The Truth Trap January 26, 2011
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Critical Thinking, Personal Reflection, U.S. Culture.Tags: Biblical interpretation, Theology
22 comments
I was driving up to Appleton, Wisconsin the other day for a meeting and I tuned into a Christian radio station, where a very passionate young man was teaching a Bible study. His topic was “God’s Absolute Truth,” and he was making a case for there being one absolute, indisputable, eternal truth that comes from God. His points about truth: universal, never changes, not-debatable, not open to interpretation, discernible through prayer (not dependent on I.Q., age or experience). As I listened, questions mounted. Even if truth is absolute, is it not impacted by our cognitive development? Is “truth” the same for a five-year-old as it is for a twenty-five-year-old or a seventy-five-year-old? Does learning impact our understanding of truth? For example, does the knowledge of germs and bacteria change what we call “truth?” Doesn’t geography, culture, history, environment condition truth at all? “It snows in January,” is a “true” statement in Wisconsin, not so much in New South Wales.
The young man on the radio used scripture to “prove” his claims of truth — including the idea that women should keep silent in church and that it is “true” that women should not be ordained as pastors. (I Timothy 2:12) He explained that this historic, cultural and geographic context has nothing to do with the “truth” of this passage — it is universal, eternal, absolute, and anyone who does not abide by it does not abide in “the truth.” For me, this is a real slippery slope. I am not sure that there isn’t such a thing as absolute truth; I am positive that we, as human beings, lack the knowledge, wisdom, and insight to grasp what it might be (even with the aid of prayer).
