When I studied Spanish at the University of Guanajuato, I would pass this slogan everyday on my way to class. It is a popular saying that has been adopted by many institutions of learning. In fact, this verse, complete with the reference John 8:32, is etched on the wall of the Old Headquarters Building of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Why is it so popular?
What truth, I wonder, do they think sets them free?
From what do they imagine it would free them?
From tyranny, from poverty, from servitude?
"If you abide in my word," Jesus said, "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
The Jews answered, "We are Abraham's children, slaves to no one, from what then, could we be set free?"
Aha! Exactly! What did Jesus mean by this?
"The one who sins is a slave to sin, therefore if the Son will make you free, you are free for sure."
Jesus sets us free from sin.
If you were Abraham's children, you would follow his deeds, but instead you are seeking to kill Me, the man who has spoken truth to you. You follow the desires of your true father, the devil. He doesn't stand in the truth, because there is no truth him. He lies because it is in his nature to lie, because he is a liar, and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
Andrew Warren wrote about truth in Philosophy Now a magazine of Ideas, "The lack of objective truth leaves us free to carve our own truths. As in Sartre's existentialism, we aren't trapped by objectivity; rather the lack of eternal, immutable truths allows us to create what is true for ourselves. Truth is mine. My truth and your truth have no necessary relevance to each other. Because truth is subjective, it can play a much more unique and decisive role in giving life meaning; I am utterly free to choose my truths, and in doing so, I shape my own life. Without subjective truth, there can be no self-determination"
It appears that subjective truth will set you free.
I think our society has come to equate absolute truth with dogmatism and righteous arrogance, which has led to the current dismantling of truth altogether in an effort to find a way for us all to be nicer to ourselves and each other. You see, by eliminating or redefining truth, I lose my grounds to be right, making me a kinder and gentler person.
Is it in our nature to have to be right? Does that make us mean people? It may be true that the freedom to be wrong would make us all happier people, keep us from being so hard on ourselves and others, but does "being wrong" require that what I believe to be true isn't true anymore? Would I be less convinced I was right, more agreeable to the idea of being wrong, if I believed that all truth is subjective?
God already thought of this before we did.
He designed truth and love to exist together. In His plan, my new life in Christ not only gives me the freedom to be wrong, it gives me the freedom to be wronged. He made plans for my value to be protected in Christ from all the usual self-degrading thoughts that come with failing. God justly preserves the absolute existence of Truth and still shows us grace and mercy, and commands that we be just as merciful as He is. It is not Truth that must die but our flesh, by personal sacrifice, submitting to others, giving up our rights, crucifying our desires, and walking in the fruit of the Spirit.
"Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Proverbs 3:3
"Buy truth and do not sell it, get wisdom and instruction and understanding." Proverbs 23:23
I used to believe my emotions, fully convinced that what I felt was true. I never questioned whether my flesh was telling me the truth or not, but I always questioned everyone else's concept of truth apart from mine. Flesh does not buy and sell truth; skepticism and doubt are not fruits of the Spirit.
To walk by the Spirit is to walk in truth, to make a conscience effort and choice for truth over all other thoughts, to make a commitment to only think on those things that are true. I prefer this habit of dwelling on uncertain and untrue events of the future, because it provides a convenient distraction from those things in the present which I actually can and should be doing something about. We are commanded to not worry about tomorrow, today has enough troubles of its own, and yet we keep on choosing to let our minds dwell on what might happen, on what we imagine others think of us, or on what we wish was different, but have no power to change.
This is not loving the truth.
"She hates me," you say, either to yourself or out loud. Why are you so convinced? Because you feel like she does, and your feelings become your source of truth. To allow yourself to dwell on such thoughts, or worse still, to say them out loud is to entertain lies, and entertaining lies is not loving the truth.
When you blur truth, "lies" don't exist, only misconceptions. That is not loving the truth.
"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it." Blaise Pascal
How much do you love truth?
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