Speaking Truth to a Skeptical World
1 Peter 3:15
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
If there were a patron saint of our age, a hero or symbol for the times, it might well be Pilate. The Roman politician did his best to find a way to not condemn Jesus, as his religious opponents were demanding. But neither did he want to condone, much less follow, the Galilean. Pilate just wanted to “get along.”
Pilate showed his true colors with his final response to Jesus. When Jesus affirmed that his mission was to testify to the truth and that everyone on the side of truth listened to him, he apparently pushed the Roman Governor’s hot button. Pilate abruptly cut off the meeting, asked, “What is truth?” and walked out (John 18:37-38). Like many today, Pilate could tolerate any religious discussion except “truth talk.”
According to George Barna, a California pollster who specializes in American spiritual and religious attitudes, seventy-two percent of Americans agree, “There is no such thing as absolute truth; two people could define truth in totally conflicting ways, but both could still be correct” (Virtual America, pp. 83, 283). Seventy-one percent of Americans believe that there are no absolute standards that apply to everybody in all situations (pp. 85, 230).
Harry Blamires (The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think, 1963, p. 107),
prophetically observed almost forty years ago:
“Ours is an age in which ‘conclusions’ are arrived at by distributing questionnaires to a cross-section of the population or by holding a microphone before the lips of casually selected passers-by in the street.. . . In the sphere of religious and moral thinking we are rapidly heading for a state of intellectual anarchy in which the difference between truth and falsehood will no longer be recognized. Indeed, it would seem possible that the words true and false will eventually (and logically) be replaced by the words likable and dislikable.”
Barna also discovered that fifty-three per cent of those who claim there is no such thing as absolute truth identify themselves as born-again Christians (p. 83). Forty-two percent of those who identify themselves as evangelical Christians agree that there is no such thing as absolute truth (p. 83). But that is only part of the problem.
In July of 2000, George Barna’s research group released a revealing study on what American Christians believe. Barna summarized his study,
“We found that almost nine out of ten adults believe they know all of the basic teachings of Christianity very well. But when you explore what they think the Bible actually teaches, as we did in this study, many theological inconsistencies and inaccuracies emerge. Unfortunately, correcting people’s mistaken assumptions about Bible content is made nearly impossible by their self-assurance about their beliefs. Even if they are exposed to good Bible teaching they typically fail to absorb that input because they think they already know it all. Changing the errant theological positions of millions of Americans is a very tough assignment."
How did our culture get this point? The journey has taken centuries. Once people tended to determine truth based on what an authority said or what had been traditionally believed. If the king commanded it or a bishop proposed it that settled it. Historians call this the pre-modern view.
A few hundred years ago with the rise of modern science and exploration of the New World, another perspective gained ground. Historians call this view modernism. Modernism contends that one can’t trust authorities or traditions, a person must think for himself and use the principles of science, observation, investigation and experiments to find out what is true. If something can’t be proven in this way, modernism says, then it can’t be true. Skeptics asked, “How the existence of God or the accuracy of Scripture or the moral right and wrong can be proven scientifically?”
But modernism proved quite unsatisfying. If reality is limited to only those things that can be investigated in a science lab, then whole ranges of very important things are left out--such as love, beauty, happiness, freedom, and hope. A science lab can help develop a bomb that will kill millions, but it can’t help decide whether to use it or not. Modernism may help contribute to prosperity, but had little to contribute to happiness. To result was that modernism (the only things that exists are those you can prove scientifically or empirically) led to despair.
Forty and fifty years ago many began to give up on modernism. Many intellectuals of the sixties proposed the strange argument that the only thing that made sense was senselessness. Some even said that the only worthwhile choice was suicide. The experimentation with drugs, the rebellion, and even anarchy of the sixties were also a result of the bad taste that modernism was leaving in the mouths of many.
Obviously most people are not going to choose suicide as life’s best alternative. Many will not try drugs for life’s purpose. What’s left when society has abandoned pre-modernism (the voice of authority), tried scientific modernism (scientific materialism) and found it wanting? This takes us to today. The current alternative is what historians call post-modernism, or what is left after you have given upon scientific modernism.
In its simplest form, this mindset says that trying to figure out right from wrong, truth from deception is just too hard. Some would say impossible! The attempt just leads to hypocrisy or oppression. What’s left is radical skepticism about anything except personal opinion or individual experiences. Different strokes for different folks becomes the mantra. “You do what you want, believe what you want, just leave me alone and I will leave you alone.”
