Unrestrained vices which are allowed to determine one’s life choices stand in the way of living out whole person health, “shalom” (LINK to prior essay) of body, mind, and spirit.  Such vices arise from remaining desires of the flesh, and distract us from achieving higher purposes.  They deceive in order to draw our energy and efforts to feed them.  Such vices may come in various forms such as physical appetites, emotional cravings or crutches, or corruptions of spirit desiring something not right (contrary to our Creator’s design).  The desires may be for something good yet obtained contrary to God’s means or timing of obtaining it, such as sex outside of marriage.  The desires may be for something entirely wrong, such as harming another out of envy or hatred.  The desires may be more deceptive when they pursue something inherently good but to such a degree that it becomes an idol.  Ultimately, the daily pursuits of these deceptive vices steal and rob from whole person health, preventing “shalom”’s fulness.  Instead, they must be mortified rather than nurtured and encouraged.  To accomplish this mortification, we must honestly examine ourselves, recognize what we are pursuing, and determine to pursue true shalom in the power of the spirit.

               Vices boast a long and nefarious history having brought down empires with their lusts, their gluttonies, and more.  They have de-crowned the mighty, disgraced the proud and famous, and stolen riches from the wealthy.  Beyond the effects upon the more well known in history, they have robbed many average people of “shalom”.  They have broken families into bits from one level to another.  They have taken the prime of youth and devastated it just as easy as they destroy the peace of old age.  They have taken the peace of sleep and spoiled it.  They have taken that which functions according to God’s design and made it a curse through sickness and suffering.  Nothing less than such vices born of the fall of man could cast such a woeful and far-reaching palpable shadow over so many in such a profound manner.

               This fall of man and its vices more than tainted man in body and spirit, but have further permeated the being of mankind.  Desires for that which he was not designed to desire press upon man’s will to act.  Our bodies crave with our senses, sensations that bring it pleasure regardless of the oughtness of it.  Our minds ruminate and perseverate over how the senses would enjoy that forbidden or unhealthy pleasure.  Our spirits, without a higher power to persuade and lead away, succumb rather than stand against the lure.  At the core of our being, we want to feel good, to possess pleasure.  Without a higher purpose and a view of “shalom”, we pursue the vices with their base and rotten fruits.  The higher purpose becomes a cloudy figment of myth and imagination or is even perceived as a ball and chain which interferes with the “fulfilment” of vice’s pleasures.

               These vices lead subtly away from “shalom” to feed this fallen nature and enter our lives in the form of physical appetites.  The tongue salivates as thoughts of sweetness, saltiness, and satisfying flavors draw it to processed foods, pleasures filled with refined sugars and inflammatory fats.  The stomach longs for satisfaction, a filling for emotional comfort in some and for safety in others who live in the midst of unfulfilled desires.  The muscles and joints long for physical relaxation, a putting up of one’s feet and an avoiding of exertion.  Such physical appetites reflect needs which warrant our attention, but only if attended to according to God’s design.  Pursuing their fulfillment without regard to God’s design for “shalom” turns them into idols which prevent “shalom”. 

               Besides taking root through physical appetites, they may enter as emotional cravings or crutches.  Loneliness of heart may be assuaged by comforting and pleasurable foods.  Nervous habits may be sedated repeatedly by sweet foods stimulating serotonin and dopamine.  Disappointments may be bandaged by satisfying desserts.  Over time the foods serve as idols meeting one’s need for comfort, yet outside of God’s design leading to “shalom”.  Although God did create food for both physical needs and enjoyment, it can become a false idol when it is used to fulfill emotional needs repeatedly.

               In the opposite direction, a desire to control one’s body may lead away from “shalom” as much as does overindulgence.  On one hand, it may lead to eating disorders which starve one of that which is a gift in food.  They can also lead to unhealthy exercise practices which end up damaging one’s body.  They may come as spiritual desires which aim at ungodly purposes.  Idolization of the physique for the sake of attracting attention and fulfilling lusts distort “shalom”.  Pride and envy lead us to overemphasize some aspect of physical health over the health of relationships or other aspects of “shalom”.  In these and other situations, the care of your real physical needs morph into an ideal hindering true “shalom”. 

