What is Truth?
Pilate famously asked Christ, “What is truth?” This question is then left lingering in the air for us to ponder.
It’s no secret that the mere idea of truth has taken a battering under the recent shifts in culture here in the United States. However, Biblically speaking, truth is an idea that human beings have struggled with and argued about for thousands of years.
Our friend and Texas minister Gibby Gilbert has been gracious in shedding some light on this dilemma, as well as the emergence of the harmful cancel culture that has taken root in our society.
Standing knee-deep in the flowing waters of the Arkansas River on a sunny Colorado morning will awaken the senses of a fly fisherman. My eyes searched the clear water for movement among the rocks and occasional mossy growth—hopeful to spot a sizable trout that might show interest in the caddis-pattern fly I had carefully tied to the end of my line.
But in the lengthy action of staring into the water, a strange sensation presented itself. I became hypnotized by the moving current, and I found myself in a state of disorientation that affected my equilibrium. I felt as though I was falling forward into the cold water that surrounded me. In a panic, I quickly lifted my eyes, searching the shoreline for a stationary object—a tree, a rock, the rise of the horizon. I looked for a fixed object to determine the “reality” of my situation—anything to bring clarity to my vertigo. But what if there weren’t any fixed points of reference? What then?
Culturally speaking, we find ourselves in this same place of disorientation. In 2016, Oxford dictionaries announced its “word of the year,” which captures the preoccupations of current culture. That word was post-truth. The definition for this word is “relating to circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.”
Historically, the word dates back to 1992, but exploded in usage in 2016 by 2,000 percent! You may remember that as the year of the presidential election battle between Trump and Clinton.
Post-truth has two modes. First, the truth exists objectively, but our subjective feelings and opinions matter more. Second is a willingness to propagate blatant falsehoods, knowing they are false, because doing so serves a perceived higher political or social agenda. Personal preferences matter; actual truth does not.
As dramatic as these recent developments have been, we should remember that the practice of subordinating truth to feelings is ancient. Biblically speaking, the post-truth mindset originally had its beginning in the garden. God gave Adam and Eve freedom in Eden to enjoy their relationship with Him. However, they had one restriction: they could not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If they did so, they would become aware of evil, which would lead to a desire not just to know but to determine good and evil. Satan used inborn human preference to bring into play the desire to be our own authority. He used this to tempt Adam and Eve away from communion with God and toward autonomy apart from God.
Genesis 1-3 relates the beginning story and how the “Father of Lies” told them that they would not die when they ate the fruit—but would become like God. The truth God had spoken did not matter anymore. Their desires and feelings usurped and replaced the truth.
To identify truth, we must recognize and understand it as factual and real, as opposed to being false or in error. Truth is genuine, as opposed to fake or imitation. It is complete rather than partial or incomplete. It is honest and sincere, as opposed to lying or deceitful. Truth can be revealed through words and actions, but it can also be an inner quality of sincerity of mind or heart.
It would be well to note the significance of speaking truth, which is defined as “to say, tell, command, answer, communicate, express one’s views, pass on information, advise, teach, ask, question, proclaim, preach”. This description doesn’t sound like we just model Jesus without a vocal expression of our faith! Don’t just ‘be Jesus’ to others, open your mouth and speak God’s truth to them!
Our current culture is definitely speaking, but it is the voice of evil speaking: lying, slander, deceit, transgression, perverseness, insults, folly, harshness, gossip, haughtiness, corruption, bitterness, anger, and judgment. It has even been given a name in an attempt to legitimize it. ‘Cancel culture’ seeks to shut out and shut up a person, instead of allowing someone to speak for themselves. This promotes exclusion and does not demonstrate a loving way to interact with others. But one of the reasons cancel culture is so influential is because not everyone is against it.
In a recent article, the internet news source Vox gives an in-depth defense of cancel culture that explains why certain people think that it is good. Vox compares canceling someone to boycotting a company and calls it “an important tool” and a “tactical strategy” for fighting social injustice. Vox concludes that “the traditional approach” to resolving conflict “of apology, atonement, and forgiveness,” doesn’t work anymore. Vox argues that forgiveness is not going to work because the root of the issue is power.
Canceling a person is often an alternative to seeking to know what is true, but it is also a failure to truly love and care for them. Canceling someone is morally rejecting that person and declaring them beyond redemption. Something Jesus never said was, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest… except for those of you whom I have canceled.”
To consider how we should think about cancel culture, we should look to Christ. We all deserve to be canceled. Every one of us in our sin is deserving of total rejection from God. But who did Jesus cancel? No one. Jesus did not do this, because he was not grasping for power. He was concerned about truth and love. When it comes to how we treat others, are we following the footsteps of Christ or the footsteps of our culture?
Consider carefully the words of Ephesians 4:21-25, 29:
But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus—to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth (factual, real, genuine, complete, honest, sincere conversation) with his neighbor, for we are members one of another......Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Gibby Gilbert has served in ministry for 47 years. He is married to Dawna, and together they have four children and eleven grandchildren and reside in Lubbock, Texas.