Truth

2000+ years ago Pontius Pilate queried the bound "criminal" before him, "What is truth?" He (perhaps somewhat knowingly) addressed the question to the One who defined it in Himself, the One who literally embodies Truth. Some standards are unshakable... So, while I plunge into these conversations mid-stream...I think reason being not the only thing that drives us, we are not a dichotomized race or so utterly separated body and soul as the Greeks and gnostics believed. I'd agree in fact with Roger's assesment that while we may know what is true, right, good, and so forth we often choose against it for our own gratifications. However, I think that philosophy at least can contain truth, though it would be nigh impossible for every philosopy to be (totally) true. The contradictions would be endless. I've been told (by friends in philosophy) that it's point is to search for truth...the only difficulty that presents itself is that apparently no philosopher can ever claim to FIND T/truth because we press into agnosticism and epistemology...what we can/can't know, and how, etc. So how come those who claim to be philosophers declare so much, in ways that seem quite certain and absolute? And, Brad, I think your questioning Magee is appropriate. While it may be possible for the vilest individual to be a great thinker, that inconsistency between what he teaches/preaches and what he behaves upon will at some point reach a crossroads. We cannot maintain a doctrine or a philosophy or a worldview for long in the stratosphere before it comes crashing down to a pertinent reality in our lives, or the lives of those nearest to us, or whom we lead. Ultimately what we do/live proves what we believe/think. The weight of our minds and thoughts to shape our actions requires an almost constant vigiliance it seems, for if we are to live out our philosophies we will necessarily have to enforce them to some extent upon our behavior. That's not to say that corrupted people can't hold or teach wise paradigms...but if we do try to divorce our system of thought from our system of action we either end up schizophrenic or we end up bailing on one or the other. †And, one small note (I'm sure the tip of a much wider conversation) in response to Roger's comment that "presenting the truth to our friends has never been enough, and that the confrontation approach has not worked on any level in our own lives." The general tendency in our evangelism is to present truth. But we miss the same subtle distinction that Pilate did. We try to offer a platter of paradigms, philosophies, ideas that are true...and we fail to actually introduce people to the One who is the Truth. It's very postmodernly appropriate to say there must be an experience before an internal change can occur...I only partially agree. A transformational encounter with the Living God might well take care of both at once... But also, given even the earlier thoughts I shared about our thoughts needing to be imposed on our behavior...I am convinced that the Holy Spirit being God, He may well enough (and I think often does) begin a person's internal transformation, starts poking at their worldview, starts changing their minds about Jesus before, and perhaps SO THAT they can actually encounter Him as the Redeeming Son of God, not just a "good person," or whatever previously indifferent or hostile view they've held of Him. Probably not in every case, but often enough, I think that at least some of the transformation has to precede the experience, so that it "lasts" or even begins to make sense.