Truth

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Image Source: Sven Gauditz
What exactly is truth? Can truth be proven? Is truth relative? When we declare to speak the truth and nothing but the truth, are we really claiming to speak the absolute truth or merely what we believe to be true?

For example, I personally believe that a true statement would be: "Water polo is one of the most difficult sports that a human being can play." Whereas, if you asked my wife the same question, she would unequivocally tell you that that statement is false.

Can my truth be different to someone else's?

I believe that it is true (see what I did there) what John Van de Laar claims in his book The hour that changes everything:
"What we believe to be true forms the foundation for every part of our being."
This is why so many so-called religious leaders can seemingly justify their hate-filled motives behind their belief that what they are doing is supported by truth. Because they honestly believe, for whatever reason, that their version of the truth is the correct version.

So is there such a thing as real truth? I believe that there is and I believe that God's truth is the only absolute truth.

Unfortunately, our understanding of God's truth is still relative and may differ. We need to be wary about claiming to completely know and understand God's truth. After all, Apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany were both claimed to be righteous on the backing of "God's truth."

So how do we become more in tune with God's truth? I believe that the way that we can best encounter God's truth is through worship. As William Temple writes: "To worship is to feed the mind with the truth of God."

Now I'm not talking about approaching God in worship with our already preconceived motives and beliefs, but earnestly and prayerfully spending time worshiping God and studying scripture in order to know and better understand God's actual truth.

We might be very surprised when we do this to discover that our own personal vendetta's against the other are greatly challenged.
When we encounter God in worship, we often find that what we believe to be true is often just our own bigoted, violent, racist, homophobic tendencies challenged and convicted as false truths.
It might help our understanding of God's truth when we understand that for the author's of scripture, truth was not a thing or even an idea, it was a person - Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus boldly proclaims, "I am the way, the truth and the life"

Our primary access to God’s truth can be found perfectly and completely in the person and work of Jesus and as we worship God and feed our minds with the stories, teachings, images and events of Jesus’ life, we feed our minds with God’s truth.
"To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said: "If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
- John 8:31-32 (NIV)

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