This free church bulletin article was written by Brian Humek from Irving, TX. You are free to use this in church bulletins, church emails and on church websites. No credit needs to be given. Simply clicking the book link at the end of this free bulletin article will help more content to be placed on this site. Donate your own bulletin article here.
Bible Passage: John 18:38
We have an emerging generation today that wonders what truth is. Actually, many in this generation are saying there is no truth, and that’s a sentiment they hold to absolutely. There seems to be some conflict there, but that’s just my subjective thought on the matter.
Years ago in preaching school, I learned the “reader response theory” to interpreting the Bible. This was a method in which the written word, let’s say the book of John, is read and interpreted in the way in which the reader thinks it should be interpreted. It is up to each individual reader to bring to the text his or her own biases and personal experiences that will allow the text to speak to him or her individually. It would mean something different to every person who read it. The biggest kick I get out of this method is that one of the intellectuals that popularized this theory wrote a book on the subject. According to him, he knows what he meant by his writing, but no one is capable of interpreting him correctly so they must interpret it for themselves. That’s the theory.
So when it comes to the Bible, John knows what he meant when he wrote the book of John. But since no one can really know what he meant, each person must look at his biblical writing and make it mean whatever they feel it means. That can lead to a lot of trouble, but it’s exactly what postmodernism is about. Of course, I too sometimes get confused with the terms post-modernity and postmodernism, so forgive me if I’m a little fuzzy here. But to break it down for all of us, we are living in a world where asking, “What is truth?” is one of the questions we should cherish. The problem comes when we hear people stating, “There is no truth!” It’s a battle between a question and an exclamatory statement. We can always discuss a question. It’s exclamatory statements we should be concerned about.
My warning: Do not be afraid of people who question God, the church, faith, and methods. Questions are good. Let’s embrace them and engage in serious conversation, those who ask them.
—> Support our free content ministry by purchasing the 5 Star rated Leave it to God on Amazon today.
Related posts:
To put your mind at ease, the absolute and only answer is NO! In the past, I’ve heard people wonder if the God of the New Testament is different than the God of the Old Testament. But he’s the same Go...
I often get a yearning for more. When I was planning my honeymoon to Denver, Colorado so many years ago, I looked at the map and saw that Cheyenne, Wyoming was just up the highway. So we went. When lo...
In a past devotional, I may have mentioned that we have become a society that uses people and loves things instead of loving people and using things. Can we take that backward way of thinking to get b...
If you were a teen boy growing up in the early 80s, the last thing you may have associated the movie Flashdance with was a biblical concept, but check this bulletin article out. You will be enlightene...
If you’re like me, you forget things. At various times, I forget where my shoes, my wallet, my baseball cap and my car keys are. What kind of things do you forget?
Saturday I read a book about leadership. It was a great read and made me realize we are all lead by something or someone. At the same time, we are all leading/influencing someone else, whether we know...
I can lecture you all day about the importance of staying spiritually active but I think you know that already. My plea is that you keep a record of your spiritual activity. Keep a prayer journal. Kee...
I praise God for making us all different. How boring would life be if we were all the same? Unfortunately, our differences make it harder to teach when each person in a group is most likely a differen...
