We seek knowledge of our condition and want to know who we are, why we exist, and where we are heading.
In this void, we lack a collective, coherent and consistently agreed-upon set of beliefs.
Into this vacuum, men step forward to proclaim pseudo-truths, with pomp and posturing.
More modest and truthful souls concede, ‘I only know that I know nothing.’
~
In this quandary, many of us turn to God in hope of receiving Truth. Those who do, are not disappointed. There is a God, and He reveals Himself faithfully to those who Truth in Him for answers.
Even so, we still experience Him in our own unique subjectivity, not with a unanimity.
Is there no hope for an objectively, collectively, shared narrative?
For this, it is necessary for a community to agree upon the revelations of one who is considered a prophet. But prophets are many, and their teachings are often inconsistent with each other; and so, logically, they cannot all be from God. Besides, the profusion of prophets and those claiming visions is so great that it speaks more of private revelation than of an intentional action of God to form a coherence and establish a community.
Rather, there is only one prophet whose teaching is both credible, and whose actions and works shows a divine intent to establish a community under the prophet’s direction. Only one prophet has ever come, whose teachings and epistemological bona fides make logical sense as a basis of credible truth. One extraordinary teacher was attended by faithful disciples who suffered and died for His sake. One such community was also opposed by enemies who murdered Him and murdered or persecuted his close successors, thus proving the faithfulness of their martyrdom.
Only one prophet was so murdered, and then raised from the dead and seen by witnesses.
And, moreover, this raising to Life took place ‘in accordance with the Scriptures,’ meaning that a long sequence of events preceded the miraculous raising to life. (Yet, in this Scriptural under-girding, the signifiers were somehow obscured, and their nature was only presented to the disciples’ minds when the Spirit opened their minds to the Scriptures about Himself.)
At any rate, thereafter, the nature and accessibility of the Truth–cosmological, ontological, theological–became altered, for the permanent well-being of all those who become disciples. In place of spiritual emptiness and void came a profoundly satisfying means for attaining Truth.
For these disciples (and only them), the experience and enjoyment of Truth is less a matter of possessing mere propositions or statements, and more an encounter with a living Person. For such blessed disciples, the Truth is not a set of facts, but a meeting with God; and God Himself is Truth.
God, as Truth and Spirit, entered a mortal soul, becoming a man Who was murdered by ontological enemies of Truth. He, the man, was then raised to life by the God of Truth.
In His life, He taught disciples instruction in how to live, think, and walk in godly life; and, by obedience to these instructions, many disciples receive the same divine Spirit, a personal Companion Who guides and assists certain souls, selectively. This is the Spirit of Truth.
Simultaneously, the Enemy has also promulgated a closely imitative counterfeit expression of the Spirit; this also calls itself ‘spiritual’ and ‘Christian,’ and has been allowed to become pervasive and predominant.
All of this has occurred in accordance with more prophesy and with the perfect will of God.
Both spirits, that of the Truth and of falseness, are allowed to coexist. The God of Truth ultimately prevails, but, for an interim time, the Deceiver has been given pre-eminence over the whole world, even the Church.
I believe the above statement summarizes our true cosmological and epistemological condition. Again: The Truth is a Person, is found only in God, and everything that is outside of Him does not express Truth adequately.
Of course, I may be deceived in my faith! If anyone can shed greater light and enlarge my understanding, may he come forward! Amen.
