why truth matters

“If our faith is not true, it would be false even if the whole world believed it. If our faith is true, it would be true even if the whole world and the entire cosmos were against it."

(--Os Guinness, "Why Truth Matters", at Lausanne Cape Town 2010)

Six reasons why truth matters supremely, and why those Christians who are careless about truth are as dangerous as the open skeptics of our day:

First, only a high view of truth honors the God of Truth.

Second, only a high view of truth reflects how we come to know and trust God.

Third, only a high view of truth empowers our best human enterprises.

Fourth, only a high view of truth can undergird our proclamation and defense of the faith.

Fifth, only a high view of truth is sufficient for resisting evil and hypocrisy.

Sixth, only a high view of truth will help our growth and transformation in Christ.

The transcript of this message can be found here.

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Here are a few additional Guinness quotes highlighted by my friend James:

"It is because of truth, that our faith in God is not irrational."

"We are those who think, in believing, and believe, in thinking."

"All humans, including ourselves, are not only truth seekers, but truth twisters."

"Our stand for truth must start in the church itself."

"To abandon truth is to abandon faithfulness."

"Post modern thinking makes us all aware of hypocrisy but give us no standard of truth to expose and correct it... Both hypocrisy and evil depend on lies."

"We are called to follow the way of Jesus. Not just to believe the truth, or to know and defend the truth, but to so live in truth that truth may be part of our innermost being. That in some imperfect way we become people of truth."

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