What Is Truth?
How do you walk confidently in the truth, but still keep a door open to those who disagree with you or may not yet see what you see? Wayne's trip to Austin, Texas and a comment on the blog invite Brad and Wayne into a discussion about how to engage others in theological issues or moral concerns (including homosexuality) that keep the door open to further dialog rather than press people into conformity. Loving others we don't condone and having the grace to walk in the light alongside other people who see things differently than we do is the fruit of living loved. You can't do it by following principles that can fit every person or situation, but only by following Jesus as he guides us through the engagements of our life.
Podcast Links:
Orphanage Relocation in Kenya
The Remarkable Replacement Army
Podcast: Download
Subscribe: RSS
Thank you, thank you Brad and Wayne for the courage to tackle another fine-line subject! As the pendulum for Christians swings back and forth between being full of grace or being judgmental, many, like me, find it a fine-line for sure. Sometimes it seems like the term “grace” has been hijacked by the PC crowd to mean something new – something like tolerance. Wow! Grace has been dumbed down from the trans-formative interaction between man and God to simply mean tolerant niceness. Hmm. I wonder what we can dumb down next?
What is Truth? The truth is that I now know that I was “saved” before the foundation of the world. That I was created by the great ” I AM” for His glory and my sake, forever. That He sees me as an equal so that we may truly live in a loving relationship born of freedom. It’s not a matter of obedience, sinfulness, repentance or even morality. Truth is living loved. Gman
Stellar conversation, fellas! Truth is a person!!! What an incredible reality! Keep slingin’!
I think you guys had a discussion months or even years ago along the lines of predestination. More in the sense of how God can truly know what is going to happen. But the point was He can’t know what is going to happen unless it actually happens. If we had never been created then God wouldn’t know we screwed it up:0)
In the same vein, if we can’t live our lives by the truth, the thing on the inside telling us this is right; then how can we ever hope to discover the real truth. Little by little Father shows us real truth and we must live it. I always tend to thank I have all the truth and then stop the film because any further footage may change what I think is the truth. It’s late so maybe this won’t make sense tomorrow, but it seems to apply right now.
The soul wants truth, not trivia. So if our connection is to be welcoming to our souls it must be a connection that allows truth to be told. “Truth is an eternal conversation about things that matter, conducted with passion and discipline.” Parker Palmer (A Hidden Wholeness)
In this way Truth evolves within us, between us, and around us as we participate in “the eternal conversation.”
My son used to hang out with the ‘stoners’ – now he is one of them and has added porn to the mix…:(
Thought provoking again. The “default” position I find myself running to is principles and “fixing things” rather than relationship. Learning to run instead to relationship and let situations be sorted out in that light (and in the light of a Person who is Truth) is like moving into a new house. In the end this house is going to be much better for me and will give me the space to do what I need to do. As I make that transition, it feels strange and uncomfortable. I find that the old familiar markers are either gone or are in different locations. Takes getting used to for sure.
What a wonderful podcast. Everything you shared resonated with the truth I have come to know and live as I continue on this journey. When we live in the reality of knowing how much we are loved, that Jesus came not to condemn us, but to love us even in our transgressions, and that it is in that very love that transformation takes place, how can we not grow in our freedom to love others…..
I have always believed that there is not one gay person who actually chose to be gay, and to live in that lifestyle. But as we focus on the person, the essence of the heart, and walk alongside them, then we are allowing, or as Brad said, making fertile ground, for transformation to take place.
The Truth lives in all of us….He will always help us to live in the moment and share His love….. as we listen for His voice…..
…as I sat next to him, pearched around a table in Austin, TX, he leaned over to give me a hug. I was touched by his hug in a way that was unassuming to he and myself. For the first time, I felt the sense of an authentic…a TRUE, fatherly love.
As I mentioned in that same home, some of us bear the wounds of fathers who knew not how to, “love well”. This conditional love left a void in the human (this human) heart’s ability to TRUST the love of a father…a pure kindof love…the Lord’s love.
I noted the other evening while watching Good Will Hunting (yes, for the first time), that until you are abled to viscerally FEEL the love of our Creator…all of the lectures, bible studies, sermons, literature, discussions, etc, of a lifetime…you will continue a futile attempt at knowing God’s TRUTH.
Last night while I was engaging in Romans 1, I happened upon 1:11, “For I want very much to see you, so I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, to be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
My study bible’s cliff note dictates: “Paul was certain he would bring certain benefits or blessings as he taught among the house churches of Rome. The ‘spiritual gift’ mentioned here was not the special gift(s) in 1Co 12-14 which were given by God but gifts that Christians gave to one another. Paul was certain that the Roman Christians would minister to him since every part of the body of Christ has useful functions in relation to other parts (1Co 12:12-27).
Thus far in my young walk as a believer in Christ (that his bloodshed truly covers my sin and ascertains absolute grace), Ive not been afforded the ability to “feel” an unconditional love of a male/man/father. After hearing you (Wayne) speak of the Father’s true and unconditional love, and receiving a simple hug from you, something real and true penetrated my spirit. Maybe it was divinity, maybe it was a “gift”, maybe it was…just me. I dont know how or why God’s all consuming love penetrated my spirit in that moment but I cant help but to think of Paul and how long he longed to be with “all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints” Rom 1:7.
The TRUTH is not that Wayne Jacobson, his insight, or his presence is the WAY to the father’s love but the Lord certainly uses him as an instrument and teacher of LOVE and TRUTH to penetrate the heart’s who have been of long scarring.
These are just the thoughts of a simple woman who resides in Austin, TX…
Annette….What a beautiful story….thank you for sharing your experience. Yes, Father has touched so many of us through Wayne, (his books, his wrtitings, his podcasts, his interviews, and his gatherings).
My prayer for you, and for all of us, is that Father will continue to make his love known to us, so that we could live our lives in the freedom of complete trust….