Controversy FAQ Interview Question 5

In the trainings, where is the focus of truth…in the participants' emotions or in Scripture?

Again, this is a question which, in how it's framed, is more an accusation than an actual inquiry. It sounds like one of the questions the Pharisees tried to catch Jesus in. We believe the locus of truth is God, and God dwells in people, not a book. To clarify: we would be more apt to listen and believe that God is speaking through a person than to think that our interpretation of the book is telling us what the truth is.

For instance, Jim Jones said he got the locus of his truth from the Bible, and many destructive and maniacal cult leaders have claimed the same thing…that they got their inspiration and "truth" from the Bible. Even Hitler used the same line. Asking this question is a great way to send a meta-message (that is, a message hidden above the literal question). When you ask somebody, "Do you think the locus of truth is in the Scriptures?", the meta-message is "Hey, don't mess with me because my interpretation of what is in the Bible is the ultimate truth, and if you question me, you're questioning God, because I got my interpretation from the Bible." To which we would say, "Which one of the 20,000 denominations in the United States alone has the grip on the truth?", because they all say that the Bible is the essence of their truth, and they're constantly attacking each other over this whole issue. Holding the Bible in any way that one person has the exact, God-given interpretation of every part of it isn't a resourceful or relevant way to govern ourselves or to lead others, and it's what got the Pharisees and other sects into a lot of mischief, because they were more focused on being right about their interpretation than actually living in what the Father was speaking.

We believe that the Bible is the word of God. We would also suggest that there's no exact formula for interpreting it. The Bible is a great resource for us in discovering and living in relational truth rather than a handbook or rule book for figuring out the way things are "supposed" to look, because, often, that is what people are asking for when they want the truth. The Bible is the great plumb-line to go to for help in inquiring into my life from a point of view of "'How can I better love somebody else?" or "How can I make a better difference in the lives of my spouse and my children?" From that point of view you can really look for the truth of God in the people in whose life you are involved. You can look for truth in relationship, which is actually what the Bible is all about. "How is God in this relationship? What is opening up through God and through love, joy, peace, and kindness? How is truth opening up in this relationship, how is it being closed down?" This is more dynamic than the assumption that truth is some static concept that we can figure out and then possess through our knowledge or orthodoxy. We don't believe that; we think that truth is a dynamic being that mingles and lives within our relationships and indwells in our thought life, and as such, we highly value orthodoxy but we focus on orthopraxy, which is essentially our beliefs actually translating into action in the real world and in real relationships.

In Scripture itself, it's very clear that truth is more than just holding concepts in your mind. Throughout Scripture, there are various references like being true walking in truth, and living truth. Our work introduces people to a much richer, deeper, and more connected experience of how to be and live truth. So for those who dumb it down or simplify it to "all of truth is captured within Bible verses and knowing Bible verses," that really leaves the whole essence of the gospel out of the equation, which is relationship: relationship with God, relationship with Jesus Christ, relationship with each other, and being true and living truly in those kinds of relationships.

In I Corinthians 13:12, scripture says that we see through a glass dimly. If that's the truth, it behooves us to be open to different views of the truth, since we can't see the fullness of it. A part of our truth is that we're constantly inquiring into what is the truth about what's going on; we resist landing on some absolute answer because, so far, the absolute answers that have been fed to us by the dogmatic institutions of "the Church" over the last 2,000 years have often left much to be desired. They've worked in some circumstances, not others, and they certainly haven't worked for society as a whole. There's obviously something that is being lost in the translation, and we think it has to do with not being open to the dynamic nature of truth and that as humans, because we love control, power, and authority, we tend to dogmatize it. People tend not to question their own view of truth because they are more inclined to use truth as a tool for making them right and giving them power (just like the Pharisees) than they are about humbly walking in it.

Finally, we don't believe truth changes; we believe the perspective of the one viewing truth or searching truth changes, and it's easy to mistake "my perspective" as the full picture, such that when it changes, we think "truth is changing" versus "my perspective is changing." We believe that humility is recognizing that we all have a perspective about which we can be very passionate and certain. We must remain open to what else we're not seeing, because we see through a glass dimly, and when we are open to that sort of inquiry, God, who is The Truth, can really meet us and fill our lives with His truth.

Back to Controversy FAQ