Tag: Truth

Isaiah Speaks – A Word for Today?

Read from Isaiah 59 this morning. Truth & Justice is truly fallen in the streets. I’m thinking of the West now – Such is the consequence of Nations that abandon The Lord & His Christ. The principle is vindicated by what we see happening. God is speaking. Praise God, He still saves all that will call upon Him.

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
(Isaiah 55:1)

Isaiah 59:1-8

Separated from God

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,
That it cannot save;
Nor His ear heavy,
That it cannot hear.

2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
And your sins have hidden His face from you,
So that He will not hear.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood,
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken lies,
Your tongue has muttered perversity.

4 No one calls for justice,
Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies;
They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

6 Their webs will not become garments,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And the act of violence is in their hands.

7 Their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
Wasting and destruction are in their paths.

8 The way of peace they have not known,
And there is no justice in their ways;
They have made themselves crooked paths;
Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

An Emerging Truth is No Truth at all

There are many problems with it, but here’s another problem with redefining marriage – as Cardinal O’Brien has rightly commented it redefines reality. Here’s why. We need a standard of truth to define reality, without it we are left to wallow in a sea of relativism. The book title by Greg Koukl (Stand to Reason) & Francis Beckwith ‘Relativism:Feet firmly planted in mid-air‘ sums it up perfectly.

Today I read in The Independent online an article by The Rev Richard Coles in which he says concerning Gay Marriage that it’s an ‘Emerging Truth’. I can understand how truth can be slowly revealed – indeed the revelation from God through the Bible came in this way – but the Reverend Coles doesn’t mean that.

He means it’s a truth that is emerging out of a consensus. In which case it isn’t truth. For one thing it would deny previous truth on marriage from the Bible. And for another it would deny a previous ‘popular’ consensus. And whose to say, given how fickle society can be, that it will most likely change again.

Sorry Reverend it’s a consensus I do not follow. I get truth from the Bible, the Reverend Coles should try doing that himself.

No Room for Truth

The other day I found myself in a girls Secondary School RE class. They were having a brief Q&A with the teacher and several of the girls asked if God was a She. There are references in the bible where God is referred to as a She they were told. The main answer as I observed it, was how society back in those days (and in previous generations to ours) was a Patriarchal Society. Several of the girls acknowledged this. But now society has changed it’s more acceptable to view God as a She. So if this view were to change back where does this leave Truth? It’s a commentary on how the Truth of anything is viewed. In fact there is to be no such thing as Truth at all and this view is accepted without criticism in the classroom. The argument would be – as I have heard previously – that it’s a concept above this particular year group (Year 7 or 8 I think it was) but we’ll discuss it at GCSE or A-Level. By then the idea that there is no such thing as Truth is so deeply ingrained that it would need a monumental shift in thinking. This does of course happen, but I would suggest rarely is it so.

The idea that Truth does exist in my opinion is fairly simple and straightforward to grasp. Unpacking it may be a little more complex but the idea of Truth existing is quite easy. There is such a thing as Truth – there I’ve said it. The sad fact is it is unlikely to be taught in schools because in the main teachers do not think it exists – except the illogical truth that truth does not exist. But it’s a good example of the law of non-contradiction being violated on a daily basis. But for many it’s a ‘truth’ that’s just too convenient – or a version of what’s true for me must be true.

This idea permeates everything, ideas of morality, of religion, of art, of music and especially of ultimate authority. These depend on Truth. It comes as no surprise then that the history of sinful humanity could perhaps be described as mankind’s struggle to escape the uncomfortable thought that Truth exists. But of course it does.

As Jesus said in His high priestly prayer “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17 KJV). And as Jesus said of Himself in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Truth in the end is found in a person – His name is Jesus.

‘JESUS, Jesus, all-sufficient,
Beyond telling is Thy worth’

William Williams, 1717-91;