
I was eating a plate of blackened shrimp for lunch the other day and struck up a conversation with an older Catholic man named Darren, sitting at the bar beside me. As we talked about football, the weather and other trivial things, soon our conversation arose to a theological level that this particular seafood restaurant may have never experienced. He brought up ‘truth’. Actually he brought up abortion (I’m still trying to figure out how we got from hurricanes and football to abortion). He said this to me: “Nathan, I’m a Catholic and I believe the Bible says that abortion is wrong. But that doesn’t mean others have to believe it.”
The fork clanged loudly on my plate as it fell from my hand.
Immediately my sub-conscious went into overdrive. I started thinking to myself, “Nathan, settle down. Don’t cause a scene in this restaurant. It’s ok. Maybe he said it wrong. Maybe his words got mixed up. Yea, that’s it. Maybe you heard it wrong.”
Nervously pushing the prawns around on my plate, I asked, “I’m sorry, what was that last part you said?”
His reply was simple. “I know its truth for me, but I can’t push my beliefs on other people. It’s not truth for someone who doesn’t read the Bible.”
Uh oh. 10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . . 7 . . .
“So you say that stuff in the Bible is true only for Christians or people who believe it?” I could feel my blood pressure climbing.
Darren agreed. “Yea, I mean… you believe what you want and I’ll believe what I want, and we’ll be ok.”
6 . . . 5 . . . 4 . . .
“So truth to me is not necessarily truth to you?” I asked nervously.
3 . . . 2 . . . 1
BOOM! First there’s truth, then there’s tolerance, and then we have Postmodernism.
After an eyebrow rose in disbelief, I said, “Could you repeat that last part you just said?”
He said, “Yea, I don’t think there is such a thing as absolute truth.”
In the most Christian way I could, I explained to him his illogical thinking. “You do realize the statement you just said is an absolute truth, don’t you? If the statement ‘there is no such thing as absolute truth’ is always true, then that makes it an absolute truth.”
He laughed and agreed. “I guess you got a point.”
There are a lot of things in the Christian realm of study that we can disagree on: Calvinism vs. Arminianism, Baptist vs. Methodist, McDonalds vs. Burger King, and on and on. However, for the Christian faith there are certain things in which we must be 100% confident.
I chose to call my website “It’s just the way I see it.” You don’t have to agree with everything I say or write. It’s just my opinion. But there are certain subjects that are not up for discussion or debate. One of those is the Bible: the infallible, inerrant, inspired, and absolute truthful Word of God. It’s something upon which we must stand firm. Pastors, we better be preaching from it. Christians, we better be basing our lives on it. Followers of Christ, we better be studying it. Church, we better eat it, drink it, and live it.
What are you willing to stand up for? What are you willing to die for? Better yet, what are you willing to live for? For me, its truth. Without truth, I’ve got nothing. Without truth, there is no hope. Without truth, there is no love. Without truth, there is no life. That truth is in the Word of God. That truth is Jesus Christ.
So Jesus said to those who believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:31-32
1 comment:
Good thoughts.
BP!
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