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Theory of Truth Relativity

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

Thesis:

To state that “Truth is relative” is to imply that there is an absolute standard of truth.

Defense:

The statement “Truth is relative” is incomplete. ‘Relative’ takes an object; something is relative to something else. To discover the implied object in this statement let us look at how it is used.In making this statement one is attempting to accomplish two things:

1) To bring about peace and harmony in society. One observes that a given religion may hold to a certain tenant of truth in defense of which the adherents of the given religion are often willing even to kill and to die. One also observes that every religion seeks peace. Therefore one concludes that various statements of truth all seek to bring about a harmonious society, and that they apply to individuals based on their existential and social context. Because of this the mission of humanity should be to learn to understand and appreciate the value of the tenants of truth for other individuals within their context.

2) To exempt oneself from any implications of various tenants of truth of any given thought system that are inconvenient to one’s own experience and context.

In 1) we have established that truth ‘relates’ to other statements of truth, but we have not established what ‘truth’ in general is relative to. In 2) we seem to be implying that truth is relative to the individual.

At closer examination this is untenable. The term ‘is relative’ is more precise that the verb ‘relates’. To say that something is relative to an object is to also make a statement concerning the manner of relationship, namely, that various things have a commonality in the manner in which they relate, and that the commonality is, in fact, the object.

To say that A is relative to B is to state that A1, A2, and A3 share an essential governing principle, namely B. Here’s an example: Einstein’s theory of relativity states that E=MC

Existential Christmas

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

From day to day in life and love

We live in the now

We seek what’s to come,

Earth our dwelling, heaven our home.

We need not know how

Or why we have come

To be what now we have become.

To see life with eyes from above

Owned by the Gospel

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

“You have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his beloved Son–in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

You have been bought with a price. You are not your own. You have not been delivered unto your own wiles, but into the kingdom of Christ. Your price of slavery was the blood of the Son of God so that you may be owned, not by this world, nor by your own self, but that you may be a servant of righteousness–delivered into the blessed slavery of the kingdom of the risen Son of God.

The gospel is not your self-improvement project.

The gospel is your beautiful, gracious, taskmaster. It is your master because you have been adopted by its Author, our loving heavenly father; its task is to deliver others from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

The Sacrament of Romans 12

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

In Romans 12:1 the Apostle Paul says: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” There is a curious use here of the physical body as a spiritual sacrifice. This use would not be so curious in the Old Covenant as there are many physical sacrifices to be found in the law. But in the teachings on the New Covenant we need to stop and think about what exactly he means; it’s not quite as obvious as the symbolism of slaying an innocent lamb for sins.

When we come together as the body of Christ in a worship service we sing and listen to the Word taught and fellowship. This is called worship. The word used in the verse quoted above for ‘spiritual’ is ‘logikhn’;Sometimes this word can mean ‘reasonable’ or ‘rational’. In any case it is dealing with the nonphysical reality of a concept, that is, the idea of it, the perfect idea of it in it’s essence. So in this case we speak of worship, or service; words used in the context of the priest’s service in the temple, and in Paul’s writings, of the service that believers render to God as a living priesthood. So the perfect idea of worship in its essence is spiritual. One may also argue that ‘divine’ is a good word to use. And indeed, many Christian traditions have called the liturgy the “divine service”.

What Paul is speaking of then, is a worship that is a service, like that of a priest who is a ‘slave’ of sorts to God, and it is a service that is very real in its spiritual significance. It is of the essence of what worship is all about; that is the meaning of ‘logikhn’: it is of the essence.

But how does one go about doing this? “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” So this is not a mindless sacrifice, as if we are causing ourselves to suffer just for the sake of being a sacrifice. Rather, we are to make this sacrifice of ourselves, a true spiritual and divine sacrifice, by a radical change in the way that we think. The sacrifice is not a destruction, but a transformation.

Our paradigm for this is of course the cross, where Jesus both died and rose again as a complete, perfect and acceptable sacrifice to God on our behalf. He was not destroyed

A Shadow of Things to Come

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

“All of created reality is only a flimsy shell of the being that is hidden in [God] but becomes visible in some way through the appearance of all that is visible. Every reflection will pass away on that day when God will no longer reveal himself through his reflections, but rather will plainly show forth all that he is. Once our spiritual sight is awakened and strengthened by the light of glory, then the world will no longer please us. We look beyond a shadow once the body that has cast it appears. We are no longer interested in a portrait once the actual person arrives. A mask loses its appeal when the face is uncovered. In the same way, all will seem to us mere appearance, mask and nothingness whe God will reveal himself fully to our souls.”

— Jean-Jacques Olier