Nothing But The Truth
So, what was the point of Connie’s story?
There is a danger in our search for truth to settle for less than absolute truth. That’s where Connie originally went wrong in arranging her ducks linearly.
We tend to defend our own applications of truth, rather than holding on to actual truth. Applications are so very practical. We enjoy rolling the choice morsels over our tongues, saying such things as:
- Home schooling by parents is the only way to teach children.
- Boys must learn all manly skills.
- Girls need to stay at home.
These are fine ideals, but they’re not truth. They are applications of larger, unstated truths. The real truth behind these statements is (in part):
- God instructs parents, particularly fathers, to teach their own children His ways. Children learn most easily when taught at their own pace by someone who understands them.
- Boys, by nature, will grow up to be men and—good, bad, or indifferent—will be the future leaders of our society.
- Girls, as our only natural source of future wives and mothers, should cultivate a taste for home as their God-given sphere of influence.
If we never grasp the real truth that shapes our applications of truth, we will eventually drop the lid on a box that is too small for God to work in (figuratively speaking). For example, the above applications of truth do not allow the possibility of the following righteous exceptions:
- Some children may need special tutoring, certification classes, or college degrees in order to answer God’s calling for their life.
- A boy or man may some day need to do domestic chores, to care for himself or his family.
- A girl or woman may some day be sent to do God-honoring service outside the four walls of her home.
Truth has many facets, like a cut jewel. Your application of truth may be one facet, and my application of truth may be another.
I don’t mean this in the sense of postmodern relativism—”You have your truth and I have my truth and ne’er the twain shall meet.” Not at all. There IS absolute truth.
But the absolute truth may not be what you’re thinking it is.
We see this played out—and fought over—every day. Particularly in the world of Christianity.
For example, Bill Gothard, Doug Phillips, and James Dobson individually teach very different applications of the exact same truth, i.e., The God-ordained family structure is vital for a good, lasting society.
Misunderstanding each other’s applications of truth, the Gothardites distrust Dobson’s psychology and Phillips’s domineering. The Phillipsites reject Gothard’s standards and Dobson’s liberalism. And the Dobsonites question Gothard’s narrowness and Phillips’s lifestyle.
But they all hold the very same basic truth. They are just caught up proclaiming their own point of view.
If we could just learn to see the other facets on the Jewel of Truth, oh, how happy we’d be. If your truth was my truth, and our truth was God’s truth.
So, “what is truth?” All absolute truth comes back to the Bible. And the Bible always comes back to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Truth.