Growth Relationships

The Attraction of Truth

In a recent Bible study a discussion emerged about whether Christ’s message was offensive. Most of us that were part of the discussion concluded that it was, and that it should be. After all, any time someone is saying that you should abandon your prerogatives in order to follow His, its bound to cause some discord.

In the course of the discussion the observation was made that “most people don’t like the truth.” As the talk continued on we refined this to say “most people don’t like absolutes” because the point was made that most people do like the truth, however very few nowadays believe that you can ascertain it. I believe that this assessment is accurate, although if those who argue against truth’s identity asked me to prove it, I probably couldn’t.

However, I think truth has an inherent attractiveness. If for no other reason than our pride, we want to believe that we have an accurate assessment of our lives; that we know how to navigate the world. Even those who aren’t sure that the truth can be found order their lives around some sort of belief – even if that belief is that truth is unobtainable. We want to believe that we can make sense of the craziness that is this life.

Maybe if we were a little bit more consistent in living according to the Truth we claim to believe, people would think a little more highly of the Church and would be a little more attracted to it too.

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Hope Purpose

The Wisdom of Celebrity

In the December issue of InStyle, actress Natalie Portman shared, “If we can find ways to love life and by joyful without being wasteful or destructive that’s what’s important .” As a frequent reader of celebrity magazines, I know that inane comments by famous people are not entirely uncommon. What struck me about this particular comment is how difficult it is to argue against. After all, loving life and being joyful sounds good. And who among us wants to be wasteful and destructive? The edict from Miss Portman seems like a fine one except for one thing – she says unequivocally that these things are what’s important. Not that these things are important, but that they are the important things. And therein lies the problem. It assumes that what is important is our feelings and experiences and that’s just not the case. What’s important is whether our lives are adding or detracting from the glory of our Father. What’s important is whether our lives are properly aligned with His will. What’s important are matters of eternity.

I fear that wisdom like Miss Portman shares would be agreed to by many these days. And I fear that many would concede this point without recognizing the potential problems – both outside of the Church – and within.

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