Hello my friends,

We’ve been talking about Christian repentance the last several newsletters and I have been struck by the question a lot of you have been asking, “what keeps us Christians from repenting?”

While there may be numerous reasons, I think a major factor is how we approach the concept of ‘truth.”

But before we get to that, I'd like to share a few things that have me thinking recently.

RESOURCES TO CHECK OUT

I know I have recommended them before, but if you haven't caught Throughline's episode called "Editing Reality" it is a must listen. It gives such an interesting and chilling view of how truth is handled in our current cultural moment.

I also recently discovered the podcast called "On The Media," which looks at how journalists handle news and information in our culture. Their recent episode "At What Cost?" looks at the situation surrounding the trial of Alex Jones and how separating truth from conspiracy really matters.

You may have already read it, but I just finished "Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church" by Rachel Held Evens. If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend you picking up a copy or listening to the audio book. It is such a needed book for our time.

Okay, onto the newsletter.

WHEN ABSOLUTE TRUTH BECOMES AN IDOL

At least in the Christian circles I was raised in, truth was defined as a particular set of doctrines and beliefs one must adhere to in order to be “saved.” Truth was a very neat and tidy concept, which was cut and dry, clearly showing who was “in” and who was “out.”

The problem with this approach is that it reduces the truth of God and humanity to a static list of requirements. A static list that gave those who mastered it all the power and control over those who don’t. This is what idol making looks like.

A phrase I have heard far too often in my ministry from Christians is, “I believe in absolute truth, not relativism.” While I do believe those who say such things are sincere in their faith, I think this statement needs to be unpacked a bit further. For it is far too often used to justify being judgmental, self-righteous, and even malicious towards others, all in the name of “truth.”

So let’s unpack the faulty logic behind that phrase for a moment.

Let’s say one believes in absolute truth. There is nothing wrong with believing in absolute truth. There are absolutes in our world. For example, human beings need water, food, and shelter to survive. We also need love, dignity, and justice to thrive. These are absolutes I and many others believe in. However, start talking about “how” these absolutes are applied in different contexts and you will see how quickly it gets complicated. Approaching such complex issues in different contexts with a one-size-fits-all approach to truth can really cause a lot of harm, pain, and division.

So, believing in absolute truth is not the problem. Resorting to absolutism is the problem. As a noun, absolutism is defined as the acceptance of or belief in absolute principles in political, philosophical, ethical, or theological matters. In action, absolutism looks like applying the same principles in all circumstances, towards all people, no matter the outcome.

As you might imagine, this gets messy very, very quickly. For me though, the problem with Christian absolutism is the lack of Christ-like humility. Christian absolutism assumes that our finite mind can somehow arrive at perfectly fathoming the profound mysteries and depths of the infinite and the absolute. It assumes that our finite minds can do this to such an extent that those who are “certain” of absolute truth are then granted the absolute authority to impose what is true upon others. We just don’t see that from Jesus.

This is where the phrase “I believe in absolute truth, not relativism” becomes deeply ironic to me. For the person who says that is taking their relative, individualistic, cultural, 21st century beliefs about absolute truth and applying it to everyone, everywhere, in the past, present, and future. Unless someone is all knowing and all powerful, their perspective of “absolute truth” will always ever be relative.

This is why absolutism is a form of idolatry, because it really does place our comprehension, our “understanding” on the same level as God and even begins to see ourselves as the protector and enforcer of such “truth.”

I think this is why scripture is replete with warnings against such grand notions of comprehending the infinite.

“Lean not on your own understanding.” -Proverbs 3:5

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” -Isaiah 55:8-9

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” -Proverbs 11:2

“We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!” -1 Corinthians 13:12 (MSG)

Scripture goes on and on about this, but my personal favorite passage on this topic is 1 Corinthians 31:1, where Paul says “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Even IF we could fathom all mysteries and all knowledge but it doesn’t include love, it counts for nothing!

If our definition of truth lacks love, it is not the truth revealed to us by Jesus Christ.

As a recovering Christian absolutist myself, that seriously wrecks me every time. All the years I spent believing that I needed to be right about all the things of God and make sure everyone else was in line with those things too still eats at me today. This belief system filled me with such fear, anger, and was deeply lacking in love. But when the love of Christ Jesus became the most important pursuit for me, wisdom and knowledge changed for me too. Instead of the pursuit of truth filling me with pride and certainty, it consistently left me humbled and in awe, because I consistently realized how little I actually knew, but I was always certain about love.

I think that’s what Jesus meant by saying “if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed!” The love of Jesus really does set us free from needing to be in control, needing to be right all the time, and needing to impose what we believe onto others. It is so liberating to be free from that posture. It is so freeing to let God be God rather than trying to be God ourselves.

Honestly, I still really struggle with this. Untangling my faith from the political and religious fundamentalism of my past often leaves me tempted to be just as “fundamentalist” in the opposite direction. As if rejecting the absolutism of damaging ideologies requires the uncritical acceptance of their opposing absolutist ideologies. I have found this to be just as reductionistic and damaging.

I am sure you have seen this kind of absolutist rhetoric online too. If you’re not a “capitalist” you must be a “socialist.” If you aren’t a “progressive” then you must be a “conservative.” If you critique America then you must hate our country. If you critique the church, then you must hate Christianity. The list goes on and on and shapes every major issue. If you are not for one category, then you must obviously be in its diametrically opposite category, right?

Knowing ourselves as well as I hope we do, we know that we just can’t be neatly placed into these rigid “either/or” categories as human beings. Our own thoughts about these things are much more complicated and nuanced than that. Absolutism is as unhelpful as it is untrue. Where is the gray area? Where is the nuance? Where is the room to struggle in-between?

I think this is why it is so difficult to repent from absolutism. It has shaped our world to such an extent that it has brought us to a culture of ‘us versus them.” A culture that social media has put on steroids, turning the internet into a rage machine. If you aren’t “for us” then you are “against us.” Add to this the tactic of those in power using the “us versus them” narrative of absolutism to gain our support, our money, and our votes, we feel as though we have no choice but to be absolutists in what we believe in order to “win.”

This is where I am constantly checked by the example of Jesus, who was more concerned with loving others than he was about “winning.” He was more concerned about processing what is true with others than he was about winning arguments to prove how right he was. He was more concerned about the power gained by a people being unified together in their love for one another, rather than any power he could gain by pitting people against each other.

I think this is the example our culture desperately needs right now, especially from those who claim to follow Jesus. We need Christians who are willing to repent from absolutism and take up the desire to pursue truth together, in humility.

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Thank you so much for reading. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!