Put it to the test

If anyone makes a claim to spiritual truth, including myself, put it to the test. See if it breaks down anywhere. We can’t typically verify spiritual truth empirically but we can intuitively.

For example, some people make the claim that women or wives should remain silent in church because of a statement made by Paul in 1 Corinthians 14:34. For whatever reason or situation that Paul may have made this statement, I think intuitively we know that this can’t be some axiom to follow or apply. There is no reasonable justification or feasible value gained by women being silent. It makes no sense. We know this intuitively.

On the other hand, if I say that life is characterized by impermanence, we have an intuitive sense that this is true. Every day we have a mountain of evidence that things change and don’t stay the same. If someone came along and said, “The truth is that everything is permanent and never changes,” we would know intuitively this is not true because it is self-evident that all things in the world change and are impermanent. Show me one thing that doesn’t.

We don’t trust our intuitive knowing and this is unfortunate. Instead, we put our trust in some “authority” outside ourselves and that is unfortunate. You were born out of the image, likeness and being of God. The image, likeness and being of God is your underlying, unchanging and fundamental essence. Your intuitive knowing is an extension of this true Self, and is a reliable guide for discerning truth.