Opinion column

Do you desire the truth?

Regular contributor James Knight argues that we should yearn for what is true, as well as just believing it.

Evangelists spend a lot of time trying to argue for why Christianity is true. But there's more to evangelising than establishing its truth. Establishing Christianity's truth value is important, but often the best way to help someone see that Christianity is true is to help induce their desire that it is true. We should, as Pascal said, "Help people to wish that Christianity is true, then show them that it is".
 
At first glance, this strategy can seem problematic (and sometimes it certainly can be). You can try to convince someone a false thing is true by a persuasive tactic that makes them believe they desire it. Political rhetoric is full of such examples. But here I am talking about something far more profound - something I can relate to, because it happened on my own journey to faith. For, if we attend to the matter carefully, it is usually the case that if we desire true things, we are more likely to believe in their truthfulness; and if we desire false things, we are more likely to sense their lack of truthfulness. It’s a bit like how we see things more clearly with light, and we sense how little we see in the absence of light - the more we commit to true things, the truer they will seem. Equally, the more we commit to false things, the more their falsity will expose itself as being untrue.
 
Prior to coming to faith over 20 years ago, I began to desire that Christianity is true several months before I found out it is true. In testing the propositions, I began to strengthen my grip on what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). But this isn't mere wish fulfilment - the increase in discovering truth, and the increase in desire, work together on coterminous lines; further discovery of truth further increases desire for truth, and increased desire begets further discovery of truth, and so on.
 
Given that the truth of Christianity means coming to understand that we are each created in God's image, to be in relationship with Him, to have our deepest human needs fulfilled, and for salvation and transformation, it is easily understandable why, when we are properly attuned, we are primed to desire that it is true. If Christianity is the only path to the very best things, and the fulfilment of our deepest needs and wants, then we'd expect to desire it to be true; just as if our physical bodies are designed for water and food consumption, we'd expect to crave them for energy, cellular function and homeostasis.
 
I think the evangelist, then, does some of their best work when they can "help people to wish that Christianity is true, then show them that it is". Because in helping someone to wish that Christianity is true, we are helping them to desire the amazing things for which they were created. And in stimulating the desire, we are making the truth clearer.
 
On the cusp of belief all those years ago, I had cultivated the desire for the very best things, and it was partly through that desire that I discovered that what I was desiring was also what is true.

Image from Pixabay.com

James Knight is a local government officer based in Norwich, and is a regular columnist for Christian community websites Network Norfolk and Network Ipswich. He also blogs regularly as ‘The Philosophical Muser’, and contributes articles to UK think tanks The Adam Smith Institute and The Institute of Economic Affairs, as well as the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). 

The views carried here are those of the author, not necessarily those of Network Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive debate between website users.