The power of a teacher is not in their position or even their degree, but in their heart.
And at the heart of every great teacher is a life-long passionate love for truth. Great teachers are truth-seekers. They are not into personal opinion and political preference. They’re curious by nature and love discovery. They believe that this big, beautiful, well-ordered world has secrets it is willing to yield to those who are willing to pursue them.
Enter into this idea of truth-seeking, American Christianity which somehow has been, in many places, held up in opposition to truth so that our young people are raised in churches where they’re made to make a decision between faith and truth. They’re told from their earliest days at home, at school, and at church that science is the enemy of God; that philosophy, history, and mathematics are somehow the tools of the secular world. And yet Jesus said that when you know the truth, the truth will set you free.
In yesterday’s talk, we discussed this issue of truth. What is truth? Why is it so important? And why is the big lie that there is in irreconcilable conflict between faith and truth so widely believed by people almost without investigation or discrimination?
It would also be good to go and check out last week’s Renegade’s Guide to God where I discussed the five reasons I am not a Christian. Here I expose some of the mythologies people have about Christianity, and talk about the nature of truth and faith and why they are not only compatible, they are absolutely essential to one another