The Truth of the Matter by John Dowling

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

Ephesians 4:14-16

With an attorney for a father, I spent much of my youth honing my craft as a junior litigator. Excessively confident in the knowledge base I had accumulated, I zealously sought to correct comments and viewpoints I judged to be in error. Few were spared from this overbearing sense of self-righteousness.

As I’ve aged, I’ve come to see the folly in such behavior. This realization is not just a function of my newfound desire for social integration. It stems more so from a growing appreciation for the fallibility of my own understanding. Having previously deemed my worldview to consist entirely of earned truths, I came to realize it was, instead, overwhelmingly dictated by my place in life. A West Virginia coal miner observes politics through a different lens than a California-bred philosophy professor. The same goes for religion, with a child born in Mauritania likely to pursue a different faith journey than a preacher’s kid hailing from Arkansas. It follows that any incredulity as to the divergent nature of the resultant viewpoints is likely better directed toward the system itself.

This policy of greater tolerance is further informed by an increasingly strong sense that many of these distinctions simply do not matter. Despite the best efforts of my favorite ordained minister, I still struggle to understand the nuances that distinguish the litany of denominations dotting the Christian landscape. And although politicians may set forth wildly opposing policy stances, the elaborate system of checks and balances present in the governing architecture serves to dilute the practical implications of such differences.

Stripping away these immaterialities acts to more fully illuminate the power of Christ’s teachings, which offer an elegant framework for living irrespective of one’s faith: respecting one another; acting with compassion; honoring one’s commitments. These are the simple, enduring truths that matter.

JOHN DOWLING