I write to discover what I’m in the the process of believing.
“When I say ‘I believe,’ I am not merely describing an inward feeling or experience: I am affirming what I believe to be true, and therefore what is true for everyone. The test of my commitment to this belief will be that I am ready to publish it, to share it with others, and to invite their judgment and – if necessary – correction. If I refrain from this exercise, if I try to keep my belief as a private matter, it is not belief in truth”
Lesslie Newbigin, 1989, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, page 22
I don’t think I believe anything until I tell someone. I must articulate it, and the moment I do, it becomes truth and the moment it becomes truth, the truth wants to become dogma and the moment it becomes dogma, truth dies. If however, I can continue in the process of “truth making” by dialogging with those other than I, the possibility of living truth becomes more likely.
…but I fear too much, i fear. And so I tend to feel at home in my dogma. God grant me the courage to engage the other, becoming “us” and living truth as Christ is Truth.
peace, dwight
Good thoughts and good prayer.
Is something true simply because you believe a concept and have spoken it aloud to another person?
You say, "I am affirming what I believe to be true, and therefore what is true for everyone." Even those who believe in something that is not truth, believe that it is true for everyone. Wars are a testament to that.
Why would something die just because it becomes dogma:(in your words, " the moment it becomes dogma, truth dies." If dogma is doctrine concerning faith or morals laid down by a church and that doctrine is a belief in the Holy Trinity does that make the truth of the Holy Trinity die?
Living truth exists whether you believe in it or not and it exists whether you dialog about it or not. "…by dialogging with those other than I, the possibility of living truth becomes more likely. – – a rather austentatious statement; truth is truth – it cant become "more likely." Yes, we have a need to speak the truth so it becomes real to our own self, but Truth exists whether we believe in Him or not.
What do you mean by, "God grant me the courage to engage the other, becoming "us"? What is "us"?
Truth is absolute, if it werent absolute it wouldnt be Truth. What people think truth is, and what truth really is can be very different.
Your Sister in Christ Jesus, The Truth.