How Do You Like Your Truth?

Our nation this past week was a buzz with an uproar over our president’s tweet-lambasting of junior members of the congress who espouse and promote socialism. Answering salvos of charges of racism have filled the airways. Although I deeply agree with the sentiments against socialism and nation-trashing, I find myself musing broodingly over the whole thing. I think any who love objectiveness deeply appreciate the unequivocal, candid, forthright, undisguised declaration of the truth. Yet, that does not mean there is only one way to declare it. Some like truth presented didactically, taught in a logical presentation, in connected, coherent, lines of reasoning—though that does not suit those who are moved by demagoguery. Some like it in the form of appeal and persuasion—the proclaimer seeking common ground, showing sensitivity and concern for the hearers, as he reveals the truth and attempts to convince them it is for their benefit. But, many prefer it in this week’s style: They are attracted to blatant bursts of rhetoric that have the effect of a spotlight in the eyes, the blasting blare from a megaphone, the explosion of a verbal grenade. It seems that, often, this brazen style is more attractive, generally, to the conservative. That isn’t scientific but anecdotal. Conservatives appreciate the objective. Nuance is often suspect as a slipping into the subjective, equivocating, embracing relativism. To show sensitivity and concern is seen as soft, especially, because it is often the precursor to the sharer never getting around to the truth of the matter. Many of us American conservatives love our gunslingers. We like our politicians and preachers to come in, shooting from the hip, with guns drawn and blazing. We prefer a western over a documentary. Why? That discussion would take too much space. But, just let me put it this way: A gunslinger with blazing guns is far more exciting than a teacher magic marker in hand writing on the whiteboard. It’s the same reason why so many prefer watching football over a chess match. It’s the action. It’s the noise. It’s the drastic, immediate effects. It’s a thrill that is felt vicariously. The rapid roar of the revolver makes the gunslinger appear heroic. Few teachers have completed a lecture and been lauded as heroic. The squeak of marker on whiteboard can’t compete with the thunderous cacophony and smoke of the gun. (By the way, a verbal gun is easier to load and a rhetoric bomb is much easier to prepare than a poignant lecture.) Yet, I keep wondering what the truly Christian view of such tirades, we’ve recently heard, should be. Two scriptures keep coming to mind: “But speaking the truth in love,” (Eph 4:15). And, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, …. (Col 4:6). One protestation could be, “Those scriptures are about the church and the Gospel—not about the world of our politics. They deal with sharing God’s truth not responding to questions at a political news conference; Christian communication not secular tweets.” That begs the point. All would benefit if the wisdom of God’s principles were applied to all of life. Also, the Christian should not view his life as dichotomized between the spiritual and the secular. We Christians do not live two existences where God’s Word applies only to the spiritual one. Another protestation is that our president isn’t our pastor. True, yet, president and pastor have something in common. They are each a leader. The question is a matter of what is proper for a leader. Whatever the field, are crudeness and rudeness proper for a leader? Beneficial for the followers? Persuasive to the opponents? Then, there are, after all, the thunderous Bible prophets: The Bible prophets certainly proclaimed the Word of the Lord unequivocally boldly and clearly with a trumpeting voice. Yet, Moses interceded for the same people he lambasted, Jeremiah wept over their city, and Ezekiel sat among them. Pyrotechnic displays are more well attended than Mozartian recitals. Passion trumps accuracy. Cleverness, elucidation. Yet, nothing, quiet as it is, has changed as many hearts as truth with love and speech with grace. How do you like your truth?

How Do You Like Your Truth?

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