Truth Chests

I am not sure that women do this anymore, but it used to be that every young lady had a Hope Chest. My fear is that this tradition has been replaced by young ladies 'hoping for a chest,' so to speak. So if you do not know what a Hope Chest is, stop! Go ask someone you know and care about to explain it to you.

Welcome back. Now that you have an understanding of the Hope Chest as a concept, I want to introduce the Truth Chest.

Just like the Hope Chest was a literal chest the sat at the end of a lady's bed or next to her dresser, the Truth Chest is something that everyone carries with them mentally. It sits at the foot of their theology, or next to their religion.

Does a Hope Chest contain all hope? Of course it does not. I have a friend with cancer and I hope for a cure for cancer. But the cure for cancer is not inside a Hope Chest. I hope the world ends the problem of starving children. But ...

But the Hope Chest does contain Hope. That is, the chest contains things that bring hope to the young lady. Hope for a nice, clean home, hope for a happy family, and hope for a fulfilling marriage for instance. These are the stuff of hope and they are inside the chest, things that bring hope.

The Truth Chest is sort of similar. Can a Truth Chest contain all Truth? Of course it cannot. There is more truth than can 'fit' in a mortal person. My Truth Chest is a part of me, a portion of me, a mortal person. Since all Truth cannot fit in me because I am not the Divine God, rather the mortal Jim, then it cannot fit into a portion of me, my Truth Chest.

But in my Truth Chest, are things that are true or bring me close to the truth of the immortal and divine. And in Sam and Sally there are Truth Chests that can bring them close to the truth of the immortal and divine. The contents are all things that bring Truth, but are not Truth itself.

But wait, there is more. The contents of the three Truth Chests all bring Truth, but these may not all be the same. In fact, they may seem to mortals to conflict. And that is really okay. For instance I live in San Antonio, Sam lives in Minneapolis, and Sally lives in Denver. If we all need to go to Kansas City, we can look in our Truth Chest for what is true and find a map to Kansas City. But if we try to apply our truth to each other, our maps disagree, could confuse, and do conflict.

I tell Sam to get to Kansas City by taking I-35 North because that is the truth for me. In fact, that is a tried and true fact that I have tested and can testify to. If Sam does that, though, he will end up in Canada. Sam's truth would be similar, but would be confused because what he says and knows is to take I-35 South, a way he has tried, tested, and proven.

Our truths seem to confuse us, yet BOTH are true. Both are accurate. God gave mankind, through cartographers, geographers, and others the ability to document true facts of the geography of God's creation such that both our Truth Chests contain God-given information that is simultaneously accurate and confusing.

But wait, Sally looks in her chest and her directions conflict totally with ours. Her directions are to take I-70 East. Not the same path, not the same direction, not even the confusion of the Jim-Sam, North-South variations, nothing is the same. Sally is in total conflict with Sam and me.

But all three of us possess God-given information. We possess information designed to literally guide us. We all can literally look at another and accurately say that their truth is confused or in conflict with our truth. And we would all be correct, and at the same time, we all possess correct information. We all possess God-given information that literally works, tried, true, tested and proven accurate.

And the mystery grows because once, I was in Denver and when I was there, my truth Chest contained a scrap of information, that was true, that was different than my Truth Chest contains now. It contained information that told me to get to Kansas City by taking I-70 East. I did, and I tried it, I tested it, and I proved it - I got to Kansas City by doing it.

My very own Truth Chest contained accurate truth then that worked and properly guided me and yet conflicts with my accurate information now, which works and which properly guides me, today.

And when I explored further, with some modifications my truth was helpful, but not totally accurate, for friends in McAllen, Dallas, and Wichita. And Sam's essentially worked for folks in Sioux Falls and Des Moines. Sally's could be tweaked and help folks in St Louis.

• So what does all this mean? I have some thoughts I want to share:

• Truth is bigger than can fit in one person's truth Chest.

• Truth must be updated as our spiritual, physical, and temporal location changes.

• My Truth, tried-tested-proven, may confuse someone else.

• My Truth, tried-tested-proven, may conflict with someone else's Truth. And BOTH may be correct.

• Truth does not change over time or location; we do change in both time and location.

• Total Truth is greater than the truth of consolidating truth from any number of people.

• I do not have sufficient truth to lend to all others, but my truth may be help some others, not if the truth is flexible, but if they are.

When I hear a radio preacher or a TV preacher, or a guy in a coffee shop talk as though their Truth Chest is 100% accurate in always and in all ways - I doubt. When I here one of them or one of theirs try to expect my Truth Chest to look like theirs or compare them in other ways - I steer clear. When I hear one of them or one of theirs or someone thinking like them try to apply their Truth Chest to me or to others - I cry.

-jb