The Power of Our Testimony

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has developed a theory on truth called the Correspondence Theory of Truth. This theory posits that truth consists within the vacuum of a particular form of reality i.e. it means that truth is often specified based on concepts, contexts, conformity, agreement, etc. To cogently put this together, the theory suggests that we derive truth based on the ideals of our socialization through family, community, politics, etc. However, the counterarguments suggest that the theory’s definition is too narrow and fails to recognize that there are other domains for truth such as the domain of science and morality (David, 2022 ). This theory is muddy at best and perhaps if applied to our everyday reality could cause us to question what should be absolute truths.

There have been cases where persons have been convicted wrongfully based on the testimony of witnesses. Equally, the guilty have received not-guilty verdicts based on the false testimony of others. This does not happen only in our courtrooms. Regular people know what it is like to have been lied to and to have lied to others.  If we were to apply the Correspondence Theory of Truth to our lives, it would be easy to understand why people omit telling the truth. It is done to protect themselves. According to research, people deflect from the truth to avoid punishment, to protect themselves or others from harm, to maintain privacy, and to avoid embarrassment to name a few. Have you ever stopped to think about some of the things that you believe? How do you know it to be so? Who told you what? What’s the motive behind you even believing?

Abba Father had an interesting conversation with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:11-13: “Who told you that you were naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat? “The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it. ”Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.” Adam and Eve’s identity about a particular situation was based upon deceit which seemed to be truthful at the time.  The deception was that if they ate the fruit they would be like God. In a nutshell, the enemy made them believe that they were lacking or insufficient with what they had or knew. In an attempt to fix this insufficiency, they ate from the tree which God told them specifically not to eat from. When they ate the fruit from the tree their eyes were opened, however they began to see things from a place of lack or insufficiency. Doesn’t this seem to be a repetitive theme throughout our human existence? Our belief systems are skewed to the narrative of a serpent who twists and distorts the truth to serve an evil purpose.

There are some lies that we believe to be true, however, they seem to be true based on what we are going through. The Word of God from Revelation 12:11 says that we overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. The enemy would like us to believe that our situations will never change. He thrives on telling us half-truths and he lies on us to others. We can choose to believe those lies and speak those lies or we can change the narrative and begin to say it is written. The testimony of our lives should match the testimony that Abba Father has for us. God does not desire us to speak from a place of insufficiency and lack. Therefore, you will flourish like a palm tree; you will bloom where you are planted and you shall not die but live to declare the works of the Lord. Jesus’ blood redeems and that is what we testify.  Shalom.

References

David, M. (Summer 2022 Edition). The Correspondence Theory of Truth. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2022/entries/truth-correspondence