I heard a professing Christian say, “Anything I believe may be wrong.” “Come again?” Is that supposed to be a sign of humility? I was floored.
I think a phrase like that is a terrifying thing for a Christian to say, particularly if he really believes it.
“In the beginning, the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
I have never seen more Christians being duped by the lie that “we really can’t know truth”. And if we think maybe we do, don’t dare “tell anyone”, because that would be arrogant and presumptuous (never mind how many times we’re commanded to teach and admonish one another in sound doctrine and truth.) It is the scariest thing happening in the church, hands down.
Dear fellow believers, if we can’t know that what we believe is true, then Jesus was a liar and there is really no point in calling one’s self a Christian. After all, what do you believe?
In fact, why did He die? For the probability that what God said might be true? If “anything I believe can be wrong”, why believe anything at all? There is no such thing as BELIEVING in a world of relative truth.
Is this the language of a disciple? “I’ll leave everything to follow You…I’m just not certain that what I believe is right.”
And how encouraging is that to the lost–those who are searching for TRUTH, searching for something to stand on, to believe in, when we look at them and say, “Well, it’s all a big question mark”?
And now, to the one who believes nothing is absolute, Scripture holds no merit for persuasion. The devoted followers of Christ would have shuddered to hear such theology…
“And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” John 8: 32
“The sum of Your word is truth [the total of the full meaning of all Your individual precepts]; and every one of Your righteous decrees endures forever.” Psalm 119: 160
“But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the Truth.” John 16: 13
“Sanctify them by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.” John 17: 17
So that’s where we are…an all out war on the truth of God’s Word, which is the only power unto salvation for those who BELIEVE. And if we don’t believe, but call ourselves Christians, we are exactly what the Bible described as “having the form of godliness but denying the power thereof”.
“For it is better that you were hot or cold; but since you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of My mouth.”
We’re in the war that Paul described. Against the principalities and rulers of the darkness. And gearing up with the armor of God is the only way to fight it. We must gear up and prepare our children as well. They must know what they are up against. And above all, don’t forget the “belt of truth” that will hold it all together.
21 comments
You might like GK Chesterton’s thoughts on truth, which I talk about here:
http://gombojav.blogspot.com/2008/11/being-right-all-time.html
Daja’s post is brilliant–I encourage you to read it. It is so true we miss it! We simply can’t be so humble as to question our belief in everything and be afraid to assert an absolute of any kind. That’s not the kind of humility the Bible speaks of.
A hearty, yet humble “AMEN”!
I completely agree with your post (and Daja’s). I also see this frequently.
My eyebrows raised, too. 🙂
It seems that being unsure about everything is seen as a sign of nobility in this culture, Kelly. Since when is it smart to pretend to be dumb? I appreciate much more your concerns now, Kelly.
Some of us need to tread a bit more lightly in diverse relationships. Not avoidance. I do NOT believe in that at all. As a wise commenter said on my blog, we cannot be the salt that creates thirst as isolationists.
But as believers we cannot allow ourselves to be persuaded that there is no absolute truth. Well the truth is that if we don’t believe in absolute truth we don’t believe in anything and are therefore not believers at all. Does that make sense?
Great thought! I have been mulling over in my mind lately about how we strike a balance between legalism/judgment and spiritual relativism. You’ve given me something more to chew on.
Thanks Kelly, AND Daja!
I love this post. I have often found myself defending the idea of “truth”. People just don’t want to believe there is such a thing. If there is, they might just have to change, they don’t want that! It’s so much easier to deny it exists than admit you’re wrong.
At the risk of sounding blasphemous: I agree and I disagree. I agree because, intuitively and deep in our souls, I believe we can know the truth. But, I disagree in that, connotatively, we seem to mean empirical knowledge when we say we “know” something nowadays and, in this sense, we cannot “know” that our faith is true. We cannot scientifically, empirically prove the truth of what we believe. Yet, in the most important sense, we can know it.
