Prophecy and The Truth

The day I prepared this week’s talk—October 22, 2021—was the 177th anniversary of the day in 1844 when a small band of truth-seeking believers waited with their prophet William Miller for the second coming of Jesus. They had studied, they had calculated, they had weighed the data, and had (they believed) arrived at the truth. Out of what later came to be called “The Great Disappointment” sprang the shoots of what is now Seventh Day Adventism, a denomination rooted in error, not truth—a fact that I believe should make us uniquely cautious about our proclamations of truth. 

Stated too in our fundamental beliefs is the notion that truth is progressive, that there may be modifications of our understanding in the future as more light is revealed; and that we have no creed except the Bible. Rooted in error and subject to change, Adventists of all people should see the risk of planting stakes of truth. Paul talks about this and the transient nature of truth:

If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.  

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  

Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. For we know in part and prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. (i Corinthians 1-10) 

Knowing only “in part” and that our knowledge and prophesying is transient and ultimately useless, why do we lean so heavily on data, knowledge, and information as the foundation of our truth? 

We can’t study the subject of truth without alluding to the six blind men of Indostan, a poem I learned as a youth:

The Blind Man And The Elephant

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,
who went to see the elephant (though all of them were blind),
that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,
against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!”

The second feeling of the tusk, cried: “Ho! what have we here,
so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,
this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!”

The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,
the squirming trunk within his hands, “I see,” quoth he,
the elephant is very like a snake!”

The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:
“What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree.”

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; “E’en the blindest man
can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!”

The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,
than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,
“I see,” quothe he, “the elephant is very like a rope!”

And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long,
each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!

So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,
tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean,
and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!

If we are to have perfect truth, we must, I would argue, have perfect data, authentic information, complete knowledge. Unless you claim that, you must admit to some error, or at least some incompleteness, in your understanding. Why then do we cling so tenaciously to our truth? Is it possible for us to hang our truth on data, knowledge, information, or even prophecy? 

The meaning of truth is this: It is what corresponds to reality—telling it like it is as opposed to what it isn’t. In their book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Frank Turek and Norman Geisler define six characteristics as essential for something to be truth: 

1. Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independently of anyone’s knowledge of it. (Gravity existed prior to Newton) 

2. Truth is transcultural; if something is true, it is true for all people, in all places, at all times (2+2=4)

3. Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change (When we began to believe the earth was round instead of flat, the truth about the earth didn’t change, only our belief about the earth changed.)

4. Beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held. (Someone can sincerely believe the world is flat, but that only makes the person sincerely mistaken.)

5. Truth is not affected by the attitude on the one professing it. (An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true.) 

6. All truths are absolute truths.  Even truths that appear to be relative are absolute.  (For example, “I Frank Turek, feel warm on November 20th, 2003”  may appear relative truth, but it is actually absolutely true for everyone, everywhere that Frank Turek had the sensation of warmth on that day.)    : 

Is truth related to data? Here we are looking at the truth. Have we been looking for the truth in all the wrong places? Does the Bible contain enough data for it to be true, and to give us truth for our modern time?

The irony is that the Bible is not a place where pat answers are easily found. Despite the objective of most religions to satisfy our need for answers, the Bible is remarkable less for the answers it gives and more for the questions it asks. The God of the Old Testament, Jesus the Savior of the New Testament, and the Apostles share a narrative replete with questions. 

Jesus usually gave one of three responses to questions. The first was to ignore them entirely, as though they had not been asked. The second was to ask a question in return. And the third was to tell a story or a parable challenging the listener to find the answer within it. The straight answer was not his way. 

I believe that Jesus used the Socratic method (teaching by asking questions) because he knew that the alternative—the straight answer, the short, declarative statement, the delivery of data—only allows for memorization and indoctrination. The questions of Jesus reach beyond the intellect and beyond science and its data. They reach to the soul, they establish spiritual dialogue. They are open ended and creative. 

Through science, knowledge is expanding at an ever-accelerating pace. We have so little time to realign our relationship with God on the basis of new knowledge. But if our relationship with God is based on conversation, then time and data are irrelevant. Religion centered upon present knowledge, data, and information will eventually obsolesce. Religion based on conversations with God will remain relevant for ever.

