You may have heard these popular statements: “Go live your truth,” “You do you,” “I’m speaking my truth,” “She’s being authentic to her truth.” Have you ever thought about what these statements really mean?
We live in a world where objective truth is on the chopping block. Objective truth is defined as truth that is the same for all people. It is being undermined at every turn and people are falling for it, soaking it up, and cheering it on. Words in our world are being redefined and truth is one that is wildly distorted in many circles. People are giving themselves and others the power to decide what truth is and this is a dangerous deception.
The Truth VS My Truth
Here’s a recent example: I saw a video on Facebook a few months ago where Kristen Chenoweth proudly declared her truth with a story about how her grandmother taught her that she read the Bible like she ate fish. She stated, “I take the meat that serves me well but I don’t choke on a bone.” Chenoweth used this analogy to justify that someone she loved who was involved in a sinful lifestyle would still absolutely go to heaven.
She was openly applauded for her “truth” and for her statements about what God’s Word says to her.
In Mama Bear Apologetics, the authors gives us this picture:
“In premodern times, universities were founded for the purpose of teaching students objective truths about the world. Schools nowadays have a new truth they are promoting: Objective truths are just power plays. Tolerance, diversity, autonomy, and fairness are the highest virtues to which all others must bow” (p. 139).
In her book, You’re Not Enough (and That’s OK), Allie Beth Stuckey states,
“A mentality based on cultural trends, political ideologies, and emotions is not a just standard for anyone. Without objective benchmarks for right and wrong, this is about the best a world ruled by subjective truth can do: accept morality defined by the mob.”
Changing Standards
If truth has no standard to measure it by, then you are at liberty to decide what is true, and even then you can’t really trust it to be the same tomorrow. Without an unchanging standard, nothing is trustworthy. There is nothing to stand on, no hope, no freedom.
The following is a definition of sorts for truth as defined by our postmodern culture, even though the article states that postmodernists shy away from hard and fast definitions.
Put in simple terms, postmodernists describe truth not as a relationship outside of the human mind that we can align belief to, but as a product of belief. We never access reality because we can never get outside our own beliefs to do so. Our beliefs function as filters that keep reality (if such a thing exists) beyond us. Since we can never access reality, it does no good to describe knowledge or truth in terms of reality because there’s nothing we can actually say about it that’s meaningful. Truth then is constructed by what we perceive and ultimately believe.
What are we to do with this as Christians?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the job of deciding what is true and what is not. My emotions and feelings change from day to day, moment to moment. Following my heart will lead me down the wrong path every single time. Scripture is very clear on this. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9,
The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?
And Mark 7:21-23 says this about our hearts:
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.
Inside of us all there is also a longing for truth, and it was put there by the One who created us. We should seek to walk in the freedom of knowing and living in the Truth.
In John 14:6, Jesus tells the disciples,
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
We are called to live differently from the world. To put our trust in the unchangeable truth of God and His Word which is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Steven Lawson says it so well:
“Right is always right and wrong is forever wrong. Society may try to redefine morality. Culture may try to reclassify its mores. But Jesus identified Himself as the Truth, not the custom of the day. Truth is forever the same. The psalmist says, ‘Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven’ (119:89). Isaiah 40:8 affirms, ‘The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God abides forever.’ The world changes. Kingdoms rise and fall. But truth remains unchanging.
“Truth is permanent, fixed, and established. It is inflexible, unvarying, constant, lasting, enduring, timeless, unchanging. Therefore, truth is always relevant. It is always current, always contemporary, always relevant. Truth addresses the issues of the day with penetrating insight. It is never outdated, never obsolete, never expired. Truth never tires, never wanes, never ceases to be true.”
If Jesus is the truth and God’s Word is truth, we need look no further to find the freedom Jesus tells us that truth will give us.
We must uphold and affirm the standard of truth set by God in Scripture and commit ourselves to it. We then should resolve to teach these boundaries to our families and daily, repeatedly allow God to align our decisions, attitudes, ambitions, etc. within them.
When we go to Scripture and learn about the character and purposes of God, we will cement our convictions even when it is hard or unpopular to do so. Filtering every circumstance, personally and culturally, through the prism of His Word and the truth instead of merely leaning on our feelings, political correctness, or the opinions of others gives us a foundation that will allow everything else to fall into place.
In the words of Winston Churchill, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”
