Friday, July 28, 2017

"Truth" and "Right"

We bandy words like "Truth" and "Right" around like we have it all figured out. Stick a fork in it, we're done. When we do that I fear we etch what we believe today onto stone tablets in our minds and close off the opportunity to continued learning and growing. I absolutely do not believe all that I thought was immutable 40 years ago. The same applies to 4 years ago. Often the same is true for 4 hours ago.
I believe that it is important to approach all that we believe with humility and be willing to accept the possibility that we have got it wrong. When we do that one of two things will happen. We will either recognize an error and correct it and thus grow closer to the image of Jesus or we will strengthen our faith and again grow closer to the image of Jesus.
This is so incredibly important when we talk with the current generation of young adults. They question everything and they can spot a rigid unbending mind in about 10 seconds and then all possibility of having a meaningful conversation ends. To keep a dialog open we must be willing to actively listen and be willing to accept that the "Truth" we hold to as inviolate may really be something that we were taught a long time ago and never went back and examined for ourselves.
I encourage all of us to listen, hear, digest and then study (and possibly re-study) before nailing something down as an absolute. Even if it has been an absolute all of our lives. This generation does not abide absolutes very well, so if you are going to have an absolute, make sure it is a good one.