               They steal and they rob from “shalom” whereas a godly “shalom” brings true health as no other can.  Such a godly “shalom” reflects reality in terms of creation’s design and in terms of a right relationship with God. Vices may whisper in one’s ear that other goals are acceptable, even worthy of neglecting the higher purpose.  The vices claim that a different reality exists where their fulfillment grants greater joy and pleasure than stewardship of health.  They rob the time and energy otherwise directed at “shalom”, thus robbing the fruits gained by pursuing the higher purpose.  The higher purpose of a life aimed at stewardship loses out as the right bodily function is sacrificed for short term sensations and right thoughts or feeling are sacrificed for uncertainties, insecurities, and desires.  The higher purpose of right relationships with God and with mankind are sacrificed for self-seeking and jealous behaviors leaving one alienated. 

               These harmful vices do not deserve our time and effort which they receive, but should be fought and extinguished.  Nurturing them and feeding them only makes them hungrier.  By calling them out for what they are we can target them for extinction.  Repeatedly rejecting them lessens their pull, their temptation.  Pursuing the virtues of health over time fulfills and builds the desires for the “good”.

               “Shalom”, or whole person health requires us to pursue it through God’s appointed means according to right motives.  In following the revealed design of our natures, both according to the laws of nature and the Words of God, we have hope of “shalom”.  In pursuing such goals motivated by God’s glory, by stewardship of the life we have been given, and by a desire to obey God, we approach “shalom” for the right reasons rather than self-serving motivations.  Together this rightful pursuit of “shalom” bears far better and far more lasting fruits than does the pursuit of vices.

               Therefore, consider the pleasures which keep drawing you back to unhealthy behaviors.  Do they feed your “shalom” or rob your health?  Do they cause more long-term harm than the short-term pleasure they provide?  Are they becoming idols begging for more attention?  What might you do today to fight against them?  Ultimately, the daily pursuits of these vices steal and rob from whole person health, preventing “shalom”.  They must be mortified rather than nurtured and fed.  To accomplish this mortification, we must honestly examine ourselves, recognize what we are pursuing, and determine to pursue true “shalom” in the power of the spirit.               

Next in the “Docsy” series… To be Determined. Any suggestions?

For the whole series to date, click the link below…

(Continued from Part 1)

               Physical health should be something that enables us to love God and our neighbors more fully.  Self-caused limitations created out of poor stewardship of physical health can limit our ability to care for family and participate productively in community. For example, a lifestyle with overindulgence in food which leads to heart disease or uncontrolled diabetes could prevent one from productive labor to care for one’s family financially.  On the other end, over-emphasis on personal physical health can be a detriment to caring for our family if one is spending so much time on physical self-care that their family is neglected.  Physical health can therefore be an empowerment to the higher goals or a hindrance, even an idol. 

               Growing our minds and balancing our emotions deserve recognition as part of our stewardship of the gift of life as well.  Greater knowledge or greater wisdom may serve not only us but those under our care or under our leadership.  A greater knowledge of God enables greater serve to His purposes.  A greater knowledge of the created world enables more accurate and likely more productive benefitting others.  A greater wisdom in reasoning through the dynamics of life enables fruit for not only self but for multitudes of others around us.  Similar to the possibilities for a downside to emphasizing physical health, there may be downsides to pursuing intellectual health also.  Knowledge for the sake of knowledge alone or for the sake of using that knowledge as power over others can turn this into sinful attitudes and behaviors.  The pursuit of knowledge may become an idol and this possibility must be guarded against.

