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Generic Advice for the Ministry-Bound

The simple yet profound maxim that “All truth is God’s truth!” has contributed nothing short of a wealth of conviction to biblical, theological, scientific, and apologetics studies through the centuries.  Of this we can be sure.  But as Christians we should also keep in mind an equally instructive maxim - “Belief is not equal to truth!”  Also weighty, this particular idea doesn’t get nearly as much airplay these days as “All truth is God’s truth,” and it even sounds a bit provocative at first reading.

It’s difficult to deny that we all have certain beliefs about things.  Aside from revealed truth, we can think of our beliefs as taking up residence in the realms of either common sense, the necessarily true, or the self-evident.  So we do have them, consciously or unconsciously at any given moment, and usually despite ourselves. 

While one individual looks at the data to arrive at a certain set of beliefs, another examines the same data -- perhaps as closely, perhaps not -- only to conclude something believably different.  In light of this, it almost goes without saying that at some point each of us will face a single datum or more likely a whole block of data that ushers to the advance guard of our minds and hearts a previously unfelt tension about the correctness of our beliefs. 

Since this tension, this conflict, if you will, sets up the belief system we already own against something partially or entirely contrary to it, then one or the other sets of belief is bound to be false via the law of noncontradiction, which to my knowledge can’t be broken.  But will that pervading falseness be discovered, and if it is, will its contrary truth ever be embraced?  That’s the million-dollar question!

Believe it or not, this is what sometimes makes our belief-building fun!  Yes, we do have to forsake some of our beliefs at times, beliefs we considered reliable at some point earlier in our Christian walk, if not outright obvious.  (I, for one, have had the theological rug yanked out from under me on four different, life-changing occasions!)  But it’s also true, and unavoidably so, to say that we have to start somewhere.  And since we can’t always begin with things that attest to 100% across-the-board certainty, we must begin instead with some given set of assumed beliefs, in which case the confidence we place in these starting beliefs should never be thought superior to the confidence we place in the data upon which they presumably rest.  But, again, you have to start somewhere.

With the data of Scripture, the problem of the data’s acceptance isn’t an issue for the inerrantists among us.  With other data, the truthfulness of the conclusions we arrive at apart from special revelation are slightly to considerably more problematic, if only because what we logically expect here hinges on the degree of certainty we place in the deliverances of reason and the compellingness of evidence.

Future ministers, take note!  The wills of your people, your fellow ministers, and those of everyone else too are generally stronger than their intellects, and they will ultimately believe whatever they want to believe.  That’s not meant to be insulting, it’s just a natural fact.  And whenever our beliefs reflect directly upon the value of our work or our personal worth, and someone confronts us about them anyway, wisdom isn’t always what we’re after at that precise moment.  Rather, we immediately seek to justify the beliefs we already cherish, holding fast to some longstanding idea or theory that appeals to us, even if in the face of conflicting data.  No one wants to be wrong, but this, of course, hardly furthers wisdom, biblical or homespun. 

So don’t think it’s unusual when someone (your church members, your colleagues and friends, your spouse, your children, whoever!) simply denies the truthfulness of any data at odds with their already established beliefs or opinions.  And don’t be surprised either when the data is ignored or too easily adjusted to their system, unfinished as it is, rather than the system to the data.

To illustrate, it’s fascinating to think that events as significant as history’s beginning, mid-point, and end could themselves be subject, theologically speaking, to the above generic advice.  Creation theories abound, but each relies on either a young or old universe for its respective interpretive validity.  So then what’s its age?  It has to be one or the other, young or old.  Soteriologically speaking, the cross is the centerpiece of all history.  So did Christ die for the elect only or for all persons without exception?  It has to be one or the other, the sufficient-for-all-but-efficient-for-the-elect approach notwithstanding.  And when the end of the age arrives, will Jesus come back before or after the tribulation?  It has to be one or the other, mid-trib and pre-wrath views aside.  Is there a literal 1,000-year millennial reign of Christ to come, or are we living in the millennium right now?  It has to be one or the other to arrive at the truth of the matter - and so this, then, is the million-dollar answer! 

Once, now, and future ministers, listen closely!  It’s the data with which we begin, not theories.  This should be a given.  Yet whether the data is biblically derived or selected carefully from the world around us, we must first use some fairly plausible assumptions about what the data actually say.  Otherwise, how do we move on to the next step of truth-seeking, and where do we get a theory from other than just embracing, Lord forbid, what our deception-prone hearts tell us?  The biblical data?  Again, no problem here, other than sorting through the challenges of meaningful interpretation.  Data external to the Bible?  Again, not nearly as axiomatic but undeniably put there by God for a whole host of reasons, one of which is for it to be used.

That said, no one’s asking the ministry-bound to suspend judgment about the final truth of things.  But whether from the pulpit, the lectern, the mission field, or wherever the Lord places you, it’s surely obligatory to look at the evidence and follow wherever it leads, although it’s easier said than done.

There’s a great deal of insight intrinsic to the popular Christian notion that if you can do anything else besides ministry, do it well, and be happy while doing it, then by all means do it!  On the other hand, there’s no greater privilege this side of the grave than preaching and teaching God’s Word faithfully - faithfully as true, faithfully in connection with “All truth is God’s truth,” and faithfully in line with the hope-laden assumption that God may decree someday soon to transform and sanctify our understanding of what really counts as true.

Hal Ostrander

Chair, Religion & Philosophy Division

Brewton-Parker College

Mt. Vernon, Georgia

July 2005