Borrowed Light

Can You Dehydrate Truth?

February 5, 2015Nick Horton

“Those who resort to words to tell us that words distort reality and truth engage either in a futile or self-refuting activity. Radical theologians who decry Christian verbalization themselves often employ a torrent of words to demean or undermine the importance of words for theology.” ~ Carl F.H. Henry

It’s a pretty trendy thing to make truth relative as though it were water passing over our hands to be directed however we want. Behind the critique that we cannot know the Bible because we do not have the original manuscripts from the hands of the Apostles is an attack on truth. “Well we can’t really know what they meant because it was written 2000 years ago. Who knows, you know? I just try to figure out its truth for me.”

It sounds seductively logical. Who are we to think we can figure out what they meant 2000 years ago in writing the New Testament? How could we be so arrogant as to say with any certainty this is what it meant?

They used words. Words carry truth because they are agreed upon and shared in a community, society, or people. You can understand what I am saying because we have the shareable symbols of the English language in common, and a generally agreed upon meaning for those words. Where that does not occur, communication is constrained. If I come into contact with someone who speaks Pashtun only and I speak English only, we have no common communication.

We didn’t make up meaning for the words in Greek and Hebrew. We learned the words and languages to produce accurate translations so that we can interact with the text just as the 1st century Christians did. While it’s great sport for post-modernists to be skeptical of all things, including the use of words as Carl Henry illuminated in the quote, how do they make the claims of skepticism?

They use words. Words that mean something because truth is real. If there were no such thing as truth we would have absolutely no basis for communication. Green today could be blue tomorrow. Except, not even that could be because being green today is an assertion of truth. The use of words to cast doubt on words is a truth claim. It’s self-defeating and circular and nonsense. “You can’t trust words because meaning can shift and who knows what it will be tomorrow. Yes I’m making a statement of truth using words and given what I said you shouldn’t trust me.”

Absurdity.

So what does that have to do with God or theology?

“More is sacrificed by defecting from the truth of revelation than simply the truth about God and man and the world; loss of the truth and Word of God plunges into darkness the very truth of truth, the meaning of meaning, and even the significance of language.” ~ Carl F.H. Henry

Truth is indeed like water passing over our hands. We stick our hands in, thinking we’re changing everything. However, the water is still water. It still flows and does what water does. We can use it for any number of purposes, but it’s still water.

So is truth. We can immerse ourselves in it, use it for any number of purposes, and even be nourished by it in THE Truth, Jesus Christ.

What happens when we deny the Truth? The same as when we quit drinking water.

We die.

Today in Blogworld 02.05.15

February 5, 2015Mike Leake

My Baby’s Heart Stopped Beating

This is a heart-wrenching picture of gritty faith in the midst of pain.

How To Offend a Room Full of Calvinists

I appreciate Tim’s honesty here. My prayer is that if someone lays this charge at my feet that I don’t have to point to Spurgeon but I can point to my own life.

Four Basic Writing Principles

Good for writing. Good for life.

When to Overlook a Fault: 12 Questions

These are very helpful.

Awhile back I showed Bill Gates drinking water from sewage, now Jimmy Fallon tries it. If we can get past the mental image of this it could be world-changing:

Why You Need to Fire Your Babysitter

February 4, 2015Mike Leake

You’re tired. You’re sick. You are barely capable of lifting your own head, there is no way that you can care for and keep a child occupied. So you do what you swore you wouldn’t do again…you call up the babysitter.

You swore her off months ago. Mostly because of her unpredictability. One minute she’ll be fun, entertaining, and even a tad educational. The next minute she curses like a sailor. You’ve got no control over what comes out of her mouth.

This isn’t to mention that her dress is far from modest. At times it isn’t so bad. At other times she greets your children in a bikini. And you just know you’ve overheard her talking about her husband’s erectile dysfunction.

You know all of this is only a tip of the iceberg. If your kids were in the wrong place at the wrong time you are afraid of what they would see from this babysitter. You’ve heard she’s got sex tapes being passed all around town and she isn’t even ashamed of it.

And we haven’t even talked about her worldview. Even in her better moments you know that she is subtly worming her way into your child’s little brain. She doesn’t even have to curse, or wear a bikini, or talk about ED to be dangerous. Her way of thinking is opposed to the gospel and it can’t help but influence your kiddos.

But you are tired.

You are desperate.

You’ve got no other option.

And so you turn on the television…

Even the Better Babysitter Likely Still Needs Fired

That of course is the worse case scenario. Hopefully this shows why it is deadly to give your children unprotected access to television, the internet, game systems, YouTube, etc.

Some have already fired that babysitter and they’ll never turn back. They’ve got everything protected. No way junior is going to be able to access porn. No way Cinemax will ever appear on our televisions.

But I’m wondering if even the good babysitters—like Super Why and Veggie Tales and some of these other educational shows—aren’t also dangerous as heavily employed babysitters.

I’ll admit. I’ve done it. I’ve been exhausted or sick or just plain lazy in parenting, and I’ve plopped them in front of a screen to entertain them. I’ve let my son play Mario for way too long and my daughter to watch her favorite Playdoh videos.

I’ve told myself that its harmless entertainment. But maybe it isn’t so harmless. At least I’m filtering what they watch and play. But what if Archibald Hart is right and we are being Thrilled to Death? In his book he argues that “consistent overuse of the brain’s pleasure circuits causes us to lose our capacity to experience pleasure”.

So maybe Mario isn’t a very good babysitter after all.

It’s time to fire the babysitter…