John 8:31-32

Jesus said to the people who believed in him, You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Friday, February 19, 2010

What Is Truth


So, I suppose if I'm going to call my blog One Mama Seeks Truth, the first thing I should do is to define truth. The idea to start here came from The Truth Project (TTP) that I have been participating in for the past number of months. The idea of truth seems kind of simple and straight forward on the surface, but in our culture it really is not so simple. Take a look at this snippet from TTP asking people to define truth. Apparently it is not so easy! What is your definition of truth?

The 1828 Websters (politically incorrect) dictionary defines it this way: Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be...we rely upon the truth of the Scriptural prophecies."

I was pleasantly surprised with the definitions at Dictionary.com as well, which include:
  1. the true or actual state of a matter.
  2. conformity with fact or reality.
  3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like.
So, for my purposes I'm going to define truth as that which conforms to fact or reality.

Jesus said "I am the Way, the Truth, and The Life..." John 14:6. Why did Jesus come to the earth? in John 18:37 he says "In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth." and finally from John 8:32: "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." These are just three of the many times Jesus mentioned truth. It sure seems that it is important! I want to ask another question here: if truth will set me free, then what is it that takes me captive? There are two things that pop into my mind on this. The first is lies (the opposite of truth) and the second is sin. From TTP: "every sin that ensnares us can be traced back to belief in a lie." or as Romans 1:25 says "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised."

I want to be able to understand truth so that I can be set free from the lies of the world, the flesh and the Devil. I want to know what is really real. I want to know God better everyday so I can worship Him more fully. And finally, to paraphrase something I read yesterday: I want to be able to communicate "truth [so] that unbelievers will become convinced that [I] really have it."

I look forward to having you join me on my search!

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