Four ways of thinking that can contradict or oppose truth …

It was Winston Churchill who once quipped, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.”

You occasionally hear someone claim, “We’re all just searching for the truth,” but that isn’t true! Sadly, we human beings are more consistently embracing ways to contradict or oppose truth. Here are just four very popular ways of thinking in 2022 that contradict or oppose truth:

PERSPECTIVE
Roger von Oech, Ph.D., shared the following story in his book, “A Whack on the Side of the Head”:

Two men had an argument. To settle the matter, they went to a Sufi judge for arbitration. The plaintiff made his case. He was very eloquent and persuasive in his reasoning. When he finished, the judge nodded in approval and said, “That’s right, that’s right.”

On hearing this, the defendant jumped up and said, “Wait a second, judge, you haven’t even heard my side of the case yet.” So the judge told the defendant to state his case. And he, too, was very persuasive and eloquent. When he finished, the judge said, “That’s right, that’s right.”

When the clerk of court heard this, he jumped up and said, “Judge, they both can’t be right.” The judge looked at the clerk of court and said, “That’s right, that’s right.”

We can tell things in such a way that they seem to be the truth, only to change our minds when a better-sounding perspective is served up.

Perspective is what caused the greatest downfall of humanity ever — sin. God had communicated a truth to the first two human beings:

“The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden — except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die,” Genesis 2:15-17.

Satan, appearing as a serpent, offered Eve an alternative perspective to God’s truth:

“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?’ ‘Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,’ the woman replied. ‘It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, “You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.”‘ ‘You won’t die!’ the serpent replied to the woman. ‘God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.’ The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too,” Genesis 3:1-6.

Whenever we entertain, craft, or embrace our own perspective or other human-made perspective, we usually find ourselves straying away from truth. The call of scripture is to turn to God and His truth and to reject any alternative perspectives.

This is a bigger issue than you might think. A few years ago, the topic of “perspective” was on of the hottest trends as a sermon series, and many pastors were teaching the congregations they shepherd how to foster perspective. But God’s Word implores us to turn our thinking to the Word of God, with the Holy Spirit supernaturally leading us into all truth that is found in Christ and in scripture. No matter how well reasoned your human perspectives may seem to be, if they contradict or oppose God’s truth then they are not truth at all.

EXPERIENCE
A story was published by Today in the Word about Henry Augustus Rowland, professor of physics at Johns Hopkins University, who had been called as an expert witness at a trial. During cross-examination a lawyer demanded, “What are your qualifications as an expert witness in this case?”

The normally modest and retiring professor replied quietly, “I am the greatest living expert on the subject under discussion.” Later a friend well-acquainted with Rowland’s disposition expressed surprise at the professor’s uncharacteristic answer. Rowland answered, “Well, what did you expect me to do? I was under oath.”

There are times — many of them — when the greater experience or expertise of someone else can be of real and significant benefit to us. Yet, no matter the level of experience or great the person’s expertise, there is One who knows more fully, more correctly, and that is God. Even given that fact, we routinely seek out other human beings regarding their expertise or to seek insights from their experience, but give no thought to seek out God, who is omnipotent (all-knowing)!

For example, new parents often seek insights and wisdom about parenting from people who have experience as parents, but the same new parents often do little to open the Word of God to learn what God (who created their children and designed the family) has to say about parenting and the family. The same is true in many other areas, from relationships in general, to marriage, being an employee or employer, to just being a neighbor. No one on the planet has equal or greater wisdom on these matters than God!

Yes, seeking the experience of some other people can be wise, but the wisest action is to always seek out God on any matter we need insight in and direction for.

CULTURE
Ask anyone who has ever served in any branch of the military and they will tell you the military has its own culture. How culture can reflexively attempt to trump truth is shown in this story from Today in the Word:

At the end of the Battle of Britain, British vice-marshal Alexander Adams was driving to a meeting at his headquarters when he came upon a sign: ROAD CLOSED – UNEXPLODED BOMB. Adams called over the policeman on duty, hoping he might be able to suggest an alternate route.

“Sorry, you can’t go through,” said the policeman as he approached the car. “The bomb is likely to go off at any minute now.” Then he caught sight of Adams’s uniform. “I’m very sorry, sir,” he said, “I didn’t know you were a wing commander. It is quite all right for you to go through.”

With “advisors” like that, who needs enemies! Although that policeman — who was trained to respect rank — momentarily allowed his deference to a vice-marshal to overcome his good sense, Adams had better sense than to follow his advice.

Rank rules in military culture, but that doesn’t mean truth twists to rank!

It’s common today to use “culture” as an excuse to contradict or oppose truth. A few years ago, a minister tried to make an argument with me that the sinful behaviors of some couples involved in sexual sin was due to what was permissible in their culture. Although their culture may have approved of such behavior, God’s Word called it sin. Culture doesn’t trump, nor is it equal to, God’s truth.

OPINION
Tim Stafford shared this interesting story in Christianity Today:

A pastor I know, Stephey Belynskyj, starts each confirmation class with a jar full of beans. He asks his students to guess how many beans are in the jar, and on a big pad of paper writes down their estimates. Then, next to those estimates, he helps them make another list: their favorite songs. When the lists are complete, he reveals the actual number of beans in the jar. The whole class looks over their guesses to see which estimate was closest to being right. Belynskyj then turns to the list of favorite songs.

“And which one of these is closest to being right?” he asks. The students protest that there is no “right answer”; a person’s favorite song is purely a matter of taste.

Belynskyj, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Notre Dame, then asks, “When you decide what to believe in terms of your faith, is that more like guessing the number of beans, or more like choosing your favorite song?” Always, Belynskyj says, from old as well as young, he gets the same answer: Choosing one’s faith is more like choosing a favorite song.

When Belynskyj told me this, it took my breath away. “After they say that, do you confirm them?” I asked him.

“Well,” smiled Belynskyj, “First I try to argue them out of it.”

Personal opinion is one of the greatest idols of our current age. It trumps experience, it trumps expertise, it trumps the perspectives of others, and in our time for many it even trumps the Word of God.

At least in their minds.

Each of these four very popular, very common was of contradicting or opposing truth only do that — attempt to contradict it, or simply oppose it — but they do not change what is true.

What is truth?

Actually, a more correct question is who is truth:

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me,'” John 14:6.

And Jesus also said, “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth,” John 17:17.

When we attempt to make our own perspective, our or another’s experience, culture, or our personal opinions our source of truth, it will collapse on us the way Eve’s new perspective collapsed for her. But here is how making Jesus our foundation for truth for living our lives will serve us:

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash,” Matthew 7:24-27.

Is there anything in your life that serves as a way to contradict or oppose truth? Or have you fully embraced Jesus Christ (the living Word), and God’s written Word as your source of truth for all of life?

Scotty