Absurdity, Truth, and Defending God

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061417.cfm
II Corinthians 3:4-11
Matthew 5:17-19

Part I - Absurdity

The truth may come from God, but when men and women decide upon what’s true, they mostly look to themselves, and not God. That’s my hypothesis. I’m banking on God’s affirmation.

Here’s the data that frames God’s truth as contrary to the world’s human-based truth systems of operation.

If we have discovered something true that God has established, but have operated all our lives upon an opposite truth, we stand at a crossroad. That which we once thought to be absurd has now replaced our previous formed truth and path to be the actual absurdity. Our path forward now requires a most difficult decision. Change paths and be outwardly absurd and unacceptable, or stay on the old path and remain outwardly acceptable and spiritually absurd.

What is considered absurd in truth today that contradicts God’s truths? So many things. Here are a few. 

• That we can live forever with him because of what he does for us, not what we do for him. 
  
• That our personal desires do not come first. 
  
• That sex is holy. 
  
• That a fetus is a human. 
  
• That the source of holy relationships is the Holy Spirit. 
  
• That God includes the incarnated person of Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit. 

The Christian creeds are full of these absurdities. They’re a summary, a catechism capture of scripture. There are many more such absurdities that rankle the world — including angels, the devil, the Communion of Saints, the virgin birth, resurrection … an unlimited list of infinite truths.

It’s not so much that we waver when an old truth turns unacceptable due to God’s teaching. It’s that an outright revelation from God cannot be denied. Truth, when placed in our heart by God, trumps the difficulty of living with it. So, we should change directions. Change, though, is not the hard part. 

(I’m assuming that believers reading this know what a revelation from God is like. God provides them according to his schedule, which is always perfectly timed. Everyone gets them, according to how I read scripture. If you haven’t yet, you were probably focused on something else and missed it. Don’t worry, God can perform miraculous revelations every second for the rest of our lives. One or two should be all you need. More is just delicious. They’re OK to chew on at any time.)

The difficulty with believing a truth which we previously regarded as an absurdity is that we lose respect from the men and women in power who control the truth. We become absurd, because God-based beliefs have largely been established as absurd. We become uncool, annoying, stereotyped, and dismissed. It’s quite ugly if you’ve been pretty important and envied for much of your life.

Consequently, to purposely accept absurdity and then exhibit ourselves as absurd to those we used to look up to makes us more than different. We become dangerous. Frankly, to live by an unacceptable truth places us at risk from those who hold an opposite, more acceptable truth. 

Who gets to decide the truth, and whom do we trust to affirm such decisions? The answer about the who and whom matters. Either humans and their postulants do, or God decides and his body of believers get to affirm it.

First, let’s be sure that we properly identify the stage, the playing field, and the courtroom of authorities in charge of the truth, beginning with the language we use for actual truth and absurdity.

Look at the synonyms for absurd — preposterous, ridiculous, ludicrous, farcical, laughable, risible, idiotic, stupid, foolish, silly, inane, imbecilic, insane, harebrained, and cockamamie. When those on one side or another regard some other truth as an absurdity, the opposition flings a volley of the above synonyms in the direction of the other side. 

Human focused truth rules the truth roost. You can tell because their acceptable truth position requires them to destroy their opposition. It’s hard to tell which side is true or absurd unless you apply this principle. Sometimes, both sides are wrong, then. Flingers of insults are usually not God-centered. People make mistakes, though, so I suggest you weigh a person’s affiliation based upon their full day.

The absurdist, or God-centered truther, has different rules to follow. They are allowed to point out the human-based truths that contradict God, even calling them “a pack of lies.” That’s OK. He or she, though, must win over the crowds of people with love, logic, and patience. We need to distance the lie from the person. The actual truth can’t claim superiority over a faulty human-based truth with calumny and disgust.

This is a very hard thing to do without the Holy Spirit. It's practically impossible. Even pleading with God, “Shucks, why can’t I tell them off?” amounts to evil intent..

It just so happens that permission to fling insults comes only from truths based upon those “packs of lies.” Actual truth, requires God-based behavior. A believer, gathered by the Holy Spirit, cannot fire off flings of insults. Also, unfortunately, superiority is not permitted, which is really too bad. Superiority is a big deal for  those who follow human designed truths. It’d be nice to look down our nose on them. Not OK, but I'm just saying.

The definition of truth, then, must also be addressed.

Part II - Truth

Truth, like absurdity, can be summarized by its literal portrayal. Truth is either (1) that which is true in accordance with fact or reality, or (2) it is a fact or belief that is accepted as true. Axiomatic truth is the first one. It is self-evident — actually true — in accordance with both fact and reality. Postulated truth, the second one, is proposed to be true. If generally accepted, postulated truth becomes the rule of law. The rule of law, now almost completely designated by humans, can trump self-evident truths. 

Really. I’m not kidding. It looks like they’ve won all the arguments because the law is almost always on their side.

