WHEN TRUTH TAKES A BACKSEAT
There has been a quiet shift happening over the last few generations. Most people haven’t named it, but almost everyone feels it. There was a time when people approached truth in a straightforward way. If something was accepted as true, the assumption followed that it would work. Truth came first. Results followed. Today, that order has been reversed.
We now live in a world flooded with information. Advertising, algorithms, curated feeds, and now artificial intelligence shape what we see and how we think. Every day we are forced to make hundreds of small decisions about what to trust, what to ignore, and what to believe. Over time, that constant pressure has done something to us. It has made us skeptical. And not without reason.
We’ve seen institutions fail. We’ve watched trusted leaders fall. We’ve been sold things that didn’t deliver. So we’ve adapted. We no longer begin with, “Is it true?” Instead, we begin with, “Does it work?” If it works, then maybe it’s true. This shift has created a posture of suspicion. We don’t easily accept claims at face value anymore. We test them. We try them. We look for results before we offer trust. That instinct is understandable. In many ways, it is wise. But it raises an important question. What happens when we apply that same framework to matters of faith?
For centuries, Christianity has made bold claims. It claims that Jesus lived, died, and rose again. It claims that sin is real, that grace is available, and that life can be made new. Traditionally, those claims were presented as truth to be believed. If they are true, then they will work.
Today, many people approach it differently. They don’t start by asking if it’s true. They start by asking if it does anything for them. Does it actually change a life? Does it bring peace where there was anxiety? Does it free someone from guilt? Does it hold up under pressure, suffering, and loss? In other words, does it work?
Here’s the tension. Christianity is not true because it works. Truth is not determined by usefulness. There are plenty of things that “work” in the short term that are not ultimately true.
But at the same time, truth has a way of proving itself over time. And this is where Christianity stands apart. If it were not true, it would not have endured this long. For over two thousand years, it has not only survived. It has transformed lives. Not in theory, but in reality. Ordinary people have found forgiveness, purpose, resilience, and hope in the face of suffering. That does not happen by accident.
And it’s not just that people believed something abstract. The earliest followers of Jesus didn’t just hold an idea. They were convinced by what they had witnessed. Their lives changed, and they held to that conviction even when it cost them everything. So what do we do with this shift?
Maybe the answer is not to fight it, but to understand it. In a skeptical age, people often discover truth by experiencing its effects first. They see a life changed. They feel a burden lifted. They notice something different. And only then do they begin to ask why. Different path. Same truth.
As a parent, I’ve seen this play out in something as simple as homework. The method for solving a math problem may look different than it did a generation ago. It can feel unfamiliar, even frustrating. But if you follow it through, you arrive at the same answer. The method has changed. The truth has not. The same is true with faith.
We may no longer live in a time where people accept truth because it is declared. Authority doesn’t carry the same weight it once did. The church cannot rely on cultural influence to be heard. But that doesn’t mean the truth has weakened. It simply means the path people take to discover it has changed.
So perhaps the better question today is not which question you ask first. Whether you begin with “Is it true?” or “Does it work?”
The real question is this: When you follow it all the way down… does it hold? Because truth does. And when it does, it doesn’t just convince you. It changes you.
Carry the Fire,
SCOJO
