Two days ago we uncovered the next cultural shift in the US, “secular morality”. We not only defined the term and what to expect now that we are in this new setting, but we also outlined what Jesus-followers need to do in response (expect, prepare and engage). One the expectations we should have is a renewed war on the Christian faith and last week’s Time magazine did exactly that. Likely their most famous cover came toward the end of the last century, all black with red letters asking, “Is God Dead”. They reproduced the artwork with a new question, “Is Truth Dead?”

The obvious answer to both questions is a firm “no”, but the less obvious observation is that they are the same question (John 14.6). Part of the new secular morality is redefining faith-words, and in this case “truth” is subject to “alternative facts”. This may sound like the old mantra “what is true for you may not be true for me”, but it isn’t. In this coming culture, truth becomes whatever we need to be true – even if its false -- in order to accomplish a goal. Take global warming as an example. Believers state the “science is settled” and critics are asking for the facts that are never published. Either global warming is happening, or it isn’t. Both cannot be true. One of these groups is trying to “create truth” to move forward a social or political agenda.

A similar approach is to focus on a single aspect of a problem and not address all of it. For example, pro-abortion rights groups argue that a woman has a right to her own body. Regardless of what you might think of the argument, it is only a small part of the larger issue. What rights does the unborn child have? What about the fact that a life is being killed? Does a woman’s right include using abortion as a form of birth control, or is it a medical procedure that should be reserved for preserving the mother’s life? What does the practice say about who we are as a people, from a moral perspective? There is a larger picture that isn’t addressed by the single argument proponents make.

If we are going to engage falsehood, then we need to identify false or incomplete arguments. Even though many Christians are non-confrontational, not one of us is excused from allowing falsehood to go unchecked when it crosses our path. We may not be able to address every falsehood, but we can show what truth is -- both as an idea and a person. As an idea, truth has many meanings including “conformity with reality” and “honest”. While “truth” can be defined in many ways, it can never be applied to falsehood and it never changes.

Truth is also a person. There is no falsehood in Jesus, something no one else can claim. This uniquely qualifies him and makes what he says important. Did Jesus tell us how to cure cancer? Who to become wealthy? How to win a war? No. What he did tell us is that we are eternal beings and every person who has lived, lives, or will live is destined to spend eternity in punishment for our falsehoods. He also told us how to avoid that fate, which I think is ,more important than any of the other questions he could have answered for us. But that is not the entire message of Jesus, and lest we commit the same fallacy as the pro-abortion groups, we have to tell the whole truth. In that regard I leave you with this quote from J.I. Packer:

To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.