                Growing our minds and our bodies, again, cannot come at the expense of our spirits.  Idolizing the fitness of our bodies or minds will take away from that which is eternal.  Loving God and our neighbor cannot be in mind or in body alone.  Our physical bodies and the physical minds they care will come to an end at some point.  In the Bible we read that physical care of our bodies have some value, but the greater care is for the spirit in its walk before God (I Timothy 4:8).  Our walk with others in relationship is tied up also with this walk with God.  Yet, even the spiritual emphases can become an idol.  The pharisees were instructed by Jesus to stop disobeying the commandment to honor father and mother when they gave their inheritance to temples rather than to care for parents.  When one moves into the realm of believing only the spiritual has any value but not the physical world, one moves into philosophy, particularly Greek philosophy rather than theology.  This contrasts with the “new bodies” in the ”new heavens” we will receive and will experience respectively in the end times. 

               From here we can evaluate what virtues to practice in how they serve this higher goal of loving God and loving our neighbor.  We can ask if something has become an idol in our lives and overtaken the higher goals.  Questions include:

1.            Has physical fitness become an inordinate part of our lives?

2.            Has control of food become an obsession that is causing more harm to family or others?

3.            Has study of physical reality distracted or distorted from pursuing a knowledge and wisdom of spiritual reality?

4.            Has a pursuit of knowledge about God overtaken relationship with God and with His children?

We can ask in what way is something serving the higher goals.

1.            Does your physical fitness enable present relationship with God and others?

2.           Does your physical fitness serve to steward one’s health for the good of not only self but others? Long life with family? Less money spent in the future on health care?  More ability to be with family?

3.            Does your  healthy eating do likewise in stewarding health?

4.            Does your knowledge about God lead to a better relationship with God and with other mankind?

               The virtues are then rooted in pursuit of the higher goals of loving God and loving neighbor.  One should view oneself as a steward of a gift of life that is meant to not only benefit yourself but serve God and others.  Caring for one’s body becomes a responsibility but should not become an idol.  Pursuing knowledge and soundness of mind equips one to serve God more truly and mankind more productively.  Pursing spiritual health as a priority, but not exclusively, enables one to use the physical fitness and the mental fitness to serve God and others more truly.  Walking each day with the virtues inherent in stewardship leads to a more abundant life for self and for others.

Next in this Series… “To Be Determined”

               We must avoid “everyone doing what’s right in their own eyes” while avoiding a one size fits all approach that does not adapt for our individuality when attempting to pursue whole person health.  Oughtness or rightness must come from outside of our persons as we cannot depend on our own limited knowledge, reasoning or fallen tendencies. We start with the obedience of the creature to the Creator and then recognize the gift of life and health as an assigned responsibility to nurture.  We are called to act as stewards of this gift, looking to our Creator for what virtues to pursue.  The virtues should not be solely self-directed but ones that promote our ability to love God and love our neighbor as well as care well for ourselves.  We must learn to care for our physical body, our mind, and our spirit in ways that enable us to rightly relate with God and others.   

               Today many gurus and health prophets emphasize health practices and principles which focus almost solely on what the individual gets out of their own health.  These experts sell “feeling good”, “stronger/faster/more fit bodies”, “Peace with nature”, “control of your own health”, and other slogans that do not extend beyond the mundane realm of existence.  They are not necessarily inherently bad values, but at least incomplete values, primarily because they miss out on the obligation which exists beyond one’s self.  At most, some will encourage us to be examples to our children or to do something so we can see our grandchildren one day.  At this basic level, they are not inherently wrong, but they miss out that there is a higher purpose to life’s existence.  Targeting the virtue of doing what is best for only oneself will never fully get at a healthy life because it misses the larger picture.

               The rightness of a proposed virtue to pursue should be evaluated to determine its true worth in pursuing.  We are not our own gods to set our own realities as creation needs a lawgiver, one who determines what is a virtue and the necessary means to achieve those virtues.  Our creaturely limits pose an obstacle to even choosing the right virtues much less achieving them for whole person health.  The limiting influence of fallen emotions and desires means that we are practically guaranteed to pursue the wrong set of virtues if left to our own wills.  Logic and science do not automatically overcome the desires of our fallen natures. 

