Truth for now ∙

Truth for now ∙

The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous so that justice has become perverted. – Habakkuk 1:4

Isaiah 59:14-16

 14 Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.

 15 Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.

 16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.

In 1976, Francis Schaeffer published How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture. It is an overview of the rise of Western civilization from the time of Rome until the 1970s. Could it be that what we are witnessing today is the fall of Western civilization right before our eyes?

One of the threads in the book dealt with philosophy and the nature of truth. In the book, Schaeffer explains the two kinds of truth: Absolute Truth and relative truth. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the German philosopher, who lived from 1770 – 1831, postulated an entirely new philosophical perspective on truth which he called dialectics.

Dialectics traces the transformation of truth over the centuries. He posited that truth is relative and constantly changing. At any present moment, the truth is the current Thesis which explains things as they are. In contrast to the current Thesis, an Antithesis or new point of view is offered. Upon reflection, the Thesis and Antithesis are combined or blended together, and a new Synthesis of the two is postulated. The Synthesis becomes the new Thesis.

The process looks something like this:

     Thesis <-> Antithesis => Synthesis  

                                           Synthesis => New Thesis

                 New Thesis <-> New Antithesis => Newer Synthesis  

    truth for now <-> other truth for now => new truth for now

                                 new truth for now => truth for now

     truth for now <-> other truth for now => newer truth for now                            |

Thus began the transformation of Absolute Truth to relative truth, that is, truth for now.

For children of the King, the Absolute Truth of Scripture can never be compromised. It can never be synthesized.  

John 17:17 Your word is truth.

It is the firm foundation upon which we are to build our understanding of reality and rest our faith.

Matthew 7:26-29 

 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.

 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,

REFLECT & PRAY

Ephesians 3:6 And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.

Father thank You that individuals and people groups who are alienated from one another can be reconciled to each other and become one through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

INSIGHT

The year 2020 gave rise to a great awokening in America with the grotesque and vulgar murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. It was hideous, and people could no longer deny what their own eyes had seen and ears had heard. Racism is alive and well in America. The current “truth for now” among progressives is undergoing extreme perturbation.

Progressivism has moved from “political correctness” and “identity politics” to “successor ideology.” Racism was challenged by anti-racism, and a new synthesis was formed. How much anti-racism is enough, and who decides? The bar was set very high, and insufficient anti-racism was dubbed “anti-blackness.”

Successor ideology has replaced progressive liberalism as the new, virtuous, anti-racist “truth for now.” And everyone, everywhere, is to be in agreement with and yield to the new “truth for now.”

The idea of freedom of thought, speech, and action, fundamental to American culture and society, has been ripped out as the foundation. All points of view no longer deserve an airing in a healthy debate in the “marketplace of ideas.”

This totalitarian mindset is out to punish what used to be called “respectful disagreement.”

“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.” (George Orwell).

Isaiah 59:14-16

 14 Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.

 15 Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The LORD looked and was displeased to find there was no justice.

 16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.

Is there any hope?

Prejudice and hatred have existed in the human race between individuals and people groups since the Fall. Remember, the hostility started with the very first generation born to Adam and Eve: Cain and Abel.  But through the Lord Jesus Christ, there is an answer to everything that separates people from one another.

Ephesians 2:14-18 

 14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us in his own body on the cross.

 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups.

 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.

 17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near.

 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 7-20-2

© Dr. H 2022