Prophets and The Truth

In his seventh “woe” to the Pharisees, Jesus accuses them of the same crimes as their ancestors, which were disrespecting, abusing, even killing the prophets who had been sent by God with special messages. Jesus promises to continue to send messages by “prophets, teachers and sages.” 

Each of these instruments of God has, I think, a different technique, a different style, and probably even different messages. But what they all have in common is that they seek to reveal truth—about the future, about life as it presently is, and above all about God. 

I think herein lies the appeal that prophets have for all of us. What attracts mankind to those who claim special insight is the promise to tell the truth. We are, it seems, attracted by the truth, even hardwired to seek it. No one is instinctively drawn to error and to lies, at least not as it relates to our personal life. I see patients every day who asked me to tell them the truth about themselves: “How bad is it, Doc? Tell me the truth. I want to know the truth, even if it hurts, Even if it’s unpleasant.” We can deal with the truth even if it’s bad. We can’t deal with lies. 

We are drawn to prophets and teachers and sages because we are drawn to the truth. In these characters, we believe, rests the truth. Why do we seek the truth so fervently? And how can we tell if what we hear is actually the truth? There was a time not long past when what we heard and what we were taught and what we believed was singular, uniform, and coherent. Just as we lived in around a 10 mile physical radius from where we were born, so too in the realm of ideas and information: We lived in a very limited circle. 

We were taught what our parents and our grandparents knew. We learned from our teachers what our teachers knew. Our only outreach might have been a book here and there, but books were limited in supply and often tightly regulated. In things religious, we believed what the church told us. Truth was what the priest said it was, what grandmother taught us, and what dad drilled into our heads. 

The world was simpler. The surroundings were quieter. The vision of truth was clear. There was little sensory overload to cloud the truth. Depending on where you were born and lived, your view of the truth was established by your culture, your education, and your life experiences. There was no controversy, no question. You trusted your institutions—your family, your government, your church. 

But things are different now. Truth must be found in a sea of confusion, a storm of ideas, a morass of opinions. With technology and the digital age we live in, information and data have proliferated. Information which, once upon a time, you had to work to get now comes directly into your pocket. Information and data are everywhere. We are swamped with details. Historically, truth was found with seeking. But now everyone wants to impose their truth. 

In short, it was once that you had to find truth, but now truth finds you. But how can you be sure that it’s really true? 

What, in the digital era, is the future of truth? Does God speak through the internet? Is God behind the world wide web? Dictionary.com chose “misinformation” as its word of the year in 2018, and in 2016, Oxford Dictionary chose “post-truth” as its word of the year. 

Sorting fact from fiction, and truth from error, has never been more difficult. Fake news, alternative facts, doctored videos, photoshopped pictures, phony websites, powerful algorithms, Russian trolls, relentless bots. Where can we find the truth? And what is the future of truth, especially the future of the truth about God? Can technology—which has brought us all of this falsehood—be counted on to bring us into truth? 

The Pew Research Center undertook a study in 2017 about the future of truth. They published it under the title “The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online.” They collected hundreds of experts on the internet and digital information and asked them what they thought the future of truth would hold. 

The experts were evenly split on whether the coming decade will see a reduction in false and misleading information online. Those forecasting improvement placed their hopes on technological fixes and social solutions. Others think that the dark side of human nature is aided more than it is stifled by technology. Those who are the most hopeful believe that technological fixes can be implemented to bring out the better angels guiding human nature. 

The report continues:

The fake news ecosystem preys on some of our deepest human instincts: Respondents said humans’ primal quest for success and power – their “survival” instinct – will continue to degrade the online information environment in the next decade. They predicted that manipulative actors will use new digital tools to take advantage of humans’ inbred preference for comfort and convenience and their craving for the answers they find in reinforcing echo chambers. 

