DEEP CHURCH Week 2 The Genuine Article
Session 1 How do we tell T ruth from Error?
“If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”
Real or fake?
Before and after
Before and after
What is truth? John 18:33-38
Greek: aletheia - to ‘reveal’ or ‘un - hide’ Hebrew: emeth - ‘firmness,’ ‘constancy’
John 14:6: ‘I am the way, the TRUTH and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me’
John 8:31- 32: ‘If you hold to my words you truly are my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’
John 17:17: ‘Protect them from the evil one. Sanctify them by the truth, for your word is truth.’
John 8:44: “He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth because there is no truth in him.
When he lies it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar, and the father of all lies.’
T ruth is not simply what is logical or plausible or coherent
T ruth is not simply whatever gets the right result
T ruth is not necessarily what everyone says is true
T ruth is not what makes you feel good
T ruth is not what you believe
Where, how, and when was God’s truth established?
Revelation + Institution = “Deep T ruth”
Revelation: God’s story told through his word of truth
Institution: The ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church in every age
John 15:26: ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the SPIRIT OF TRUTH who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me.’
John 16:13: ‘But when he, the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, comes he will lead you into all truth .’
The Spirit’s affirmation and renewal of the word of truth: 1. Canon of Scripture 2. Interpretation and translation of the Bible 3. Liturgy 4. Creeds and doctrine
Orthodoxy - ‘T rue Belief’ Holy T rinity – one God in three Persons Christ – fully divine and fully human
Haeresis – choice; choosing; course of action; school of thought
Heresies of the early Church
‘That which has been believed everywhere ( ubique ), always ( semper ) and by all people ( ab omnibus ) ’ St Vincent of Lérins (5th C.)
1 John 2:21: ‘No lie comes from the truth’
2 Tim.4:3- 4: ‘The time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great
number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth, and turn aside to myths.’
1 John 4.3- 6: ‘Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which is already in the world. These people
are from the world, and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. But we are from God, and whoever knows
God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood .’
Session 2: True Lies
What the culture wants you to believe
What is Culture?
Every culture has its orthodoxies
Challenges to orthodox Christian-based culture
Internal and external
‘ A God without wrath who brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgement through the ministration of Christ without a cross.’ H. Richard Niebuhr
What are today’s orthodoxies?
‘ - isms’
• Atheism • Relativism • Individualism
Henry Ford said of his model T car: “You can have any colour you like, as long as it's black."
Responding to challenges of the culture
Flight or Fight
Flight: withdrawal from the culture
Fight: engagement with the culture
Accommodation: ‘He who marries the Spirit of this age will find himself a widower in the next’ William Ralph Inge
IN but not OF the world: the challenge of Christ in our culture
John 17. 6- 19: “I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word
and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of
the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth;
your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified .’
If the God of the Bible and orthodox tradition exists – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ – then the entire
culture and every culture is answerable to Him, and we, individually, are accountable to Him in every area of life.
Discussion: Can we still speak about absolute truth, right and wrong, good and evil, in today’s culture? If so, how? If not, why not?
Next Week: ‘ Once upon a time’: understanding our Christian story
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