Truth

Courage & Humility for Truth

May 14, 2024

We may not always like truth, but we would not rather have a lie. In The Republic, Plato posits, “I mean that no one is willingly deceived in that which is the truest and highest part of himself, or about the truest and highest matters; there above all, he is most afraid of a lie having possession of him.” His phrase “having possession” captures the destructive force of lies. The lie is a captor that enslaves subscribers, having power over them if they believe it. While a lie can give an emotional anesthetic or preferred comfort, we rationally know lies do not lead to wholeness and well-being. Because lies are empty.

Truth is the real treasure of life, above wealth, comforts, and pleasures. While lies can be deceiving perspectives, misrepresentations, misinformation, false claims, misleading promises, and the like, truth offers one thing – reality. Truth transcends personal preferences. Whether we comprehend or like truth, it objectively exists, nonetheless. Truth is not devised but discovered, like a treasure waiting to be found.

But this can be a struggle.

The struggle is not trading truths for lies. Romans 1:25 described people who “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” Believing a lie will take you down a series of choices, actions, and commitments. We follow what we believe in. How does this struggle happen? The exchange can be evoked by social conformity, the allure of superficial but empty pay-offs, preferences and pleasures taking greater authority over objectivity, or compromising with pain and suffering. The struggle is real, and so are the consequences.

But as Romans 1:23 shows, truth and beauty are inseparable. Trading truth means trading beauty. The verse explains that people at one time, “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” The Greek term for “glory,” doksa, conveys an aesthetic appeal of radiant splendor. Subscription to lies is a surrender of beauty.

Plato’s view supports Jesus’ authoritative teaching in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” A power of truth is granting freedom. While lies enslave with destructive falsity, truths liberate and actualize people to truly be, live, and create.

A popularly quoted principle by Plato in The Republic calls forth a commitment to seizing truth: “Follow the argument, wherever it leads.” This means to intelligently apply reason in deducing each argument that leads to a sound conclusion. This can be challenging if the emerging truth grapples with our preconceived notions, desires, and expectations. Plato’s principle is a path and process of diligent commitment to seeking truth. And while we all do have perspectival filters, God has granted us minds with the capacity to think objectively and seek objectivity.

Seeking truth calls for two qualities, a quality of mind and of spirit.

First, truth-seeking calls for cultivating a mind with a disposition to learn from various avenues of knowledge. It is a mind that is committed to develop reasonable faith based on evidence, testimony, reason, and revelation. The notion that faith is a reaction from ignorance is a misnomer. Grounded faith comes from intelligence. Even the Lord invokes reasonable thinking in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together.”

Truth-seeking calls for a character of courage and humility. To go where the argument leads, we must be brave enough to take each step as the arguments materialize and the fog clears, revealing truth with greater clarity, whether we like it or not. Also, we need humility, a companion to courage, really. Because to truly discover truth, we have to yield ourselves to the truth we find, setting ourselves aside. Truth is less about what we want and more about what we ought to know. This spirit of courage and humility is akin to a child-like heart, moldable, willing, and open to discovery and wonder.

In embracing truth, we will find freedom.