Our brains are not wired to contend with the pace of technological change: These respondents said the rising speed, reach and efficiencies of the internet and emerging online applications will magnify these human tendencies and that technology-based solutions will not be able to overcome them. They predicted a future information landscape in which fake information crowds out reliable information. Some even foresaw a world in which widespread information scams and mass manipulation cause broad swathes of public to simply give up on being informed participants in civic life. 

The 49% of these experts who expect things to improve generally inverted that reasoning: 

Technology can help fix these problems: These more hopeful experts said the rising speed, reach and efficiencies of the internet, apps and platforms can be harnessed to rein in fake news and misinformation campaigns. Some predicted better methods will arise to create and promote trusted, fact-based news sources. 

It is also human nature to come together and fix problems: The hopeful experts in this canvassing took the view that people have always adapted to change and that this current wave of challenges will also be overcome. They noted that misinformation and bad actors have always existed but have eventually been marginalized by smart people and processes. They expect well-meaning actors will work together to find ways to enhance the information environment. They also believe better information literacy among citizens will enable people to judge the veracity of material content and eventually raise the tone of discourse.

How do you find the truth today? Where do you turn for truth? Would you recognize truth if it hit you in the face? We have so many sources touting truth and claiming authenticity. Who and what can be believed? What truth is important anyway? Is truth about world events important? Is truth about local events important? Is truth about science important? Is truth about your life important? Is truth about your religion important? Is truth about God important? 

Where do you turn for truth? A prophet stands up and proclaims truth. A message from God must certainly be true, but how do you know that the message is from God? Why do you need an accurate message from God anyway? If you know right from wrong, and if you know God’s will for your life, what additional truth do you really need? Why are we so compelled to seek truth? And how do we know truth when we find it? 

No prophet, no teacher, no church, no religion, claims to be untrue. On the contrary, everyone proclaims that they are the repositories of truth, and may even claim in many cases that they are the sole repository of truth. 

If truth is so important, why is it so difficult to come by and why doesn’t God reveal himself in a less ambiguous way? Jesus had much to say about truth, especially so in the Gospel of John. For example:

 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:17): 

 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)

 “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) 

 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth;…  (John 16:13) 

 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)

Jesus clearly believed, and taught, that truth could be found and that by seeking and finding truth this would be transformational in life. Truth would be what would set you free. And truth would lead you to Jesus Himself. Does truth lead you to Jesus? Or does Jesus lead you to truth? 

We’re talking today about the prophets, the oracles of truth. We’re talking about truth itself—what it was, what it is now, and what it will be in the future. Where have all the prophets gone? Why is truth so obscure? Do you long for a time of simple truth, or does this information explosion of data make your exploration for truth even more exciting? What are your thoughts today about truth and the source of truth and authenticating truth for yourself?

David: We seek truth because, at the end of the day, it is a survival mechanism—both for this life and the next. We want to survive wherever we are, wherever we go. We want to survive as long as we’re here on earth, and we want to survive in the next life too. Patients with an incurable disease still want to know the truth because they want to be able to survive as best they can, knowing that their survival is at risk. 

For sure, there has been a spurt in misinformation, but I think that the need for survival means that in the end, information must overcome misinformation in the same way that good must prevail over evil. In either case—if evil prevails or misinformation (a form of evil) prevails—the result is chaos and destruction and the opposite of survival: Death. 

Don: You see it as Darwinian

David: Yes, absolutely.

Donald: Another word for truth is “perspective.” It sounds like “See it my way” and that seems quite different than “This is the truth.” But your perspective is your understanding of the truth. Nearly 40 years ago I was desperately ill and ended up having multiple heart surgeries. My cardiologist gave me no hope for my future, because he was unclear as to why it transpired and thought there was a fair chance that it could return. 

Fortunately, that cardiologist moved away and I was reassigned to a new one, who took a totally different perspective on my condition. They were both telling me the truth, I think, from their perspective, so I’m not sure about this thing called “truth.” I think that’s why we look to teachers, prophets, and sages. 

There are three or four people in this world to whom I will listen no matter they say, because I just believe and value what they say, even if it is not the perspective I’m looking for, as I value everything about who they are and what they’re about. So when Christ says: “I am the truth and I am the way” we believe that. I’m not sure that that’s the perspective of all world religions. 