               Even without the distorting influence of emotions and desires, determining virtues to pursue in health through the assumed emotionless process of science falls short of what we need.  Science neither knows enough about our functioning nor can extrapolate that to virtue to provide a foundation for us.  On one hand, contrary to popular opinion, science does not understand mankind fully from a biologically mechanistic standpoint. Science does not have the ability nor technology to know the dynamic and vastly intricate operations of our physical body at any given moment, much less in an ongoing dynamic sense.  The amount of data required to know and simultaneously process exceeds our capacity.  The computational capacity for even the information we can access is already beyond our ability leaving us with broad probabilities for understanding what is happening within our bodies presently much less for what will happen next in time.  As a result, we are left with an insurmountable obstacle to determining what appears good for our bodies in all circumstances of life.  On the other hand, even if science fully understood how our bodies function, transferring what is into what should be in terms of oughtness in pursuing a particular virtue cannot be proven.  Virtue cannot ultimately be derived from the descriptive nature of science. 

               To move beyond the realm of science and our limits, we must acknowledge the creature – creator distinction with its implications.  We are not our own, but belong to our “potter”, the one who formed us like clay from the earth.   We are beholden to follow the rules of this designer rather than attempt to make up our own rules by our own standards.  We are beholden to submit to the values and pursue the virtues our Creator ordained.  This moves us to an appreciation of this life as a gift which our Creator did not have to bestow upon us in creating us as He did.  When this life we live is viewed as a gift with responsibilities, we can approach its working out as ongoing acts of stewardship.  We are called to care for our health and nurture it so it can serve the purpose our Creator intended for it. 

               With the purpose of stewardship before our eyes, we can ask God what virtues should be our models.  We base these on the purposes He has laid out before us and also the direct instructions He has given us.  Loving God and loving our neighbor are set before us as the two greatest commands.  These two commands sum up the first and second tables of the Law, the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai.  Loving our neighbor is a reflection of how we love ourselves as we are told to love them as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31). Our virtues should lead to fulfilling the obedience of these two great commandments while vices would lead us away from fulling these commands.

               From here, we can look at our approaches to physical, mental, and intellectual health.  All forms of health can be means to these great ends or they can become ends in and of themselves which transform into idols at that point.  In other words, when the goals of health supersede the goals of loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves, they function as an idols.  In contrast, when the goals of health functions as a means to serve these two commandments, they become worthy virtues to pursue.

(Continued in Part 2)

Next in this Series… “Virtues to uphold in Whole Person Health: Part 2”

Part 3: Various Scriptures Addressing God’s Approach to Man’s Health

               (Continued from Part 1: Old Testament Wordy Study and Part 2: New Testament Word Study

               Beyond the word studies considered in the Old and the New Testament in which physical or spiritual health were restored, many other Biblical references address various aspects of health where God through His Scripture authors addressed issues of physical health.   An attempt to formulate a Biblical view of whole person health would be deficient without considering these examples.

               We see some explicit instructions for both Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church which teach us that God cared for the physical needs of His people as well as the spiritual needs.  Beginning with the Old Testament in the Pentateuch, in the giving of the Ceremonial food laws, there were religious aspects and additionally there were physical health aspects which we better understand now.  Certain prohibited foods like those which feed on the filtering of sea water are now known to be ones with higher contaminants and parasites.  Avoiding these foods benefitted the Jew not only  spiritually in obedience to God’s commands, but also benefitted them physically. 

