Truth – one of the simplest concepts for each of us as individuals to understand. One of the most difficult for two or more to agree on. This is a post about truth, but it must start with religion.
You may have read in earlier posts that I turned away from organized religion and regular church attendance 50 years ago. I also wrote about my return to being a regular member of an Anglican congregation in this post.
This is not an evangelical post. It’s not an attempt to persuade you to become a practicing Christian or a convert to any other faith.
It will attempt to share my thoughts that faith in God or your version of a Supreme Power can have huge benefits for us in the uncertain times we live in.
My experience over the last 5 years has shown me that being a member of a church has many benefits, spiritual and secular.
A few:
- Improving my understanding of God, religion and Christianity
- Learning about historical and recent events
- Opportunity to meet people in the community I did not know before
- Exposure to different opinions in a non-threatening environment
- Finding serenity in a turbulent world
- A new perspective on truth
One of the most important benefits I have experienced since becoming a regular churchgoer is the understanding that people with completely different views to mine are not necessarily nuts.
There will always be the radicals in society, those unable to listen to or consider a different opinion.
However, most people with whom I might disagree are as sincere in their beliefs as I am in mine and ready to defend their points of view by reasoned debate, not personal attack.
Truth – relative or absolute?
With age, I have discovered that truth can be a relative term it’s not always absolute as I had believed it to be for most of my adult life.
Not everything in life is black or white. There are many shades of grey.
Your understanding of the truth about an event, situation, action, reaction or a person may be different to mine.
We might both be right when trying to discern the truth from our own perspectives. One or both of us could be completely wrong. The real truth might be somewhere in the middle.
Our perspective and therefore, our understanding of truth is coloured by our own prejudices, biases, family and cultural influences, experiences.
Truth as a weapon
It is easy to use truth as we see it as a weapon, either deliberately or inadvertently.
If you cannot see the truth as I see it and continue to defend your version of it, as I do mine, then by inference I may give you the impression that you are stupid, biased, not aware of all the facts. Your reaction may cause me to react the same way.
It becomes difficult for either of us to suspend judgement and really listen to the other, to find common ground. To reach agreement on something closer to the “real” truth. Sometimes that can be impossible to find.
Serenity
My spiritual journey has a long way to go, it’s not easy to make up for over 40 years of neglect. I thought I had done quite well overcoming major adversities in my life without asking for God’s help through prayer or religious practice.
What I have found through being around people further along the road in their own journeys, is a serenity and ability to understand other’s opinions, other truths. That serenity lets me listen to other views without feeling my own values, beliefs and opinions are being threatened.
While the influence of those other perspectives has softened my stance on some issues, it has not changed who I am or what I stand for.
Religious study as an aid to understanding
Since May, I have been attending a weekly course to improve my understanding of the Old Testament.
The course leader Stephen is a brilliant facilitator. He, the three other members and I all come from vastly different backgrounds.
Each week we have an extensive reading assignment. In class, we discuss our thoughts and reflections on what we have read and the parallels we see in contemporary society.
That’s where it get’s interesting, technology and environment may have changed dramatically in the last three thousand years. However, many of the societal concerns and things that kept people awake at night in their oil lamp lit houses in ancient Israel, Philistia and Babylonia cause the same sleepless nights in modern urban and rural homes in North America, Europe and beyond.
- Relationships
- Unjust laws
- Freedom of speech
- Oppressive taxes
- Concentration of Wealth
- Dictatorial rulers
- War
- Abuse of women
It brings to mind the French saying:
The more things change the more they stay the same. Click To Tweet
Over and above the religious studies, I am finding the course a great learning experience for:
philosophy, history, politics, debate, perspective, and truth.
It’s also a major boost to my confidence that at the age of almost 68, I still have enough working brain cells to read, absorb and use the information I am learning.
Conclusion
There are three parts to my conclusion:
- Religious belief and practice can add serenity and purpose to our lives.
- Much of the time, the truth is dependent on the perspective of the observer
- History has valuable lessons for us – if we look for them
There are things about church organization, church politics, churches’ involvement in secular affairs that I am unsure about and may disagree with – that was why I stopped going to church as a young man.
Despite that, I believe that religion and churches have a valuable role to play in the turbulent times we find ourselves in today. It would be a terrible shame if too many were to be abandoned due to apathy and intolerance.
I am glad God directed me back to the church, my life has become better for it.
If you are a lapsed believer, give it a new try, you might find your life gets better too.
What do you think? Leave a comment
truth graphic by GDJ/2703 – pixabay