ALL TRUTH AND DR. BALES
CARL L. ETTER

“As surely as Jesus is the Son of God, all truth was delivered by the time the last Apostle dies.” So says Dr. James D. Bales, who surely possesses all truth.

Perhaps he can give us some answers. What is electricity? Where is the edge of the universe? How do plants synthesize sunlight? When will the world’s population get enough to eat?

Sorry, but no one can claim all truth. This is an age of unparalleled curiosity and discovery, a time in which information doubles every ten years, an era where the explosion of knowledge reveals how much is yet to be learned.

Unlike Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Bales believes that all truth has been delivered. Sir Isaac felt like a little boy playing on the beach, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before him. Dr. Bales cannot hear Epictetus, who advised: “It is impossible for anyone to learn what he thinks he already knows.”

Most mass movements create true believers—followers who never question because all truth has been given to them. Consider Japan’s recent masters. They drove their people into a fruitless war, propagandizing them with the ideas that their race came from heaven, that they were led by a deity, that the wind gods had always protected them in battle. The Land of the Rising Sun would never suffer defeat. They were infallible.

So was the Third Reich, according to Hitler. The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, do not question the omnipotence of Marxist doctrine. Meanwhile, the Catholics believe their popes have handed down all truth. Yet the source of all truth for the primitive is his witch doctor. Man’s chronicle is that of groups which thought their’s to be the only true doctrine. They have risen and fallen, but only the quest for truth has endured.

Christian theologians have butted their heads against scientific fact since the beginning. For example, some early thinkers reasoned that the earth was round. The theologians said it was flat; the Scriptures proved it. Then Magellan circumnavigated the world. Even so, 200 years passed before the Church accepted the fact.

Copernicus said the earth followed an orbit around the sun, and Galileo proved him right. Again, the theologians trooped to do battle. They quoted from Ecclesiastes: “The earth standeth fast forever.” Luther, Calvin and Wesley condemned Copernicus, but the Church dealt more harshly with Galileo, who was tortured, imprisoned and forced to recant.

Jefferson said, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” The search for truth will not be stopped, tyranny notwithstanding. More truth has been discovered during the last 50 years than in all history. In religion, for example, great new areas of learning have developed, providing new information and deeper insights for those whose minds are open.

Archaeology has greatly increased our understanding of the Judaic-Christian background. Psychology has broadened our understanding of man’s need for religious experience. Depth studies of Scriptural text have enriched our understanding of the Bible. Study of other religions has helped us to appreciate the excellence of the Christian faith.

I agree with Harold Begbie, who said: “The Christian religion has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” This is not to say that we Christians have cornered the market. We should accept the fact that many of our religious ideals were proclaimed by others before the New Testament was written. Many Judaic-Christian teachings were predated by concepts of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians. We should not be upset by the fact that other religions have their own counterpart of our Christ. Nor should we go into a tailspin if future scientific research disproves some of our present religious concepts. We should seek truth, not fear it.

Our religious concepts have developed slowly. The God of the Hebrews walked in the cool of the garden. Later, he led them in war. Finally, the prophets saw Him as a God of Justice. But Christ felt God was love. Future truth will, let us hope, further enlarge our concept of Him. Only the archaic God is dead. The God of our times lives, and our concept of Him should expand as our knowledge increases.

Both Dr. Bales and I are sincere Christians, but we differ on a vital point. Eric Hoffer nails it in his book The True Believer: “When the frustrated congregate in a mass movement, the air is heavy-laden with suspicion. There is prying and spying, tense watching and a tense awareness of being watched. The surprising thing is that this pathological mistrust within the ranks leads not to dissension but to strict conformity. Knowing themselves continually watched, the faithful strive to escape suspicion by adhering zealously to prescribed behavior and opinion. Strict orthodoxy is as much the result of mutual suspicion as of ardent faith.”

The free man does not need to look around to see who’s watching when he faces truth and accepts facts. Truth suffers when men cannot speak freely.

Edwin Markum once wrote: “He drew a circle that shut me out-heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: we drew a circle that took him in.”

We’ll walk together, Dr. Bales—if not sooner, then beyond the pale. At that time we will gain new appreciation for the humility and the correctness of the apostle Paul when he said: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall understand fully, even as I have been understood.” If we then know “all truth” perhaps that will be our greatest reward.