~Bethany
I know we can prove what we believe/know is true. If Christians actually lived out what Jesus said, the world would know that we are His and God is real. In John 17:20-26, Jesus is praying for all believers and in a nutshell says if Chrisitians would move as one and be the Body of Christ, “the world may KNOW that thou (God) hast sent me (Christ), and has loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (vs 23) That isn’t a faith, that is a know. Also, Christ Jesus said it is a wicked and perverse generation that demands signs and wonders (to believe). Well, if this isn’t it, I shudder to think of what the future holds. At the end of Mark (16:15-18), Jesus instructs believers to actually do what would be considered signs and wonders: preach the gosple, cast out devils, speak in new tongues, lay hands on the sick so they shall recover. (Earlier in Mark, Jesus instructs the same, but I cannot find it right now). I cannot help but be saddend by this thought: Is the lack of the willingness to be thought of as a fool or zealot by following ALL the instructions of Christ actually causing those who would rely on these signs and wonders to be dam*** to hell because they don’t see them? I include myself in this, lest anythink I am being condescending.
Thanks, Kelly for this post. It is indeed a wake up call as well as a call to action.
I agree that we can KNOW the truth, Scripture is very black and white regarding the most important and essential elements of our faith and theology.
However I think this idea of “knowing” can be mis-applied to areas that I don’t think God has a “one and only” way of doing it.
For example, my husband has visited many churches in Africa where the worship is boisterous and lively, with dancing loud singing, interruptions, etc. However, in the church we have attended for years, this kind of worship would be considered distracting at best, and some of the more staunch members would even argue that it is downright “wrong”, to worship like that.
Having seen all kinds of sincere and genuine believers worshipping the Lord in a diverse number of ways that are still all glorifying to Him, I would have to say we can’t KNOW for sure that any of those styles are 100% wrong or 100% right.
I’m one of those who has always resisted the idea that there are “gray” areas in life, but the older I get, the more I see that there are a few legitimate gray areas where we can’t KNOW. Except maybe for ourselves, or our families.
I don’t mean to sound argumentative, because I agree with the general idea of your post. I’ve known too many believers who backslide into a “tolerant” (i.e. liberal) mindset because they believe it’s just too hard to figure it all out.
But I believe God gave us everything we need to figure out the important stuff. His Word and His Spirit.
-Sara
John 18:38 “Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?'”
Just thought I’d throw that out :o)
When God’s rightful place of authority is ignored or downplayed, we are left with faulty human “wisdom” by which we must determine what is true “for the individual”.
With no definitive standard, every man’s opinion is supposedly equal to that of every other man and it is considered to be “arrogant” to assume that objective truth exists.
Jesus Christ is the definition of Truth. One must first know Him in order to be able to claim knowledge of “the” truth.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7
And the result:
“For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.” Proverbs 1:29-31
Sara,
I agree with you. I intended to point out that we simply can’t say “I doubt everything”, even calling into question the validity of the Word of God on essential issues. But that is precisely what many believers have defaulted to.
Hi Kelly,
I’ve said that phrase myself on occasion. I would consider myself a sincere, practicing Christian. When I’ve used that phrase it’s not to negate the absolutes I do believe in; ie. the Trinity. Rather, it’s a way of admitting that I’ve been wrong about so many non-essential teachings, that it behooves me to remain open to a different perspective. I would submit that this is wisdom, not relativism.
Thank you for an interesting post.
Elizabeth Esther
maybe they don’t know the truth because the truth is not in them.
Did this Christian that said, “anything I believe might be wrong ” happen to have just read “The Shack” by any chance??
Andrea,
I don’t know, but I’m aware of the warnings that have been issued by some solid biblical teachers regarding “The Shack”.
tolerance is the word of our day and along with tolerance comes a fear of saying “one way, one truth”. Thanks for the posting!
Kelly,
right on, sister. That’s Satan’s trick; he constantly tries to whisper confusion into my ears: “Did God really say this was okay? Did God really say that was wrong?” It’s a foul trick, one that breeds fear, doubt and confusion.
Great post, and EXCELLENT Bible verses you quoted. One other verse came to mind as I was reading your post: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
It would be interesting to do word studies on such words as “truth”, “prove”, “know” and others like those. (Note to self there 😉
Enjoying your archives, Kelly…always timely, no matter when I read them!
Oops! Should have mentioned that verse was from Romans 12:2.