Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Truth is a Weapon

Truth is dogmatic. There is no way around it. Truth insists on being right whether we "agree" or "feel" it is true. Truth is dogmatic to the point of being unwilling to negotiate. It does not compromise. Like gravity or death, truth can be denied for only so long before it is inevitably proved true.

For me, I tend to see truth as a weapon. Wielded by the judgmental or the careless, it wounds, scars and kills. I have witnessed individuals who, in the name of God, have taken the sword of truth and bludgeoned the hearts of others in truths defense. They add to truths dogmatism, their own intense, dogmatic application of the truth to another life. With all the disdain and superiority they can muster, they identify why they are right and the other is reprobate. And through the truth of what they say, they drive the hearts of men and women to hide from the truth which wounds.

If we possess the truth, we have no need to add to its truthfulness, as if our own spin or ferocity could make the truth more true, more powerful, or more potent.

Perhaps there is better way to wield truth. I believe there is a more noble purpose for truth than simply being right. When placed in the hand of love, truth is a fierce liberator of hearts. Spoken in love, it is no less pressing, no less powerful, no less true — but it is infinitely more palatable. The union of love and truth breaks chains, not spirits.

Lets not forget that Jesus promised us that the truth would set us free. Romans tells us it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. First Corinthians tells us that if we can everything but love, we have nothing.

Jesus' harshest interactions were not with those lost and in need, but with those sought to dogmatically apply their own brand of truth to the backs of those lost and in need.

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