The evidentiary facts and the perspective of reality that form postulated truth do not source from God. That’s the definition of postulated truths. They wobble erratically, wane regularly, and appear magically. Axiomatic facts and reality are, well, axiomatic. They are tactile and true.

In order to trump axiomatic truth, postulated truth must defame it. Axiomatic truth has now come to be identified, improperly, as the wobbly, waning, and magical truth. Postulated truth is inflexible, short-lived, and manufactured by humans. Axiomatic truth comes from God. It looks like the opposite on TV, though. They’ve gotten very good at defamation of the only properly famous entity.

Postulated truth cleverly agrees that the source of axiomatic truth is God. With a sinister twist, postulated truths insist that God is an invisible and unknowable entity. Truths claimed as sourced from God cannot be affirmed. They are legendary, and pre-evolutionary, because God is an ancient idea. Axiomatic truths, thus, have a questionable authorship. 

Postulated truths may overlap with axiomatic truths, but time will surely allow for adjustments, ultimately erasing axiomatic “inflexibilities.”

Among the population, the difference between axiomatic and postulated truth means little when it comes to behavior and thinking, because only postulated truth applies. Accepted truth rules, and unacceptable truth is therefore absurd. The believer in the absurd (unacceptable God-based truth) should hold their tongue. Absurd beliefs carry directly over to the character of the believer. Such people are, in fact, absurd. 

When a believer in the unacceptable truth (God-sourced) cannot be quiet, the general population responds appropriately. The absurd’s murmured expressions receive hearty guttural volleys of “Idiot,” “stupid,” and “ridiculous.” Louder, audibly voiced expressions from the absurd are received with a hail of sour epithets, shouted using most of the synonyms listed above. When the absurd dare to shout out their expressions of truth, violence will most likely result.

Whether in our home, our office environment, or at a public forum, expressing an absurd truth in visible or audible fashion assures both ridicule and condemnation. We have to be very careful pointing out the differences in truths when the absurdity, in acceptable circles, lies with us.

Comedians make a living getting laughed at for being absurd. That’s because court jesters and clowns inject comic relief, letting air out of a balloon right before it pops. “Just kidding!” the comic yells. The joker inevitably supports the prevailing truth of an audience by hilarious means, further relegating the absurd to laughable status. Any other purpose results in the loss of comedic certification.

At almost every level of order in the universe, an acceptable, commonly agreed upon understanding of truth rules the day. Pick your premise — science, infrastructure, government, education, morals, nutrition, religion, technology, or sports — and, watch the fireworks. Especially when money, land, reputation, status, competition, and even just hubris are involved. Stakes are planted in the ground, debates form, and winners are declared. Losers are banned.

To be clear, the truly absurd are those who stand opposed to God’s truths. Truth clothes the person. So, those who clothe themselves in truths that they find absurd do so in order to be acceptable, to protect themselves. It's a bit cowardly, but we can understand.

Oddly, if an axiomatic truth rises to the rule of law and has reached acceptable status it can and will be ruthlessly challenged. If a postulated truth holds the gavel, challenges are silenced.

Part III - Sanity 

I don’t know the statistics on this, but acceptable/unacceptable measurements that sway societies almost always source from a secular authority in power. Any power that bases their authority upon an appointment by God are usually met with disdain, and eventually get destroyed. 

(Granted, the destruction of the Holy Roman Empire took over 1000 years before displacement — as have the many century-long holds on power from human divinities in Eastern societies. Some religious leaders still rule in mid-East nations, but like the African and South American nations that have revolted, I suspect they will also crater into following human-based credos rather than God-based ones.) 

Societies and nations ruled by a god claim to be sourced by axiomatic truth. They are specific about the source of their power, but differences on how their gods operate among them muddies the similarities from one population sector to another. I would suggest, though I could be dead wrong, that they actually behave and think according to a human, secularly identified set of modes and rules.

In any case, the deciders of truth and their councils of affirmation, globally, end up ruling societies based upon postulated truths. God is not in charge of any nation on earth today. He allows authorities to do that. His time is coming, but authorities are still just a bunch of power-grubbing humans. My apologies for the insult. Dang.

Sanity is defined as the ability to think and behave in a normal and rational manner, or to have “sound mental health.” We adjust our manner of being to assure that we operate like a sane person. Confidence, courage, humility, duty and generosity describe the behavior of a sane person.

When someone questions our truth — the premise for our normal and rational behavior and thought — our immediate reaction describes the solidity of that truth and our sanity. 

We do not need to defend God’s truth. Not really. God does that just fine. In most cases, our humanly manufactured defenses of God usually result in not following God at all.

The actual veracity of truth can stand any test. Questions, challenges, fear and even force cannot change real truth. They can only change our thinking and behavior. The truth will eventually win. 

So, look for the one who loves, is patient, and though they may seem to say and believe absurd things, they could be quite logical. But mostly, let God bring them to you. That’s how he operates. God’s truth and methods might make them and you look absurd, but you’ll be more sane than you ever imagined.