Is the truth really important? Is the truth the destination for our lives? Several years ago, Singapore Airlines had a campaign centered on the slogan: “The journey is the destination.” “Getting there” was such a pleasant experience on Singapore Airlines that it overwhelmed the experience of arriving there. Is that the way truth is? Is finding the truth in the seeking, not in the conclusion? 

Can you live with the journey as the destination? Or do you demand answers, not questions? Is it possible that the truth is the question and not the answer? Last week it was proposed that we cling to the truth because we believe that it confers survival benefit—that knowing the truth helps us survive. Jesus said “The truth will set you free.” How does the truth help us to survive and what does it set us free from? Our knowledge, information, and data are continuously changing. Our knowledge of the world and our picture of God keeps changing. What does that do to our truth? 

With respect to the fallen and broken nature of the human condition, Isaiah tells us: 

 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not understand;  And keep on looking, but do not gain knowledge.’   

Make the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes blind,
 So that they will not see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts,
 And return and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:8-10; emphasis added.)

Is it possible that Original Sin was desire to know the truth, a demand for the destination, not the journey? The Tree of Life, it might be argued, is the journey and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is the destination. Can the truth be in the journey? I believe that for everyone there is a unique and personal pathway to truth, depending upon one’s personality, background, culture, birthplace, lineage, life experience and so on. As new experiences and study add to one’s knowledge, something continues to evolve that leads one on a path toward truth. 

If there is one—just one—big, overarching, all encompassing truth, what is it? What would you pass on, if you could, to your children, to your students, to the next generation of people seeking the truth about God; something that would be true for all people, in all places, at all times? Can the question be the answer? Can we accept that no matter how hard we peer, we still cannot see, and no matter how hard we listen, we cannot hear, as Isaiah said? 

Does every path of truth lead us to the same place? Does every journey lead us to the same destination? Where does that leave us, then, with truth? How will we survive? How will we be set free? What is truth? What is your own personal quest for truth? Are you driven to find the truth? Do you need to find the truth?

Robin: Speaking personally, God’s word is truth but our understanding of the truth does not come all at once. I think it’s a lifetime journey.

C-J: I think it’s always appropriate to ask those questions, especially “What is truth?” But I think truth is always transformational, versus being stuck. When we embrace something—and it can be the word faith: “I take this by faith that you’ll do what you say,” or the larger picture in terms of a belief system that we align with a deity, or the creator. 

But I think there should always be transformation. Even if it’s realizing that we stepped into a mud puddle trying to find a truth, by stepping into the mud puddle we realize what wasn’t truth, and that enlarges our border. So I think it’s critical to always seek truth, and I like finding truth through questions. 

Donald: Adventists have a greater challenge here. I think truth can be more fluid to those in other Christian faiths. As a boy, it was clear to me that we described our way of thinking, as a denomination, as “the truth”—”We have the truth.” That’s just the way it was said. And then we went to proselytize that truth. I think that gets to be very complicated.

I found it very refreshing last week to consider the idea that we just don’t have the capacity to understand truth, period. But we constantly seek it. I think most of us accept that, but it has been a source of confusion to me. For some, this is the context of their faith journey and for them it works very well. It’s quite different from saying: “I have the truth and I need to share it with you and you need to change and become part of our truth.” From studying the Bible with non-Adventist Christians my sense is they find a denomination like they find a restaurant—based on proximity, does it feel good, those kinds of things—but not on truth. But that’s certainly not the way we’ve come to understand it.

C-J: I think the journey is critical to the growth, even if you’re on the wrong path. The journey is very important because the word “wrong” means wrong to whom? The question is: Who is it wrong for? Is it wrong because it does harm? Is it wrong because it doesn’t align with another culture or a different belief system? But the journey is very critical, and I personally believe that every person on this planet, whether or not they adhere to the same belief system that I do, or that we collectively do, is here for a purpose. I believe that we are all created with intention and purpose. 

