Tuesday, July 02, 2013
Oh, Really?
Justin Taylor looks at John Frame:
Truth is not relative, application of truth can change on circumstance, but truth itself does not change.
It is fair to say that all must be involved in trying to understand scripture, and to that extent all are involved in the study of theology. However, all do not get to understand truth on their own terms.
Somehow, somewhere, we have to teach people the tools and methods to arrive at the truth. That seems to be a relative thing as taught in our schools. A request for "meaning" as Frame describes it is generally the question "What does that mean to me?" That is not, as Frame suggests always a request for "application." Sometimes it is an effort to change the truth.
Truth does not change.
relativity truth
Frame also writes that “the work of theology is not to discover some truth-in-itself in abstraction from all that is human; it is to take the truth of Scripture and humbly to serve God’s people by teaching and preaching it and by counseling and evangelizing.”
He is not seeking to disparage theoretical work done by professional theology, but he is “seeking to discourage the notion that theology is ‘properly’ something theoretical, something academic, as opposed to the practical teaching that goes on in preaching, counselling, and Christian friendship.”Fair enough if things stopped there; however, as is the way, people have perverted this approach to the point that they think scripture and theology is about them. In an age when :that may be true for you" is perhaps the most often heard phrase in any discussion, such an approach is highly dangerous.
Truth is not relative, application of truth can change on circumstance, but truth itself does not change.
It is fair to say that all must be involved in trying to understand scripture, and to that extent all are involved in the study of theology. However, all do not get to understand truth on their own terms.
Somehow, somewhere, we have to teach people the tools and methods to arrive at the truth. That seems to be a relative thing as taught in our schools. A request for "meaning" as Frame describes it is generally the question "What does that mean to me?" That is not, as Frame suggests always a request for "application." Sometimes it is an effort to change the truth.
Truth does not change.
relativity truth
