Establishing the Source of Truth
Recently, I was struck again by some words of the apostle Paul recorded in his letter to the Colossians. He told them, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. [Colossians 3:9-10 NIV] Here, the apostle pits the old against the new particularly in the area of establishing the source of truth.
Several times over the course of my life, I’ve bumped into situations where people had convinced themselves that the fabrication they had made up was the truth. They told this lie so many times that, for them, it had become truth. In a sense, they had become the source of truth for themselves.
Much more common is the accepting of lies (both untruths and mere speculation) passed on by others. If what they say appeals at the emotional level, the inclination is strong to accept it and pass it on as truth. We want to believe that it is true, so we receive it and repeat it, perhaps hoping that the spread of the idea will cause it to prevail. If enough people think something is true, it becomes true within that cultural context.
People who are naturally suspicious of government and big institutions are quick to accept and spread conspiracy theories. Once they accept these at the emotional level, logical explanations cease to penetrate their illusion. Along similar lines, I knew one elderly lady who was often agitated by what she read in tabloid newspapers. She believed that anything she saw in print must be the truth because, as she would say, “they wouldn’t be allowed to print lies.” She was unable to sort truth from half-truth and that from outright lies because of the premise “they wouldn’t be allowed to print lies” which she had already accepted as true. Most of us recognize that to be untrue. Experience has shown that there are lots of things in print that are specifically worded to deceive. Some are outright lies.
Paul recognized that people have a tendency to establish the source of truth in a capricious way. So, when writing to the new Christians in Colosse, he specifically challenged them to not lie to one another, as was their practice before they became believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Using a literary device, he told them such things belonged to their “old self” which they had taken off. Now, they had put on a “new self” which is based on an ever increasing knowledge of God Himself.
Paul pointed to two possibilities. Either they could base their perception of the truth on their old philosophical assumptions or on their new philosophical foundation, the knowledge of God the Creator through His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When it comes to establishing the source of truth, there’s a world of difference between what we invent ourselves and that which is based on the knowledge of our Creator.
Ron Hughes
© June 2008