Some will sacrifice their lives for others, some will live very difficult lives. And we look at that and wonder what kind of God would do that? I think a lot of people struggle with that. But I believe that this is just a blip on the screen. Maybe it’s really a part of an illusion. There are many tears in this thing we call reality that we cannot comprehend. But I think that each person comes to reveal a part of God. Each person, every event, every awareness, internally is individual. It is an opportunity for God to be expressed, even if I don’t understand it or I don’t like it or I I don’t know what to do with it. 

So I think truth is very relative. It’s always in a state of flux. And the ones that really hit me in the face are the ones I say out loud: “What just happened? What’s going on here? What am I responsible for? What are other people responsible for? What can be changed? Should it be changed?” I think that’s God in motion. And when I use that word, “God,” it seems so small as if it’s a block used in building a house. It’s just a word in that sentence, but the true meaning of creative energy and consciousness… I can’t even begin to wrap my head around. 

But the impact is like a stone in the water in a large pond. That ripple! How deep that water is! Is it clear water, will it hit a log at the bottom? Those are the things we aren’t aware of. We don’t know the impact. But they’re all profound, when I look at it from everything that I am aware of, and or how I’m engaged with it, or forced into it.

Dewan: There are three things. Birth, death, and God created this world with seeds. This is truth. The Bible says:

 The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. (Ecclesiastes 12:13) 

C-J: Knowledge without understanding leaves us lacking in terms of building relationships. And if we do lockstep we lose the richness and the fabric. We’re in the right place at the right time, because that’s the way I believe the matrix is. The algorithm is “Be here at this time.” But what we do with that space and time is: I showed up, but there’s a reason I’m in that space and time. And it’s active. 

I believe God is active energy within us, resident within us, opens our eyes, opens our ears and says: “I have a job for you to do here.” Whatever it may be, it might just be a smile to the stranger walking by. It might be much, much more: “Today, I’m going to require your life. That you would save one for the many, I’m taking yours and 10 will live.” We never know what will be required of us. But it’s much more than lockstep, much more than just showing up. Knowledge without understanding is a dangerous thing.

Reinhard: The purpose and the benefit of knowing the truth is to me, spiritually speaking, the same as it was for the Israelites, now and in the future. The word of God remains relevant and valid for all time. That’s what people need to know about spiritual life. We want to live according to the truth about how to live close to God because life here on earth is temporary and we look forward to the afterlife. So everybody, in every generation, from the beginning to the end, needs the truth about God so we can apply it in our life. 

Our daily life must align with the word of God. The destination is the end and the journey is the means—the end will justify the means. The truth about God is absolute. Worldly knowledge and worldly invention may change but the truth about God, and what he wants for us, remains the same today as it was in the beginning and will remain until the Second Coming.

C-J: For me, if I take the word “truth” and set it aside from the traditions of the Christian faith, and I change that word “truth” to “relationship,” it works. But if I look at it as “the truth,” it’s stagnant. In cultural history, the truth then was that God was a wooden statue that lived in a box that they carried with them. But their relationship was something different. And so for me, truth is revealed through the relationship. I agree that we need guardrails. I think the truth is in those stories about right-living, do no harm, be a witness, the 10 commandments, all those things. But the truth, I think, is relationship, not ritual.

Reinhard: Relationship is important—we are social beings. But that’s only one part of our being. We need to know the truth about God because we are God’s creation and we have to follow God’s law. We know that’s what God wants from us, we have to know the truth because the truth will set us free. In the culture I grew up in, we wanted the truth in order to know how to live a good life, how to raise our families. Everybody in this world wants to have a happy family and wants the children to succeed better than the parents. That is universal. 

The truth never changes. It’s God’s law and God’s purpose for us. The word of God, the Bible, has not changed for 4000 years. It shows how God interacted with the Israelites, what was God’s purpose, what he wants from the people—humility, fear of God, worship.

Carolyn: I think the golden rule is the basis for the universal human need. We sometimes get rituals entangled in there, making them seem as important as the golden rule. But sometimes the rituals get us mixed up into judgmental ideas, so we have to constantly go back to the basis of the golden rule—to do unto others, etc.. We all quote and love that scripture, but sometimes the rituals can get us mixed up about what is truth, and lead us astray.