So how do we handle this? When we tell someone: “That’s your perspective—that’s your understanding of the truth.” they don’t like that. The truth about the COVID-19 vaccines seems to be totally a matter of perspective. But the truth about creation, life, and existence is about big matters.

Adaure: I think we all have an internal moral compass—conscience, the holy spirit—that affects our understanding and can differ in different people. And when you do receive some form of truth, or, for example, are reading truths about different religions (trying to find one that resonates with you), then your perspective may change. 

The holy spirit guides and counsels everyone differently. Our consciences and our perspective on what is good and what is true develop differently, depending on our cultures and our religions. Even someone who has lived a life similar to mine can develop a totally different perspective on “the truth.” I may never understand their perspective but I have to accept it as their truth. 

Jay: I think we really have to decide whether or not we believe there is absolute truth or not. There’s no doubt in my mind that little “t” truth is time- and place-bound. For example, 300 years ago who would have believed it would become true that people in America could talk with people in India, live, on a screen? It would have been considered impossible. 

Time and place shape what you can possibly perceive as truth. You’re incapable of perceiving anything as true beyond the confines of your time and your geography. As time changes, as your culture changes, as your geography changes, those truths are going to change. The real question then is: Is there an absolute truth that is not bound by perception, which is shaped by time, culture, and geography? Is there a truth that exists outside of that? 

If there is an absolute truth, if “I am the way, the truth and the life” is an absolute truth bound to the essence of God, the real question is: Is it understandable? Because if God is not understandable, then is absolute truth understandable?

Donald: Time is really what seems to modify truth. At least it’s one factor, and a significant one, because our understanding of God has changed radically over time. As time passes, we have to accept new truths, or modify what we thought was true. Does that mean that Christ changes as time passes?

Jay: The flip side of that is: Is there an absolute truth that time cannot modify? What I see as true right now, and what somebody in some other part of the world sees as true right now, may be two completely different things, even though we exist in the same time—because our different geographies and cultures dramatically impact what’s true, what’s  factual.

The question I have is: Is there absolute truth? I think it’s what we seek. We desperately want a truth that is not time-bound partly for survival but also because we really like to be right. We so need to be on the right side, to not be in the dark, not be mistaken, not be fooled. We seek truth so desperately because we just want to know that we’re right. Our dilemma is that absolute truth, if it exists, is closely bound to God and we were not made to differentiate between good and evil, so we’re going to mess that up.

Because we are incapable of understanding God completely, we may be incapable of understanding truth completely. I’m wondering if our desperate quest to understand something we can never fully understand causes more problems or not.

C-J: We can determine absolute truth with a mathematical equation that is consistently proven in a variety of usages. But the question of truth as a concept—something intangible that can’t be measured—is the real question that I hear you proposing. And that goes back to relationship. Relationship is filtered through time and place, knowledge, and understanding; but I think the holy spirit comes in and gives revelation that gets us back on the sidewalk, metaphorically. 

As individuals, you and I have to be open to that. We have to be seeking confirmation and it needs to bear fruit. That is clearly outlined in Scripture as to “Am I out? Can I check off the box? Am I in the right place, or: Am I deceiving myself or is somebody else deceiving me?”

Jay: As Christians, as people who believe in the Scriptures, we have litmus tests for truth, such as “If it bears good fruit then it’s probably true.” I’ve often expressed that sentiment myself. But it’s very interesting that our truth is based upon a scripturally bound construct which we believe, or are drawn to, or for whatever reason subscribe to. 

The real question is: What was truth before the revelation that “If it bears good fruit, then you’re probably on the right track”?  Was that the construct before the scriptural construct was in place? I’m just trying to examine the idea that absolute truth must be timeless, not bound by a religion, and not bound by culture. It has to be something that is timeless in order to be absolute truth, but all we can do is perceive truth through time and perception.

