Does Truth Matter?

John 18:33-38, ESV – So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”  38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

John 8:32 ESV – Jesus said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Truth Matters More Than We Suspect

‘Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by virtue of multiple forms of constraint.  And it induces regular effects of power.”

‘Truth’ is linked in a circular relation with systems of power which produce and sustain it, and to effects of power which it induces and which extend it. A ‘regime’ of truth. – Michel Foucault

Are Truth-Claims Power Plays?

You cannot go on ‘explaining away’ forever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it.”

The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. …

If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.” – C.S. Lewis

The Centerboard Question: What is IN the Truth Claim?

Matthew 11:28-30 ESV– Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

The Centerboard Question: WHO is Making the Truth Claim?

Philippians 2:6-7 ESV – Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV – For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Freedom is More Complicated Than We Suspect

2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Galatians 5:1 ESV – For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Peter 2:19 ESV – They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.

Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor without faith. – Alexis De Tocqueville

Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they need more masters. – Benjamin Franklin

All Discipline is NOT Created Equal

Answering the Pilate-Question: What is the Truth?

To give truth to him who doesn’t love it is to only give him more multiplied reasons for misinterpretation. – George McDonald

1. The Ultimate REASON to pursue Truth is Love

2. The Pursuit of Truth Begins with Two Questions

  • Does it Correspond with Reality?
  • Is it Internally Consistent?

3. Four Questions Truth Answers

  • Origin
  • Meaning
  • Morality
  • Destiny

Why I Believe Jesus is the Truth Who Sets Us Free

John 1:1 ESV – In the beginning was the Word [logos]. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

  • Origin

John 1:3 ESV – All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

  • Meaning

John 1:4 ESV – In him was life and the life was the light of men.

Matthew 28:18-20 ESV – All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

  • Morality

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life….

John 1:4 ESV – In him was life ]and the life was the light of men.

  • Destiny

John 11:25 ESV – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,