Make Time for Timeless Truth

Sky News reports today that the Church of England has approved the ordination of women as bishops in the UK church. Since several other national Anglican branches have already made this move, it comes as a dull surprise. The female head of the American branch of the denomination last year, "mocked most of the crucial doctrines of the Christian faith, including the God of creation, the Incarnation, and the Trinity," according to an article on Beliefnet. With such a low view of the authority of the Scripture, it is no wonder that another tenet of the historic Christian faith has toppled like London Bridge.

My Sunday School class had an interesting discussion recently when we pondered why the children of the "Greatest Generation" are leaving the church in droves. (According to Barna, 59% of Millenials are "walking away from either their faith or the institutional church at some point in the first decade of their adult life.") We came up with the theory that even though many parents had a sincere faith, it was not worn on the shirt sleeves for all to see. What the children did see was their parents striving for material success and presenting "church" as an add-on. Lacking any reasonable motivation to continue the weekly charade, the fledglings left "church" in the nest once they flew.

My own children have attended Bible-preaching churches every Sunday (twice, and once on Wednesday) pretty much all their lives, yet I still hear the hint of post-modern relativism creeping into their conversations and lifestyles. I will never forget the night I was explaining why homosexual behaviors are not acceptable for Christians, and one of my own offspring said, "Oh, Dad, that's just your interpretation of the Bible." Ouch! I know God has no grandchildren, but I had hoped that His children who sprang from my loins would mirror my heartfelt beliefs. Maybe someday.

The retreat from traditional belief is thought by some to be a way to attract young people. I believe, rather, that people of all ages seek something timeless, solid, dependable. Far from winning faltering believers, backing away from the absolute into the relative only makes a belief system less attractive to real thinkers. Society is ripe with examples of harsh systems that engender fanatical allegiance: urban gangs, extreme religious cults (like Islamic jihadism), the Amish. Watering down the faith washes out the floundering.

Jesus' teaching emphasized sticking to the truth behind the rules of his day. Certainly, he blasted hypocritical observance that sought public recognition without inner motivation. But far from weakening the rules, he strengthened them by highlighting the inner reason for the outer behavior. Read his Sermon on the Mount for proof of this. Maybe what was missing from our parenting was the explanation for why we did what we did and an open expression of its connection to the Scripture. 

The Beliefnet article points out that the mainline denominations which have embraced relative truth are dying. The only churches that are growing are the ones telling the "old, old story" and living it in meaningful ways. Ships can ride out some pretty serious weather if they have a good anchor. People today are desperately looking for an anchor in ride out life's storms. They have only the shifting sand of relativism; we have an anchor for the soul. That anchor is our hope in the God of truth -- the absolute, timeless truth. If we show that to people, young or old, they will be knocking down our doors instead of leaving through them. As Edith Ann (Lily Tomlin) used to say from her rocking chair, "And that's the truth!"