I’ve written on this blog before about truth. I’m “in process,” developing my thinking on this divisive concept (is it absolute, relative, or something in between?), but I thought this quote from N.T. Wright was helpful, if not provocative:
Truth is like health. A doctor doesn’t keep ‘health’ in his or her back pocket simply to throw at people. A doctor can work to create conditions for health and reduce the possibilities of illness. But ultimately health is a strange, mysterious thing that is part of God’s gift of life. It is just the same with truth. The truth as it is in Jesus is a personal truth, and Christians are not only summoned to see God in Jesus but also to know God in Jesus. Ultimately, we must learn to love God in Jesus.
You can’t love an abstraction. You can’t even love the idea of love. You can only truly love a person …
~ Reflecting the Glory: Meditations for Living Christ’s Life in the World
What do you think about the analogy of truth and health?
As a pastor and teacher, I’m challenged not to keep truth “in my back pocket” to throw at people in various situations where it benefits me or makes things easier or less ambiguous. What would it mean for all followers of Jesus, in our daily interactions with people, to “create conditions for health truth and reduce the possibilities of illness error?”
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