In such a world, the gospel of Jesus and the message of salvation from sin through faith in Christ and repentance toward God are too exclusive, too narrow, and too judgmental. What do followers of Jesus have to say to such a world? Too often, not much! Many post-modern Christians remain silent, clutching their faith, but only as their personal opinion, not as the hope of the world based on the one who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). In the post-modern world, evangelism becomes marketing and Bible teaching gives way to story-telling and experiential learning. These substitutes reign not because they are more effective, as often claimed, but because when true leaves, this is all that’s left.
Some flirt with alternative messages. Some churches offer a therapeutic gospel. Rather than repentance from sin, they offer “self esteem” in sin. For many, even in the church, the most beloved spiritual advice of the day might be termed “the Gospel according to Oprah.” It’s creed—if it makes you feel good or good about yourself, it must be right. If it makes you feel guilty, how can it be good?
The resurgence of interest in “spirituality” is a reflection of the same quest for assurance in a world without certainty. Rather than a seeking after God or Truth in some absolute sense, spirituality has become faith turned in on self. It is experiencing one’s own inner power or force not meeting a God who is really there. Like the Deceiver’s age old lie, such spirituality promises power without God, freedom without responsibility, pleasure without morality and knowledge without truth.
Still others call for signs and wonders as the proof of truth. Such an appeal conveniently seeks to rescue faith from the arena of truth and place it safely in the arena of experience. Who can question experience? As tempting as this may be, scripture leaves us with the haunting warning that signs and wonders can and will be counterfeited by the enemy, especially in the last days (Matthew 24:10-11, 24; 2 Thess. 2:9). Nowhere does the Bible teach that signs and wonders by themselves prove anything. Spirit powers must be tested and discerned. But with no truth, what is the test?
Similarly some measure truth by the level of enthusiasm or emotion that a teacher or leader churns up. In a post-modern world, the one way to distinguish one opinion from another is the intensity of emotion with which it is presented. Of course, this is nothing new. The political and religious charlatans of the world have always depended on such naïve thinking to control their followers.
But unfortunately one of the most popular alternatives is to just mirror what the world says and thinks. So many Christians simply retreat and say with their neighbors, “Different strokes for different folks.” “After all, all religions are pretty much the same, aren’t they?” The only problem—this puts us on the other side of the issue from Jesus who said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
What’s a follower of Jesus to do in such a world? 1 Peter 3:15-16 offers a number of helpful hints—“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."
First, our own commitment must be personal and passionate. Our grip on the truth must be deep rooted and heart-felt. Our faith cannot be a passing fad or the latest quest for self-fulfillment. We must be convinced and convicted. A passionate faith is a contagious faith. But our passion must be for the truth, not just excitement about being excited. Ultimately, salvation comes by grace through faith, not feelings—even enthusiastic ones.
But our faith must also be promised filled. There is nothing attractive about negative, legalistic, hard-hearted religion. It is the “hope that you have” that makes the Gospel appealing. Only as we discover the truth that frees rather than enslaves will we have a faith worth giving away.
But next we must also do the hard work of preparation. Listening, learning, studying and thinking so that we can give an answer for the hope that is in us. Peter’s term for “answer” is the word from which we get “apologetics.” It described a reasoned and appropriate defense of what we believe. A good “answer” requires truly hearing the question and then responding with the truth in the language of the questioner. Paul described much the same process when he wrote, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ “ (2 Cor 10:4-5).
Peter adds a very important ingredient to his formula for truth telling in an unbelieving world. Our hope must be defended with patience and personal piety. He calls “gentleness and respect.” Anger, hostility, and hypocrisy contradict the truth. This is Paul’s advice as well, "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col 4:5-6). Few people care how much we know until they know how much we care.
Of course, the whole process must be thoroughly grounded in prayer. Our arguments, answers, or wisdom can never change a heart. Ultimately only the power of God can do that. But the Holy Spirit uses our words as we proclaim His Word. Prayer is not an excuse for passivity, a way to hide from a world we are not prepared to engage. Prayer is the power that propels into the fray.
Actually, Pilate asked the wrong question. It is not so much, “What is truth?” as it is “Who is truth?” Those who know Christ have met the truth. He is the ultimate revelation of all that is true. Even to a world skeptical about its existence, Christ still offers a truth that sets men free (John 8:32).
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