               In the New Testament, Paul could instruct Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach which apparently was causing some type of distress for Timothy.  Paul was not a masochistic leader telling others to buck up and take the punishment but wanted Timothy to be well physically (I Timothy 5:23). However, in balancing spiritual and physical health, Paul would also urge Christians to submit one’s body to the spiritual health race.  One’s physical health was important, but clearly not the primary and ultimate goal (I Corinthians 9:24

               Many other inferences to the importance of physical health to the reality and order of God’s created world then come to attention when looking for them even if they are not the primary focus of the particular Biblical text.  In Genesis, God created man out of the dust of the earth and created man with the need to breathe, eat, sleep, and relate with others.  This was God’s design.  Later we see the sin in taking of another human’s life whether in Cain killing Abel and receiving judgment or in other condemnations of murder (Genesis 4) up to and including the 10 commandments prohibition of murder (Exodus 20:13).  God also demonstrated care of the physical bodies of the Jews during the plagues on Egypt in the Exodus.  While the Egyptians suffered multiple bodily illnesses, the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived was spared.  Even the Egyptians took notice of God’s preservation of the Hebrews.  During their time in the wilderness, God provided food and water to the wandering Hebrews rather than just making them to not need such physical things.  During the time of the famine, God provided for Elijah (I Kings 17).  While God cared for the physical needs of the Jews in the Old Testament time, He concurrently called them to pursue holiness over comforts and pleasures. 

               We also see pictures of God providing for the physical needs of believers and unbelievers in the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ works.  His first miracle addressed a physical need and also a relational need at the wedding feast in Cana as He made water into wine (John 2:1-12). As we already read, He healed countless diseases.  He often addressed spiritual and physical needs together either in series or simultaneously in these accounts.   God as the Father and in the humanity of the Son demonstrated God’s interest in caring for the physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational needs of his disciples and followers. 

               Taken together and considered in light of the principles gleaned from a broader understanding of the Bible we get a better sense of God’s view of health for mankind.  God created man with a body and a spirit, with a mind and with emotions relating to other humans.  He provided a garden to meet the physical needs.  He created a woman to meet relational needs.  He preserves humanity despite the rebellion of the fall and promises to restore man to a state of holiness again in the new heavens and new earth, still with body and soul in Revelations.  While we live upon the present earth waiting for the  future restored earth, he continues measures of temporary restoration in healing body, mind, spirit, and relationships through obedience and His Spirit’s work.

               The shalom he offers is one of wholeness without an exclusive focus on any one aspect of health, although He emphasizes the primacy of spiritual health with its greater impact in the eternal realm.  With this emphasis on the spiritual health of His children, He does not ignore the physical needs of His people. He uses many physical pictures to explain the blessings of the spiritual life so that the two are analogically tied together.  He mentions feasts in heaven (Revelation 19:7-9 and many others), the bread of life (John 6;35), and “living water” (John 4:14). In each, a physical reality images the spiritual blessings that God provides or offers to mankind.

               Our values should reflect His values for health if we are to be obedient. Shalom which includes body, mind, spirit, and relationship should be sought with spiritual health being primary and never sacrificed for any other aspect of health.  In this way, blessings can be enjoyed in all areas as none are inherently sinful unless they become an idol.  The blessings of whole person health are interdependent parts of a whole interacting in such a way that Ignoring one aspect, especially the spiritual, can limit enjoyment of others.  We can thus view ourselves as stewards of the gift of spiritual and physical life, caring for our body so that we can pursue spiritual health, mental strength, and relational health.  We should and can value the right ordering and functioning of our whole being rather than an overemphasis on a single aspect.

Next in the Series… Virtues to uphold in Whole Person Health

We have discussed the variety of goals one might pursue in health and the need for a higher standard than just individual or collective man’s competing opinions in a prior essay.  By definition, the goals and the actions which move one toward them must have an end in view, an ultimate purpose which is necessarily based on beliefs in what is real and what is right.  This higher purpose will be further shaped by what we value, what we desire, and what we prioritize.  As Christians we should look back to God to direct us in each of these influences.  In a sense we should think His thoughts after Him (Colossian 2:3 and Johann Kepler) and value His values (Matthew 22:36-40 and the 2 greatest commandments).  We can learn what God values in health by reading and studying His Word. First, we can look at the specific words used to convey God’s views of health and how each convey different emphases.  Second, we can look at a few explicit instructions concerning health in the bible.  Third, we can look at God’s interactions with mankind in regard to how God acted towards man regarding health.  Finally, we can compare and contrast these systematically with how other Biblical truths come together.

