Where Do You Find Truth?

I was encouraged to read an article in the AMAC news daily that chronicles the waning influence of the big media outlets. The author claims that Americans are becoming less likely to believe what they read and see in traditional news sources. This encouraged me because the media have been increasingly in the driver’s seat of public opinion throughout my lifetime, especially since the advent of the Internet. Whether through laziness or intellectual apathy, much of the American public has lost the motivation to consider the source when they evaluate the information that floods their environment. Easy believism has taken the place of intellectual curiosity.

Actually, the situation is even worse than that. Truth itself is no longer considered important; its very existence is questioned by many postmodern philosophers. Absolute truth – one truth that is always and in every situation true – is scoffed at by atheists, agnostics, and even some so-called Christians. In the last half of the twentieth century, situation ethics and values clarification began to be taught at ever lower levels of academia. Long a feature of college lectures, doubt and despair spread as the products of those colleges became the textbook writers and classroom teachers of our elementary-age children. We should not wonder that people will believe whatever they are told; they have no standard by which to judge truth.

Fortunately, Bible-believing Christians (Must I add the qualifier?) are not without defense against purveyors of untruth. It is not a coincidence that Jesus called Himself the Truth, nor that He insisted that the truth sets believers free. Jesus also pointed clearly to the source of truth: “Thy Word is truth.” The Bible, God’s Word, is the repository of truth; all that the Bible asserts as true is in fact true. This does not mean that truth does not exist beyond the pages of Scripture. All truth is God’s truth whether it is doctrinal, biological, astronomical, political, or whatever. Despite repeated claims that science or rationality trumps faith, the Bible has continued to prove true when examined by sincere searchers.

Getting to the truth demands an inquiring mind. Cornelius VanTil is famous for having encouraged believers to view all things through what he called biblical spectacles. He insisted, “The Bible gives us the presuppositions we need to interpret individual facts rightly. It is the spectacles by which we can view all of life rightly.” Presuppositions are the things we bring to our investigations which color our interpretations. If one presupposes that there is no God, and all things exist through time and chance, one sees the universe in a certain way. If, on the other hand, one assumes that the universe was created by a loving, communicating God, things appear quite different.

When Jesus identified God’s Word as the source of truth, He preceded the assertion with a request that the Father would, “Sanctify [His disciples] in the truth.” To sanctify something is to set it apart for a specific purpose. If we are to be living proof that Jesus’ prayer was answered, we must set about mining and distributing truth. We need to put on our biblical spectacles as Van Til would say. We need to follow the advice of the Psalmist and meditate on God’s Word day and night. We need to refuse to be conformed to the world and be transformed by renewing our minds with the Word. We need to set our minds on things above not on things of earth. These acts of sanctification will give us the ability to follow John’s admonition to test everything to determine if it is from God.

I have caused trouble in the past by suggesting that one of America’s major political parties runs closer to the truth than the others. I am going to avoid that assertion today and suggest that concerned Bible believers put on Van Til’s spectacles and determine for themselves whether there is a difference between parties and candidates. We would do well to investigate claims and policies to discern their truthfulness both in relation to facts on the ground as well as Bible principles. America is not a theocracy nor can it be under the dictates of the US Constitution. However, because we are blessed with a representative form of government, Christians can make their wishes known in the voting booth. But our ballots must be thoughtful, enlightened votes, seeking to expand the dominance of truth.

If you believe you are wearing Van Til’s spectacles, and you don’t see the subtle subterfuge, blatant falsehoods, and the constant push to undermine biblical values we are asked to accept today, I suggest that you have your prescription checked. It may be that you need to be renewed in the Spirit of your mind as Paul recommends. Jesus said His words are spirit; that’s the spirit which must control the mind of a believer. I appreciate the way The Message translates Proverbs 12:17, “Truthful witness by a good person clears the air, but liars lay down a smoke screen of deceit.” Modern media is laying down that smoke screen; we need to look for the truthful witness. We need to join Diogenes in his search for an honest man.

Related posts: True Lies and Lying Truth; Truth Dysphoria; America Held Captive

Biden Attack -- My Response

I promised myself I would not get overly involved in commentary during this political campaign season. But Joe Biden’s unprecedented political attack packaged as a highly dramatized press conference on September 1^st has motivated me to comment. I will try to remain true to the purpose of my blog title and consider primarily why heaven matters in this instance. I have said repeatedly that peoples’ philosophy is relevant to everything they do. If philosophy is the head of the body, politics is one arm; religion is another. To me this means that politics and religion are joined at the head. Unless you imagine some Frankenstein creation of disparate parts, politics and religion flow from the same philosophy in any given individual or institution.

