The Da Vinci Code - Truth Matters

Of course the Da Vinci Code is as false as a three dollar bill.

But the bigger point is that objective truth no longer matters, at least in the area of "personal beliefs" such as philosophy and religion.

Some people choose to believe the Da Vinci code just like others choose Buddhism or New Age channeling. We choose our beliefs today much like we choose our clothes. Our beliefs are often little more than fashion statements. It matters little whether something is actually true, what matters is that someone chooses to believe it. Multi-culturalism has contributed to this; also the western cult of the individual and its embrace of moral cultural relativism.

Fortunately, this irrational commitment to individual truth and multicultural relativism does not extend to hard-core matters such as airline safety. The EU recently put over 100 airlines on a blacklist for falling short of EU safety standards, which are based on the laws of physics. Most were from African nations. How intolerant! How non-inclusive and Eurocentric!

But, in the realm of "personal beliefs", anything goes. It matters little whether Jesus actually married Mary Magdelene, had kids, and settled down to a domesticated life of growing turnips in France. What matters is that some people choose to believe this; we're all entitled to our beliefs; and it is, quite frankly, a bit rude to suggest that someone's beliefs might be bonkers.

Consider popular views of homosexuality. Most people probably choose their attitude towards homosexuality based on how it makes them feel about themselves -- "with-it", tolerant, and kind (as opposed to judgmental, mean-spirited, and out-of-date). The objective biological, medical, psychological and sociological facts get lost in the shuffle, and are considered rude or "mean-spirited" to contemplate or mention.

Still, for Christians at least, truth matters.

Reading Eusebius, the first Church historian, we get a great sense of how important truth was to early Christians. We believe the gospel, not simply because it is "our faith", but because it rings true. We worship Christ, not simply because He is "our guy", but because He is the truth. And we honour and welcome the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth.

Does it matter whether Christ actually rose from the dead? Yes it does. This is not just something we believe because it makes us feel good, or because "the Church teaches it", or because it "helps us make it through the night"; we believe it because the evidence of Scripture, the history of the early Church (not least of which is the apostles' willingness to die rather than renounce their proclamation of the resurrection), as well as the internal witness of the Holy Spirit to our hearts and minds, all bear witness to the truth of this the most central of all facts of human history.

The resurrection is not true because, as some would say, the Church teaches it; no, rather, the Church teaches it because it is true.

Unlike most subjective "truths", real truth is often neither comfortable nor comforting. Scripture makes the apostle Peter out to be a coward, the apostle Paul out to be a persecutor of the righteous, Moses out to be a murderer, and David out to be both an adulterer and a murderer. Ouch!

And it doesn't stop there. Christian truth makes us all look bad. We might even rather wish that something else were true. It condemns us as sinners; it dismisses our natures as irrevocably corrupt; our hearts as evil; it humbles us with its claim (unique among philosophies and religions) that it is impossible for us to rise to an acceptable level of righteousness based on our own efforts. Why would anyone choose such truths? Because they're the truth, perhaps? Because they sound like something other than man's invention, something from the mind of God?

In similar manner, the more comforting (to the Christian at least) claims about Christ -- his unique birth, righteous life, saving death, vindicating resurrection, triumphant ascension, effectual present-day intercession, and imminent return -- are held to be true, and preached as truth, because we are persuaded that they are objectively real and factually true.

And this, by the way, makes all other religions, philosophies, and worldviews "untrue". In the final chapter of the book of Revelation a scene is painted of the Holy City coming down from heaven. Outside the gates, condemned forever to exclusion for the Holy City, are those "who loved and practiced a lie".

This may seem unkind (and today kindness trumps truth), it may seem narrow, it may even seem to smack of "intolerance"; but, it is true.

And truth matters.