This work week seemed to go by very quickly. It seems that it was only a few hours ago that it was Monday afternoon and now suddenly it’s Friday evening. I have to wonder just how much faster time will seem to fly as I get even older. But they say that time sometimes seems to go very slowly for some of the elderly…those who are infirm or alone. I guess it just depends on one’s perspective.
Speaking of that, I read a blog a few days ago where the writer was talking about absolute truth and our inability to perceive much of it. I agree. There is absolute truth everywhere, but we have difficulty perceiving and understanding it without the biases of our life experiences, perceptions, and incomplete knowledge base. Each of us has our own reality in a very “real” sense. What is reality for me may have no basis in your life experience or knowledge base. The miracle of it all is that we get along as well as we do in spite of our biases and prejudices.
So where does that put the absolute truth of God-breathed words, as many Christians consider the Holy Bible to be? What do we do with that truth? How do we process it? How can we correctly interpret and make useful that truth given our biases, prejudices, and incomplete knowledge? How can we possibly know, as Jesus says, “The truth, and the truth shall make you free?” How can we all agree when we all have different realities to which we relate and in which we live?
I don’t honestly know the answer to this because to take this to its logical conclusion is to admit that we are hopelessly lost in a morass of human frailty and ignorance. For I suspect that we will never in this life know the pure and unvarnished truth of God and His Word, Jesus Christ. I also suspect that the grace of God is covering a whale of a lot of incomplete and inaccurate interpretation and understanding of that truth. But I also suspect that God knows all of this and makes allowances for our fallibility as well as giving us the promise that one day, we will know just as we are known (Paul in the first Corinthian letter).
1 comment:
Just a couple of comments. One: time passes quickly or slowly depending on one's busyness, or so it seems to me. Two: For me the ultimate truth is found in following the teachings and example of Jesus. Of course this requires the reading of His life in the Scriptures, so if that's not one's bag, then ultimate truth will escape him/her. That's my line.
WDK
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