Truth is Everywhere

In the book Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell says the following, “Truth is everywhere, and it is available to everyone.” As Pastor pointed out on Sunday, God’s movement and actions in this world are not limited inside the box or realm we call Christianity. In the book of Romans Paul says, “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves.” In reference to this verse Bell notes, “Without having any instructions from God or the Bible, these people are still able, from time to time, to live as God created us to live.” Throughout scripture Paul uses and affirms truth in the cultures he finds himself in. In this chapter Bell continues, “So as a Christian, I am free to claim the good, the true, the holy, wherever and whenever I find it. I live with the understanding that truth is bigger than any religion and the world is God’s and everything in it”

When I first heard this notion it was completely liberating and inspiring to me. Prior to realizing this I had lived under the impression that only Christians had “access” to truth. At times I viewed the world as “us” versus “them”. I really feel this is an unintended consequence (no one directly instructed me to believe this way) of the way the gospel is presented in many evangelical churches. The turmoil this "us" versus "them" mentality created in my mind and between my non-Christian friends and myself was anything but Godly. I felt like I could breath again when I realized that I did not need to disregard truth when it showed up in what Christianity typically defined as secular.

“If you come across truth in any form, it isn’t outside your faith as a Christian. Your faith just got bigger. To be a Christian is to claim truth wherever your find it. Its not truth over here and Jesus over there as if they were two different things. If Jesus shows us what God is really, truly like, and God is truth and all truth is God’s truth, then Jesus takes us into the truth, not away from it. He frees us to embrace whatever is true and good and beautiful wherever we find it. To live this way then, we have to believe in a big Jesus.” (yes more text from Velvet Elvis – read it!)

Chad Quarles

Outreach Coordinator