Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1: 22-25)
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18)
I remember as we studied science in grade school covering the subject of absolute zero (the point at which all [total] life ceases). I remember being struck by the word "absolute". If you look that word up in the dictionary, you are given the following meaning as a noun: a value or principle that is regarded as universally valid or that may be viewed without relation to other things. The meaning as an adjective is: not qualified or diminished in any way; total. As I live in today's relative world, I am reminded of how important absolutes really are. As an "everything goes" philosophy seems to permeate the large portion of our society today, the question of whether or not there are absolutes in our world begs to be answered. Are there real absolutes in the world we live in today? If so what are they? Is everything relative? Does viewpoint determine what is absolute? If absolutes do exist, do they govern those who do not believe in absolutes?
To answer this question, I believe we have to confront a series of falsehoods that may hinder us from knowing the truths about absolutes. The first is the prevailing view that with an increase of information, we become more enlightened. The assumption is that as we become more enlightened, we are able to determine truth with more certainty. The falsehood lies in the belief that more information results in more enlightenment. Implied in this belief is an assumption that the information we receive is true. This is a falsehood because as we have come to have access to more information (through the media, internet, computers, or other mediums of information) much of that information is false. It does not take very much insight to recognize that much of what we hear in the media is biased in one way or another. The information "casters" are master's at putting just a small element of truth in the information so that the hearer can assume that the total of what is shared is truth. It is a fundamental fact that all of us, no matter our race or ethnicity, are affected by the information we see, are exposed to, and believe. If we believe false information, we are affected in the same way that truth can motivate us to believe certain things. The fact is that much of the information we receive from much of the mediums through which we receive them is false. Let me share a simple example. I read a news article recently from a "reputable" source about a tragedy. In the article, a soldier was involved in a horrific accident and his family had faced the difficult decision of allowing his organs to be harvested so that others might receive the gift of life. The article was very inspirational and elicited emotions in me as I read it. There was only one problem. The only truth in the article was the fact that the soldier had had a horrific accident. His organs had not been harvested to help others. How do I know? I have met him since the accident and he is very much alive. Where did the reporters receive the information that was reported? I have no idea. The article did not seem to have a malicious intent but obviously the "facts" were wrong. My question to each of you reading this is, How often does this happen? Is this an isolated incident? Although the error was easily noticed by those who know this individual, how many other stories with some element of truth are easily manipulated to mean something entirely different than what they are? I know, I know. Some of you are starting to wonder if I am some sort of "conspiracy theorist." I assure you that I am not. I am establishing the ground work of a point that I want to make later in this entry. I remember when I was a small child hearing adults talk about the moon landing in the early 70s. (first landing occurred in 1969). I remember some of the adults in my family stating that they believed it was all a stunt, a fabrication, and man had not really landed on the moon. There was a lot of skepticism even before the "information age" was in full swing. What happened to that cautious viewpoint? As a society, we seem ready and willing to believe almost anything today whether it is true or not. This happens in the social realm, the political realm, and even the realm of faith-based information.
I have heard the oft quoted message that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. This is true of the Roman Empire of long ago. It is believed by many that this civilization collapsed due to it's willingness to embrace all of the ideas of it's conquered territories. These "ideals" resulted in no unified standards throughout the Empire and fostered separation while espousing diversity. Where there is no unified vision, the people perish. In times past, in our great country even when I was a child, there was so much made of the fact that America was a "melting pot" of civilizations who came together for the common goal of identifying themselves as Americans while sharing the same ideals and values. Now we have become a group of Americans with different ideals and values. Along with this shift, has come a lack of patriotism and commitment to be an American. Hence, we have various groups burning the flag, stating that our president is not "their" president, etc. As colleges, universities, the media, the internet, and other forms of media espouse to being champions of diversity, our national patriotism and adherence to Godly principles is diminishing in kind. As each successive generation of students leave the training programs and "think" tanks of our society, we shift further from truth as God outlines truth in his Word. It is ironic that so many college graduates cannot find jobs after their time in education but do have a firm grasp on the prevailing world view that truth is relative. This may seem like an over simplification but in our prevailing educational system (which includes the media, internet, and current educational institutions), we as a society have succeeded in moving away from God but have not aided these recent generations in obtaining employment and being successful in this present world . There are, of course, exceptions to this.
On the basis of those things stated above, it becomes imperative that we search for truth in the right place. That place is the Word of God. The Word of God is the Bible. I will only present one reason why the Bible is THAT place which provides the truth. There is only one reason why it is valid and reliable. God's Word (the Bible) is valid as the absolute truth simply because it comes from God. It is reliable because it comes directly from the mouth of God (Isaiah 40). God spoke His truth. In the same way He spoke the world and it's natural laws into existence, he spoke truth and it became valid and reliable because He spoke it.
When a person believes that the Bible is the Word of God, there is another assault on truth that must be addressed. That attack is that the Bible "contains" the Word of God and a lot of other erroneous information that was added by man. The problem with this approach is a step back to the original problem that I discussed here. If the Bible just contains the Word of God, then if I am intolerant of some truth that God says is Sin, I can at my leisure label that truth as part of the erroneous information that man has added to the Bible. Hence the Bible becomes invalid and unreliable because it is again at the mercy of the prevailing view of truth as defined by man. Truth then comes from the understanding and interpretation of man rather than from the mouth of God. God's Word is Truth even if I don't understand parts of it. My lack of understanding makes it no less the Truth. It is absolute, separate and independent of me or my interpretation. As I change, it does not.
I heard a preacher say one time that without absolutes from God, we are like ships without a compass, floating around with no course to follow. This is true now more that at the time many years ago when I heard this proclamation made. There are now many ships in the water, going many different directions. The danger is that some of these ships will be followed by others into the deep. The blind leading the blind.
There is also the question of whether God's Truth was misinterpreted by man as he penned it (put it to parchment or paper) and diluted through time and by the biases of man. What I would say to that is that if God, who is all powerful, can speak world's into existence from nothing, he can manage giving us a finished product to live by. That finished product is what we have currently. As an example, how many of you reading this are parents? If you are a parent, do you want to communicate to your children in riddles or do you want to communicate to them so that they are clear on their understanding? Of course, you want them to be clear in their understanding. To borrow the words of Jesus, "How much more does your heavenly father want to give good things to His children who ask Him?"
Therefore, on the basis of these things, it is more important than ever for each of us to READ AND STUDY THE WORD OF GOD. Now more than ever, so many forms of media and entertainment are vying for our time. Truth has become more elusive than ever. Confusion is rampant on every side. We should take the advice of the apostle Paul:
"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. Children of Light. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5: 6-15)
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