The young man was serious. “We can’t know what is true.” He was asked if there is any objective truth, that is, things that are always true regardless of your opinion or mine? “No, I don’t think so.” Furthermore, “all religion is just man-made ideas about who God is,” and “logic may not be right”, that is, may not lead us to the right conclusions in evaluating whether an idea is true. Do you agree even in part with the statements above? Probably many of you do because these ideas are taught in various forms of media, schools, conversation, and even from pulpits. But is it really true that we cannot know anything, and is there nothing that is always true in every situation?

It is very hard to discuss worldviews or beliefs if the other party is not willing to admit reason as a trusted way to evaluate truth. I suspect that such a disbelief in reason does not really exist. First of all, people act on what they believe. I don’t know of anyone who refuses reason consistently to run traffic lights, or jump off of high places unprotected, or ignore all social norms, or break the law totally unrestrained. It is simply too difficult to consistently ignore all reason, and one who does ignore it probably does not live long. Secondly, I think the fact that people operate on reason otherwise but refuse it on issues of worldview suggests they don’t want answers. Reason is necessary for survival and well proven by experience and practice in such areas as science and law to work well in evaluating truth claims.

Logically, then, “we can’t know what is true” is a self-defeating argument because it says there is one thing we do know, namely, “we can’t know what is true.” An even more self-defeating argument states that there is not anything that is always true, that is, absolute. If you say there are no absolutes then that is an absolute statement. If you think there may not be absolutes, or we can’t know for sure, then there is the possibility of absolutes about which you are ignorant and which may be found. And saying all things are true breaks the law of non-contradiction, which states that two contradictory statements cannot at the same time and in the same sense be true. For instance, stating that ‘God exists’ and ‘God does not exist’ cannot both be true.

So then, does God exist? In a recent talk at a local church entitled “God and Science”, Prem Isaac showed the reasonableness of God’s existence. One way he did this was by applying the Law of Causality: If an object had a beginning it must have had a cause. A corollary law states that the cause cannot be the same as the effect. Now people as diverse as Big Bang theorists, ancient cultures, all of the major religions, and primitive cultures all say that the universe had a beginning. Therefore, according to the Law of Causality, the universe had a cause. And because the universe has space, time, matter, and energy, the cause of it cannot have any of these. If you say that the cause does have these characteristics it is a mere secondary cause and not the ultimate cause itself. Unless you simply give up on the law and declare an endless chain of causes, there must be an un-caused Cause which is eternal (outside of time), immutable (not made of matter), without size or shape (doesn’t occupy space), immutable (does not change as the universe does), powerful (to create all), and intelligent (since there are laws, information, and design). This infinite cause is what we call God.

There are many more logical steps from there to the God of the Bible, based on the reliability of Scripture. Perhaps we can develop a few of these, but here is what God declares in Isaiah 45:5 about Himself, “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God.” And Peter says of “the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene”, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10,12) He is the eternal, transcendent Cause who also showed up personally in time to save those who would receive His gift. The mind (reason), the universe, and the Scripture testify to Him for those who will listen.

What do you aspire to do?
What motivates and drives you through?
Is it comfort, security or ease of pain?
Power, influence, life in the fast lane?

Why do you work hard, or at other times sit idle?
Why do you follow rules, but then rear your head without bridle?
Are there goals, a plan, or reasons behind?
Fears, ambitions, or answers to find?

Do you know why the questions never cease?
Why all the efforts but no peace?
Would you want to know if you could be told?
Or shrink back in fear and your spirit fold?

If the answer is Jesus will you reject Him out of hand?
Will you still turn away if your reasons won’t stand?
Do you want peace and purpose, a plan you’ve sought?
Security, comfort, and answers that can’t be bought?

Father, we look forward to a good school year, but we won’t have one without Your active presence.  We acknowledge Your goodness, and request that Your hand of protection be upon us. We ask that You teach us truth so that we may communicate it to students and adults.  And all of this we ask for the glory and in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Psalm 103 begins with both a call for the hearer to worship and summary of what the psalmist desires to communicate to himself and those listening to him.  David is alerting his own soul to bless God’s name and His benefits.  But names of God seem to be absent and even the word “name” only appears once in the psalm, so how is His name blessed?  Consider, how do we know the greatness of God’s name?  We know the greatness of it by what He has done.  All works He has done are benefits to those who trust Him, and the greatness of His name is revealed through these benefits.  Add the admonitions of verses 11,13, and 17 to fear Him and we see the summary teaching and application of the Psalm:  Bless His name, remember His benefits, and fear Him.  This application is not merely a spiritual ‘icing on the cake’, it is the means of survival amidst spiritual battle.  David knew the value of it.  In First Samuel 30:3-6 we observe a desperate situation for David and his men.  Having just returned from following the Philistines, they find their hometown, Ziklag, burned down, their wives and children kidnapped to become slaves, and most of their possessions stolen.  The men have wept over their families until they have no strength and are discussing stoning David because of the loss.  The Scripture  records David’s reaction: “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” (v.6).  Now your plight and mine probably are not presently so severe.  The danger is to ignore the need for strengthening ourselves in the Lord.  We are thus rendered weaker for the lesser battles and ill-fit for the greater battles.  And so David urged his innermost being to bless the Lord and not forget His benefits.  May we practice the psalmist’s discipline and experience God’s joy.

