“For since all truth is of God, if any ungodly man has said anything true, we should not reject it, for it also has come from God.” -John Calvin, commenting on Titus 1:12
Tag Archives: truth
Why There is Fake News
“What’s true? What’s false? In case you haven’t noticed, the world has pretty much given up on the old Enlightenment idea of piecing together the truth based on observed data. Reality is too complicated and scary for that. Instead, it’s way easier to ignore all data that doesn’t fit your preconceptions and believe all data that does. I believe what I believe, and you believe what you believe, and we’ll agree to disagree. It’s liberal tolerance meets dark ages denialism. It’s very hip right now.” -from Nathan Hill’s The Nix
Reality is
“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” – Philip K. Dick
Emotions Don’t Think, They Borrow Thoughts
“Remember, emotions don’t think—they merely respond. Emotions have to borrow thoughts in order to stimulate feelings from them. Therefore, whatever controls your thoughts also controls how you feel.” -Tony Evans, 30 Days to Overcoming Emotional Strongholds
BTW NOTE: I partially agree with this… or I may completely agree with it, but it depends on what Dr. Evans means by ‘thoughts controlling emotions.’ If this includes ‘thoughts that are so deeply instilled that I don’t think them they just happen’ (a kind of pre-cognitive thought), then I would agree. I say that because there are some emotional responses that we have that are not the result of active thoughts, but assumptions and viceral ways of understanding that are so deep in us, we don’t realize exactly what we are thinking as we think them. They may still be thoughts, but not thoughts we intend to think. They are more automatic than that. BUT the way to battle them is increased knowledge of the light of truth that can show things hiding in our darkness.
Humility and Conviction
“Humility applied to convictions does not mean believing things any less; it means treating those who hold contrary beliefs with respect and friendship.” -John Dickson, Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership
He is Absolute, All Else Relative
“The cross of Christ is the victory of God (oh, strange victory!) over all the powers of this world that pretend to be absolute. ‘Nothing now is absolute except God as he is known in Jesus Christ; everything else is relativized.'”-Rankin Wilbourne
How Much Do You Really Love Truth, and Hate ‘Alternative Facts?’
“The person involved in the struggle against sin understands that each day is filled with moral occasions. I once met an employer who asks each job applicant, “Describe a time when you told the truth and it hurt you.” He is essentially asking those people if they have their loves in the right order, if they would put love of truth above love of career.” -David Brooks, The Road to Character
Cultural Observation: Social Distrust
Adjectives and (Sometimes) the Problem of Truth
“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I’d have the truth.” -Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird
Doctrine and Life
“When doctrine fails to relate to life, it becomes an argument against the truth of Christianity.” -Kevin Vanhoozer
A Pilgrim's Theology 