Shakespeare famously said, “truth is truth, to the end of reckoning.” Despite what our age of relativism would have us believe, there are transcendent truths. In a world of grays there are still things that are black and white.
Much of our faith is like that, transcendent truths that are always true is spite of relativism, political correctness, or a misplaced sense of politeness.
Jeremiah was sent to warn the Judeans that the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people sent into exile. Their only hope to avoid this fate was to change the way they lived, to reject their immoral lifestyle and once again embrace God. As you can imagine this was not a popular message. Yet Jeremiah persisted because God made him “a wall of brass,” undaunted by those who sought to tear him down.
The truth can be unpopular. “Truth draws hatred upon itself.” But we should not shy away from proclaiming it. That is precisely why we are here.
Many missionaries follow a policy of inculturation. They look for those eternal truths in the non-Christian peoples they encounter, and use that as common ground to build upon and slowly introduce the Christian faith. But that approach only goes so far. We may come to a time when we must proclaim the Word of God openly, even at the risk of provoking the anger of our listeners. To hesitate from this mission, because we fear what people may think of us, is simply vanity.
Pax Vobiscum
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