“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled, was convincing
the world he didn’t exist.”
― “Verbal” Kint, The Usual Suspects
Pluralism
regarding truth sounds pleasant. It gives us a feeling of being
open-minded and non-judgemental. “You live your life, I live mine, we
each stay in our lanes, and we’ll all be fine.” That works when we’re
talking about a favorite sports team or whether mustard or ketchup is
the best condiment on hot dogs. But with something as crucial as truth,
we gotta tighten up any cracks to prevent leaks.
I
firmly believe in a Biblical worldview that says the world is
irrevocably broken. We, as the top of the food-chain, or stewards of the
world, are not capable of fixing all sickness, addictions, hunger,
warring nations, climate issues and on and on. Our hubris may say
otherwise, but the evidence is to the contrary. The Bible is the
most lucid explanation of why there’s sickness, why people have short
life-spans, why we’re angry, jealous, lustful, selfish; and why we’re
loving, gracious, creative, logical and responsive to inspiration. It
also explains why we’re incapable of being the doctors air-dropping a
perfect world order.
As
I asked in part 2 of 3 of this series, how can religion or a holy book
be the solution to all the world’s problems? I said governments cannot
agree because they have a nationalistic truth, which when parsed,
ultimately shows how individuals want to live their own truth that works
for them. But how do we know when a person’s truth steps out of bounds?
There must be a final authority for all people to look to as judge and
jury on all things good and bad.
How
do we know the Bible is the only truth? What about Islam, Hinduism,
Judaism and Buddhism? What proof is there that Christianity is the only
truth from God? Plus, isn’t that exclusionary? I’m not saying other
religious books don’t have any truth, I’m saying only one can have
absolute truth. When I was a new Christ follower, I had questions about
one path up the mountain to God, versus many. Aren’t they all leading to
the same place? The biggest challenge with the idea is the fact that
all the major religions have contradictory doctrines. They do have
similar moral overtures, but at their baselines, they’re radically
different. Let’s just stick with the big four for a moment. One says
Jesus Christ died and rose again, and is the only Son of God. Judaism
and Islam don’t believe in the resurrection. Hinduism believes Christ is
one of thousands of Gods, and that concept contradicts the idea of
monotheism with Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Buddha never claimed to
be deity. That’s a starting place on the multiple differences, but the
hurdle is the fact that contradictory things cannot all be right. Either
all are wrong or one is right, but not all at the same time. By the
way, I include further discussion of the differences in my book.
However, the ginormous discrepancies between Christianity and other
religions is, the former offers a free gift, no strings attached. You
believe in Christ, you get your ticket punched to heaven. His death for
us was free, it cost us nothing. For realz, that’s it, He did all the
work, and the only requirement from us is a big ol’ thank you.
This
morning I was driving to work and thinking of what elements I wanted to
include in this final part of the truth series. On the radio an NPR
story This Supreme Court Case Made School District Lines A Tool For Segregation
hit home, and directly relates to why absolute truth is important. The
story is about a significant Supreme Court case from 1974, Milliken v.
Bradley, roughly 20 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of
Education. It dealt with the planned desegregation of public school
students among 53 school districts in metropolitan Detroit. The NPR
story brilliantly captures the issue in a 7-minute listen. In a law
review article I found the dissenting opinion on the 5-4 decision from
Justice Thurgood Marshall.
“School
district lines, however innocently drawn, will surely be perceived as
fences to separate the races when, under a Detroit-only decree, white
parents withdraw their children from the Detroit city schools and move
to the suburbs in order to continue them in all-white schools.”
The
long and short of the story is this result reaffirmed the national
pattern of city schools attended mostly by blacks, with surrounding
suburban schools mostly attended by whites; and the disproportionate
allocation of funds that has carried over to 2019. The image below from
the story captures the tension of the issue, but can also represent the
idea of multiple truths dividing us.
