Characteristics of TRUTH II

In a recent article I presented the ideas of an organization called Spirit & Truth as they relate to the Characteristics of TRUTH. In it, I outlined the first three and will now cover the remaining three characteristics they presented.

The fourth characteristic covered was UNIVERSAL. This is the nature of applying equally to everything and everyone within a specific set of parameters. In a time when we tend to stress individuality, “my truth”, and individual rights it is refreshing to find a common TRUTH. The universal nature of TRUTH should drive each one of us to seek it until we are confident, we have found it. The universal TRUTH is that we cannot escape things just because we do not believe them.

The next characteristic of TRUTH is that it is EXCLUSIVE. It reflects that there is a verry narrow pathway for belief and understanding. Things are the way they are by design, by the creation of God. There is an order to the world that only makes sense when you seek TRUTH. That order is based upon the mind and will of God and does not make sense to man. It is restrictive because we allow it to be, because we do not seek TRUTH. In John 8:31 we learn that only “TRUTH will set us free.”

The final characteristic explored was OBJECTIVE. This means in the realm of experience but independent of a person’s thoughts or perceptions. Truth is not dependent on any person’s desires, beliefs, or emotions. Truth is not subject to man’s control, determination, or veto. No one gets to decide what truth is; it is not subjective. It is objective, outside of man. It must be revealed to man, because man cannot make it or change it. This relates specifically to people who think in terms of “their own truth” as something they can claim or invent. If everyone could have his or her own truth, then TRUTH would not be true, but would be only a personal experience or belief.

It is the very nature of man to seek TRUTH. We are driven by the desire. We have the high quality of life that we do today because of this desire to know the TRUTH. We have explored, challenged, research, and invented all in the quest to find TRUTHS. This also explains why some societies thrive while others do not. When the desire for TRUTH is crushed or prohibited by government or other forces, the quality of life is inhibited for those who do nt seek it.

The absence of TRUTH also impacts us in negative ways. When we do not challenge conventual thinking, when we repeat the mistakes of the past, when we accept things as they are we do not find TRUTH. When we do not question things, we pay the consequences. This is because there are certain things that matter in both the physical and spiritual worlds. Gravity, for example, is a boundary that means, as long as it exists, things will fall down. It can be overcome when we challenge its TRUTH, but it still exists. The existence of God is also TRUTH.

This has been my quest, my search for the OneTRUTH of God. We must find it because it is the TRUTH that comes from God. What does God want? One place that He tells us is in His Word in 1 Timothy 2:4…He desires that “we come to the full knowledge of the TRUTH.” This knowledge provides wisdom, wise choices, and understanding. Leadership is based upon these provisions. Leadership must be based upon the fact that the Word of God is the TRUTH (John 17:17).

As a result, we should, as Spirit & Truth reminds us in the conclusion of their article, “labor hard to understand it, believe it, and teach it to others. At the end of time, the only theory, idea, concept, ideology, or belief that matters will be those that are true, that correspond to the reality that God has set in place. We need to honor God and bless ourselves and others by discovering TRUTH and communicating it to those around us.