Based on a response I received from comments I made in church I began to review and reflect on physical Israel and spiritual Israel.  Most of what can be gleaned from Scripture about the relationship between these two and the existence of the latter as distinct from the former is found in Romans and Galations 3. 

In Romans 2:28-29, Paul clearly says that being Jewish is not merely physical, having the sign of circumcision.  Real Jews would have physcial and spiritual (“by the Spirit”) circumcision.  There is, however, a physical Israel, Paul’s “own race”, still recognized by God, who have a type of adoption and the covenants and more but are lost (Romans 9:3-5; 10:1).  Romans 11:28-29 sets forth the relationship between them and the redeemed (spiritual Israel).  They are clearly enemies in the sense of being unbelieving and counter to the gospel of Jesus, but because “God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable” (cannot be nullified), God still has a plan for them and we should still love them.  They are lost apart from CHrist, but some will not be in the future and others are part of God’s end time plans as set forth in the seventieth week of Daniel (9:24-27).  And God is saving Jews as Paul testitfies about himself and other “He foreknew” (Romans 11:1-8). The remnant that believes is exemplified by the 7000 of Elijah’s day who had “not bowed the knee to Baal” (11:4).  So Israel, the elect, have not fallen “beyond recovery” (11:11).  And Israel as a whole provided the means for fulfilling God’s plan of salvation (Romans 15:8; Act 2:22-24).

But what of this spiritual Israel, is it merely the saved Jews?  No, for Paul says, “not all who are descended from Israel are Israel” (Romans 9:6), but rather, “the chidren of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring” (9:8).  Who are these other children of Abraham?  “Those who believe are children of Abraham” (Galations 3:7).  “God would justify the Gentiles by faith” (3:8), and “those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham” (3:9).  We receive “the blessing of Abraham… to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus” (3:14).  “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (3:29), what I’m calling spiritual Israel.

How did this transition in Israel come about?  Paul uses the analogy of grafting branches onto an olive tree in Romans 11:17-24.  Israel was cut off because of unbelief and Gentiles were grafted in based on belief.  The reverse is said to be possible as a warning against unbelief.  The fact that Israel is referred to as “natural branches” (11:21) once again emphasizes that physical Israel exists and has a claim on God’s calling.

A better understanding of these concepts may be gained by reading the fuller passages to which I have referred, namely, Romans 2:17-29, Romans 9-11, and Galations 3.

On the hallway wall next to the door is posted “Room 417 Storage”.  In this fairly new facility it is used as an occasional office.  The majority could not tell you where it is or for what purpose it is utilized.  I was assigned to sit in silence in Room 417 with three other people for two and a half hours.  I’m a teacher; you figure it out.  Here are my impressions of the space, the activity, and our path.

During D’s Christmas break, he, P, and I went to the Linville Gorge here in our county . Well, I had a bushwhacking in mind, knowing the gorge much better than in previous years.  We went atop the ridge, down a narrow cut between 300 foot cliffs, waded the river without mishap, went upstream, waded the river with some small clothes wetting, and started up the ridge.  The uphill was so strenuous that the clothes wetting and near-freezing temperatures were no problem.  Then began the adventure.  With the shortened hours of winter pushing us, we tried to find a trail I had never been on, though marked on the map.  We didn’t find it so we started up the side of the ridge, a very steep talus field.  From the bottom we could see that it would not be hard to avoid confronting a large cliff in this section so we pushed on confidently.  About halfway up we encountered the remains of a forest fire from about 5 years ago.  No, it’s not what you expect.  The downed pine trunks were thick and thicker still were the 4 year old saplings, about wrist thickness diameter, a foot to foot and a half apart and 6 to 8 feet tall.  The going got extremely difficult, steep upslope, flexible but stiff trunks to push through, and intertwined trunks in varying degrees of rot at waist or chest deep.  The way back was not an option with dark, potential wetting, and significant distance further to go.  The way forward seemed unassailable.  I knew we simply had to make the ridge and trail by dark, though it was obvious there was a goodly hike from there to the truck in the dark.  The guys quieted down to the labor ahead with only occasional exclamations of amazement at how laden with traps the way forward had become.  We reached the ridge as the last orange glow of sunset faded.  After a quick rest we began a long, quick-paced hike out, but the adventure was far from over.  Soon I had to don my head lamp, in recent years a necessary part of any hike, day or overnight.  We surged forward, but had to rest soon after the exertions of the entangled climb.  We got up and went on, noticing that we had a curious view of an adjoining valley we did not expect.  Yes, it was dark and so far moonless, but the lights in the valleys were as jewel-like as the stars. The ridge ran over to the left and the trail began to descend.  I began to have misgivings out loud but continued on.  D stopped us and explained why this could not be the way.  We turned, emotionally fatigued by the setback.  At the point we had stopped to rest we discovered the trail had taken a 180 degree switchback.  The trail we had started down, after inspection was the other end of the one we sought to find at the bottom of the gorge.  We rushed on through open forest across the top of the ridge, up and down.  After traversing a deep gap we were to come on top of a wide-backed, straight and level ridge before a steep drop to the truck, perhaps a mile and a half left.  Soon after we reached the top of the ridge we came upon our most mentally trying difficulty.  A more recent forest fire had totally decimated the landscape (we have suffered extended, several year drought which only in the last month did the NWS say was over).  There are scatter boulders, but otherwise large areas were ashen and very moon-scape in the starlight.  Nothing appeared alive and no remains of plant material was more than knee high.  The soil was almost entirely eroded into ash flows with 100+ yard lengths having no evidence of trail.  Then brush would obscure what indention in rock and gravel suggested the remains of trail.  There is a 300 foot cliff on the right and a long slope that extends for miles through National Forest on the left.  The way is forward.  I would have the guys stand at the last perceived semblance of trail while I searched the scorched landscape for evidence of the way forward.  When I found what seemed to be the way I would call them forward.  After a 1/2 mile or so intermittent areas of unburned forest would arise with definite trail and even blazes on trees, only to be followed by burned out moonscape again.  The temperature was dropping into the mid-twenties and the wind gusted hard in the bare places.  I was thankful for the cool heads of my guys and the seemingly strong headlamp.  Finally we came to the small, tree lined bog that marks the 3/4 point of the ridge.  From here on the forest was thick until we came back to our full circle and the way down where the older fire had ruined the now slowly returning south exposure pine forest.  To say we were exhausted seems trivial but we were also thankful.  P managed to get a cell phone call out (rare on this ridge) to say we were safe and don’t send out the rescue squad.  P has not been hiking since, nor has D but he has lacked opportunity.  I was very thankful for God’s watchcare over our adventure and my unwise choices.  It was an adventure to write home about and probably to give the old man a hard time over in future years. Did I learn anything?  That depends on who you ask.

