Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. ~John 18.38 KJV

I currently work with a group of people who mimic Pilate’s question from some 2,000 years ago; one guy in particular, his name is Jason. Jason grew up in an LDS (Mormon) home, but Jason was the black-sheep of his family (of his own accounting to me). He rebelled against the stringent legalism his dad sought to shackle him with; a legalism born out of a view of Jesus that fails to appreciate Jesus as he truly is in his very being. Thus salvation for Jason, and his dad was dependent upon what they did to fill the gap between them and godness. As I said though, Jason was the blacksheep; he rebelled against his father’s wishes, he forsook Mormonism. In the process he forsook all things that would portend of religious sensibility; which of course includes historic Christianity. In the few times of conversation I have had with him about the truth, he has balked at such ideas. Not that there isn’t potentially substance to what I have been communicating to him about the truth, but that he is in a state of agnosticism and confusion about truth; he wonders ‘what is truth’? He has the same tone in his voice as Pilate; a tone that has taken shape by being a product of a society that places a high premium on hedonism and self-gratification, and a low value on developing a personal formation that seeks truth and the welfare of others. Jason is ensnared in this kind of self-love. As a result he has said to me multiple times that he is too confused about the truth of Jesus to come to accept the truth; that his Mormon background has brainwashed him to the point that he is now leery to entertain anything or anyone that claims to be the truth. He is constrained by his own affection, and not the affection of Christ. This has taken the shape of what has been called normative relativism; wherein Jason believes that truth is whatever works for the individual (pragmatism), whatever is coherent within a person’s self-referencing belief system (he wouldn’t say it like this, but this is what he believes) — he’s the product of his Postmodern situation. I have tried to counter Jason by using his claims about the relativity of truth as a springboard to turn the table on him. I have sought to demonstrate that his belief that truth is relative is itself appealing to a universal belief that is not only true for him, but is true for me and anyone else; according to Jason. I have tried to explain to Jason that his belief that truth is whatever is true for you is affirming what he is seeking to deny; universal personal truth. And thus his position is self-refuting. But he claims that all of this goes over his head, but he’s fine with that (he doesn’t care enough).

I think the sad case of Jason only reiterates the irony of Pilates’ question, as it has blown violently through the centuries in different forms and expressions; the irony that someone could ask this question—‘what is truth?’—in the face of truth (in Pilates’ situation, literally-physically so). Jason only echoes the same voice articulated from so long ago. Why is Jason confused? Is it because he grew up Mormon; is it because he likes to get drunk and drink Vodka every night after work? Is Jason’s real problem an intellectual one; as he would have me think? Or does Jason’s (and Pilates’) problem run much deeper? It runs deeper. Jason loves himself; he is trapped by the bondage of his own incurved affections, so much so that he cannot look into the face of Jesus Christ and see the glory of God.

If you remember; will you pray for Jason, and will you pray for me as I stand in for Jesus on this earth by the Spirit. That Jason would, unlike Pilate, be able to look at me, and hear me in a way that he ultimately sees Jesus for who He is. That Jason would get that truth is a person, not simply an abstract concept; and that he, like the Roman centurion at the foot of the cross would have the scales lifted from his eyes through his reception of the torn body of Christ? Thank you.