A question I’ve been sitting with lately is surprisingly simple:
Do you love truth?
Not, “Do you believe in truth?”
Not, “Can you defend truth?”
Not, “Do you say that you love truth?”
But do you actually love it?
If I asked you to write down the four or five things you love most, what would make the list? Family? God? Scripture? Teaching? A hobby? A calling? A dream?
Would truth appear anywhere on that list? And if not, why not?
For parents, teachers, and youth leaders, this question matters more than we might realize. Education is not merely the transfer of information. At its best, education forms people, shapes character, and helps the next generation understand reality and learn how to live within it–all of which requires truth.
To this end, Christian worldview thinkers have long insisted that all truth is God’s truth. Not just theological truth but also truth about history, economics, science, health, and nature. In other words, there is truth about the natural world and truth about the supernatural world.
A Big Question
But I wonder, how can we teach the next generation to love the truth if we don’t deeply love it ourselves? If you care about the next generation, let me ask you a question: What is education without truth?
Education without truth becomes propaganda.
Education without truth becomes dogma.
Education without truth becomes the transmission of information disconnected from reality.
Our cultural moment presents unique challenges to loving and discovering truth:
First, internally, we’ve increasingly moved toward the idea that truth is something we discover within ourselves. The cultural mantra is no longer “seek the truth” but “live your truth.” To this end, the “truth” becomes personal preference. Furthermore, identity becomes authority and feelings become evidence.
Second, externally, we’re drowning in information. Artificial intelligence can generate convincing content in seconds and social media rewards engagement over the accuracy of content. Algorithms often amplify outrage, speculation, and certainty rather than careful thinking.
We have more information than any generation in history but we often seem less committed to truth. We have more information but less wisdom, discernment, and fewer incentives to pursue what’s actually true. Paul describes humanity’s tendency to suppress truth in Romans 1 as it states, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.”
What is new today is the scale and speed at which misinformation, distraction, and ideological tribalism spread. Before we can discover truth, we have to cultivate a love for truth. Here are seven questions to gauge how much you truly love truth:
Seven Difficult Questions
Have You Changed Your Mind About Anything Significant Recently? For me, I have moved towards a Catholic theology of the body after reading Catholic theologians, and engaging in discussions with people outside the evangelical world. What about you?
Have your convictions cost you something? In Acts 5:29, we see the apostles suffer for truth: “Peter and the other apostles replied: ‘We must obey God rather than human beings!’ People who love truth are willing to put their reputations and livelihood on the line for it.’ What have your convictions cost you?
Do you consider multiple sides of an issue? Before reading further, take out your phone and look at the people you follow on X, YouTube, and in your podcast feed. Do you only follow people who you agree with? If so, that might suggest you care more about being reinforced in your beliefs than truly finding truth.
Do you get upset when someone challenges what you believe? At times, people can become defensive when they do not know what they believe and why. If we don’t know what we believe and why, maybe we don’t really love the truth; Galatians 4:16 states that, “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?”
Do you ask a lot of questions? My dad and I met with the Head of the Library of Congress in 1999–all he did was ask my dad questions for an hour. This impressed upon me the importance of questions. Do you listen more than you talk?
Do you have an opinion on everything, or do you regularly say: “I don’t know”? In a recent NYT interview, Steven Spielberg was asked about AI. Impressively, he said he “didn’t know” and needed to research it for the summer before commenting.
Do you have friends who view the world differently than you? In my relationship with Adam Davidson, an atheist journalist, he challenges me to see the word differently. We are writing a book together, and as we draw closer as friends, he helps me see the world differently.
How did you do? If you didn’t do as well as you wanted, what step(s) can you take to become a person who truly loves truth? If we want to discover truth, and live it, we must begin by cultivating a genuine love for truth.
I recently challenged a friend (who is a retired pastor) when he shared a politically motivated quote attributed to a celebrity. A quick search revealed that the same quote has been attributed to multiple celebrities, and the posts promoting those fake quotes all come from FB accounts based in SE Asia. When I pointed that out to my friend, he answered that he was not naive and knew there was a chance that actor did not say those words, but he was leaving it up because the "sentiment was true" (meaning it aligned with is personal views on a certain politician).
Yet even if the sentiment were true (and not just an opinion), the fact that is is misattributed does not serve the interests of the Truth.
This post resonated with me deeply. Learning systematic theology from a Catholic professor freed me from the simplistic 'Catholics worship Mary, so they’re wrong' mindset, pushing me to consider the complexity of history and culture.
While I continue to serve as a missionary and church planter in Japan—staying in the Protestant tradition allows me the freedom to pursue 'Christ as the Truth' according to God’s calling on my life—I deeply value these insights. So grateful for your ministry and for having apologists like you in our community!