As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Functionally, truth by consensus has stepped up to fill the void left when we, in annoyance, bade objective truth to find quarters somewhere else. How did we get here? To orient ourselves in the current climate of moral reasoning, we need a quick refresher on philosophical developments, starting with the Enlightenment.” - Ref21
“I really can’t support Christian friends passing on lies and half-truths in support of Trump or any other candidate. So many of the ‘internet memes’ tell less than half the story, it would be better for us to not say anything at all, rather than passing on lies because we like to ‘stick it’ to our opponents.” - Don Johnson
Main points:
In the midst of controversy, it’s often hard to tell what problems have been created and what problems have merely been revealed. Whatever we might say about problems the election and impeachment of Donald Trump has created, it has certainly revealed some!
“While all ages and people are tempted by what Josef Pieper calls the ‘abuse of language, abuse of power,’ the French social philosopher Jacques Ellul, argues that contemporary technological society makes propaganda more pervasive.” - Acton
“See, your truth (and my truth) may not the be the truth—and that’s not just my truth but the truth.” - TGC
“The Bible calls us to both truth and love—not some squishy love that refuses to name error, but also not some truth that is harsh and brutal….This love is gentle and forbearing (because God is gentle and forbearing). This love is willing to move slowly and to rejoice at small gains (because God is willing to move slowly and to rejoice at small gains).
“Lesslie Newbigin defines the ideology of religious pluralism as, ‘the belief that the differences between the religions are not a matter of truth and falsehood but of different perceptions of the one truth; that to speak of religious beliefs as true or false is inadmissible.’” - IFWE
Despite the fact that the US Presidential election is almost a year away, I’m ready for the campaigning to be over. In the last few months, we’ve seen our share of drama, name-calling, schism, and scandal. Same old, same old, right?
Unfortunately, no. If anything, the Republican primary has already been full of unsettling surprises, not the least of which is the disturbing popularity of a man who is anything but conservative. And it’s left many folks—conservative, moderate, and liberal alike—scratching their heads wondering, “Why is Donald Trump so popular?”
In this recent New York Times piece, Justin Wolfers argues that Trump’s popularity stems from his rhetorical style rather than what he’s actually advocating. Trump’s willingness to speak the unspeakable signals to many folks that he’s “authentic”—despite the fact that unspeakable things are often best left unsaid.
In The Great Divorce a repentant liberal tells a stuffy and impenitent bishop that if he will rethink his pretensions about religion, he will take him to meet “Eternal Fact, the Father of all other facts.” The cleric disdainfully turns down the offer, preferring to remain under the delusion that “God” and “fact” do not dwell on the same plane of objectivity. It is a strange deception indeed which constructs a grand array of “facts” and suspends them over a bottomless chasm, but that is what sinners do with facts. They encounter them; they label and categorize them; but they attempt to ground them in the ether of a wholly impracticable worldview.
That is how I was before I met “Eternal Fact.” My dealings with Truth were occasional and, from my point of view, impersonal. And it was this impersonal view of Truth which gnawed away at me; for impersonal conceptions of Truth eventually depersonalize everything—even the viewer. They may seem impressive to our eyes for a while, but just as an attempt at landscape painting may please us until we set it alongside a Constable or a Monet, so truth without “the Spirit of Truth” gradually begins to look like a paltry thing. Truth (capital “T”); the kind that “shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32), springs forth from the “I AM” (Jn. 8:58).
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