The Scarlet Letter
By: Nathaniel Hawthorne Modernised and edited by Jim McGuiggan (2004)
By: Nathaniel Hawthorne Modernised and edited by Jim McGuiggan (2004)
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We all live in light of convictions we believe to be non-negotiable. There are some things we simply won’t seriously debate even if we can’t “prove” them beyond argument. We just “know” that water’s wet and sugar’s sweet and that the eruption of Vesuvius “caused” the destruction of
We religious people have convictions that we simply will not question even though we turned from some of our “non-negotiables” when truth exposed them as untrue. This can be a frightening experience but it’s better to be frightened for a while as to go on living, shaping our lives in light of falsehoods.
This is one of the things I love about the Hebrew—Christian faith as it comes to its climax in Jesus. Growth and enrichment in truth is cherished by the believer and when the heart is true this progress is inevitable. The Christian faith doesn’t narrow us [something else does that], it frees and broadens us because the God who reveals himself in the Hebrew—Christian scriptures is Truth and the way to truth and it suits his purposes that we grow into truth [in part] through trial and error.
In my own little life I look back on some things I said and wrote and feel a bit embarrassed. But why should that be—who do I think I am/was? Jesus? I was more than ignorant; I was positively misguided. But I’m not on my own and I find some kind of humor and comfort in that, which reminds me of this.
Samuel Johnston’s friend and biographer, the Scotsman, James Boswell, tells us about an incident that took place when the acclaimed lexicographer visited
I can’t read this response without chuckling and at the same time admiring the man. It speaks for itself and shames those of us who don’t have it in us to admit we’ve been wrong. Did I say “that don’t have it in us to admit we’ve been wrong”? Some of us don’t even have it in us to allow ourselves to be challenged. What a shame!
[Maybe as chastisement in the afterlife God will make some of us wear a tee-shirt with those words emblazoned on it: “Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance.”]
At a more serious level we hear Paul lamenting his former ignorance in the days when he thought it right to persecute Christians [1 Timothy 1.13]. Then there was Peter [and his Christian Jewish colleagues] who got it all wrong in some areas until God spoke to him on a rooftop in Joppa [Acts 10]. By the time God was done at Cornelius’ house in Caesarea Peter, with eyes big and round in faithful astonishment, admitted he’d missed a major truth. I can imagine him later walking around the house, telling his wife about it, shaking his head and saying more to himself than her, “Bless me, I just didn’t get it!”
But should that kind of thing not make us paranoid; afraid to say this or that is “true”? Is this not something that should lead us to say silly things like, “All truth is relative?” No! It should keep us humble and it should lead us to be thorough in our “homework” and prayerful in our pursuit of truth. If “All truth is relative” then the statement that all truth is relative is relative. Other wise ones tell us “There is no truth, only different ways of interpreting reality.” If that were true then their own statement would not be true and there would be no “reality” to interpret and there would be no interpreter to interpret the non-existing reality. Enough of that—these people talk nonsense!
Still, should religious people not be paranoid if some of their basic understandings of the Hebrew—Christian faith turn out to be false? Why should they? Do historians or medical men or scientists go around every hour second-guessing everything because they learned they were wrong in some basic matters? They don’t and they shouldn’t and nor should Christians. An honest open confession, a heart seeking truth for the best reasons, more careful study [including listening to others]—such things are the right response and please God who is the embodiment of truth in Jesus.
Where we see identifiable bigotry it wasn’t the Christian faith that produced it! Where we see a morbid fear of being challenged it wasn’t the Christian faith that produced it! Where we see clear arrogance and a haughty superiority it wasn’t the Christian faith that produced it! Faith in God through Jesus Christ mediated to us via the Hebrew—Christian scriptures doesn't need to hide from truth—that’s what it feeds on and grows in and cherishes for the Lord of it said, “I am the Truth!”
