I was driving around town yesterday when I passed a church with one of those signs where you can change the letters and create little messages for everyone driving by– you know the type. Anyway, the sign read something like “Truth has the merit (benefit?) of being simple.” You’d think I could remember the exact quote, as short as it is, but I can’t. (I’m prety sure I was thinking about donuts.)
Anyway, I was struck at how completely inaccurate I thought this idea was. The Truth, especially “Truth” with a capitol “T,” is vastly complex. I would go so far as to argue that the Truth from a Christian point of view–the whole Truth– is far too complex for us to really understand at all. It is a Truth that is both infinite and full of paradox–and both of those concepts are really beyond our understanding.
Perhaps it might be accurate to say Truth can be expressed simply, but that’s not at all the same thing. It is also true that part of the power of the Gospel is that it can be understood by people all over the world with all different backgrounds and levels of education (perhaps because it is a Truth of the heart, not the head, or perhaps because understanding this Truth is caused by the intervention of the Holy Spirit, or both). But again, that doesn’t make it simple.
Filed under: Day to Day, The Big Questions
