Truth & Presentation

At Between Two Worlds Abraham Piper of 22Words and the Desiring God Blog writes a guest post dealing with ways in which to improve your blog. It is very helpful, and I'm glad God has gifted such men as Abraham to have the kind of voice and talent he has and use it for God's glory. I wish I had that type of gift. But I don't use the gifts God has given me now so...I digress.

Anyway, he makes an interesting statement very early in that post noted below. A statement I totally disagree with as I'm sure you have already guessed.

"Truth needs to be proclaimed, but trueness alone doesn’t make what I have to say worth saying. I need to say true things well...Falsehood well said, doesn’t serve readers. It won’t lead people toward what is worthwhile because it’s, well, false. Truth poorly said is similarly unhelpful. It won’t lead people toward what is worthwhile, because it’s unclear or boring.""Truth needs to be proclaimed, but trueness alone doesn’t make what I have to say worth saying. I need to say true things well"

Keep in mind that I know the context of the quote is about improving your blog and that I'm not interested in nitpicking every sentence. I just want to point out something I feel is dangerous in the Church which is clearly seen in the quote above. It is that presentation tends to take precedence over truth.

So where do we draw the line between our blogs and our lives? That sounds a little dramatic I know. But in all seriousness do we draw a line or not? Specifically I have in mind the Gospel when I ask this question as it relates to the way we do church and evangelism. I guess what I'm getting at is that if we concern ourselves more with presentation then will we give enough time, attention, and prayer to the truth? At the heart of the matter I guess is the importance of truth. And not just 2+2=4. I'm talking about universal, absolute, all eternity hangs in the balance kind of truth. I've already admitted to being dramatic so I might as well keep it going right?

Take for example this article. Basically this is a critique and suggestion article on how christians can better witness to atheists. He has some very interesting thoughts such as the technique some christians use to witness is similar to email spam. He also points out that the techniques used by christians to sell their product are also very similar to the very annoying techniques the cult-like business Amway uses. One of his examples you see below.

This=Human Spam

Now I think that example is actually pretty funny. There is definitely some truth to that as there is also with what Abraham suggested. I guess the whole reason for this post is that I have been thinking for a long time and probably will for a long time about how to have a balanced approach to Truth & Presentation.

My concern is that too many christians are focused more on presentation than on truth. It is not that I think presentation isn't important. It is that truth is the most important. And it is the foundation for presentation. The truth is what gives your presentation value, not the other way around. Or at least that is the idea I get when I read Paul's words to the Corinthians in chapter 2. I love the Piper's and their gifts that the Lord has blessed the Church with for His glory. And I also realize that Piper's suggestion is in the context of blogging, but I wanted to point out that if we take that suggestion into evangelism then we end up trying to raise the dead with techniques and programs rather than the life giving truth of the cross of Jesus Christ.