How to Better Understand and Address Our Culture (review of “Saving Truth”)

My highest calling as a mother is to point my children to the truth … the Truth. To show them the right path. To encourage them to stay on that path. 

It takes intention … but intention isn’t enough. I have to know what the truth is and find the best ways to impart it. 

It takes intention to raise up a child ... but intention isn't enough. We have to know what the truth is and find the best ways to impart it. Click To Tweet

“Train up a child in the way he should go;
    even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6, ESV

There’s much competing information about what truth is, about what that right path is. There are many voices clamoring to be heard—voices that claim to know the truth.

But increasingly we’re hearing a different message. The message that truth is whatever you want it to be … or that truth doesn’t exist at all: the voice of a post-truth culture. A culture that according to Abdu Murray’s new book, Saving Truth: Finding Meaning & Clarity in a Post-Truth World,” elevates preferences and feelings over facts and truth.” But without truth our very identity is lost.

This message says that not only can you do whatever you want, but you can be whatever you want. It doesn’t matter what the facts show. What you want … how you feel … is what matters. 

Sadly, our kids are hearing this message. They’re being inundated with it. Social media bombards them with it. Movies and TV shows glamorize it.  

Be Prepared to Address the Culture

As mothers (and fathers) we need to understand this dangerous mindset in order to help our children make sense of it all. As Christians we need to be able to have honest, compassionate conversations about why we believe in Truth. But where do we start?

First, we keep our roots planted deep in the Word of the Holy Bible. We soak in the Truth. We ask God for wisdom and discernment. 

Second, we tap into the work and knowledge of those who understand the cultural shift that is occurring. Instead of ignoring a culture we don’t understand or offering ignorant responses to statements and positions we question, we can learn and develop a better way to both guide our children and to provide perspective for others to consider.

Saving Truth: the Book

That’s what I appreciate about Saving Truth. It offers much-needed insight into an area that many of us parents struggle to understand or desire to ignore. Abdu, an author and speaker and the North America director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), begins by defining a post-truth culture and describing the mindset that set the stage for the current Culture of Confusion. And he doesn’t whitewash the role Christians have played in fostering this culture.

Abdu spends the next few chapters diagnosing the problems inherent when living in confusion. The second half of the book explores the solutions that result from clarity. A clarity founded on and anchored in Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

An Honest Look

Today’s culture is vastly different from the one in which I grew up. I never questioned that truth existed. Decisions were made, actions were taken based on that truth.

But in a Culture of Confusion, “We don’t look to facts to find out the truth. We look at editorialized facts to support our preferences…. we gather information about the world to conform to what we want to be true, not to what actually is true.”

And don’t think your safe in your churches. Abdu contends that post-truth expressions can be found there too. Too often in our churches we try to avoid conflict and uncomfortable discussions while at the same time vilifying what we disagree with. This stifles honest dialogue and leads to confusion. 

Yet the church may also be part of the solution. Abdu states, “Now is the time for compassionate, yet uncompromisingly expressed, truth. If the church’s caving to the post-truth mindset has contributed to the larger cultural problem, then perhaps Christians’ rediscovered commitment to the truth can lead us back to the solution.”

I expected Saving Truth to educate me on why Christianity is viewed with increasing disdain. I expected this book to offer me ideas on how to discuss the truth with those whom I disagree. What pleasantly surprised me was the honesty and compassion with which Abdu addresses the topic.

He doesn’t simply point the finger at others as the problem, but points equally as many back at Christians who have often played a part in fostering this Culture of Confusion. 

Truth: the One

Abdu encourages respectful dialogue between all parties, acknowledging that we’re all sinners. We all need a Savior. In Saving Truth, Abdu Murray points unswervingly to Jesus as our true hope, our truth, the answer to our deepest longing: “In Jesus Christ, we have both the truth who satisfies our quest and the personality who satisfies our need for connection. He is the truth our minds seek and the person our hearts embrace.”

In #SavingTruth, @AbduMurray points unswervingly to Jesus: 'In Jesus Christ, we have both the truth who satisfies our quest and the personality who satisfies our need for connection. He is the truth our minds seek and the person our hearts embrace.' Click To Tweet

Filling up with Scripture. Spending time in prayer. Exposing ourselves to the wisdom and knowledge of other Christians seeking the truth.

These are all important ways to help us train up our children in the “way [they] should go.” They are also important ways to become more adept at speaking to others about our faith.

Filling up with Scripture. Spending time in prayer. Exposing ourselves to the wisdom and knowledge of other Christians seeking the truth. These are all important ways to help us train up our children in the way they should go. Click To Tweet

Looking to more fully understand the culture we live in, how to better guide your children, and how to more effectively share your faith in what can be a hostile environment? Abdu Murray’s new book is one great resource to check out! The entire book points us squarely to the answer:

“What is truth? we may ask in a world that elevates personal preference over truth. The answer is Jesus—the truth who is personal. He is the Saving Truth.”

'What is truth? we may ask in a world that elevates personal preference over truth. The answer is Jesus—the truth who is personal. He is the Saving Truth.' @AbduMurray, #SavingTruth Click To Tweet

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32, CSB

Reflections: How well do you understand the culture we’re living in? What other helpful resources have you found to support you in “training up your children”?