C-J: I think I was misunderstood. I think that relationship with God is transcendental, I should have used that word to preface my remarks. God is transcendental. It’s very personal in terms of revelation. Otherwise I agree: We have responsibility in this domain. 

Don: You’re sitting there, each of you. Do you have the truth? Do you care if you have the truth? Do you need the truth?

Robin: What is the opposite of truth? No one wants to believe a lie. But I think that to say that we possess truth is dangerous ground. I think that bits of truth are revealed as God knows we’re ready to handle it.

Pastor Giddi: We can find truth in the biblical rituals in the sanctuary and the articles that were used in the sanctuary. It leads step by step to the truth. God has revealed his truth as conditions become necessary. The sanctuary truth was not revealed to the children of Israel until they were out of the land of Egypt. But all the truth that has been revealed, has been revealed for our good. We cannot say that the truth that was revealed to Noah is necessary for us, or that the truth that was revealed to the children of Israel at the base of Mount Sinai does not necessarily apply to us.

All the truth will lead ultimately to Jesus Christ. So therefore, every biblical ritual and biblical tradition and custom finds its meaning and the truth in Jesus Christ, To me, it is truth God has revealed. That means God is revealing himself to us. We cannot know about God unless God reveals himself to us. We cannot know the truth unless God reveals himself, and he has revealed enough for us to believe that Jesus is the truth.

David: God revealed himself to Adam and Eve. What truth did they derive from their knowledge of God? What did they know?

C-J: They had the ability to create. I think that’s profound. 

David: But what did they know?

C-J: They knew the place and time in this dimension. But I don’t think they understood the potential in their relationship to grow by leaving the Garden of Eden and becoming creators—co creators—with the divine. I don’t think there was a mistake. 

David: What did they know that was true? What could Adam and Eve have known that was true?

Donald: They knew that God was their creator. 

Pastor Giddi: And they knew that God is truth, that what God said is true. The Bible tells us very clearly they were warned about the liar who was going to come and deceive them. So they had the truth. The word of God is the truth. They had the word of God.

David: How did they know that God was their creator? They knew that there was God because they were in the garden with an entity called God. So they knew there was a God. Beyond that, what did they know? They had every opportunity to ask questions. Did they? Did they have any questions? Apparently they did, but they turned to the snake. Why didn’t they ask God about it? They were perfectly placed to get the truth straight from the horse’s mouth, but they did not. Why not?

Jay: We’re trying to turn the search for truth into an intellectual process. That’s a problem. We think that through an intellectual progression, or deeper understanding, that our brain power gets broadened enough that we find ourselves closer to the truth, or with a better understanding of what the truth is. I’m not convinced that the truth we’re talking about here—the truth, the Truth with a big T—is really about intellectual comprehension. But fallen man loves constructs and wants to make truth-seeking a very intellectual process and a progression. 

One of the foundations I have for “The” Truth is that it’s timeless. And if it is timeless, how do I, born in the 20^th century with way more understanding of science and nature and history, have an advantage over those born 500 years ago? Do I have an advantage to the truth because I happen to be a Seventh Day Adventist and we got a little bit of light that nobody else got? Am I closer to the truth because I was born after Christ was sacrificed, so I know about it? That’s where the dissonance comes in. If there is “The” Truth it has to be timeless, it has to be universal. Approaching it intellectually seems contradictory to me. 

We want to make the truth a very specific, understandable thing. I propose that The Truth is a very broad thing, too unspecific for intellectual analysis. But we want that analysis because the opposite of truth is lie and we don’t want to be caught up in “The Lie.” We want to be on the right side of God, we want to be the sheep, not the goats. We want to make sure that intellectually we understand what puts us on one side as opposed to the other side, but I don’t know that The Truth is amenable to intellectual understanding. It may be founded in relationship, it may be more about a feeling than about an understanding

David: If there is a truth that is close to being universal, it is simply that God exists, that there is a God. That is the only Truth that approaches the absolute. It is not just the result of Christian intellectualizing based upon proofs presented in Scripture. Even Zen Buddhists and Daoists accept that there is some deity, some being, in charge of everything, and it is simply accepted. In the Dao De Jing (the Daoist bible) the presence of a God is simply a given, it is not questioned. There are questions about everything else under heaven, but there is no question about whether or not there is a God, it doesn’t even enter into the discussion. 

