Volcanoes Have a Lot to Say About Truth

[HKHaugan]

When the Mt. St. Helen’s blast went off in the 80’s it created a vast sea of debris and covered the whole area with fine clouds of ashes and smoke for miles, the detritus of deadly destruction. We visited there and a park ranger came describing the aftermath pointing to Spirit Lake. She said it had risen an incredible 250 feet due to the landslide pouring into it. The blast didn't go up like you'd expect. It blew sideways scattering debris for miles. Then she described the trucks on nearby roads that had been picking up workers on other peaks nearby. The dust cloud was so thick they had to literally have two men, breathing through handkerchiefs, in front of each truck to slowly pick their way down the mountain roads. Their headlights were totally ineffective, but they finally made their way out.

The night before we had gone to an IMAX theater on the Seattle waterfront and saw the devastation in a documentary about the event. So after we had seen both I began to reflect on the Mount St. Helen’s explosion. Its dust cloud reminded me of the enormity of the spiritual blast and remaining dust that disrupted Creation due to Adam and Eve listening to the devil's intellect and openly choosing to go their own way without God. It makes you wonder how a spiritual action can make such an impact. But all you have to do is look at human history to see the violent aftermath in wars, disease, emotional upheaval, interpersonal conflict and personal suffering in mind and heart. We have all been suffering since as sin, its dust of fear, pride and self indulgence continue to blind our daily walk in the world. The fine dust that sin leaves hovering in our worldly atmosphere brings with it the inability to breathe and move spiritually. We not only need someone to guide us through sin's dust cloud, we also need the ability to breathe without damaging our spiritual lungs. Is this true or not? How can we know?

This brings us to the subject of the real nature of truth, what it is, who has it and where it comes from. Today's posting is a mere touch on that subject. Truth comes on many levels; it's physical, like in math and natural law, it's personal in that it makes orderly and logical sense to the mind, it's interpersonal in that it defines the nature of relationships, it's spiritual in that it establishes a source and consequent moral pattern for behavior and has its place in economics, politics and education. The basics in these areas can be broken down into sub headings but the real question is the ultimate truth that governs all the rest. Since we are all subjective and imperfect by nature how does one arrive at objective perfect truth?

In our last posting a list of 77 particles of spiritual dust were mentioned that are part of the world’s atmosphere we breathe everyday. Look at them again: “guilt, fear, pride, strongholds, compromise, hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, lust, envy, jealousy, idolatry, adultery, witchcraft, dissension, factionalism, denominationalism, addictions, greed, manipulation, worry, deceit, self-deceit, anger, false humility, stubbornness, self-righteousness, legalism, confusion, gluttony, obesity, hoarding, conceit, homosexuality, bestiality, cursing, shame, obscene language, covetousness, resentment, slander, false witness, murder, blame, drunkenness, selfish ambition, divination, sorcery, disrespect, laziness, sloth, lawlessness, quarrelsome, vindictive, vengeful, begrudging, judgmental, thievery, exploitative, hypocritical, violent, bad tempered, rebelliousness, inhospitable, gossipy, malicious, abusive, ungrateful, persecution, taunting, tempting, discouraging, demeaning, debasing, undisciplined, contrary, self-pity, plus others and the nuances of each.” Dusty out there, isn’t it? True of not?

And this is not all. If we delve into those nuances of each, it would take volumes to record them. They are finely distributed according to the devil’s ability to tempt each of us according to what he observes about us individually. Like those men who had to walk in front of the trucks coming down off of Mt. St. Helen's, unless we have someone who walks ahead of us to show the way, someone who can protect our spiritual lungs, we will drop off the surrounding cliffs, stumble over debris and succumb to the poisoned atmosphere. What we need to see here is that each of these plus their nuanced subjects are what truth has revealed as negative. They are not truth but what truth has revealed about them that is harmful. So truth, objective truth, is not our intellectual evaluation of what is happening or what we are experiencing, or what we are thinking and doing, but what truth says about all that. Rather it is the One God who Is Truth. He has given His Word to evaluate who we are, why we are, what we are, where we are, how we are and where we are headed. Each of these is the beginning of how we measure our relationship to God the Truth and it is God the Truth who is the Measurer.

Jesus provides His eyes to see through the mist, points out the debris that blocks the road and gives us the Holy Spirit to breathe. He gives us His Word as ‘a lamp unto our feet and a light for our path.’ He clears our mind to think like Him, touches our hearts to trust like Him and energizes our spirit to walk and talk like Him. Each of us is a product of truth waiting for our fulfillment that can only come from the whole truth that is God. Faith in Jesus is the daily path to that fulfillment.

So when we find ourselves unable to see clearly or we are confronted with the temptation of ‘going it alone’ without His light, His breathing cover and His figure leading us, all we have to do is turn to Him and say ‘oops, I’m sorry, please hang on to me, I need your guiding hand and insight.’ The hand is always there reaching out, the light shining in His Word and the Holy Spirit ready with the inner filling of forgiveness, assurance and confidence. With Jesus you are never lost.

The following is a passage from Isaiah that I will bracket with my comments on the spiritual, personal and relational reality of God, THE objective Truth.

[This first section refers to the new and final hope for all]
“The people who walked in darkness (subjective existence without God, secular society) have seen a great light (God is the perfect reality revealing objective truth, Himself). For those who lived in a land of deep shadows (sin, its self-centeredness, fear and pride)—light! sunbursts of light (Jesus the Messiah, the perfect human Person revealing the nature of God)! You repopulated the nation, you expanded its joy (personal faith produced believers). Oh, they're so glad in your presence (Jesus, God in the flesh)! Festival of joy (shared worship)! The joy of a great celebration (shared faith and worship in the Body of Christ, sharing rich gifts (the infilling of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of spiritual gifts)
and warm greetings (the new intimacy in small groups and gatherings).

[This middle section refers to the evil mist, the devil, evil spirits and demons]

The abuse of oppressors (evil spirits) and cruelty of tyrants (those who lust for power and try to subdue others)— all their whips and cudgels and curses (strategies of deceit and manipulation)—Is gone, done away with, a deliverance as surprising and sudden as Gideon's old victory over Midian (The victory over death on the Cross). The boots of all those invading troops (the machinery used to destroy), along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood (the stains of their behavior are imprinted in their history), Will be piled in a heap and burned, a fire that will burn for days (like past holocausts, they will be held up like Judas and Nero in the pages of history as long as man continues on the face of the earth)!

[This section is God’s relational plan for each of us in Jesus with no editing necessary]

For a child has been born—for us! the gift of a son—for us! He'll take over the running of the world. His names will be: Amazing Counselor, Strong God, Eternal Father,
Prince of Wholeness. His ruling authority will grow, and there'll be no limits to the wholeness he brings. He'll rule from the historic David throne over that promised kingdom. He'll put that kingdom on a firm footing and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living, beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies will do all this (Is.9:1-7).”

What “all this” is finally saying: human beings are limited by the sin and distance from God making them imperfect therefore unable to be objective on any level. Humanity needs an outside source, a person who is perfectly subjective to become objective. Scripture is the subjective truth from the objective God who inspired it. His perfect subjectivity; His self-concept, His mind, heart and Spirit, revealed in His Son Jesus are the objective Truth that give final balance to our humanity. Jesus put it simply when He prayed, “Father, sanctify them by the truth, your Word is truth (John 17:17).”