In a world full of points of view, how can you possibly know what is true?

Its been a bit longer than I hoped since my last reflection. Things have been a bit crazy but it feels like the pressure is finally easing off a bit and I’ll have some more space to do life.

I was told last week that I would receive credit for the work I have done with Fusion and Arrow towards my Masters in Theological studies which means the current two courses I am doing will be my last. Its a good feeling to see the end in sight!

One of the things that has really stood out to me during my studies is the plethora of different points of view there are on any given subject.

As my friend Michael pointed out following my last post, there are many people who don’t agree with N.T. Wright’s position on the rapture (that its more about Jesus coming to earth than Christians being sucked up into the sky). There are even more who don’t agree with his position on Justification (John Piper and He have both written books in opposition to each other). Of course this is just an example.

A friend sent me this link a few weeks ago and asked what I thought. Its worth looking at briefly but don’t waste too much time…

The truth is that I was a little shocked that people like this guy existed, and were able to make claims like this about “the elites”, as though all the rich and powerful regularly met to plan and cooperate – which even a cursory glance and American politics will demonstrate is ludicrous. I realize I shouldn’t be surprised in a world that boasts people like  American Evangelist,  Peter Poppoff who gets rich selling “miracle manna,” and then of course there is the wackos from Westboro Baptist church. These are more extreme examples of the N.T. Wright vs John Piper dilemma, but again it begs the question, how is it possible to know truth?

I can’t think of a single idea in the whole gamut of possible ideas, religious or otherwise, that is universally agreed. So should we give up searching?

I mentioned in my response to Michael that I wanted to explore a new kind of Hermeneutics (a fancy word to describe the interpretation of scripture). Most of what you learn in Universities are ideas that have been through a peer review process based on evidence. This is great for things that are measurable (although even then things that you think should be straightforward aren’t always), but what about things like theology that inherently deal with things that are bigger than the human brain can grasp?

I was struck a couple of weeks ago by the description of wisdom and folly in the book of Proverbs.

Wisdom is personified in Proverbs 9:3-5:

She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city,
“Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
“Come, eat my food
and drink the wine I have mixed.

Folly is personified in Proverbs 9:14-17

She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
calling out to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way,
 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
“Stolen water is sweet;
food eaten in secret is delicious!”

I’m a bit slow I know, but I only just realized that both Wisdom and Folly use exactly the same words, trying to attract exactly the same people. The point is that sometimes its very hard to tell the truth from the lie.

The whole point of the book of Proverbs is summed up in the passage that sits between the two word pictures:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
(Proverbs 9:10 NIV)

So the assumption is that wisdom comes from knowing God, not from debating ideas.

But what happens when you sincerely think you are hearing from God and you are wrong?

Well what I want to propose is that the best way to measure theological truth is to watch what happens in people’s lives.

Proverbs tells us that the result of wisdom is that  you will “Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.” (Proverbs 9:6 NIV) It also tells us that the result of folly is that “that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.” (Proverbs 9:18 NIV)

Truth and wisdom produce life, Lies and folly produce death.

Jesus addresses this in Matthew 7:15-20

 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them”

What are the fruits? I don’t think its too big a leap to suggest that one way of describing the fruits we should be looking for are the things that produce life. Paul summarizes one list of fruits as things like: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control.” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)

It might just be me, but I wouldn’t use these words to describe the guy in the video, or Peter Popoff or the people from Westboro Baptist church. At one level its not really fair to pick on these examples because they are more extreme examples.

What I am suggesting is that we need to evaluate the outcomes of our beliefs and actions over a longer period of time and ask ourselves whether they are producing life, or producing death. Are things growing or are they shrinking? One of the things I appreciated about my Dad’s approach to theology was that he was often asking this question and wanting to face where dysfunction lay. This approach led to Fusion’s training which equipped many people around the world to take their faith seriously.

How might this work with something like the theology of the rapture? I would like to suggest that a theology that says this world doesn’t matter because its all going to be burned up and we are all going to be sucked up into the sky, produces a kind of “lifeboat” theology that is more inclined to produce a worldview that divides people into “us” and “them” and produces a disregard for the environment. In contrast, a worldview that sees a “new heaven and a new earth” where Christ will reign on the earth with his people, with a direct link between what is done on this earth now and what that world will be, tends to produce a different kind of worldview, one that is more inclined to produce life.

Perhaps instead of debating ideas we need to be judging fruit as the basis of our Hermeneutics?