Truth Speaker

In the song “Poppin” rap artist Bizzle begins by saying “I went from truth seeker to truth speaker.” This short line represents the important transition from one who has been looking for truth to one who, having found what he was looking for, is eager to help others find it too. It grabbed me because I feel that for a while now, there has been a growing part of our culture telling us that we should be seeking truth (or “your truth” as Oprah would put it), but never finally discovering any (except, perhaps, the truth of certain popular bromides, like “you should follow your heart” or “no one can tell you what you can’t do” or “gender is fluid”, none of which has any real definition). In his 2008 book Why We’re Not Emergent, co-author Kevin DeYoung recounts the story of a talented musician from his church. This musician had been involved in folk music and music clubs before he got saved. He told Kevin, “In the music scene it’s really cool to search for God. It’s not very cool to find him.” DeYoung believes this captures the state of spirituality in the West. “The destination matters little. The journey is the thing.”

Christians are those who have found the answers to the most foundational questions mankind asks. Who are we? What are we here for? How do we find redemption? Yes, people ask that, for all worldviews offer some kind of redemption, since all people realize that things are broken, or at least see the potential for a much better human existence. This does not mean that Christians, even the most mature in the faith and most educated, have all the answers. But they do have answers. In this face-melting track “Poppin” Bizzle takes his stance as one who has found the truth—or to be more precise, who has been found by the Truth. He then proceeds with confidence to wipe the lipstick off some of the ugliest pigs in American life. Christians can with confidence take a prophetic posture, because they know Jesus, the Truth himself. They know the origin and destiny of man. They know who God is. They know what we are here for. They do this with humbleness, because they only know what they know because God has given them eyes to see it. But they know it, nonetheless, and it’s no good pretending they don’t.

The pretense of ignorance for the sake of a false humility is probably what annoys me most about the emergent church movement that, uh, emerged sometime in the 2000s. It tended to allow people not only to be lost in their quest for truth (we all begin this way), but to encourage them to stay lost perpetually, and to stay lost as a sign of maturity! Emergent thinker Donald Miller, in Blue Like Jazz, said “I don’t believe I will ever walk away from God for intellectual reasons. Who knows anything anyway?” Socrates’ famous line that the only real wisdom is knowing you know nothing (how did he know this?) comes to mind. In this way of thinking, any unqualified affirmation of propositions regarding spirituality or morality would be considered arrogant and, in fact, ignorant of one’s own inability to acquire sure knowledge. Christian rock band The O.C. Supertones once sang, “What if I told you I held the one true philosophy? Would you hear me out or just turn your back and laugh at me?” The emergent, and many secular and otherwise simply drifting people today, feel uncomfortable with someone who claims to know the answers to our major metaphysical questions, or even to the idea of having such knowledge.

Of course, this attitude has some appeal at times, because we also witness people talking with total conviction about things they know nothing about, or are wrong about (2Pe 2:12). We have materialist naturalists telling us with certainty that there is no spiritual existence of any kind, and that life and mind sprang up as a result of atoms banging around. They scoff at those, including non-Christians, who think that maybe methodological naturalism doesn’t explain everything. The world is full of people who, “although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” (Ro 1:22). As human beings, we must acknowledge our finitude and the limitations of our knowledge. A little humility would go a long way. So how do we strike a balance?

Here is where the doctrine of revealed truth comes in. By understanding that God has verbally revealed truth to us, in Scripture, we are able to take firm hold of that truth even though it is not something that we unraveled on our own. This grants assurance and humility at the same time. This is how folks like Peter, Stephen, Paul, Barnabas, Euodia and Syntyche contend (fight!) for the truth, while filled with the very Spirit who works to make us kind, compassionate, forbearing, loving, and gentle (Gal 5:22, 23; Php 4:4; Col 3:12; 1Pe 3:15). In the Christian construction, humility and certainty are not at odds. Instead, humility is fostered by the things of which we are certain. This allows Christians to address culture directly, under the authority of King Jesus, with sharp criticism and the offer of a better way of life, while doing so with love. It is the Christian insight that “in these last days [God] has spoken to us by his Son” that underlies our speaking about his Son to the world, and pointing the world to the Son so that they too can learn of God, and in turn, other truth seekers can become truth speakers.

Finally, I recommend Bizzle’s new album for anyone who appreciates hip-hop. He kills these tracks. The whole record is outstanding.