For skeptics, cynics, Gen-Xers

Gen-Xers, we are told, have rejected their parents’ view of truth. Perhaps they are overwhelmed by too many opinions, because knowledge has become so specialized; perhaps they simply see too many contradictions between what people say and what they do. In any case, they have become cynical or skeptical about truth, especially with a capital T.

So how can a religious book, written 2000 years ago, be understood by this generation?

Well, for starters, this book was written at a time when Cynics and Skeptics were actual schools of philosophy. Their adherents wandered the same streets as Paul, Peter, Apollos and James.

We don’t know exactly what Pontius Pilate was thinking when he asked Jesus that famous question “What is truth?” We do know a lot, though, about the different schools of thought asking the same thing at the time the New Testament was being written. The most well-known Cynics and Skeptics were the anti-heroes of their times. They were quick-witted and irreverent. They lived to deflate the pretenses of the Dogmatists and Academics.

Those who had lost confidence that Truth could be discovered, or that it exists at all, did not always articulate their doubts systematically and gather in “schools.” Then, as today, many skeptics and cynics simply threw up their hands and preoccupied themselves with the joys and sorrows, the pleasure and the pains, of the world at hand.

Cynics and skeptics, however, can never completely escape the nagging suspicion that Truth must exist in some form. Often we meet them at the oddest times, just like Jesus met one at a well in Samaria. She was not aware she was asking Jesus the same question Pilate would later ask, but Jesus’ answer touched her heart. “Believe me, woman,” He said, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem . . . a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:21–24).

There were certainly those in the New Testament period, of course, who thought that a well-constructed argument, based on solid evidence, presented by the rules of civilized debate, should persuade any reasonable person. Paul was compelled enough by this notion to make a foray into the assembly of philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens.

Good arguments have their place but there are several reasons why the New Testament may be more understandable to the skeptic, the cynic and the Gen-Xer than the classical philosopher. The New Testament rebuffs the arrogance of human wisdom and knowledge. It is at home with mind-boggling paradoxes such as free will and God’s sovereignty. Further, it links true wisdom with godly behaviour. But finally, it declares that “Truth” is not subject to private interpretation. That cuts to the chase.

The New Testament is not a simple book, but there are things we can understand if we take the time to read it. It is written to answer the questions of our generation.

Also in this series

• Part 1: Mysterious, ancient, complex – and understandable
• Part 2: The New Testament is postmodern
• Part 4: The outcast’s guide to survival

James Toews is pastor of Neighbourhood Church, Nanaimo, B.C.