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.

============

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."

Comments

clement quotes hebrews

Clement of Rome wrote to the church in Corinth around AD 90. This is perhaps the same Clement, companion of Paul, mentioned in Philippians 4:3. Many hold him to be the first bishop / pope in Rome, aka St. Clement I. Clement quotes from the letter to the Hebrews. Origin suggested that Clement was in fact the writer (as transcriber or amanuensis) of Hebrews. Perhaps this letter began as a "word of exhortation" given by Paul at the synagogue (Heb 13:22; cf Acts 13:15) which then became a circular letter for the churches. Other possible authors of Hebrews include Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos. The theology is Pauline, but the transcriber is obviously second-generation (Heb. 2:3-4). At any rate, this early church leader in Rome, is already quoting Hebrews in his letter in AD 90: CHAPTER 36 ALL BLESSINGS ARE GIVEN TO US THROUGH CHRIST This is the way, beloved, in which we find our Savior, even Jesus Christ, the High Prie...

Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...

sword and trowel

"From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me." (Nehemiah 4:16-18 ESV) The great London preacher, Charles Spurgeon, published a monthly magazine called The Sword and The Trowel; A record of combat with sin and of labour for the Lord. It was published from 1865 to 1892. The cover of the journal had a drawing taken from Nehemiah 4, which included both a trowel (representing the work) and a sword (representing the fight). The sword was necessary to protect what the men with trowels were building. These citizen-soldier-builders would successfully complete the wall aroun...

my burg

Search This Blog