, “I have to judge what’s right or wrong for me. No minister, no preacher, can tell me that.”

A young woman who was interviewed summed it up. “I don’t think there are moral absolutes. I think a person should just be able to do what they want and justify it because they want to do it. I don’t really think there is a right or wrong to anything” (Graham Johnston, Preaching to a Postmodern World).

Graham Johnston went on to say, “No wonder the tensions grow between the rights of the individual and the rights of society… . What gives any one person or any one system of morality the right to dictate to another? Someone put it this way, ‘When you lose the law of God, you end up with a society of lawyers.'”

Moral neutrality is a myth. All law is an imposition of someone’s morality. The ancient Greeks had a race in which a man would put one foot on the back of one horse and his other foot on the back of a second horse. He would then try to ride both of them standing up. This would work unless the horses separated. Then the rider had a decision to make. He had to choose one horse over the other.

American society is faced with a similar choice. We must choose to live by God’s moral agenda or we are left to fight it out among ourselves. The winners are the ones who can afford the best lawyers.

Moral neutrality is a myth. Everyone believes in standards of right and wrong. Charles Colson proved this with the following illustration. Suppose you see an elderly lady standing at a busy intersection. You have three options: ignore her, help her across the street, or shove her into the traffic. What is the right thing to do? We cannot say we do not know. Everyone knows what is right.

Where did that knowledge come from? It came from God. Philosopher Mortimer Adler once wrote, “More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than from answering any other basic question.” If there is no God, or if his opinion does not matter, then anything is acceptable. In that situation, sooner or later, society, families and individual lives dissolve into chaos.

Those basketball players in Kansas were penalized severely because they didn’t play by the rules. Playing the game of basketball according to the rules is pleasurable. Getting suspended is not. When we live life according to God’s loving commandments, we are able to live fully and joyfully, living in-bounds, playing by the rules, as we were designed to live, in the freedom of grace.

– Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Tag: postmodernism

“What is Truth?”

The Myth of Moral Neutrality