C-J: Because that’s where we are—we’re in this dimension. We can’t avoid it, and it’s going to inform. A book I read about prophets spoke of an anthropological study in (if I am not mistaken) 60 different cultures. The common theme was that all were linked to the survival of our community and the individual through the golden rule—sharing of goods and services and so on. But the bottom line was to do no harm and to have the collective survive. And they expanded from there. That makes sense in light of what you just said.

Donald: I’ve traveled a fair amount, not just to scenic destinations but to some fairly remote places. The absolute truths that I have observed in my travels are that all people want to be loved (and maybe even liked). So that brings to mind family and community relationships. All people want to be treated honestly—all people, I think that’s an absolute. All people want to be safe and warm and not hungry. Those are absolutes. I don’t think anybody will argue with them. But it doesn’t take much to go beyond them, and then everything falls apart. 

That’s true about people. I don’t know what we’d say about God. Not all world religions believe in a Godhead. I think most people do believe that there’s something big that started this world as we know it, though some say they don’t even believe that. I think that there are things that we can believe about each other but I don’t know what we can do with God. Don has often asked, tongue in cheek, Why isn’t the Bible straightforward? Why is it vague. Why does it answer questions with questions? 

C-J: I think it’s a great technique. I love to teach using that method. If I ask a question, and the child says: “What do you want me to say?” I reply: “I want you to think about it. I want you to have critical thinking skills.” I think it’s a great way to teach.

Donald: A great way to teach, but kids don’t like it.

C-J: Because they’re being stretched, they just want to take the test. Yes/no, true/false. What was scripted for them. But I want them to understand it has to become integrated in everything they do.

Donald: Do you want your doctor to respond to your questions with a bunch of questions, then you leave and pay the bill?

C-J: I think those are the best therapists because part of it is letting me know as a clinician, how you perceive yourself, your awareness about your body, the environment that you’re in that will influence those things. The more questions that you can provide clarity for, the better I’m going to be able to help in that process of healing, because we are mind, body, and soul. 

If they just want a prescription, if I were a doctor, I would say don’t come to me—I’m not just going to write a prescription and get you out of there in 15 minutes. I’m going to lean in, and I will ask questions if I need to have clarification. In the meantime, I’m looking at the color of the whites of their eyes, how they’re functioning under duress, their nails. I’m looking at everything while they’re telling me a story. For me, that’s a really good way of teaching.

But I want to go back to the idea of how we interface with one another and with God. Ancient cultures saw the evidence of the planet, the provisions of God, and that was it. God was always present in his provision, i.e., the earth and everything in it. Everything we needed, God provided. The idea of a relationship came later, culturally. All our religions have ritual and superstition, narratives…, all those things are very common. But one of the unique things about the Abrahamic faiths is the mandate to have a relationship that you cannot identify through the six senses as real. Did I hear it? Did I see it? Can I trust what I see? 

I think we are fortunate to have not just the stories, but now a written text and access to phenomenal libraries that help us understand this relationship with what we call the holy spirit, part of the Trinity, that expression of God that we say gives us the only thing that the others don’t: Salvation. Those other gods exist because there’s evidence in this domain. 

We didn’t have to pay for salvation. Others demanded human sacrifice—somebody thrown into a volcano, somebody drugged and killed, firstborn killed because they were without sin, without blemish. But our relationship with God doesn’t require us to sacrifice in that sense. The sacrifice is: “Thy will, not my will.” Salvation, I think, is really unique and profound to other cultures because of survival in time and space. 

As a Christian, how do you communicate that to people who’ve never heard it before, who don’t have any reference? What does “salvation” really mean? Does it mean I’ll never die? What is that about? When you say relationship, I don’t understand how that can occur. I think it’s the holy spirit. Because if somebody came up to me, and I was in a different place and time, I’d be scratching my head. How do you define salvation? Saved from what and for what?

