Our cultures, both sacred and secular, are blinded by a high-volume of sources who all claim to be true, producing content with blinding speed, and with no clear and reliable source for separating the fake news from the real news. It’s quite maddening!
The classic question is, “What is Truth?” but I think there is another question that is equally defining for us: “Where is Truth?”
Does Truth exist outside of us? That is, is there a God, a law of nature, a governing force, or some authoritative source of Truth, from which all people must rightly calibrate our own understanding and practice in order to align with both the Truth and its source?
OR
Does Truth exist inside of us? That is, is Truth individualistic in nature and is determined exclusively by the owner of that Truth?
If Truth exists outside of us, then human beings have a head-start on uniting ourselves around some basics. We can more easily build our personal, moral, social, and political systems and behavioral expectations with some sense of clarity. Guardrails are easier to build and thousands of questions already have a starting place to guide our answers.
If, on the other hand, Truth exists inside of us, then no one ever has the right to claim authority for an absolute Truth and we are each left to shape, define, and practice our own Truth. Hopefully, with dignity and love for one another, we can do so in cooperative ways, but that has yet to be demonstrated in any lengthy and consistent way.
And here is the kicker: our world insists that Truth comes from inside of us, yet wants to hold us to some expectations that simply cannot be defended or known when there is no external source of Truth.
For example: Truth comes from within us and, therefore, all Truth is acceptable and should be tolerated lovingly by everyone who disagrees. UNLESS your Truth is, say, Christian, where your Truth believes there is One source for Truth and that all Truth submits to that Truth. Now, the heretofore gracious and open-minded Truth-holders become militantly against your Truth, even though they claim absolute tolerance for all beliefs.
See the problem?
If there is no absolute Truth, then one cannot be expected to believe any particular thing - ever. But, if there is absolute Truth, then we must all submit to its authority and align our thinking with it, which is socially unacceptable these days.
And here is the deal: our children are being baptized, pickled, and evaluated by the insistence of no absolute Truth.
We have much to do, as believers, and we must get to work! Not defining our Truth in ways that overcome doctrinal error, but in ways that overcome secularism.
The secular world has identified the enemy and we are it. I think that is precisely where the Church does its best work.
I hope we are ready for it.