Love Has a Name

Hold onto your hats! The title may have caught your eye but this post will, hopefully, challenge you. My challenge for you today is to finish reading this post!

When I say “Your opinion just doesn’t matter” I mean that while our Father values and loves each and every one of us on this earth, simultaneously, He is continually pointing us to the One with the absolute truth, and Who’s opinion should be the ONLY opinion we care about.

This world, this culture gives license to just about anyone with an internet connection and a smartphone to offer an opinion and often times this is to our own detriment.

The very definition of opinion, includes, “…not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.” THAT FRIGHTENS ME!!! It frightens me because many times I have had conversations with people who quote others, quote celebrities or famous people, however, they have no evidence, proof or factual research to support their idea or opinion.

This means that in many circumstances OPINION DOES NOT EQUAL TRUTH!

Even scarier is a 2-word phrase, “my truth”. Now, I don’t want to take away from someone’s personal experience, this is a very important experience for people, however, an experience does not define truth either. For example racism! Many people will, unfortunately, base their opinions of others based on an isolated incident. Clearly we cannot paint an entire race of people as corrupt or inherintly bad because we had 1 bad experience with 1 person. So as many things in life we must reflect and ponder diligently each experience we go through in life.

There simply are not many truths – there is and can only be 1 objective truth. To say anything else immediately fractures our world to pieces.

The objective truth, if there is to be one at all, cannot come from any person on earth. If a person was to be the ultimate decider and creator of truth the world would be at the mercy of their opinion of truth, rendering it no longer objective. Saying that there are many truths immediately puts people into camps and tribes and fractures the fabric of a unified society. In America today we see this in growing numbers and frequency. Each person, party, group and association has an opinion or claim on truth. When examined however, nearly 100% of the time their “truth” is being used to sell or move toward their goal and with their purpose, not that of God and not that of the global good.

This does, unfortunately, include some churches and people who believe in God or a god. They seek to sell their church or their community and in the process forget that God is omnipresent and does not exist in a building or in their building alone.

So then what to do? Well, the answer is simple. The One who Created the Heavens and the Earth, Who created you and me and everything else and the One who has always existed, still does and will forever is a good source. The only One with all the answers.

If you are an atheist you probably haven’t read this far. For those who know God is real, or perhaps are exploring the idea of a God, I would bet you are, or at some point were, indeed, looking for the truth.

The bible, as we understand it, is penned by men however was divinely inspired by the Creator Himself via His Holy Spirit.

Returning to my introduction about everyone’s opinion, the question is then who shall we believe? Any person who says “in my opinion” or the One who made that person and formed them in their mother’s womb?

I argue the One who created… everything!

It has been my experience that many people will form their opinions based on what suits them and their way of life, even based on isolated experiences. I used to do the same. I lived my life, even part of my Christian life, according to my opinion and my own interpretation of what I read. I could easily find people, humans, who would support my ideas because they too did not want to face the facts and change, or at the very least examine, their defects. I did not want to face the truth or change my behaviour and so I turned to opinions of those who did not possess truth, but did possess words that suited my personal lifestyle and desire to live my life how I chose.

Until the day I intimately met Jesus Christ and when He spoke to me so directly I had to repent and re-examine myself. I was forced to see my ways as wrong and not based in truth. Quickly I realized that by following other people’s opinions I was in fact following humans and not God.

I did not seek truth, I seeked my truth and to live my way, over and above Jesus’ ways.

Having said this, I will still read an opinion of someone, however, I filter it through Scripture, the living word of the Living God! When someone offer me advice or their opinion, I seek the only One with the truth, Jesus Christ and filter it through the Word of God.

The only God, ever, to provide a clear pathway to salvation, freedom and eternal life is Jesus Christ. This, if you believe is my opinion, I encourage you, to read, research and react not from gutteral offence or reactionary emotional fear. Take the time to embrace the idea that Jesus loves you and wants to be in relationship with you! Jesus wants to share the truth with you.

It may seem slightly odd that I write this blog and simultaneously share not to listen to just anyone’s opinion. Discernment is key. Who is this person? Are they trustworthy? Have they studied what they are speaking on? Have they heard arguments contrary to their own?

We can generally trust well-read scholars, scientists and professors, however, even they encourage questions, encourage healthy and respectful challenges to their opinions. THIS is healthy and THIS can lead to truth when we, in humility, examine truth claims as objectively as possible and realize we may not be right.

I must now say that we must react and challenge people lovingly, not spitefully or cruelly, but in a way that is respectful, loving and allows discussion and not hateful disunity.

This post is a strongly worded encouragement to do your own research and to make a well-educated and informed opinion. Not only about faith, but about many things which are being thrown at us today by the media, by friends or by corporations. Feel free to reject those ideas and opinions around you, with tact and respect, especially when someone is clearly seeking promotion for self or for their own ideology.

Have you asked yourself, so then why should I trust your opinion? To be blunt, because these posts are not my opinion. At the end of the day, in each interaction I have with people in my ministry and in my life I will quote Scripture and direct people to the Word of God.

Simply put, I do not base my writings on my opinion alone but only when my lived experience and  Word of the Living God intersect and are therefore rendered true.. The living Word of God, through the Bible, forms my opinions, which as I argue, is the only 1 true objective holder of truth.

In summation, I am not saying to never read or place value on someone’s opinion. Instead, be discerning and cautious. Do not place your faith in humans or in fallible and fleeting things when the Creator of life and truth is speaking to each of you every day, all day.

Would you take your broken Honda Civic to a Toyota dealership to get fixed? Probably not! They may offer a fix, or say they know how to make the repairs but in reality, they did not make the car… so why seek truth from those who do not possess it?

I believe John 1:1-5 illustrates how and why the written Word and Jesus is the opinion by which to look to, filter through and pursue.

John 1:1-5 (ESV)

“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Pay attention to the word, “all things were made through him,” and “without him (that is Jesus) was not any thing made that was made.” These are massive claims of truth that reject all truth claims. Examine this critically, in humility, and see what happens.

My final thought. Let’s pretend you are walking down the street and a dark-skinned male approaches you. He looks directly at you and scans you from head to toe. You get close. He stops you and demands all your money, all your belongings and brandishes a knife to further threaten you. You comply and leave physically unharmed.

Several months later you walk down the same street with a friend. You see in the distance a dark-skinned male approaching. You stop talking to your friend, clutch your bag and demand to your friend to cross the street. Your friend notices and sees your gaze fixed on the man.

After you cross the street your friend asks, “what was that about?” You reply, “dark skinned men are dangerous.”

This is outrageous right?! Completely wrong and not based in truth. Now in reality your opinion is based in your truth and your experience. Your friend’s opinion is based in their truth and their experience. Who is right?

2 people cannot both objectively be right! The only thing that IS right, is that that 1 specific dark-skinned man, who pointed a knife at you and stole from you, is dangerous. You cannot form an opinion of life based solely on a lived experience, based on your truth or from others who have isolated experiences.

So then, through all of life we must seek an objective truth above all else in order to live a life based in truth. If we knew that there was an objective holder of truth out there, somewhere, should we not seek it or investigate it’s claims?