Donald: About 40 years ago a popular song had the lyrics: “Does anybody want to live forever? Say I do.” People were bemused by it. Some people feel this salvation thing is just a story we’ve made up to make us comfortable. I don’t want questions. On the biggies, I do not want questions—I want straight answers!

Jay: Why isn’t the Bible just clear, and why are questions answered with questions? The reason is that we can’t understand. Acceptance of the fact that we cannot understand changes the perspective a lot. We don’t want questions, but guess what?—We are just not smart enough to understand, just not capable of knowing the answer.

Donald: It’s like talking to your dog and expecting it to understand.

Jay: “Hey, dog, derive this equation for me, please.” No, the dog can’t do it. It’s just not in its ability to do that. But it is in our ability to understand or to strive to understand. Across time, across culture, across geographical location, people want their needs taken care of. People need to feel safe. People need to know they are loved. Those things seem to be absolute across the various barriers we’ve talked about and, I think, speak to the survival instinct. At the very basic level, that is what survival is.

If we think that we’re going to understand “the” truth, history shows we are likely to mess it up and—worse—we may do damage to others. Instead of being obsessed with understanding the truth and revealing it to others, perhaps we should be doing something else.

Carolyn: In the Garden of Eden, God had discussed the tree of life and the tree of good and evil with Adam and Eve. There was such a curiosity because they didn’t know. Eve wanted the truth and she perceived her understanding of the truth would come by eating from the tree. They had a relationship with God. They walked and they talked together. Life was so wonderful because truth was just open to them. But all of a sudden it goes right back to that tree that distinguishes absolute truth—if you want to hear it.

Donald: The things I mentioned earlier were present tin the garden: Being loved—Adam needed a companion; Safety—they hid, something went wrong there; They wanted to be treated honestly. Even in the Garden of Eden, human beings needed those fundamental absolutes truths. 

Reinhard: I think the key here is the truth about God (and Jesus, who is the same). They do not change. They were yesterday, are today, and tomorrow will be the same. Therefore the truth about them does not change. In Psalm 119, God’s command is presumed to last forever. We try to come too close to the truth. As Christians, we strive to do our best according to God’s law. 

Of course, culture changes through the advances of science and technology. They make our life easier. In the past, it took months for missionaries to arrive at a post overseas; now, they can reach anywhere on earth in a day. In modern life, we have to deal with all this change surrounding us. But in our hearts and minds we have obey the moral law already in. We already know what to do. We hear fake news but we have the mind to discern the truth. We hear all sorts in the news about religion, about science, about worldly events, about wars. But God provided us with the truth.

Knowing God makes us comfortable. It gives us peace in the knowledge that we will survive in this world and in the life after. That’s what we are looking forward to. In the meantime, we have to deal with all these things. Culture changes, our perception of things changes, but one thing stays the same: The truth about God and his commandments. They remain the same no matter what we do, and as long as we walk according to God’s law, we need never worry about what the future holds.

Bryan: Hearing what everybody has said reinforces in my mind that what I’ve learned to believe is that truth is such a loaded word—that truth is influenced by what you believe and might even be a term used to justify what you believe. I think I believe it because it’s true, but truth is different for everybody. And so in my mind, you need to separate absolute truth, which is the truth about God (which we cannot and will not understand until we get to heaven) and secular truth, which is kind of how we live our lives—bouncing from day to day based on what we what we believe is true. 

Society is in turmoil right now because of that word “truth.” Lines are drawn over it. And so we struggle with the concept, using truth to justify the things we believe in, and how we live our lives, and struggling for what (hopefully) we will discern at some point: The truth about God—which we might not understand until we get to heaven. In the meantime, we struggle with the concept of truth, trying to rationalize it. 

It crosses religions too. Every religion has what it considers “truth” and it gets us into more trouble than it solves, in my mind.

Pastor Giddi: Mahatma Gandhi once said “An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation.” Nor does the truth become an error because nobody says it. Therefore, as brother Jason said, the absolute truth does not change because of the culture or geographical location. The truth stands forever. In the words of Jesus Christ: 

 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:17)

So, the absolute truth can be found in Jesus, it can be found in the Word of God:

God has given us the holy spirit, and he will teach us the truths, and he will lead us into truth, and he will teach us all that we need to learn. So therefore, God did not leave us in obscurity. He has left for us truth, he preserved the truth. 

