Do We Need Truth?

We all have an innate sense of right and wrong. Where does this truth come from and do we need truth in our lives?

Questions for Discussion and Personal Reflection

  1. What do you think the world would be like without some sense of order?
  2. Do you think we long for a sense of order and truth in life? Why or why not?

You know, imagine if there was no traffic system and that everybody on the road just drove however they felt was right. I believe we live in a, a universe of truth and moral order, and when everybody lives the way we live however we want, we end up with the sort of chaos we see in our world, so... I think that we do experience truth and reality in every component in life. I mean C.S. Lewis' classic argument for the sense of oughtness that exists in front of us— if you don't believe it's true, just cut in the line in front of somebody at Starbucks and they'll say, "Hey, don't do that." You know, why? Who are you to tell me? What right do you have? We know intuitively, uh, through almost all of our life experience that there is such a thing as right and wrong. And I think it particularly comes full circle when we have children. Even as adults when we, we spin out, you know— do whatever you want, follow your heart, follow your passion, follow your pleasure— when we have children, it's amazing how conservative we become. Rock stars who have made albums filled with explicit verses edit their own album to play music for their children because they don't want their children speaking like that. And, uh, I, I think there's so many examples where, when we actually talk about raising somebody, many of the things that we do for pleasure don't work in terms of educating people for truth. So I think we see it in all these different facets in our life. I think there is such a thing as truth. I think there is a grain to the universe and an order to it that we live into to our delight and flourishing, and we live against to our own brokenness and decay, and... I think that that's expressed because I think the Christian story is the true human story, not just a religious story that when we live in those ways, it actually produces the life that we long for.