First, several words from the Old and the New Testament comprise a Biblical etymological study.  In the Old Testament, we consider the terms shalom and raphe. With the next essay, we consider hugianio, therapeou, iamoai, and sozo in the New Testament.

We start with the Old Testament’s word for health, shalom.  From the Brown-Driver Briggs Bible dictionary, we read the definition, “Completeness, safety/soundness, Peace/quiet/tranquility”.  This term is most often used of “peace” in different settings, always indicating a completeness.  In Genesis 43:27-28 Joseph as a leader in Egypt asks his brothers if their father is “shalom”.  This is more than just being alive, but if he is living in “peace”.  In Numbers 6:26, Aaron’s blessing upon the people includes having God’s face shining upon them, having God’s grace upon them, God’s lifting His countenance upon them, and concludes with giving them “peace” indicated by this word “shalom”.  In Psalm 35:27, in calling upon righteous judgment upon how others are treating him, David pronounces “Great is the lord, who delights in the shalom of his servant!”  The servant’s life was meant to be at “peace” in its completeness when under the blessing of God.  Elsewhere in Psalm 38:3, a lack of shalom meant that David’s flesh was affected by God’s indignation towards him.  David’s bones suffered due to sin.  Spiritual health and physical health and emotional health were all interdependent and included within this “complete” sense of shalom.

In the Old Testament, we also read of “raphe” which generally referred to healing.  The Brown-Driver-Briggs dictionary defines the term as:

1) to heal, make healthful; 1a) (Qal) to heal; 1a1) of God; 1a2) healer, physician (of men); 1a3) of               hurts of nations involving restored favour (figuratively); 1a4) of individual distresses (figuratively)

1b) (Niphal) to be healed; 1b1) literal (of persons); 1b2) of water, pottery; 1b3) of national hurts               (figuratively); 1b4) of personal distress (figuratively)

1c) (Piel) to heal; 1c1) literal; 1c2) of national defects or hurts (figuratively)

1d) (Hithpael) in order to get healed (infinitive)

With the term used at least 60 times depending on one’s Bible translation, several examples demonstrate how it was used literally and primarily of physical health yet also connected to spiritual health. In Exodus 15:26, God is called Jehovah Raphe, the one who heals after He removes the bitterness of the waters of Marah for the Israelites to drink.  Soon afterwards, it includes a promise to not put any of the diseases of the Egyptians upon the Hebrews.  Elsewhere in Hosea 6:1, the prophet calls out for the Jews to return to the Lord which includes the promise that though God had torn them, he might “heal” or “raphe” them if they returned to Him.  Their breaking of the covenant was the reason for the curse from God’s hand.  Given that the text mentions “revive us” and “struck us down” it likely included physical effects of the covenant breaking and subsequent healing of these physical afflictions as a result of the spiritual restoration.  Psalm 103:3 unequivocally addresses physical illness with “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases” yet draws together physical and spiritual health. Jeremiah 17:14 then serves as an example from the prophets where Jeremiah is praying for healing with echoes of “save me”.  Physical and spiritual health are connected within these verses as verse 16 returns to the physical sense of health with Jeremiah saying “I have not desired the day of sickness”.  With a further review of the other verses where raphe is found, the physical aspect of health is more often in view, yet frequently the spiritual health of the one being healed is connected to the physical.