Some may ask why those of us who are heavenly minded should care what worldly minded Joe Biden has to say. I answer it is because the words of the President reveal the Deus ex machina, the real philosophy behind the words. The apparent purpose of his 9/1 speech was to demonize his political opponents whom he vaguely characterized as MAGA Republicans. This term, which he used a half dozen times in his short address, has been adopted by the Democrats to refer to people who supported President Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign. Biden said, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic.”

In an attempt to identify the philosophy which he considered such a threat, Biden said, “It’s not just Trump; it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the [MAGA Republicans] – I’m going to say something: it’s like semi-fascism.” Merriam-Webster defines fascism as “a political philosophy, movement, or regime… that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” The only part of that definition that fits Trump is “exalts nation.” No one can deny that Trump exalted America; he wanted to make it great again. He was not a racist as some have tried to claim (minorities did better under Trump than any recent administration.) Unlike the Democrats, Trump clearly placed individuals and individual effort at the center of his plan to make America great.

Ironically, the rest of the definition of fascist applies quite nicely to the Democrat philosophy rather than Trump’s and the MAGA Republicans’. Few Presidents have been more “dictatorial” than Biden and Obama. The “severe economic and social regimentation” boiling out of Washington under Democrat administrations is undeniable. As for “forcible suppression of opposition,” just consider the recent weaponization of the IRS (87,000 new, armed agents) and FBI (Mar-a-Lago?), the hijacking of the election system, and the overreach of other non-elected government bodies. The irony of Biden demonizing conservative Americans who want to see Constitutional rights upheld and traditional values embraced is beyond belief. Yet he apparently believes that returning America to its former glory “threatens the very foundation of our republic.”

(Reminder to self: tell the reader why heaven matters in this.)

Among the MAGA Republicans Biden warns against are many conservative Christians who believe the foundation of our republic was laid by men who recognized that our rights and responsibilities were endowed by our Creator God, not a dictatorial government. Those rights and responsibilities were enshrined in our founding documents, particularly the Constitution. Constitutional government as originally conceived was intended to reflect Judeo-Christian values, biblical values. Here we return to the idea that politics and religion are two parts of one whole.

The question becomes how to view our political situation from a heavenly vantage point. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer, He commented that when He returned to His Father, His followers would be left in the world, but they would not be of the world. The Apostle John cautioned against loving the things of the world. Paul insisted that believers must not be conformed to this world if they would be pleasing to God. James went so far as to say we become God’s enemy if we form a friendship with the world. Jesus also warned His disciples that the world would hate them just as it had demonstrated hate for Him.

It is my contention that the attitude, the philosophy behind President Biden’s 9/1 speech represents the worldly hatred Jesus predicted. I am not conflating MAGA Republicans with the Body of Christ. However, as I have said before, the political aims of the Republicans follow the Judeo-Christian underpinnings of the founding fathers, whereas the Democrat platform embraces many unbiblical themes. If Biden were calling for debate, that would reflect the attitude envisioned by our political traditions. Instead, Biden has called his opponents fascist terrorists intent on destruction.

The irony, the hypocrisy of Biden’s position is unbelievable. The sanctity of life, law and order, and individual freedom are under attack, but it is not MAGA Republicans on the offensive. As believers, we are pilgrims from another world sent as ambassadors to a foreign country. The language of the New Testament pictures believers as emissaries from a distant king who has taken over the land. As I wrote in “Bringing the Kingdom,” our responsibility as Christians is to represent the values and proclaim the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Even though Jesus defeated our enemies on the Cross of Calvary, we are warned that the enemy still roams about “looking for someone to devour.” The kingdom of Heaven has been initiated, but we are still required to announce and defend its principles until the day of final victory when Jesus returns. We do that work in the world; for that work we will be hated. In America we have enjoyed a great deal of freedom to work in the past. Those days may be behind us. As I have said before, the only way to fight against political evil is to exercise our right to vote. My philosophy says that is our political and religious duty.

Although he was deeply spiritual, no one would consider William Butler Yeats a Christian, yet his poem, “The Second Coming,” seems truly prophetic. Witnessing the turbulence that characterized the early twentieth century, seeing the inevitable implosion of modern society, Yeats penned the famous lines, “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.” In a clear allusion that Christians recognize as purely biblical, Yeats closes the poem with a question: “The darkness drops again; but now I know / That twenty centuries of stony sleep / Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, / And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”

I am not suggesting that Joe Biden is the anti-Christ, nor am I predicting Armageddon. What I am suggesting is that just as John warned first century believers, “even now many antichrists have arisen.” We who serve the Risen King who was cradled in Bethlehem twenty centuries ago must do whatever we can to stand against the rough beast that slouches toward Bethlehem to be born. Its coming is inevitable, as is our victory. But we cannot be idle. Paul commends us to action: “Wake up, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Therefore, consider carefully how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil.”

Related posts: Christianity: Religion or Philosophy; Political Christianity; Obama Isn’t the Problem; Islam’s Trojan Horse; Whose War on Women;