Apologetics & Authority, or, truths vs. Truth

i am currently undergoing the strange contortion that i'm sure all alumni of an institution of higher learning undergo in the months following their graduation. i read my news streams and hear chatter and get grapevine-fed tidbits of school starting up, the class schedule gauntlets and the excitement of being on campus. and i'm not part of it; this is the first season in 16 years that i won't be going to school.

it's a bittersweet feeling.

i loved school. not just witt, but every level of it: k through 12. it was always a journey--let's discover something, let's get to the heart of a matter. let's learn something worthwhile, and perhaps we'll even contribute to the world around us in the process.

in school (and in much of life i suppose), there is a nice little safety net we all cling to when we find it. i can't pinpoint exactly where it starts, but sooner or later every student realizes the power of rhetoric and apologetics: i can say, believe or do whatever i want as long as i provide a convincing argument. it's the haunting allure of that equalizing field: it's my opinion. it's how i see things. as long as i can back it up with something, i'm in the clear. good to go.

everything is true. live and let live.

but what about the time-tested observation that those who don't stand for something will fall for anything? am i imagining a parallel there?

~

i recently took a weekend trip to philadelphia where i got to attend church services as the mt. airy church of christ. a quaint storefront shop and a welcoming crowd made for an enjoyable morning--nothing fancy, genuine. the preacher, James Baker, made several good points; but none of his statements stand out as much as this: in order to silence a Christian, all their debate counterpart would need is to discredit scripture.

just discredit the book.

as a Christian, this book of God's divine inspiration ought to be my final source of wisdom, advice and guidance. such an absolute stance can be daunting by worldly standards, especially when interacting with other people. whether they're 100 miles or fractions of millimeters from my own beliefs or lifestyle, i try to love people the best ways i know how. i look for God's handiwork in their lives, and i always find it. but i also can't ignore their sin--my sin--everyone's Sin. i hate the pervasive corruption we all fall prey to at some point in some form.

here's the rub: each person, myself included, is inclined to construct their own argument for the way things come out and how they live, their versions of how to "do life" best: it's free choice. it's my will. it's my life.

it's my truth.

the simplified issue is this: as a follower of Jesus, i proclaim God's word as truth. that means whatever opposes or strays from God's word is, yes, wrong.

i can be wrong.
you can be wrong.
but God's word cannot be wrong.

and that black-and-white approach doesn't jive at all with today's think-what-you-want, do-what-you-want, everybody-can-be-a-little-right mentality. after all, why can't everybody get a ribbon in the truth competition?

the unpopular reality is this: when i uphold God's living and active word as capital "T" Truth, i imply someone else is wrong. i'm not attacking individuality here. i'm just wondering out loud: by what sort of standard does any given person measure his or her life?

in other terms:
multiple truths = no Truth

i will be the first to admit that i need more boldness in this area of my walk with the Lord, but a Christian needs to stand unwaveringly to biblical teaching. the Bible is exhibit a. our only evidence in the realm of apologetics on life. if the world can truly discredit my God's word, then i lay down my arms and submit defeat, admitting that what i believe as Truth is just another truth.

but God's word, His law and the scriptures, must be discredited first.

until then, i trod forward by what i read in the Bible: "all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (II Timothy 3:16). this book ought to be my morning cup of coffee, my late night phone call, my psychiatrist's couch, my agenda and balance sheet. God's using the realm of symbols and paper and translations and semantics to impart His love, grace and will into my life. who am i to not listen?

so what else does exhibit a got going for it? well, it didn't come from just any given earthly world view--Paul explains this to Timothy when he says, "for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1:21). yes, real dudes wrote the Bible. they were caught up in their own lives and their own messes. yet isn't it uncanny how scripture reverberates and echoes itself, amplifying and reasserting again and again the themes of God's character and the gospel of His call to obedience as a beloved child? that's the Holy Spirit for you: a presiding editor to every writer's pen as they constructed the earliest versions of scripture.

no wonder that God's words are "living and active," then; i read the words or share them with a friend of any given background, and we get right to the heart of our deepest-held secrets, those elements of Truth we all try to hide behind our truths. scripture "discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

you must admit, that's scary as all get-out. every day we craft little truths for ourselves to make our egos as comfortable as possible. "it's completely natural to have these thoughts." "i'm sure God doesn't care about such and such." "i can make it on my own."

but a rational argument for any sort of Truth doesn't hold up to "well, that's just how i see things." and therein lies the beauty of living life by the Lord's word: while the world advertises a self-authority, our authority as Christians is based in something outside ourselves. something everyone can experience, something everyone can read through and live by and reflect on. they aren't my arguments, they're God's (John 16:13). you don't disagree with me necessarily, you disagree with my argument which is founded in God's holy word (I Thessalonians 4:8).