 The entirety of Your word is truth,… (Psalms 119:160 (NKJV))

Pastor Giddi: What was true for the Catholic Church was not true for Martin Luther. Truth is being restored. As time permits, as it becomes necessary, God restores the truth, and we have it in the word of God, and we can be sanctified by the word of God. Jesus says: “I am the truth, and the way, and the life” and as Mahatma Gandhi said: “An error cannot become truth by the propagation of lies,” or a lie cannot become true and a truth cannot become a lie by propagation, by time, by culture, or by traditions.

Don: If the holy spirit is guiding each person in the truth, would you expect them to all arrive at the same place?

Pastor Giddi: it’s a tough question. I will not say: “What brother Jason has said is wrong. What the holy spirit has revealed to me is true.” We will always be in harmony with one another. We will not contradict…. Not Gods revelations, they never contradict. The special revelation, the generalist, or the progressive relation, one is built upon the other. So then I’m led by the holy spirit, and when brother Jason is led by the holy spirit, we don’t contradict one another.

Donald: We started this conversation a week ago because we want clarification. We would hope that the holy spirit would bring us to one place. But it seems to not be enough. And so we come up with a prophet.

C-J: I think that our relationship with God is unique, like a parent with (say) three kids, each of whom is unique, and how you interface with each individual is different. But I agree with Pastor Giddi that the messaging should be consistent with each of the children. “These are the rules of our house, this is why they’re the rules of our house. We all comply with the rules of the house so that there is harmony.” 

But each child is unique in how that message comes, how that maturity is guided. Some kids just seem to get it: “I got it, not a problem.” Then there’s the child who asks: “But what about this? Why can’t I do that?” You ask them: What are the rules of the house? Why do you think that rule is in place? How does that affect you if somebody doesn’t extend that rule to you?” So it’s not a straight line. But the messaging should always be consistent. If we all claim to be Christians, the messaging is the same. Our stories and our experiences will be diverse, our time in place will be diverse; but the messaging is always “Thy will be done.”

Jay: If the holy spirit is leading us towards absolute truth and if we believe the holy spirit is part of what God is, then I agree it’s leading us all to the exact same spot. I would counter that with: “You probably don’t want to hear where it’s leading us. And it’s not going to be as specific as we would like.”

Anonymous: I agree we should be getting to the same place if we’re led by the holy spirit and believe in Jesus, that he is the truth.

Don: It’s remarkable that that view seems to be contradicted by the reality that everybody’s in a different place while claiming that they’re in the right place and everyone else is in the wrong place. 

Anonymous: Because Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” that is what we need. He’s the way, so through him, we get to the truth—through his truth or through himself, because he is the truth, we get to life. All three cannot be obtained without faith in Jesus. He is the provider, he is the way, he is the accomplisher. We don’t have to understand how he works, but we have to believe that he’s responsible for what he said and we can believe him. So he’s leading. He’s the way, he’s the truth, and he’s the life. That’s all I need.

Donald: Would you broaden that to include God rather than just Jesus? That would cover all humanity, rather than just Christians.

Anonymous: Yes. I believe the first step is faith. Of course, without faith, we cannot please him. If Adam and Eve had had faith in God’s words, they wouldn’t have stepped out and tried something new. But we have to have faith, we have to accept it as coming from God, we have to believe it’s right, and we have to follow it. We don’t have to understand everything. Of course, we cannot understand every step anyway. It is impossible for me to understand. That’s why God simplifies this by giving us a few rules to work on. “Just do this and don’t worry about the rest. I guarantee the end for you.”

Donald: It is not many years ago when we were very comfortable saying “We have the truth!” I don’t know that that’s really changed among lots of people, but some of us are recognizing that others may have the truth too.

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