Between shalom and raphe with their references, the Old Testament view of health presents God as one who cares for whole person health including the physical aspects.  The Old Testament views the complete health of shalom as including physical health along with spiritual and emotional health.  When raphe or healing occurred, the focus was usually on the physical yet the spiritual health of the one receiving healing was interdependent.  These words and their Scriptural references help us understand how God viewed the health of man and what God valued.  While spiritual health across the Old Testament was clearly God’s primary emphasis, the physical health was not ignored, but instead frequently provided for both in a pre-emptive sense of God’s giving initial health and in a responsive sense of restoring health after disease had occurred.

Next in this Docsy Series… “Part 2:  New Testament Word Study Regarding God’s View of Man’s Health”

Truths in health make a significant difference on where we land on the health spectrum only when we apply them.  This may seem obvious but with each of us searching for optimal health amongst the plethora of divergent ideas from claiming to be true, we need to consider our own systematic application of the truth upon our health and well-being decisions. 

Understanding truth requires understanding its primary source or secondary sources.  Having assumed in the previous essay that truth exists and recognized that the functioning of life requires a basis of truth, we turn our attention to identifying the primary source from which truth comes.  As Christians we recognize that God designed and created all things (Genesis).  Any true knowledge that reflects this reality must have come from God.  Even scientific truth reflecting scientific reality is simply thinking God’s thoughts after Him.  Any truth has already been in the mind of God before we even existed in reality.  Besides the order of the physical world, neither did the order of what is good nor is right, what we label ethics, come into being on its own.  God, as designer and creator was and is the potter with the clay creating both the physical world and truth behind the physical reality.  Thus, beyond what physically is, God is the source of truth for what should be.  God is the ultimate source of truth for physical and ethical reality.

In attempting to understand its source, the world often treats truth as an abstract reality separate from the reality in which we all live.  These attempts look to man or mankind as the source of truth rather than to God. Philosophers may handle it carelessly as if they own the rights to it or at least to an understanding of it.  Some unbelievers marvel that it even exists in the first place.  Some unbelievers scoff at it as a figment of other’s imagination.  Some unbelievers loathe the idea of truth’s existence as it is viewed as an obstacle to the life they want to pursue. Some even practically worship it as the creator of all we see in some gnostic or pantheistic manner.  Truth viewed in isolation from reality can be deified, demonized, or dismissed.

As God’s creation and possession, we cannot disrespectfully play with truth nor irreverently attempt to tear it apart.  As God’s possession to share with His creatures, we cannot ignore its reality nor worship it as the ultimate force of nature.   The reality of our finite lives and the unavoidable need for a creator, despite modern man’s attempt to argue otherwise, means it must come from someone other than itself or from the physical reality it describes.  With this recognition we can seek it in God with humility and with hope.  We can honor it as his possession without worshipping it.  We can respect and honor truth rather than constantly fight against it.

Approaching truth as the act of thinking God’s thoughts after Him in the way that Christians in science of past days, we cannot create new truth that did not exist prior in God.  We cannot create new truth that did not already exist in God.  Even the heresies and errors of man are primarily copies of prior errors.  We can only hope to uncover truth that God already formed and knew.  Then, seeing all truth as coming from Him, we can seek it from the correct source.

By knowing Him, we can better understand what truth is.  We know Him by His revelation in His word, the Bible.  Knowing He is a God of order and unchangeableness, we can look for consistency and order in creation rather than randomness or changing rules of nature.  Knowing he created us in His image, we can look to our reason and senses as means of not only receiving the facts of sensory input, but also assimilating and synthesizing them to reflect His truth.  In His image we should not be surprises that we can find pleasure not only in the beauty of what we observe and experience upon the earth, but in the goodness behind, within, and underneath what we observe or may experience.

