Culture Clash
Theme of the Week: Truth Really Does Matter
Marva Dawn
Thursday, January 18, 2007
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: "I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true" (John 18:37). Bonus Reading: John 14:6-10
The value of "opinion" in our society has been so corrupted as to have taken on sinful proportions. Opinions have become our personal gods or, more accurately, the proof that we are our own gods. They signify our autonomy, a massive leveling of all convictions, the abandonment of all standards, the elimination of truth. It drives me nuts!
At a youth convention, an attractive young lady came earnestly to talk with me. She asked what I thought about a certain matter in sexual ethics. I answered her with the most careful biblical reading and ethical nuancing I'd gained in years of training.
She responded, "Well, I just wanted to know your opinion."
"That wasn't my opinion," I replied. "If I'd given you my opinion, it would have been the opposite because I really would like to escape these biblical truths and say what pleases everybody. I told you as faithfully as I could what I have discerned God is saying. That's much more sound, more reliable, more eternally true than my measly opinion."
She looked at me in shock. How could anyone question the importance of personal opinion? How could anyone give an answer different from his own private feelings?
—Marva Dawn in Talking the Walk
My Response: A biblical truth that runs counter to my personal inclination is …
Thought to Apply: Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority.—GIORDANO BRUNO (Italian philosopher burned at stake for defending Copernican cosmology)
Adapted from Talking the Walk (WaterBrook, 2004) by permission.
Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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When Your truth is under attack, Lord, help me to stand up for it without belligerence.
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