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I am a born-again Christian, who is Reformed, but also charismatic, spiritually speaking. (I do not speak in tongues, but I believe glossalalia is a bona fide gift not given to all, and not as great as prophecy, for example.) I have several years of college education but only completed a two-year degree. I was raised Lutheran and confirmed, but I didn't "find Christ" until I was in the Army and responded to a Billy Graham crusade in 1973. I was mentored or discipled by the Navigators in the army and upon discharge joined several evangelical, Bible-teaching churches. I was baptized as an infant, but believe in believer baptism, of which I was a partaker after my conversion experience. I believe in the "5 Onlys" of the reformation: sola fide (faith alone); sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); soli Christo (Christ alone), sola gratia (grace alone), and soli Deo gloria (to God alone be the glory). I affirm TULIP as defended in the Reformation.. I affirm most of The Westminster Confession of Faith, especially pertaining to Providence.

Sunday, April 21, 2019

For The Love Of Truth

"Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne."  (James Russell Lowell, 1844, The Present Crisis).  
"Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You redeem me, LORD, God of truth" (Psalm 31:5, HCSB).

NB:  TRUTH IS WHAT GOD DECREES OR WHAT HE SAYS TO BE TRUTH AS THE FINAL ARBITER AND DELIMTER OF ITS DEFINITION.   

We all know that philosophy is the love of wisdom or knowledge and in antiquity, there was no distinction between science and philosophy, but someone must love the truth to be saved (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10).  But today people twist the truth to fit their narrative theories!  The problem with the infidel is that he won't accept the truth and refuses to submit to it; it's offensive to his lifestyle.  The divine order:  understand it, accept it, put faith in it, obey and submit to it, and then love it!  Paul warns against those who refuse to love the truth and so be saved!  Loving the truth is indeed a sign of salvation or a byproduct of it.  The fact is that God must open our eyes to the truth and the truth will set us free, for all truth meets at the top and is God's truth! God makes sense of everything as our eyes are opened and we see the light!

People avoid the truth with their own relativism; this is indicative of the so-called Truth War or battle of the isms and worldviews.  They deny absolute truth as a consequence, and, therefore, God as the logical outcome.  Unless you assume God in the metric, you have no foundation for truth.   If there is no God, there simply is no truth and vice versa (cf. Prov. 1:7)--this is logical.  No truth implies no ethics either, and no ethics implies no good life to strive for nor ideals to live by (virtues).  We don't say that your truth has no effect on us or that it's of no consequence!  One must own up to the truth revealed, for we are held accountable to what God has given and the amount of light shed.  Willful ignorance is no excuse with God; therefore, ignorance is not bliss!  Modern academics are quick to point out that all truth is relative, which is nonsensical and of no truth value (is that statement also relative?). Because if truth exists, then its corollary, absolute, universal truth must also exist and they refuse to even go there.

The trouble with the infidel is that he has hardened his heart against truth and sets himself up as the arbiter of truth and authority of right and wrong.  But God is the only arbiter of truth and delimits or defines it, not man.  God decrees the truth and no lie is of the truth.  Truth has to do with reality according to the Correspondence Theory of Truth, and not admitting it is a form of escape from reality.  Truth corresponds with reality as portrayed and agrees with God who determines it. In sum, only Christians are properly oriented to reality and know the truth as personified in the person of  Christ personally.

We see the big picture and don't take God out of the equation which can lead to blindness and ignorance.  Where we start determines where we end up and that's why the Bible doesn't start out like a fairy tale, "Once upon a time," but says "In the beginning God."  This is the only logical way to begin reality.  There are only two alternatives:  "In the beginning nothing" (an absurdity since "out of nothing, nothing comes!"; and "In the beginning matter/energy." We know that matter isn't eternal and energy isn't useful in its natural state--the factor of intelligence or organization must be added!  (The theory of an eternal universe has been totally discredited.)  Either matter or God is eternal!  One must have preceded the other. Are you willing to believe that matter arose to contemplate itself and create intelligent life?

The Bible is clear to state propositionally that the Logos was in the beginning, the self-expression of God, or the Word of God.  Logic is necessary to begin any knowledge!  No Logos means no cosmos and only chaos, which would make learning and science impossible!  This is all-important because the very foundation of all truth and knowledge begins with God in the calculus and without Him, all we have is nonsense and confusion. If you don't begin with God in the picture you have no basis of knowing anything!  You must always begin somewhere to learn anything and everyone begins with something they cannot prove, an assumption.  "In the beginning God" is necessary for all learning, logic, knowledge, and values, it's not just the way the Bible begins.      Soli Deo Gloria! 
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