Though we seek after a comprehensive and exhaustive understanding of truth, we also recognize that our ability to perceive and to understand are limited.  There are things we cannot sense.  In the physical world, microscopic processes continuously carry on life which we cannot truly observe directly even with the technological tools we have available.  Also in the physical world, at the other end of the size scale, we gaze upward upon astronomical realities we cannot comprehensively understand due to the sheer vastness of the data required.  In the spiritual world, we are even more limited in our understanding.  All around us spiritual reality touches our lives yet we rarely recognize these influences in their fullness.  It is even said that this spiritual reality will outlast the physical reality in which we currently live (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Depths of wisdom and insight exist which neither a single human nor a collective humanity can process.  On one hand this is simply facing the limit of a created and finite human mind that can hold only so much in active thought at one time or can only remember so many interrelationships of reality simultaneously.  On the other, the Fall of Adam marred man’s reasoning (Romans 1:21) such that even what lies within one’s physical limits may become distorted and lose an accurate reflection of reality.

We come humbly to recognizing the need to look to God as the source of truth.  Having recognized that our means of perception is limited, our means of reasoning is both limited and marred despite being in God’s image (to be explored in future essays), and recognizing that God intends for us to grow in knowledge and wisdom, we humbly seek God to reveal both physical and spiritual truth that we might live both “wholly” and “holy” not only as individuals before God, but collectively as His children before His face.

Next in this series… Truth: What does it have to do with health?

Oddly, although a definition of truth would seem something most would agree upon, many opinions arise from challenges to the nature of truth.  Society debates whether there is one truth for all or many truths.  Society debates whether truth changes or not.  Society debates over who determines truth.  Some even doubt whether truth exists or at least whether we can know truth though it exists.  With different opinions come significant downstream ramifications.  If there are more truths than one, how can we know which is true for us?  If truth changes, can we be certain of the future.  If someone does control truth, must we submit to them or create our own truth?  If there is no truth, what is the point of life?  A correct definition of truth requires one to answer these foundational questions.

Understanding truth is critically important for many reasons.  Living and acting in contradiction to truth will produce unexpected consequences.  Inaccurate views of gravity will lead to injury and death.  Inaccurate views of health can lead to illness and death. Inaccurate views of the nature of reality can lead to spiritual death.  In coming essays, we will touch on each of these.  Ultimately, the current point to remember is that believing something contrary to reality does not alter that reality. In contrast, knowing truth has the hope of making life more rewarding and less dangerous.

We may define truth as that knowledge which comports with or describes what is real, that which exists in reality.  Given our finite minds, this truth comes primary in parts and pieces rather than an understanding of the whole.  While such portions are not an exhaustive description of reality, they serve as an accurate depiction of the part being described.  Simultaneously it must be consistent with the whole without contradicting interconnected portions of reality.

Building upon this definition of truth, we must consider if we can know truth and how we acquire it, a process called epistemology.  We are dependent on our senses to provide correct input.  We are dependent on our minds to interpret that sensory input correctly.  To know beyond the physical world, into the spiritual, we are dependent on revelation.  Epistemology considers how our senses, our minds or reason, and revelation from God informs us and what these three methods of obtaining truth can tell us.

If the existence of truth or the ability to discover it is doubted, then little more can be gained from our senses or our reasoning.  In contrast, knowledge and wisdom begin with an acknowledgement that truth exists.  Biblically, it begins with a fear of God, or a recognition of His being as well as Jesus’ self-affirmation that He is the truth.  Fighting against acceptance of reality’s existence and against truth leads to irrational beliefs if not a denial of one’s own existence.  But if both truth and the ability to know truth are accepted, truth’s details can be worked out over time.  We will approach truth and the whole of this series assuming that truth exists, and we can know it at least in part as doing otherwise leads to irrationality.

We continue with an understanding that truth is accurate knowledge about reality gained through our senses, through our minds or reason, and through revelation to cover physical and spiritual reality.  Truth exists, is knowable to some extent, and does not change in its fundamental nature.  Without going into a major proof at these assertions, we will assume them to be true for the time being until it becomes necessary to dive deeper into proving them.

Next in the series…. The Source of Truth.