The reason, I think, is because it is so obvious that this place is created, so there has to be a Creator. This is the absolute truth. Everything below it is up for grabs and is relative, depending upon your culture and your time and so on. The one and only thing that never changes is the existence of God.

Jay: If we expand on that by defining God as goodness, love, grace, and so on, then the pursuit of goodness, love, and grace, etc., is a very different journey than the pursuit of intellectual truth. 

Reinhard: I think we are hungry for the truth. We live on this earth, our parents want our human needs to be met, but spiritually we are the recipients of a truth that never changes. Human enterprise such as law and medicine is subject to constant experimentation and so is subject to change. But the Bible is proven from the time of the Israelites, its prophecies were fulfilled by the coming of Jesus, our Savior, and Daniel was told the truth will be revealed at the end of the world. Same thing with John in Revelation: Something will happen at the end of the world. 

We are the recipient of lessons already proven in the past in order to gain spiritual understanding. God revealed to Adam and Eve that he’s the creator and we are only creatures. God wants us to have happiness, to have family, to multiply and fill the earth. I think the original plan was for us to have a happy and good relationship in harmony with him, our Creator, living honestly, not hurting others, and speaking the truth.

This has been proved. God talked to the prophets and seers because he wanted to challenge the bad habits people develop—even the kings of Israel strayed from God and started worshipping idols. God sent prophets to straighten them up. God’s purpose is for us to live a good life, be honest, believe in him, and worship him. Man’s life is short but God remedies that by giving us an eternal afterlife. We have to follow the lessons of the past.

C-J: The problem is that we walk in a briar patch. If Christians want to isolate themselves in their community so they’re all of one accord and they’re safe, then they have that as an option. But the 17 people in Haiti who are being ransomed right now and might be killed because they believe in the Great Commission have gotten into a very desperate situation, willfully, by faith. 

Most of us are not privileged or empowered enough to live in a world of our own design. We live in a world that is murky, stagnant in places, slowly dying, unfair, unbalanced,… The list is long. But I think that’s why God puts us out into the world—not just to preach the truth but to be an example. I never liked it when somebody came up to me and Bible thumped. “I have it, you don’t; it has to be done this way.” 

But I’ve always appreciated a kind heart, a forgiving heart, a generous heart that had no agenda. They were just decent folk and maybe they did not align with anything that I might think is evidence of enlightenment. It’s not my job to look at a person and say, “You’re almost there. If you would just adhere to and embrace.” It’s not my job. I think they don’t see it that way, either.

Donald: I endorse what you’re saying. But a fundamental question to me is: Should I believe in the spirit of prophecy or not? Should Christians follow the party line of their particular denomination? There is a prescribed way of thinking (a party line) about the end of time based upon the spirit of prophecy.

Carolyn: If we have the Great Commission and we have the truth, what is our Great Commission?

David: I think it’s to love God and love others. That’s what Jesus said. Why should we follow Ecclesiastes and fear God? How can you fear and love God at the same time? When Jesus said love God and love others he didn’t add an ominous “or else! Remember, I’m a fearsome God and I will deal with you accordingly!” Why would you fear a good God, who has made it quite plain he’s willing to turn the other cheek no matter how badly you behave.

Robin: I just was studying this past week what is meant by “fearing” God. The conclusion that I was led to was that “fear” did not mean “be afraid of” but rather “revere God, be in awe of who God is.” I don’t know why King James interpreted that notion as “fear.”

Don: You’re correct, Robin.

Reinhard: Do we have to know the prophetic message in order to be saved? As 1 Corinthians 13 says, we might know the prophetic message but if we don’t have love,… The key is we have to love God and love others. Salvation is not guaranteed just by knowing all this prophecy—prophecy is only a guide to help us know the future. What we need is a loving relationship with God and with others.

Donald: What is most important: My understanding of the end times, fearing God, believing in God, or accepting God as my Savior? It seems to me the latter is the most important thing. We try to put structure around everything so we can we can organize it and think we understand it. 

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