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The Experiment

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2 John 1-2 The elderly elder [of the church addresses this letter] to the elect (chosen) lady (Cyria) and her children, whom I truly love—and not only I but also all who are [progressively] learning to recognize and know and understand the Truth—2 Because of the Truth which lives and stays on in our hearts and will be with us forever….

As we asked in a previous blog, What is truth?, it helps to have a refresher. How is truth defined? Truth is that which affirms propositionally the nature of reality as it is. This means that when we talk about truth we are not talking about something being subjectively true for me. We’re talking about something that is objectively true and actually real. (Medium, In Defense 315)

Ravi Zacharias, in The Logic of God, stated: Truth by definition is exclusive. Everything cannot be true. If everything is true, then nothing is false. And if nothing is false, then it would also be true to say everything is false. We cannot have it both ways. One should not be surprised at the claims of exclusivity. The reality is that even those who deny truth’s exclusivity, in effect, exclude those who do not deny it. The truth quickly emerges. The law of noncontradiction does apply to reality: two contradictory statements cannot both be true in the same sense. Thus, to deny the law of noncontradiction is to affirm it at the same time.

There are three ways to test Truth. Now think about that. Jesus is the TRUTH. You could say, then, that Jesus can be “tested” to see if Who He is and what He says is TRUTH. Not only does Christianity teach that TRUTH is objective and absolute it also teaches that TRUTH is knowable. WE can know Him – the TRUTH. Hebrews 3:10 in the AMPC verifies this stating: And so I was provoked (displeased and sorely grieved) with that generation, and said, They always err and are led astray in their hearts, and they have not perceived or recognized My ways and become progressively better and more experimentally and intimately acquainted with them. The Greek word that the AMPC translation is drawing this meaning from is ginosko. Ginosko speaks of a knowing on multiple levels. Thus experiment is defined in English as, a test, or investigation, done in order to learn something or to discover if something works or is true.

We come to know Jesus the TRUTH through “testing” Who He is, what He says, and what His followers say. The three ways of testing something to be true are as follows: logical consistency, empirical adequacy, and experiential relevance. Is Jesus, His claims and His Word, logically consistent? Is it rational? Does it make sense in itself? Medium, In Defense 315 blog states: Basic doctrines like God existing, the Incarnation, the Resurrection, and even the Trinity need to be logically consistent. Now this is not to say that we can comprehend the complexity of a thing, but only that it is apprehensible. Can you apprehend Jesus? Can you perceive or grasp Who He is, His words, and His lifestyle – mentally? Can you ask Jesus to allow you to apprehend any of the above and receive an answer? Absolutely! He stands the logical consistency test.

Yet, Its a funny thing about putting something to the test. Eventually, if you are sincere and honest, the test should have a boomerang effect. Namely it should cause you to pause and ask yourself, Do I pass the logical consistency test? Does the life I live – my thinking, language, actions, etc. – match what I say I believe about Jesus? As John encourages the recipients of his letter by stating that they were: [progressively] learning to recognize and know and understand the Truth. This was something that was observable. But not only was it observable it passed the empirical adequacy test. Empirical adequacy correctly represents observable phenomena. For example, When people see your version of Christianity are they simply seeing someone going to church, and being a good person OR are they seeing someone radically following Jesus; doing things only Jesus can do? When you are tested or squeezed by life’s circumstances does Jesus exude through the stench of the difficulty? Which leads to the next test: experiential relevance. If Jesus passes the first two tests then I guarantee He will pass this last test. Experiential Relevance is just a fancy way of saying, Does this work in real life? Does Jesus work in real life, and more importantly does He work in your life? Does He challenge you, change you, and sustain you through good and bad times?

If He hasn’t, may I suggest that you do some faith experiments with Him today or this week. See if He works in your life. Talk to Him and let Him know that you desire to [progressively] learn to recognize and know and understand the Truth – that you want to know Him better as TRUTH. Ask Him what area of your life He wants you to experiment in and then ask for the GRACE and the Power of the Holy Spirit to step out in faith.

Seven Second Memory

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On March 27, 1985 Clive Wearing, an acknowledged expert in early music at the height of his career with BBC Radio, contracted herpesviral encephalitis, a herpes simplex virus that attacked his central nervous system. Wearing developed a profound case of total amnesia as a result of his illness. Because of damage to the hippocampus he is completely unable to form lasting new memories. His memory of events lasts between seven and thirty seconds. He spends every day ‘waking up’ every 20 seconds or so, ‘restarting’ his consciousness once the timespan of his short-term memory has elapsed.

In the book of Philippians 3:13-14 the Apostle Paul describes a spiritual form of amnesia when he writes: but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. AMPC

Jesus encouraged this amnesia in regard to our own lives when He exhorted His followers: And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]. Luke 9:23 AMPC

In 2002 the BBC released a documentary about Sigmund Freud titled, Century of the Self. As I googled this title other options emerged: A Journey to the Center of Self, the Center for Self-Actualization, the Center for Self, How to Center Yourself, etc., etc. Whether it’s a century or a day, the journey to being centered in our selves doesn’t take long requiring no money, or psychological experts. You don’t have to travel to Tibet or get on the Marrakesh Express to discover Nirvana. All it takes is a look in the mirror. The true cosmic shift comes when you lift up your eyes, center in on the moment, becoming a “there you are” human being (instead of human doing). For some that takes a journey of a lifetime but others have looked upon Jesus. Time has stood still and all of a sudden the World of “Me” is not that important. All of a sudden you develop Holy Ghost Amnesia forgetting what is behind and straining towards what’s ahead. And in the midst of the journey you begin seeing “human do-ings” searching to become “human be-ings” again. Imagine being given the Grace to forget ALL that’s behind. All the hurt, offenses, regrets, pains and failures. Imagine praying for the Grace to see others forgetting what is behind, forgiving, and releasing others from the debt we think they owe us. Imagine being a “there you are” person – instead of a “here I am” person. Imagine, looking in to a person and seeing the treasures God sees. What would happen to our self-centered world? Would we find ourselves – “human be-ings?” Try this experiment all week.