Paul sums it up nicely: "and we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place... knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, by men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (II Peter 1: 19-21).

a person's truth comes from within himself or herself. but Truth comes from God, and that Truth never changes. God doesn't change (Malachi 3:6), and He never will (Hebrews 13:8). no wonder it's hard to knock exhibit a down.

"just discredit the Book."

the stickiness that comes with exhibit a lies in projection reading, or rather, reading what you want to out of God's word. instead of wrestling and assessing and working towards change in one's life, it's so much easier to twist God's language, take it out of context or misinterpret/skew the words until the Truth looks much like one's own subjective truth.

we continually face this temptation: to make the gospel of Christ a gospel that suits our needs, circumstances and conveniences. Paul warns the Galatians about any "different gospel" that detracts from what God is actually saying, "not that there is another [gospel of Truth], but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ" (Galatians 1: 7). we've got one source, one piece of evidence for our apologetics and authority on life, but there sure is a lot of commentary and appendices that tend to surface.

i'll be the first to admit that i have been stirred and inspired to deepen my faith from some of this commentary: C.S. Lewis, A.W. Tozer, John Piper and a handful of other authors come to mind. but if i start relying on these as my primary sources, i run the risk of drifting farther from God's intended word. i could encourage anyone to read "Christian" literature, but it better be done with exhibit a open right alongside for the final say on any matter that may arise, lest we start seeing the Truth contorted and blurred (2 Peter 2:2; 3:16). this is the womb of "christianese" coming out of cultural christianity, which seeks to make God relevant to specific generations and demographics by "polishing off the edges" of the gospel to be more "presentable."

as if He and His word weren't, by nature, relevant already.

my thoughts now focus on being more like Christ in regard to His Father's word: when we face decisions big and small in our daily lives (what to wear, how to speak, what we do with our time), we ought to mimic the Lord (I John 2:5-6) and let our Creator's will direct our steps, our lunges, our hobbles, our crawling, our skips and our trudging. Jesus faces terrible temptation, and his only weapon is the will and word of God (Luke 4:1-13). what a powerful example to follow and imitate.

may we never settle for a man-made truth but continually seek God's Truth in our lives.

√ed

i take them for granted more often than not, but when i take the time to mull over their stature and their form, i am fascinated by trees.

take something small. vulnerable. surround it in an environment that it is designed to thrive in: all the right nutrients and support it needs. it digs deep with roots it needs to attain adequate energy from the ground, and slowly… it grows. sprouts. shoots up, and begins to gather more energy, now from the sun. its whole existence is wrapped up in reaching higher and closer to the sunbeams it feeds on, and as it grows up—it also grows down, plunging roots deeper still.

and eventually, there’s fruit. the next generation of tree, the genetic striving the little flora has been after all along.

i see and contemplate the tree, and i see myself. i see us. i see the human condition.

i often shrug off (or outright avoid) the hokey inspirational shots of tree-filled meadows, glades or forests that somehow tote loosely tied-in quotes, scripture or encouragement in the corner of the frame. the process of tree growth—though more difficult to capture in a single image—now that’s what i find holy.

from this fascination, i come to a question that i find i ought to ask of anyone i truly care about, and i’d give the advice to anyone whose eyes happen across these words to ask this question of those they invest emotional fondness in as well:

where are your roots?

and then: how deep are they? where’s your energy source? are you working to grip deeper into that earth? is it even the right soil the tree of your story needs to be drawing from, or is a transplant in order?

i’m certain many will ready this and consider, “well i don’t really think i’m ‘rooted’ per se, i am much more of a take-it-as-it-comes, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants or go-where-the-wind-takes-me kind of person.” false.

again, i say false. it is the way we work—call it design, call it evolutionary structure, call it a need for consistency in a human life. the fact remains this: we all have roots. the matter is where they find a base.

the soil available in this day and age is abundant and diverse. where will you derive your nutrients, the stuff that will make you grow and give you energy?

money. family. awards. knowledge. adventure. control. recognition. victory. creativity. physical thrill. nature. beating the next guy. these and untolds more fuel any average American today.

but which of this makes me grow, truly? am i fulfilled? do i grow naturally, beneficially for my own existence? or do i twist and warp and deform my purpose and the best way of living life to occupy the soil that I think is best, that I see fit?

the human spirits comes equipped with roots, roots meant for a loving relationship with a radical King and Father that shaped us as such. Paul attests to this idea, using the concept of slavery rather than botany:

