Become New with John Ortberg 20. To Tell the Truth
Sep 3, 2021
A reflection on where truth comes from and whether truth is absolute or personal. A reading and response to C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters about incoherent philosophies. Stories about prayer, community, and how religious practice can become mere ritual. A practical defense of objective facts using everyday examples and a call to love and pursue truth.
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Truth Determines What Your Life Rests On
- Truth undergirds whether our lives are built on something solid or mere tradition.
- John Ortberg emphasizes existential stakes: belief in God, good and evil, and truth decides life foundations not abstractly but practically.
Hand Squeezing During Prayer Became A Joke
- John Ortberg recounts praying with friends where a joking ritual about squeezing hands made genuine prayer awkward.
- The story shows how church customs can be mistaken for the core truth they intend to express.
Religions Carry Clay Around A Treasure
- Spiritual truth is a treasure inside fragile human containers; religions carry much 'clay' alongside the treasure.
- Ortberg warns people often see only the cultural clay and miss the underlying gospel truth.