And
that’s my point: this is one of thousands of cases brought before the
Supreme Court, and this one resulted in a 5-4 decision, not 9-0. In
other words, the men and women we’ve decided are the smartest of the
smart, are rarely able to agree on the most important issues facing our
country. Please hear me, our democracy is wonderful, and our Supreme
Court is the greatest in the world at civil discourse to decide an
issue. But even they need a supreme authority larger than a human
brain’s capacity.
Satan is my BFF
Why do I worship Satan, and what does it have to do with truth, education or racism? A dear friend sent me a sermon by Jonathan Pokluda at Harris Creek Church in Waco. His theology is spot-on, and in this sermon he was preaching from the NT Book of James, in relation to wisdom. During the sermon he said, “Self serving wisdom is satanic.” I rolled my eyes and thought, “Come on, that’s a bit extreme.” He then mentioned how he drew his conclusion based on The Book of Satan. Yep, I had no idea there was such a book. The author was Anton LaVey. He wrote the Satanic Bible in 1969, and while there has been scholarly evaluation, he’s not a household name. I doubt you’ll find millions of followers in cities around the globe all reveling in their wonderful life-change from reading his book. There isn’t a Satanic church on every corner saying, “We got spirit, yes we do, we got spirit, how about you?” In other words, I’m saying there appears to be significant evidence that the history of Christianity has bigger magic than LaVey’s obscure narrative. I’m confident in saying his version of truth will not resonate over centuries, continents and monarchical dynasties the way Christ has. Mind you, the life he describes is one we must juxtapose with scripture.
“The Book of Satan suggests a hedonistic outlook, saying, ‘I break away from all conventions that do not lead to my earthly happiness.’ Indulgence is endorsed, and readers are encouraged to make the most of their lives. It criticizes both law and religious principles, instead suggesting doing only what makes one happy and successful.”
That
caught me off-guard. I expected the narrative to say “Drink blood at
midnight… People can turn into dragons… Place hand grenades in snow
cones!” Nope, it basically says go live a great life that is entirely
self-focused, and pursue happiness at all costs. Um, that’s what I do
often, like pretty much everyday. I have to fight my inclination to
follow that path. Therefore, if I do dismiss religious books, cut
corners where I can, and use culture as my zeitgeist, my truth could
look like the life suggested in the book.
The Book of Satan
validates my original point about pluralism. Since we don’t view
LaVey’s version of truth as legitimate, there must be something inside
us pointed towards true north. If that were not the case, we would be ok
with Satanism, racism and the pillaging of poodles (I assume that has
to be somewhere in the Satan book.)
Let
me be very clear in that I do believe in Satan who’s mentioned in the
Bible. I don’t believe he’s just a make-believe boogeyman to scare the
kiddos. I believe scripture, and it says he is alive and real behind the invisible curtain,
and working as our most diligent enemy, and with an extensive army.
Read 1 Peter 5:8, one of many verses about the fallen angel.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion
looking for someone to devour.”
I’m diligent about seeking truth in relation to all substantive issues, including the feasibility of Anton LaVey’s Satan, or the Bible’s Satan. I try to ask rigorous questions, study what scholars and atheist authors say, and use logic when evaluating stories of heart change. I encourage you to do the same, in fact, go wrestle with these verses from Colossians 1:15-20.
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Fer freak’s sake, those verses are some heavy text. I will bridle my desire to drop some holy f-bombs at how significant they are. That’s why I say Christ’s return is the only solution to all the world’s problems. Christ is either THE MAN, or all those churches around the world with hundreds of millions of followers worshiping Him, are utterly delusional and insane… me included. Dismissing that 2,000 yr old text is disingenuous. You can wrestle with belief and ask questions; but outright dismissal means you’ve arm-wrestled the most brilliant philosophers, kings and intellectuals throughout the centuries who’ve taken a knee in reverential worship. Let’s make you famous. See if your version of truth holds up to theirs, which has been personified as Jesus Christ. If you can disprove Christ, you’ll be the most famous person in the history of the world, bar none, game over. Your truth will be the bigger than The Beatles, more popular than Facebook and Instagram, and more important than the smart phone or Einstein’s theory of relativity. You alone will be the new true north.
See ya next time. ML