      On my classroom wall is posted the statement, “Bored is not a circumstance; it’s a state of mind.”  From the frequency of gaming, surfing the web and channels, and various other vicarious pursuits of entertainment coupled with short attention spans and lack of excitement for anything short of amazing I would say it is a common state of mind.  Other evidences may be harder to see: boredom with marriage, the job, the church, or life itself.  As Thomas Dubay puts it in The Evidential Power of Beauty boredom is “an insipid tedium with existence itself. Reality [is] a colossal blah.” (p.73)  What is the cause of this state of mind?  Part of Dubay’s answer is as follows: “The personal inability to perceive truth and beauty is related as first cousin, if not sibling, to a lack of wonder, which in turn, often if not always, arises from jadedness, from a perduring and even disgusting boredom caused by excess and overindulging” (p.72)  He is in fact repeating himself because jadedness means dullness brought on by excess.  So many people are seeking out more amazing, more sensually beautiful, or more violent stimulation to stave off boredom but these things are causing it.  In fact, “fully jaded men and women, old or young, marvel at nothing.” (p.73)  One area where this dullness is resulting in a desire to ramp up the stimulation is the immodesty of dress in public and in every form of media.  I think that the following statement relates to this idea: “It is one of the notable sadnesses of our time that so many are incapable of fascination with the deeper levels of human beauty, especially those rooted in the spirit, levels that far transcend physical attractiveness.” (Dubay, p.64) To summarize, boredom occurs because over stimulation dulls the mind so that it cannot in turn “perceive truth and beauty”.

          But if over stimulation were the primary cause would it not be eventually self-correcting when the stupor of dullness persists?  Would not the bored soul stop pushing forward into continued boredom?  I believe the answers are no.  The bored person is addicted to the stimulation of senses because he or she is trying to fill a great void, an emptiness in their soul brought on by their own sin or very frequently the hurt caused by someone else’s sin.  Jeremiah 2:13 says that people “hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  Obviously the answer is not pouring in more stimulation to relieve the boredom or hurt because the void can never be filled that way.  As a friend of mine said recently, when people are so focused on themselves they cannot help but become bored.  They need to focus on something outside themselves. 

       You may say, “What’s the big deal.  Someone is bored.  Get up and do something; get over it.”  I am not referring to a momentary Tuesday afternoon lack of something to do.  As I have observed it this boredom is a growing disease that is robbing people of purpose and happiness.  To the unbeliever I would say, you need Jesus who can heal your sin and your hurts.  As He has said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)  God’s salvation is sufficient but that salvation will need to be worked into a person’s life through a growing relationship with God that will heal hurts.  The believer who is bored has either given up ground or never taken it from the enemy.  The first part of the verse above about broken cisterns says, “My people have committed two evils: The have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters”.  Our primary focus must be God.  Part of the solution for the believer may be to fast from mere entertainments and seek more profound beauty.  “Cease striving and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)  Seeking God will increase your thankfulness and erase the dullness of reaction to beauty and truth.  The dullness of boredom can be erased by knowing and serving God rather than things or ideas or self.