Does truth have a shelf life? (Part 1)
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
It seems today that belief in objective truth (that which aligns with reality) has been overshadowed by belief in subjective truth (that which aligns with preference). Put differently, truth is seen as having a shelf life or a “best before” date. Three pillars undergirding this modern conception of truth are secular progressivism, touched on in this blog, and chronological snobbery and categorization in the next two.
The catalyst for these three blogs is “The Air That We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality” by Glen Scrivener, which we are currently discussing in our LeaderImpact group. Based upon historical evidence, Scrivener argues persuasively that the core values we take for granted in the developed West were birthed in the Jesus revolution. Since they are currently treated by most of us as so obvious as to be self-evident, they might be described as the very air we breathe!
That said, most “moderns” tend not to be aware of the Christian roots from which these values arose. Moreover, many would be surprised to learn that these values would have been foreign to the world into which Jesus was born two millennia ago. Indeed, “the night before Christmas” (Chapter 1 of the book) was a time of great darkness in which values like freedom, kindness, progress and equality were not part of the cultural landscape. The evidence strongly suggests that these values we hold today would have been viewed in Jesus’ day as an affront to the natural order of the world and untrue, even preposterous.
In this context, the Jesus revolution, inspired by the One who claims to be the truth, turned the social order upside down. By revealing God’s values and inspiring his followers to apply them within their sphere of influence, Jesus is the ultimate source of many of the core values we deem obvious today.
For example, one of the foundational values Jesus endorsed was progress (Chapter 8), which Scrivener defines as moral progress over time. This value animates the belief “that we should continue to reform society of its former evils.” Today, self-appointed “progressives” attempt to right the wrongs in our society such as unequal treatment of individuals based upon race, sexual orientation, sexual identity, and religion. To address discrimination in the workplace, governments and others in authority implement programs like “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “affirmative action.”
Given their secular perspective, many leaders regard Jesus’ views on morality as past their “best before” date.
It is commendable that, driven by their moral sensibilities, some leaders want to help the less fortunate. That said, given their secular perspective, many leaders regard Jesus’ views on morality as past their “best before” date. While the numerical results of their policy prescriptions are easy to measure, the moral benefits are not. Indeed, if not anchored in God’s perspective, their policies lack any definitive moral benchmarks against which to measure their benefits.
For example, while God imputes equal moral value to every individual, many progressives do not. Indeed, their solution to discrimination is more discrimination! And, unfortunately, the common denominator underpinning these policy prescriptions is coercion, which runs directly counter to the value of freedom, another element of the air we breathe (Chapter 7). By contrast, Jesus commanded us to always apply “the Golden Rule,” which is to treat everyone else as you would like to be treated!
Next week, I’ll consider the belief that the past is passé which, like secular progressivism, implies that truth has a shelf life.
Photo by Artturi Jalli on Unsplash
