Our Pastor said it this morning in his sermon.
To paraphrase, truth is absolute, no doubt about it. But our understanding of it, our reception of it, and our acting upon that truth is, are not absolute.
Think about it.
It makes sense.
It is consistent with the concept of an evolving sense of what is right and what is wrong.
Non-fundamentalist churches make much of the assertion that they are religions of reason as well as of faith. I know I may be using terms improperly here, but you are reading the work of a NON-theologian.
The point is that because we are not blessed with infinite wisdom, and because there is no infallibility this side of Heaven, our understanding of the Absolute, of the Infinite, is by definition insufficient, incomplete, in a word, inadequate or even wrong.
Re truth, therefore, the conscientious ‘seeker’ should ‘do no harm’ in debate, in the giving of advice, in condemning or praising various belief systems.
Condemnation should be…rare.
Truth is absolute.
Our understanding of it is not.
The excellence of our understanding of Truth may well improve over the centuries.
And then again, it may not.
I think the door swings both ways.
The art of seeking truth is to do it with great respect for our ignorance.
We just do not know all the answers.
We do not even know all the questions.
He or she or it that claims infallibility is, dare I say it, not to be believed. The human medium is too flawed, even if the texts of the infallibilists [is that a word?] claim otherwise.
The Episcopal Church of the US is an institution which is struggling with matters of truth.
Certain interest groups within the ECUSA have failed the test of the ‘good’ seeker of the Absolute.
Possibly this failure is an inevitable happening.
As our Rector observed this AM, we are a nation, indeed, we are a world of ‘the instant’. We have to have it now.
The interest groups read the texts in ways they wish to read them. Some of them want what they want now.
They find the teachings they want.
And the truth suffers.
Or maybe the ‘enlightened’ are right.
What do you say?
1 comment:
In place of infinite wisdom we have (or don't have) faith.
By my definition, an absolute truth is one that can be tested and qualified. In that case, religion cannot have an absolute.
Instead, there is faith.
In that respect, anyone who believes (has faith) can say that they KNOW the truth.
They can say that their God is the true God. Further, they can say what they believe is right and wrong is true. Because real faith is KNOWING that what you believe is the truth.
Here, we must make truth a relative term, because it cannot be verified. Therefore, every faith, is the true one!
It does make things difficult, doesn't it?
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