Truth Versus What Works

Truth Versus What Works
Feb 6, 2010 1:53 PM


by makestraight
I’m not sure if Gracepoint is still in touch with JP Moreland, but I like him a lot. He likes to use good analogies to get his point across about why Truth matters, and how Christianity is based upon Truth.

This site is based on one of Moreland’s lectures, and provides us Moreland’s illustration of a person named One Mug.

Here’s a passage:

Just because something works does not mean that it is true. Dr. Mooreland told a story of a man that he called, One Mug. One Mug was a dunce, but those around him treated him as though he was a genius. They tricked him into thinking that he was very smart all the way through high school and college. One Mug thought that everyone liked him and that he was very smart whereas the truth was that he was still a dunce. One Mug’s belief of himself worked for him, but it was not true.

There is a difference between whether a belief works and whether it is true. Therefore, it is important to seek the truth of a matter even if the truth doesn’t feel good. We tend to only want to believe something if it works for us and that is the very thing that could get us into trouble. Sometimes the truth is something that we don’t want to hear, but it is the very thing that we should deal with.

As Christians, we should all value and seek truth. I am trying to reveal the truth about Gracepoint Berkeley’s unbiblical and harmful practices. But I know that most Gracepoint members are more interested in “going with the flow” and refraining from “rocking the boat”. After all, many people seem happy and people do seem to get saved. Why change it if it’s working? Why “mess it all up” with unpleasant truths? Gracepoint’s structure seems to just “work”.

But I ask you to adhere to JP Moreland’s very straightforward logic. You have to value truth over what “works”.

Consider this video segment from the Matrix:

Popout

Cypher was tired of the truth. The truth meant he would eat glop for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. The truth meant that he didn’t have the pleasures of being inside the Matrix. As a matter of fact, he believes ignorance to be bliss, as he takes a bite out of an illusory but tasty piece of steak.

I ask you Gracepoint members if you are deliberately denying truth for what works. I think many of you are aware of the unbiblical foundation of Gracepoint Berkeley’s culture, but you don’t want to rock the boat, and it works for you. If you “go along” you can do good works together, acquire a staff title, you can be setup in being married, and you can feel overall fulfilled. Ultimately, you won’t be lonely.

But I have news for you. You are not living out the gospel, but religion.

You are also isolating truth to what only impacts you – it’s egocentric. There are people who have been harmed by spiritually abusive acts of Ed, Kelly Kang, and other leaders below them. How do you resolve that? Do you even try to? Or do you just put your head down and look only at your own immediate life and dismiss the truths of what’s happened to other people as irrelevant, since your own life feels so fulfilling?

I ask you not to merely agree with me because I am asking you to, but I genuinely ask you to seek truth. I claim that the truth is that Pastor Ed and Kelly Kang have sins of spiritual abuse and manipulation to repent of, and that Gracepoint Berkeley’s structure is not biblical, and is abusive.

Please test that claim to see if it’s truth, and don’t merely accept what seems to “work” for you personally.