Monday, April 5, 2010

Mendacity

The need to live in the truth is greater than ever. We tend to cling to facts as the basis of truth. Instead we must embrace relationship as the centering force for truth. We live by the truth in the context of the relationships we keep not in the facts we profess.

On the surface the fact that the pastor preached a sermon last Sunday seems like a truthful statement. But as a listener, do I live by the truth that was spoken or do I simply agree with the pastor. As we struggle to understand that which was spoken in a sermon or a conversation, we must enter into a relationship of listening and speaking. We must put ourselves and our ideas on the line, and we must be willing to be shaped by the words and ideas of the other.

When we attempt to live by facts it is easy to slip into a state of mendacity. We can bend the meaning of a fact to suit ourselves and to equivocate our reality. But if we have a relationship of truth with God or one of his image bearers, we cannot easily sweep away a fact as either true or false. We live and move and have our being in the midst of relationships, not in the midst of facts. Only when we embrace relationships do we embrace truth.