I am the truth, the way and the life — Jesus
It is funny how even though this statement of Jesus makes truth rather singular we still have so many different bids on the truth from different religions and different churches. Somehow we as humans seem to think that if we believe it hard enough it becomes true.
St Vincent was the one who stated that the truth is what has been believed “everywhere, always and by all”. This is not a bid to make truth a democratic process where it is decided by the weakest link but rather accepting that if we believe that Jesus is the truth (not has the truth, or teaches the truth) and that this truth has been present since the creation of the world. Then the truth has been known by people in all cultures at all times and can be found in the most unlikely places.
All truth is god’s truth!
Whether we find it in an oral tradition in Africa or in the Quoran. And it is true whether or not it has the name of Jesus attached to it becauae ultimately labels do not make it true, if it is true, it is true regardless of the lable. All truth is true. And all truth leads the way to god, to life.
If we put a cross or other Christian lable on a falsehood it is still false. Just as if there is a pentagram, half moon or a scientific formula on a truth it is still true.
I was delighted when I read that, texts from other religions can be beneficial for the Christian reader, in the Salvation Army new handbook of doctrines. Because this tips the hat to the vincentian formula of “everywhere, always and by all”. This is why I often refer to the perenial tradition because it encapsulates this formula.
As Christians we do not have exclusive rights to the truth and the more tightly we hold the truth, the less truth we end up embracing. The truth is not a doctrine, not a bible verse, it is a person, it is god self embodied. The truth is unity, non duality, the truth is one.
This is why I don’t have the truth, I seek truth relentlessly and if I find truth I follow the truth wherever it leads me.
