Truth is a scarce commodity in our society. This dark reality reveals itself graphically in our current financial crisis. One can listen to television, the major source of “truth” in our society, 24/7 and learn practically nothing about the realities of our financial crisis. Though we hear a lot about Wall Street greed, this accusation seems to be aimed at taking the attention off of the culpability of Congress. One thing is for sure. You won’t get to the bottom of it watching television.
Why has truth fallen? Several forces in our society work hard to knock it down and prevent it from getting back up. One is communication by sound-bite. Whether a newscast or presidential debate, you only get at most a two minute treatment of any subject. In the Bill O’Reilly type format, you might get four minutes comprised of two people yelling over each other. We get no thoughtful, factual development of a topic. The Vice Presidential “debate” last night consisted largely of accusations being made and denied and countercharges being leveled. Just by listening you could learn practically nothing, and to make matters worse you would probably come away believing errors.
For this reason such an event has deteriorated into a “gotcha” game, the highest hope being to hurl a one-liner that will zap the opponent such as the memorable, “and you’re no John F. Kennedy.” Substance comprises a small part of the exercise. We all remember the downfall of Richard Nixon in one of the early television debates. His makeup was not done well. Then there is the issue of style over substance. I recall hearing an announcement at church indicating that the speaker for an upcoming men’s retreat was “one of the great communicators of our day.” It struck me at the time that the concern was not over his content by how well he could communicate it.
This preference for delivery over data hits at the heart of our current election. Barack Obama communicates well. The facts related to his background, platform, and tactics mean little to a majority of the American public. We would rather hear lies said well than truths said poorly. At the heart of the problem resides the difficulty in discovering truth. Truth does not come easy, especially in a world in which people profit from distorting and hiding it. Even in studying the Bible, a book containing pure truth, we have to work hard to grasp the truth. Many have drawn erroneous conclusions from Scripture.
Therefore, in a culture that implements strategies that serve to muddy the waters rather than expose the truth, we have little hope of finding it. Our culture reflects that of Isaiah’s day. “Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.” (Isaiah 59:14) Note the bitter byproducts that accompany the fall of truth. The recovery of our society from its economic, political, moral, and other woes must begin with a thirst for truth that will lead us to adopt methodologies that will reveal it.
Hello Paul,
You have expressed well the thoughts I was having last night as I listened to the debate.
I hope you and the family are doing well and our Lord is blessing your lives greatly.
PS: Pray for us as Pastor Barnett has accepted a calling in Michigan. We are trusting the Lord to provide a teaching/discipling Pastor that helps lead us to the future he has for us. Also, let me know if you would have any recomendations.
Serving Him!
Bob
I agree that we have far too little substance. When searching for a church in our local area a few years back, I was amazed that not only was there little in substance but also there was little to be said for communication. Obviously, the communication, for what little it was, was able to convey enough information to let us know we would not be returning for a second serving.
Recently, during a lesson on God’s will, the speaker informed the listeners in a side comment unrelated to the topic that musical instruments are not mentioned in the NT as a practice in the church and that the only requirement was “to make a joyful noise unto the Lord”. Hence, it is acceptable to have substandard music because it is the message that’s important and not the medium of communication. I almost laughed outloud. I wanted to share the great truth of 2 Timothy to “study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Remember the AWANA youth program? Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. Great acronym! I wanted to share this with the speaker but have realized over the years that many “teachers” of the word are themselves not teachable. Is this the perception of the ministry and ministers throughout the modern day church? Is mediocrity in doctrine and delivery to be the standard? I guess if the slogan is anywhere near the truth, as far as slogans go, then “as the world goes, so goes the church,” then our days left here on earth implicate suffering not only the moral morass our culture shoves down our throat but we will have to endure doctrinal dissonance and brotherly baying at the moon!
P.S. In rereading the thread (which I should have done before posting), I should have added that I grew up being taught by my teachers and professors that the concept of perfection illustrated in Timothy should be something we strive for in all aspects of our lives.