You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Jn. 8:32 ESV
Have you ever seen a truth table? It is an exciting tool used in fields like math and logic. Its purpose is to determine, through symbolic representation, the final truth-value of any compound statement. It can be complicated if you include all the possibilities but stick with me, the heart of it isn’t complicated at all.
The key idea of the truth table is simply this: the truth or falseness of any factual statement depends on the truth or falseness of its parts. For instance, as I write there is a can on my desk which is filled with nuts. That is a compound statement of fact. Now to be a statement both conditions must be true, i.e., there must be a can setting on my desk, and it must be full of nuts. If the can isn’t there, or if it is there, but empty, then the statement itself is false. That it is partially true confuses the issue but does not make the statement true. If I look at the truth table for this set of relationships it looks like this:
- True + True = True
- False + True = False
- True + False = False
- False + False = False
What interests me is this: The true is obviously true (l above) and the false obviously false (4). However, statements of partial truth (as in 2 & 3 of the table) are ultimately false even if entirely true in one part. Often these are difficult and confusing to deal with because the false is obscured by alignment with what is true. The can is setting on my desk. You can see it if you look. But what is in it is not so obvious. (And now I’m going to put this can away so I won’t eat any more of the nuts! Maybe full is no longer the best word.)
Now if you’re still with me, you’re probably saying, “So what?” Well, I think there are several so whats which force themselves on Christians. For instance, consider the danger in holding to unexamined truth. Whether there are nuts in the can on my desk is no big deal and can be left unexamined. But whether you are building your life, home, marriage, career and eternity on what is true, is a BIG DEAL! No one structures his life on the false. Our problem is being sucked in by the partially true.
According to Jesus, when we know the truth it will set us free. (John 8:32) Recognize the depth of this statement. Jesus assumes that truth really exists and provides bedrock underpinning for life. It stands as something that resides in the core of existence and forms a base for that existence. If you know this, it’s freeing. BUT partial truth is always a distortion and consequently, false! It cannot set us free. It can only enslave us by tying our life to the unreal.
The depth of another statement Jesus made comes into focus here too. The Christian life cannot be a compound of true and false. Jesus said “No one can serve two masters…You cannot serve God and mammon.” It is easy to see why. The final value of the compounding of true and false is false. That is how creation works! And the challenge is right here.
Don’t be fooled by partial truth. Sometimes the error is difficult to see. It is usually easier to leave the truths we build our lives on unexamined. But the truth table should jerk us back to reality. The false distorts the true to the point of falseness. Set for your goal nothing less than God’s absolute truth!
(January, 1987, Ojai CA)
This Mind 