"What Is Truth?"

When Pilate asked Jesus, "what is truth?" in John 18:38, there is no response. Today, we're asking the same thing, aren't we? The shift in culture looks like the world is leaving "absolute truth" in its dust, but people are really looking for it, not ignoring or abandoning it. I've written before that truth by definition would be absolute, so perhaps the object of the search is better understood as meaningful truth, something that would make a difference and bring us closer to Christ.

Are we leaving behind truth, always going after the new thing? In so many ways, the answer is yes - there doesn't have to be a new thing to chase after. In most circumstances, the faddishness of today's church is a marketing ploy to get us into the stores buying books we don't need to lead us places we don't want to go. One book extols the virtues of a thing, and another critiques those same virtues as heretical - the publishers get paid either way.

But we're not leaving truth by reading the Bible of seeking Christ in new ways. Different is not bad; change isn't offhanded irresponsible. It seems like a matter of semantics more than anything. We all come to the table with our own baggage, our own presuppositions, our own stuff - good and bad, perfect and imperfect. that's all - realizing that there are different slants for different people at different times is almost doctrine. How many times has someone said, "I used to hear sermons on that passage alot, but it really came alive to me when i went through..." - in your perspective, meaning and emphasis changes over time and within contexts and experiences. we are all the same - Romans 12:1-2 has a meaning that will impact you one way today and will effect you another way a year from now, and then WHAM we discover 12:3 and get blown away again.

It's a growth process, we're all going through it, and some of us have different words to explain the same thing. Maybe it's the way arguments tend to divide, or how criticism tends to put down instead of building up. Whatever the case, I always get the feeling that over a cup of coffee and a slice of cheesecake, we could work out any of our issues.