[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], October 2020]
In a world where there seems to be no absolute truths, and anyone can offer alternative facts, is it really possible to know what is true?
I don’t know if you have been following the presidential race in the States. Maybe you stayed up late and watched the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. I didn’t stop and watch it but I really enjoyed watching the highlights and hearing the commentary. Already there’s various theories going around about Biden having a hidden headset implanted into his skull or Trump heading up some elite task force. There’s fake news, there’s alternative facts and it seems particularly in the States but also in the UK as well that truth is a flexible concept where it finds its foundation not in evidence but in popularity – how many times a fact, a truth is shared on social media.
[01:14] Truth is no longer set in stone; it’s just based on cultural perceptions, on cultural acceptability, by a person’s views or opinions. So much so that what is truth inside the UK is not truth in North Korea or even what’s true for you is not true for your next door neighbour so how can we know what the truth actually is? Well, what I think we need is some sort of external measure, some standard by which we can measure all statements and find whether or not they are true. It’s almost as like we need something like the sun with regards to time and seasons or the French metric system which is based on one metre being one ten-millionth of the distance between the equator and the north pole. These are things that aren’t movable, they don’t change and will always be the same. Can we have that sort of external immovable, unchangeable measure for truth?
[02:40] Well, for followers of Jesus Christ, for Christians, we do believe that we do have that measure, that standard unaffected by the prevailing winds of culture and society, steady and immovable. Peter, who was a disciple of Jesus and later one of the main leaders of the early Church, wrote a letter in which he told told those followers of Jesus that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.
[03:16] Now a cornerstone was a large block of stone where all the angles were at 90 degrees, it was set in place at the start of the building and all other stones were laid in reference to that cornerstone to keep the building straight and true. Peter says that Jesus is that cornerstone but it’s been rejected by the world and yet, as followers of Jesus Christ, as the Church, we are living stones built in reference to Christ. Actually, Jesus himself told his disciples that he’s “the way, the truth and the life” and although he was going to go away he would ask his Father to send a spirit of truth, his spirit. The Holy Spirit rejected by the world and yet for those that follow him, those who follow Jesus Christ it becomes a lens through which we view the world society culture. It’s the way we view our lives, it’s the lens through which we view our relationships. It’s even the lens through which we read the Bible. It’s how we understand what is going on around us, it’s the truth upon which we reference everything else.
[04:44] Now of course that can cause a few difficulties, a few problems because it means that as follows of Jesus Christ we are basing truth on a reference point which is different to society’s. We understand what is right and what is wrong, not by what is popular, not by what is posted on social media or told on the news channels. We base what is right and what is wrong on Jesus Christ and unfortunately that puts us at odds with popular opinion, or at least it should.
[1] YouTube link: What is the Truth?
Bible references: 1 Peter ch2 v6-7
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
