Searching for an Authentic Godliness

What I'm about to post is a continuation, although tangentially, of my previous one on the gift and perils of culture and conformity.

What does it really  mean to be godly? Being so was the objective of my life for at least 15, if not 20 years.  I, like all my associates, were consumed with being godly.  Yet, I think we seriously contaminated the concept through our evangelical culture.

We considered the simple definition as being like God, or being the way that God wanted us to be.  But we defined the particulars of godliness as some of the following:

a) Not sinning as defined by the Bible as sin, adultery, drunkenness, stealing and others.

b) On top of the obvious sins, we including not using curse words (a list of words that the evangelical culture had determined to be ungodly and you know what those are), not drinking alcohol at all, not thinking about sex and not having "bad attitudes."  These bad attitudes were feelings of hurt, anger, sadness, frustration . . . you know, all emotions besides happiness.

But besides this list of things we couldn't do and still be godly, were a long unspoken (but well known) list of positive behaviors such as, to borrow a line from Monty Python, "Always looking on the bright side of life."

But speaking in epistemological terms, to be godly, also meant that we sought "truth."  But this is the pivotal point, which I want to make (and to mesh it with my previous post) and that is to define this truth godly people must seek.

For 25 years, at least, I was taught and believed that truth and doctrine were synonymous. So, if the news reported there was more evidence that the universe was about 13 billion years old, we would oppose the thought out of our godliness. But our doctrines also included views about the role of women, homosexuality, the "truth" that you ought to go to church every Sunday and Jesus was coming back soon.

So our "truth" was to real, philosophical (or what Francis Schaeffer called "true-truth") truth as "wood grain" contact paper (in cause you don't know is a printed image of using ink in plastic) is to real wood.  The two are unrelated.

Now I will pause and look at scripture about truth.  This is from the beginning of Titus and it is coming from Paul, who probably was educated in traditional Socratesian logic. So, try to remove your cultural bias as you read this:

1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to further the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness— ² in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, ³ and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,

 

So listen to the above verses and think about it philosophically. Paul states that the knowledge of truth leads to godliness.  He didn't say the knowledge of doctrine or a particular complex social behavior of a particular subculture . . . but simply truth.

 

So I will redefine truth as I think it relates to godliness. Imagine that truth is simply that which is real. So, if I look up and don't see a cloud in the sky, as I'm now doing, I can say it is truth that, according to the metrological definition of the word "fair," the skies are presently fair.

 

But apply this thought to everything.  So seeking truth about the universe isn't promoting a particular doctrine about the age of the universe, but honestly, and humbling seeking the real number of how old the universe really is.  Now apply this thinking to the more personal parts of life such as psychological truth.  Rather than disguising the psychological source of behaviors as spiritual, we seek the honest and true motivations, warts and all.

 

So, I think a better sense of godliness is the act of seeking truth at all cost.  I mean real, deep down honest truth.  Many of us are so use to pretending and following the cultural leads that we forget what truth really is.

 

I can remember so many times when I was an evangelical that I would get a glimpse of the true truth, far below the surface, and just think to myself, "if God wants us to pretend, what does that imply about God?"  But, to fit into our Christian subculture we had to pretend all the time.

 

I knew why the full time Christian worker guy loved to give pretty girls with large bosoms, firm, frontal hugs . . . and say, "I love your sister."  I knew why my co-disciple lied to the leader about how many hours he had spent in Bible study and lied by not mentioning the reason he didn't finish his Bible study because he talked for hours on the phone to the "worldly," but pretty, girl who wanted him to sleep with her.  He didn't mention it so he would get the praise of the spiritual leader and possibly get promoted himself. We all crave praise from our spiritual leaders  . . actually from everyone we know, but especially our spiritual leaders.

 

But before long, you and your entire world are living below the rabbit hole.

 

But true godliness is the unadulterated pursuit of truth  . .  . at all cost.  It means being brutally honest about ourselves, our motives and even the motives of others (as far as we can guess what they really are).

 

With godliness defined in this way, I would say that some of the most godly people I've every known are some of the humble, but hungry for truth, scientists that I've had the privileged to know.  Many of the scientists I've know want to know the truth at all cost and they don't care where that truth leads them. Now, I'm not going as far to say they are Christians, especially those who totally reject Christianity.  But I am saying they are doing God's work by seeking truth and are reflecting God's own passion for truth.  If God is there, which I think He is, then by definition He is engrossed in truth . . . true truth not doctrinal truth.

 

By the same thought, some of the most ungodly people I've ever known are the evangelicals who have no desire for true truth but promoting their doctrine without question or any thinking at all. Likewise some of the most ungodly are the scientists who have no desire for truth either, because these scientists are just as bad. They seek truth as defined by their personal doctrines or belief system and, like the evangelicals, substitute doctrine for truth. In many of those cases, their belief system starts with the premise that there is no God.  Any good scientist would be consumed with the curiosity about whether God is there or not.

 

I'm being told that I'm taking too much time to write on my blog so I must go once again without proof-reading.  I hope some day I have the time to write what I want and to write with care and not haste.  But life is so busy these days that I hardly have time to think at all.