And the Correct Answer is?

It sounds so lovely to say that you follow the Truth. It sounds so clear, so black and white. It sounds so obvious. Why wouldn't you want the Truth? These days, you hear a lot of people saying not so much that they don't want the truth, but more just that there is no truth to follow. "There is no absolute right and wrong. Just because something works for you doesn't mean it works for me. You do what you want but keep it to yourself." These types of statements generally rub me the wrong way. As a science-y person, I really like to find the right answer. I like to follow the equation, plug in the variables, and come out with THE answer. If someone doesn't come to the same conclusion as I do, then that means that one or both of us has it wrong. We should be able to go back and see where we went wrong. So all of this "there is no right answer" type of thought really doesn't jive with the way my brain works.

In the past while, I have started to realize that life isn't as black and white as I would like it to be. It isn't always easy to say without a doubt what is truth. So much seems open to interpretation. People disagree, but everyone (or at least many) have good reasons to think the things they do. In many cases, this is not hugely consequential. However, when we start talking about the big things: God and eternity, life and death, etc, it starts to seem a little more important to get it right. This is where it starts sounding really nice to say that you just follow the Truth. "The Bible right? I just read what it says and do it." I just finished reading the book "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell, and he addresses this type of thinking:

"The Bible has to be interpreted. Decisions have to be made about what it means now, today. The Bible is always coming through the interpretation of someone."

(As I write this quote I realize that it isn't all that amazing an excerpt. I mostly just wanted to give Rob Bell some of the credit for my thoughts on this) The thing is that if you want to do anything with the Bible beyond reading it - such as actually applying it to your life - you need to interpret the words you read and make judgment calls about what they meant and what they mean. And that means that when two people disagree about something, it's not so simple as going back and figuring out who is right and who is wrong. Shucks.

This sounds like I am on the road to saying there is no truth. And that is certainly not what I am doing. I believe that there is truth. It seems silly to me to not believe that. Take evolution for example. (By the way, from a faith perspective, this is one question that doesn't seem very important to me to find the right answer to, even if it could be determined. For curiosity's sake I am interested, but it doesn't affect what I believe about Jesus as far as I can tell) Some people say that over millions of years, animals evolved and became more and more advanced, and others say that God created the world in 7 days. Well, neither of those people were actually there when it happened, but that's not he point. The point is that SOMETHING happened. We got here somehow. Some people didn't get here through evolution and others were created on the 6th day. Maybe both those people are wrong, maybe one of them is, but they are not both right.

So where does all of this get me?

There is truth.

It's hard to find.

That's it? But what about in the Bible where it says, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) "It says it right there, doesn't it? Jesus is Truth. End of story." Well, I guess I would say that is the bottom line. Jesus is the Truth. That is what we need to keep coming back to. But once again we come back to what it is we are going to do with the things Jesus taught, and the things that the people who knew Jesus taught. Well, I don't think we are ever going to figure out the whole truth in this world. I think there will be many situations where I will disagree with other people who are trying to follow Jesus about what he actually meant, or what he would want us to do today. I am coming to accept that as a fact. But accepting that doesn't mean that I don't think there is still truth. It just means we can't figure it out exactly.

So what? Do we just give up since we know we won't get it perfect anyways? No. Knowing that truth exists, I am determined to search after it. (Hey, this sounds familiar, like I've written it before...) I will search and search and search, and I will find some things. And I will probably (undoubtedly) get some things wrong. So will you. But if truth exists, it would be foolish to do anything except for devoting my life to finding it (or getting as close as possible).