A Great Opportunity-- What is Truth?

As I wrote earlier, I was given the opportunity to write three short blurbs for the Smart Faith Apologetics conference.  I had an amazing time writing these, and have said I would post them here.  The last question asked "What is Truth?"  My response is below:

What is Truth?

Truth is when a statement corresponds with reality.  Or, in other words, truth is the way things really are.  Finding out the truth is one of the most important things anyone can ever do.  No one wants to live in a lie.  If you were really (I mean REALLY) dumb, would you want everyone to pretend you were the smartest person in the world?  Even if this wasn’t true?  Wouldn’t it be hurtful that they didn’t want to help you become smarter, but they instead lied to you about life? When we know the truth, we can determine the best way to live.

But doesn’t everyone have different truths?  What if I think one thing is true and you think another thing is true?  Can’t we just believe what we want?

Actually there are two different kinds of truth.  There is subjective truth and objective truth.  Subjective truth is truth inside of me.  It is about preferences.  I prefer chocolate, you prefer strawberry ice cream.

Objective truth is truth outside of ourselves.  It is about the way the world is.  It isn’t about preference, it doesn’t change no matter what anybody thinks about it.  The earth is round even if I pretend or don’t believe it isn’t.

Claims of religions are claims about objective reality.  These claims may be true or false, but they are claims about the real world.  For example, Christianity claims Jesus Christ is God.  Well, he may or may not be God, but this fact doesn’t change based on my like or dislike of him.  Or, Mormonism claims there are many gods, and this does not change based on my preferences either.

Since religions make objective claims about the world, evaluating the evidence for and against each religion becomes very important.  If there is a God who loves you and me and he asks us to live in a certain way, there may not be a more important journey for anyone’s life.  To understand and know the truth is the most important thing in the world.

Biblical Interpretation in a Nutshell

Over at Parchment and Pen, Michael Patton has posted a concise summary of correct Biblical Interpretation.  I have been working on several posts about Biblical Interpretation, where I have claimed there are 5 steps to correct Biblical Interpretation.

Patton has suggested there are really only 3 steps to correct interpretation: Exegetical Statement (What It Meant To Them), Theological Statement (What It Means To Everyone) and Homiletical Statement (How This Applies To Me).  These actually are basically the same steps I advocate said in a different way.  However, Patton has been working at this longer than I, and therefore has much insight and experience I cannot give.

It seems to me, that many (not all) of the problems we have when reading the Bible would be solved, if we just read it more carefully.

I highly recommend giving this post a read through.

On Reading the Bible (Well) pt 2

A few days ago I wrote about reading the Bible well. I have noticed people have not been taught how to read the Bible for everything it gives. Instead we are stuck in a world of privatization, where the only application from scripture is for the individual. The problem with this is God revealed the Bible for everyone. Scripture has an original meaning, and we need to understand what God's intention for the message was. Without this we can fall into the trap of internal faith without any real base to stand on.

With this in mind we looked at  Revelation 3:14-22. We discovered many people misinterpret this passage, and it can be disastrous for some believers. I have actually heard pastors say God would rather us be completely against Him if we are not going to be "on fire" or "sold out" for Him.

We examined the passage and found, within the context of the time, this is probably not what God was saying at all! Instead, God wants us to stay close to Him the source of being cool and refreshing, or hot and therapeutic. Jesus was using a cultural aspect to show the citizens of Laodicea that they were not close to Him anymore. No, they were far from Him, like lukewarm water, they tasted nasty to Jesus.

How can we avoid this problem? How should we read the Bible?

I have found there are 5 basic, and easy, steps to be able to read the Bible well.

1. Read the passage!

Read the whole passage. Don't just read a verse. Verses are meant to be seen in the larger context of a message.

2. Understand to whom it is being written.

If the passage is directed to exiled Israelites, it might have different cultural considerations then if it was written to brand new Christians in the 1st century.

3. Determine what God was saying to the people He was speaking to.

With the context and culture in mind we can probably understand more about what God was telling them.  

4. Seek out and extract the transcendent (timeless) principles.

As mentioned earlier, God's word is written for everyone. It is sufficient for a knowledge of saving grace. If we can see both the cultural and scriptural context then we can see what is the principle God is communicating to everyone.

5. Apply this transcendent principle to the culture and life you live.

We can take what God has told everyone, and apply it to the ways we live. This will ensure we are at least trying to connect with the body of believers.

Christianity is not a private religion. It does have private aspects, but always within the context of the community/church (the body of believers). In order for this to work, we need to see what God wants everyone to know.

Stand to Reason has a great way of explaining this same general information.  Check it out Here and Here

In part 3: The 5 Steps applied.

Correct Interpretation

Aaron at Apologetics Junkie has posted a great article on why a correct process of Biblical interpretation is essential when studying a text. I thought it would be good to link to it in light of my On Reading the Bible (Well) series.

The article explains why Christians in America should not believe 2 Chronicles 7:14 promise of a healing on the land apply to America.  This verse is often taken out of context and Christian's misinterpret the verse in a How Does This Apply to Me Hermeneutic. Instead, we should use a What Does This Teach Me About God Hermeneutic. If we realize the Bible is about God, then we will often avoid the trap of mistaken interpretation.

A correct interpretation of this verse and it's larger context does not mean God cannot heal America's land, but rather that God has not promised this to America there.  He certainly can heal our land, but a correct interpretation of the passage would caution anyone to be certain of this.

On Reading the Bible (Well) pt 1

Too many of my students have no idea how to read the Bible (well). Unfortunately, this is not limited to younger students, but most people don't read the Bible for all it is worth.

We have privatized our religion so much we do not understand the principles in the Bible are meant for everyone, not just a subjective interpretation. We explain what the Bible means in light of what we already believe, or in light of a wrong interpretation because of our cultural influences, not the intended culture.

There are so many examples of this it is hard to pick just one, but if I must, I must.

Today's culture loves to say we "want to be on fire for God." I have no problem with people wanting to be on fire for God. In fact, in light of what that means in today's society, I think being on fire for Him would be a very good thing.

Unfortunately, we should not let this kind of cultural context skew the principles set forth in the Bible.

In Revelation 3:14-22,  John writes the words of Jesus to the church in Laodicea. Christians commonly misinterpret this passage and come to what can be a disastrous conclusion based on this misinterpretation. The main verses in question are 15 and 16:

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth!"

The common interpretation of this passage is that God wants us to be "on fire" for Him, or not for Him at all. Can you see where our cultural influence comes in? Do you think all cultures have used "on fire" to mean spiritual fervor for God? Is God really saying He would rather have people against Him completely, then to mess up and only try to follow Him sometimes?

Horribly, believers have bought into this interpretation of the passage, but this is probably not what it means!

Laodicea was a landlocked city. They had no water source of their own. Because of this they needed to pipe in their water from two nearby towns, Colossae and Hierapolis. The water in Hieropolis was warm and used as medicine. It came from a natural hot spring. The water in Colossae was cool and refreshing. You might think of a cool mountain spring.

Laodicea did not have either warm or cool water. Instead, by the time the water reached Laodicea, it would be lukewarm and nasty. This is the kind of water people might actually spit out.

With this in mind it makes much more sense to see the passage as meaning we should stay close to our source (God) and do the job he has given us. We can be people who are refreshing, or people who heal, but if we stray from our source (again God) we will become lukewarm and nasty. Does God want us to be "on fire" for Him? Of course, but He also doesn't say he would rather us be against him if we are not "on fire."

The study of this passage has made it obvious we need to be more careful to interpret passages correctly, in the context they were intended.

In part two we will learn the easy steps to remember what to do in studying a passage.