Voir Dire (Speak the Truth)

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Any Questions?

For some time now I have been thinking a lot about questions. If you have ever been in a small group or even part of a bible study, you may have experienced what I am about to describe. A scripture or passage of scripture is read and those within the group are encouraged to discuss their thoughts on what was just read. On most occasions, individuals are quick to state what the passage means to them or go on to tell about what they have heard said about that passage; rarely is the first utterance a question. Has it ever dawned on you that nobody ever asks questions during these times; at least questions that have substance and cause you to think. I have not figured out why this is but would like to think I have come up with some reasonable assumptions:

Pride

Pride

and Pride

I can list several reasons but if you play each one of those reasons out you end up at the same root cause, PRIDE! We are a people who think we know it all and if we don’t know it we sure don’t want other people to know. It is disheartening, because in my opinion questions are a clear indicator that learning is really taking place. Questions also tell us a lot about a person’s thought process and where their values rest. As we read about Jesus interacting with humanity through out the Gospels, you can’t help but be fascinated by the questions that Jesus’ poses and the ones that are asked of him. It gives us insight into our selfish sinful nature and magnifies the holiness and authority of Christ.

In my next post I hope to explore a couple of these encounters.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Voir What??

That's probably what your thinking regarding the name of this blog. For those of you who are in the Law profession or if you've recently served on jury duty, it is more than likely a term with which you are very familar. Voir Dire, a french term that simply means to "speak the truth" is the name of the jury selection process in our court of law. I could not think of a better name to call this blog; for two reasons:

Reason 1: I like the fact that it is a legal term. Our salvation as christians rest soley on the basis that we are declared rightheous in a court of Law. This isn't just any court where we are judged by our peers, no, in this court God is the judge and we stand before him guilty of offending Him and more than deserving of His wrath. In spite of this, God declares us righteous not because we apologized or made ourselves good before Him, but we are justified (another legal term) because God sees Christ, who bore our sin and appeased the wrath of His Father. What an awesome reminder of the grace of God!!

Reason 2: When people speak of truth it is often preceded by "in search of." In a world where relativism is rampant, truth has been boiled down to, as long as the truth you seek is true for you, then it is okay for me. Well that's where I believe Voir Dire opposes the popular view of today. Let me be clear, this blog will not be my journey as I seek truth; I will seek to do exactly what the title declares, "Speak the Truth." I can do this with confidence because I didn't find truth, but truth found me!! In John 14:6 Jesus proclaims that He is the truth, and my prayer is that this blog would always begin and end there.

I look forward to speaking the truth and having you join in!