December 07, 2012

The La-la-la ‘I Don’t Hear You’ Temptation

As I was working today on Understanding the Times it occurred to me that most people don’t really look for truth. Rather, they succumb to a two-fold temptation: insulate themselves by only paying attention to messages that confirm what they already believe and isolate themselves from arguments that might challenge what they already believe.

To be a truth seeker we need to be willing to test what we believe. Brown, Phillips and Stonestreet, in Making Sense of Your World, offer four tests of truth:

1. Test of reason: is it reasonable?
2. Test of the outer world: is there some external evidence to support it?
3. Test of the inner world: does it address the issues we face in everyday life?
4. Test of the real world: are its consequences good or bad when actually applied?

I’m more convinced than ever that Christianity — and only Christianity — passes all four tests. But if your teacher asked you to “show your work” about how you arrived at the correct answers, would you be able to do it?

• Posted at 06:59 am by Jeff Myers
• Join the Discussion (0)