Submitted by Andy McIlvain.
One of my favorite TV shows is The X-Files. In my opinion, it is a classic like The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits and Night Gallery. To quote from Wikipedia, “…it turned into a pop culture touchstone that tapped into public mistrust of governments and large institutions and embraced conspiracy theories and spirituality.” The program had many taglines. Two of the most popular were: “The Truth is Out There” and “Trust No One.”
We hear a lot today about truth and what is actually true. Clare Grafik of London’s Photographers’ Gallery said during a recent exhibition about conspiracy: “There’s a sense now that, if the world doesn’t fit your view, you can create your own reality through the web, where forums foster enclosed debates. You no longer have to subjugate your own opinion to the realities of the world.” On the other hand, Archbishop Charles Chaput says, “Truth exists, whether we like it or not. We don’t create truth; we find it, and we have no power to change it to our tastes. The truth may not make us comfortable, but it does make us free.”
God reveals himself in nature and has made all people in his image (Romans 1:18-23) and reveals himself also in the human conscience (Romans 2:14-15). God in his common grace has made truth accessible to the entire human race. It is common ground.
From the very beginning Jesus has been the source of all truth (John 14:6, 17:17). His accommodation to us in the form of the divinely inspired written Word has been the revelation of that truth. Nothing that we can say, do, ignore, deny, or imagine will alter absolute truth. The ultimate reality and power of truth are found in God and Jesus Christ and nothing or no one else. Until Christ’s return, in which all truth will be revealed, we as Christians bear witness to the truth.
God created us to be comfortable in our skins, in the culture and in our language. We need to be involved in our culture. We are in the world and not of the world; we are pilgrims. Through Christ we can speak both the truth and love, because he is love incarnate (1 John 4:8). We must be prepared in our daily lives to ground our point of view and our faith on the unshakeable foundation of scriptural truth. Alexander Solzhenitsyn said it well, “One word of truth outweighs the entire world.”