Tuesday, February 08, 2005
The Gospel According to You
In It's All About Truth, (January 05), the allegory of the shredded Bible was used to portray how we can slip into autonomy from God, creating the Gospel according to You. It is easy to choose what we will believe. I have done it. But maybe “easy” isn’t what God has in mind for you and me.
Jesus said of the devil, “He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. For he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” John 8:44
Another direction for us from Jesus, “If you continue in my Word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31
As Edith Schaeffer proposes in Christianity Is Jewish, “The issue is clear: either this is truth, or not. A line is drawn which cannot be straddled. In our postmodern world, the philosophy of relativism is deleting the word “truth” from men’s understanding.” But supposing truth does exist…what, asks Schaeffer, does the word truth mean? She portends, “It means there is something opposite that is not true, and that there can be no clarity of understanding if there is a muddy mixture.” Conflict or inconsistency in what we regard as true creates a distorted and confusing worldview. Even though the person in the conflict may not recognize it, the reality of the “muddy mixture” remains. The glory of Christ is that His light can and does expose the murky waters of relativism and will clarify them to their original state through the word and deed of His foot soldiers, as long as we remain true to His Word.
Jesus said of the devil, “He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. For he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” John 8:44
Another direction for us from Jesus, “If you continue in my Word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31
As Edith Schaeffer proposes in Christianity Is Jewish, “The issue is clear: either this is truth, or not. A line is drawn which cannot be straddled. In our postmodern world, the philosophy of relativism is deleting the word “truth” from men’s understanding.” But supposing truth does exist…what, asks Schaeffer, does the word truth mean? She portends, “It means there is something opposite that is not true, and that there can be no clarity of understanding if there is a muddy mixture.” Conflict or inconsistency in what we regard as true creates a distorted and confusing worldview. Even though the person in the conflict may not recognize it, the reality of the “muddy mixture” remains. The glory of Christ is that His light can and does expose the murky waters of relativism and will clarify them to their original state through the word and deed of His foot soldiers, as long as we remain true to His Word.
