Truth and Unmet Expectations

In my last post I took a quick look at the relationship between tolerance and unmet expectations. When people’s expectations go unmet, sometimes, and these days it seems all the time, the person failing to live up or simply disagreeing is vilified, attacked, and characterized by such pejorative terms as bigot, racist, homophobe, redneck, or just plain old moron. The other side can be equally insulting when using terms like, snowflakes, spiteful, woke, or politically correct. Everyone has a label for everyone else. If you were wondering why this is so, and it is, consider the God given need to be found righteous. It seems to me, even the most ardent atheist needs to think he’s right just to feel good about himself. And if anyone disagrees, no arguments are allowed – no facts need pursuing because someone’s ‘righteous’ label for those who disagree shuts down all conversation. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of people today are not able to get beyond how they feel about an issue precisely because they have decided they are right – period – end of story! So whether you are on the right or on the left politically, or conservative or liberal theologically, it appears feelings trump facts to the point that EVERYONE is feeling righteous about themselves and their views, despite any facts to the contrary. Someone told me recently that ‘perception is reality.’ Maybe so, but that doesn’t dictate that the perception is TRUE! Too many are increasingly closing themselves off to correcting wrong perceptions with facts. So almost daily we are confronted by those who say, forget the talk and “do what we say,” or else! If you do not capitulate, you become a ‘trigger’ sending the ‘self-righteous’ scurrying to their safe spaces. Family members are written off, even among Christians because of passionately held intractable positions about almost anything. It takes little thought to venture out to accuse others as WRONG (even evil) when one has already decided IN HER OWN MIND THAT SHE IS RIGHT (is using ‘her and she’ pronouns in this sentence offensive? Maybe I need to consider others’ feelings). I’ve been amazed that in a society awash in relativism that anyone would decide that his or her opinion (or the opinions of their defined group) was the only valid one. Such thinking is not only logically inconsistent (who cares about logic anyway), it completely stifles meaningful dialogue about something called truth.

Years ago, Apologist Francis Schaeffer, realized the potential difficulty with an individualized, subjective approach to truth when he coined the phrase, “true truth.” He had to because some were already teaching in the 1960’s that truth was unknowable. A couple of thousand years before that, a Roman governor in Palestine called Pontius Pilate, reacting to Jesus’ claim to bear witness to the truth, asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38) We remember Jesus’ earlier claim in John 14:6 proclaiming, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” As Christians we have a whole body of objective truth, founded on the “prophets and apostles with Christ as the chief cornerstone,” (Eph. 2:19-22). Psalm 85 weds salvation, mercy, truth, peace, and righteousness: “9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 Yes, the LORD will give what is good; And our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway.” (Psa 85:9-13 NKJ)

Scripture is God’s revealed truth and the place to go to best understand human the human condition. Society’s rejection of a biblical (Christian) world view has catapulted American society to the brink of chaos. I’m not sure where I heard it, but someone wiser than I am postulated that everyone craves righteousness. The expectation for anyone who believes he or she speaks truth allows no quarter for disagreement because the ‘truth speaker’ claims his or her truth speech is righteous! The contrarian then becomes, as theologian Michael Horton said recently, one hundred percent enemy. What should we expect from those who ‘minds’ are righteously made up, EXCHANGING GOD’S TRUE TRUTH FOR A SHORTSIGHTED PERSONAL FEELING? Alleged unbelief in science, matched with an alleged belief in blind faith are used to characterize Evangelical Christians as ignoramuses who have checked their brains at the door. It doesn’t matter that it is not true. The self-righteous have pontificated and dismissed ANY view but their own! Does anyone else think these self-righteous purveyors of ‘their truth’ do exactly the thing they accuse Christians (or anyone else who sees things differently) of doing? Here is the scandal: The ONLY expectations that count in our present atmosphere are those of the individual and his or her narrowly defined group – period – end of story! How sad to disallow learning, to dismiss true truth, and to require unqualified obedience in a completely unveiled attempt to crush those who disagree. Ad hominem attacks leave no room for facts, or for logic, or for the expectation that human beings can once again practice civility in a society where the only ‘right’ is what’s right in the eye of the beholder.

If you have read this far, thank you! I don’t want to end this post in cynicism. I truly EXPECT there is a way forward, stronger, I KNOW their is a way forward! But first, understand that the solution is NOT that we all abandon our God given moral code revealed in the Bible in some ill conceived policy of appeasing those who reject God’s existence, or define Him in their own image. Yes, Scripture teaches that God is love, but it also teaches that God is a God of justice and must punish mankind’s violation of HIS holiness and character! The solution, which will come as no surprise to those who follow Christ, is the Gospel. God created all things, including you and me. His love was so deep and profound for us, His wayward creation, that He gave His only begotten Son, who lived a perfect life, died an unjust death taking our unrighteousness upon Himself at the cross, granting to those who trust in His finished work His own righteousness on their behalf. Jesus then rose again from the dead to PROVE that HE is the Savior of all who will turn from their wicked ways and trust in Him alone. Christians know this while the ‘world’ around us does not. We can’t win them over with marches, or legislation, or riots, or boycotts, or by compromising the Good News. This solution must be applied to the mind and heart one person at a time, as one beggar tells another beggar where to find bread. As Jesus explained to His disciples 2000 years ago, we, as Christ followers, are to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ”””20 “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Mat 28:18-20 NKJ) I expect, that is exactly what God is expecting us to do, and I KNOW that is exactly what HE is doing in the midst of this present chaos!