“do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience [to the Lord], which leads to righteousness. but thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart…and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:16-18)

in this excerpt, we see the truth of our own lived experiences: we present ourselves as slaves when we make ourselves vulnerable to something—when we send down roots into something. even if that “something” is our own selves, our own will.

the scary part is this: Paul draws a pretty definitive, divinely-inspired line here. either you get death from planting your life in sin (aka anything but God’s will for your life, aka anything except God), or your get life and goodness and the way things were meant to be by planting yourself, your hopes, your dreams and goals and aspirations and fears and worries and headaches and wonder and awe in a God who fashioned all those very things in your soul to begin with.

a return home. set to default. roots in their proper place.

Paul goes on in Romans chapter 6: “but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life” (vs. 21-22).  

did that come in clear? when we lay down roots in anything but God, we end up feeling ashamed… the bury your head in your own misery, the sand, the pillowcase until you can’t hear the own disappointment in yourself shame. the “yes, it was me, i did that unthinkable evil, i stole the cookie from the cookie jar, i directly disobeyed just for the heck of it” kind of shame. we so often believe, “if i can just have this body/car/child/spouse/accomplishment/job/thing/entitlement, then everything will be great. yet when it’s for our own ends, when we live with roots on things below, we quickly run out of sufficient tree food for our souls. we tire. we fail. we buckle and break and cry and sigh and glance off into the horizon and wonder,

“really? this is what my life is about?”

indeed, a transplant is needed.

the ball’s entirely in our court. it always has been: in fact, God’s divinely-inspired author focused on the trees which symbolized how we plant our own roots today in the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:9). but that’s in the second part of verse nine—look at 9a: “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food.” the source of our choice come from the Lord, and the ability to grow—regardless of what kind of tree we choose to be, regardless of what kind of roots we set—also comes from Him. the weight of this is incredible. it means that, even when we turn our back on God (“while we were yet still sinners…” Romans 5:8), even when we curse His name, He gives us the breath to do so.

incredible—radical—love.

and so each of us must make a choice: continue in deviance to the Ultimate Being and Loving Father, roots firmly planted in misery and self-affliction, or transplant our roots into His grace and love, watered into His Son’s death through baptism and living faithfully as we continually are shaped in trunk and branch to best receive the rays of His light.

that’s what makes us truly grow.

but this is not a one-time choice. look at what Christ says: “if anyone would come after me [aka if anyone would plant their roots in the right place and experience abundant life a la John 10:10], let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). because of Christ’s sacrifice, we get to choose where we plant our roots every moment of every day; it’s not a one-and-done thing, but a way of living.

this is why Jesus reminds us that we as spiritual trees will “bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). and as our roots grow deeper in His love, our branches extend more and more to those lost and broken in the attractions of the world. with roots above in God Himself, we send our branches below, here on this earth, in the form of all the good fruits He has planned for us to yield (Galatians 5: 16-25). i imagine this image, an inverted tree with its roots in unseen glory of the Father and its branches bringing fruit to the barren world below, might display what Christ had in mind when he said, “you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. these things I command you, so that you will love one another” (John 15: 16-17).

Morgan Freeman’s character in The Shawshank Redemption makes a similar philosophical remark on our growing nature as humans/spiritual trees. Red asserts: “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” the statement rings true for our spirits each day we decide, consciously or otherwise, whether we’re growing our own tree with roots in Christ’s tree, the cross. there is no such thing as stagnant faith: our actions, our thoughts and our beliefs either grow or decay every day—just like a tree.

and how can we ever stop growing and learning and building rings, year in and year out, when we have a perfect example to strive toward (I John 2: 5-6)? we are designed, indeed expected, to grow; we see it in the parable of the barren fig tree (Luke 13: 6-9). no suspended animation allowed; as time marches on, so does the tree’s natural processes of growth. and we must march on too in our faith lives, whatever soil that faith is planted in, for better or worse, either “planted by streams of water” and “yield[ing] fruit in season” or “like chaff that the wind drives away” (Psalm 1: 1-4).

my hope and prayer is that we all take the time to observe and carefully identify those fruits that pop up in our lives and draw the connection back to the roots that make those fruits, good or bad, possible (Genesis 1:11; Matthew 12:33). from this, we might ask ourselves: how am i growing, or how am i decaying? where can i go back, count the rings of the trunk, and see where God has encouraged and pushed my growth? and is the fruit i produce leading to shame and pain, or life and glory in God?

may we always be rooted in the soil of our Father’s will, the only soil from which we can continually drink and tap without His love and providence running dry.