I recently watched the movie Small Foot with my young family. The movie was fun, the animation was excellent, however there was a worldview presented that made me feel uncomfortable. At the centre of the Big Foot community which is where the movie began was a community holding on to "truth" the truth was kept on stones which didn't lie. It told that there world was an Island floating on the back of a giant Turtle(?) or something like that. One line from the community leader who wore the stones was nobody should question the "truth". I told my girls right away that you should always question truth claims, I think that would surprise the writers, that I a Christian would say this, but I will always say it, truth can and should be investigated, if it doesn't stand up to that investigation then it isn't true. Migo the big foot protagonist began to call the truth into question when he found a small foot, a man. The Stones said small foot didn't exist and you cannot question the Stones. This leads him to say, "truth is in the eye of the beholder". Again as soon as we came out I told my daughters that that isn't correct, truth is never just in the eye of the behold, truth is truth whether you believe it or not. When I was younger I studied Sociology and there were various schools of thought pushing their views, it was interesting to learn about these various competing theories but truth isn't like sociology, truth is more like mathematics, in maths 2 + 2 is always 4. I thought about 10 years ago that Postmodernism had collapsed without taking off, clearly the way western societies are moving the last few years have changed that as we ditch long held truths, like gender for a postmodern world.
We may have moved away from modernity which was summed up in the popular 90s show, the X Files, 'The Truth is out there' it's worth seeking out, for Jesus said the truth will set you free.
Truth is not relative, truth is not in the eye of the beholder, truth is definitive. You can see this in faith, there are not multiple truths, there is just one truth. Truth is eternal. truth is found in a person the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, I am the Truth, (not a truth) He also said, the Truth shall set you free.
May you know the truth and may it set you free.
Stephen Barton <><
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