Cling Lightly to Truth and Tightly to Jesus

Last updated on: June 24, 2013 at 8:53 am by Andrew Marin

Cling Lightly to Truth and Tightly to Jesus 2013-06-24T08:53:36-05:00 Andrew Marin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Taylor Culver is a recent graduate of Northwestern College, interning with us this summer in Chicago.

I was born and raised in Sioux City, IA and recently graduated from college with a degree in Psychology. It is here that my journey to reconciling faith and sexuality began. As a Psychology major at a Christian college, there were many questions about faith and science that needed to be answered before full reconciliation of the two fields could take place. In these courses I began to question the likelihood of the creation account actually taking place in 6 days, and then the historicity of Adam and Eve, and so on and so forth. My literalist view of Christianity was crumbling; I was terrified, but intrigued none the less.

As I began reconciling science with religion, I also began examining other beliefs I had about the world. One evening I attended a discussion on Homosexuality and Christianity. This was the first time I heard that reconciliation between Christian identity and sexual identity was possible. So many things about my world view were being challenged and I loved it. For so long I was afraid to touch things and to think about things that were seen as possible “slippery slopes” in the Christian world. But attending college and studying abroad in Romania have helped me to experience and encounter concepts, ideas and people that I had kept at a distance before.

I am grateful for the ways in which these experiences have helped me to develop insights into my faith journey and step into greater levels of authenticity. In seeking to be open minded and allowing myself to discover and befriend God through individuals on the margins, I have begun to realize that a type of righteousness can be cultivated through these friendships. I began to see the dignity and the equality of all human beings by listening to their stories, and recognizing that mine was not the only one that was valid or correct. In these relationships, along with my academic experiences, I began to lose my firm grasp on “absolute truth.” I began to live into the quote, “Cling lightly to truth and tightly to Jesus.”

This phrase was first introduced to me by a Professor at Northwestern College. My first thoughts were scattered and irresolute. Are truth and Jesus not synonymous? As I discussed this quote with some of my dear friends, we concluded that truth in this context is merely our limited understanding of the world through our own lens of our own experiences and environment. The truth we know is not the truth everyone clings to. (I know…. How postmodern right?)

Despite the discussion concerning whether this era of relativity is helpful or harmful to religious beliefs and society, by defining truth in this way we are able to “validate and dignify and legitimatize every person’s story, journey, perspective, and experience because everyone’s story is, in fact, legitimate (Andrew Marin).” If we begin our discovery of truth about the world, by operating off of this premise (that truth, to some extent, is based on each persons perspective), then I believe it extends grace to those who disagree with us and fosters humility within ourselves to listen and learn from the so called “other.”

The spring semester’s chapel theme at Northwestern College (Iowa) was righteousness. The definition that I acquired from the many speakers was that righteousness is not something that we should always strive for individually, but more often we should strive for it collaboratively. We are the body of Christ and therefore, we should be committed to bringing about the Kingdom of God to earth; the Kingdom full of peace, love, grace and commitment to other’s lives. Righteousness comes when two opposing sides meet, when privileged and marginalized, rich and poor, gay and straight, black and white, work together and become friends, mutually helping and encouraging the other. When we are able to desire friendship with a person solely based on the other person’s identity as a human being, that is when righteousness finally begins to exist.

Chris Heuertz in his book, Friendships at the Margins describes righteousness in this way:

Often when we think of righteousness, we associate it with an individual’s behavior and his or her avoidance of worldly temptations. Instead, being righteous is by definition being concerned with what is “right.” It is also standing to name and combat the power dynamics that keep things from being right. We need to establish relationships that affirm each person’s dignity and identity and when we come into those relationships, confident that God is already at work in the other person, there is no moral obligation to remind them of their sin or save them for the cause of Christ.

So perhaps we could consider letting go of the tight grip we have around our “absolute truth”. Perhaps we could transfer the passion and commitment we have towards knowing and clinging to absolute truth, to following an example Jesus laid before us. He almost always rejects answering yes or no questions, and instead answers with a parable, a slightly ambiguous answer or even another question. Maybe Jesus is suggesting that having black and white answers is not the most important thing about being a Christian, a believer, a follower.

Jesus commits to knowing and listening to the stories of those whom “religious people” would not touch. If all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, then is it not in humanity where we should look intently to find God? Maybe truth lies in the compilation of all human life and experience. I’m not suggesting that the Bible isn’t truth. After all, the Bible is a compilation of written human experiences of God, and human beings are still experiencing God. Maybe the truth is continuing to be presented to us through the knowledge of the human experience, especially through the lives of those who have for so long been silenced and our willingness to listen to them.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Previous Post

June 20, 2013

[Updated] Trying to Fix "Share This" Plugin

Next Post

June 26, 2013 Reaction to Supreme Court's Rulings on DOMA and Prop 8

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews Bridging Opposing Worldviews Culture Don't Drink and Drive Faith Guest Posts I'm Sorry Campaign Interviews Language Laura Statesir LGBT Living in the Tension Living in the Tension Gatherings Love Is an Orientation Love Is an Orientation Blog Love Is an Orientation Book Love Is an Orientation DVD Melinda Guerra Memory My One Sentence Bible Newsletter Our Last Option Parents & Families Politics Quick Quotes Quotes ReEngaging Civility Sexuality Speaking The Marin Foundation Theology Uncategorized Us Versus Us Videos Warren Perry Youth and Campus Ministry

Select a Month June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz