Simple Truth

 August 15, 2021

Standing on trial before Pilate, Jesus who called himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” said, “For this cause I have come into the world, that I should ear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

Pilate, with the cynicism borne of his office, sneers back. “What is truth?” Asked honestly, it is a reasonable question, and one deserving of an answer. Along with many claims to truth, there are those who question not only the possibility of knowing it, but of its very existence. Much in academic philosophy has seeped down into the popular culture, claiming that everyone makes their own truth. The end game in all this is to deny others the right to challenge thought, belief, and its resulting behavior. The end result in this philosophic dance is anarchy that not only challenges rational thought, but leaves society a moral and social wreck.

Denying Truth is a dangerous game, and a logical impossibility, but the alternative is the necessity of discernment and of that word so anathema in todays world: discrimination, for if there exists such a thing as Truth, everything else is a lie. Judgments must be made, and if those judgments contradict the accepted political and moral construct of the day, people get very upset, which is why Biblical claims are so vehemently opposed by so many. As Paul says in Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” A better translation would be “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” What Paul is saying is, people use their sin as a way of suppressing the truth so they don’t have to face it. Our bad behavior is our defense against our conscience.

But truth is a slippery foe, and pops up in unusual places. Take for example, the 2019 movie “Knives Out.” A wealthy author is discovered in his mansion’s study with his throat slit. Various members of the family are bit by bit discovered to have motive and opportunity, and it is up to the famous detective Benoit Blanc to thread the needle and ferret out the truth. 

As the plot thickens, Blanc sits with the elderly widowed and mostly silent mother of the dead author, commiserating with her over the loss of her son while shrewdly and patiently waiting for the clue he believes she can provide. He is in pursuit of the truth, and says to her, “The inevitability of Truth; the complexity and the grey are not in the truth, but in what you do with the truth once you have it.” 

Here is wisdom for our age. Truth itself is not the complex thing politicians would have us believe. If it is complex, it can be manipulated and twisted, which is to their advantage. Truth however, is quite simple. It is written in our hearts, revealed in the Scriptures, and proclaimed in the Gospel. It is Jesus Christ, who has confronted all the complex philosophy of this world with his simple claim: “I am the Truth.” The complexity, and grey, as Blanc mused, is not in the Truth, but what we do with it once we have it. 

Sadly, many even in Christianity, have chosen mental, interpretational, and logical gymnastics trying to get the Bible to say things it does not say. It is all really quite simple: “Whoever has the Son has life, and whoever does not have the Son does not have life.” (1 John 5:12). If I want Truth, the Truth that sets us free (John 8:32), the only question I need to ask is, “Do I have the Son?”