The Set of the Sail by A. W. Tozer

Author:A. W. Tozer [Tozer, A. W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781600663284
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2007-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 27

The Sovereignty of Truth—1

ALMOST EVERYWHERE it is assumed that people are seeking truth, that society is literally swarming with dedicated truth seekers.

Colleges and universities are forever releasing promotional material with pictures of strong young men and beautiful girls walking side by side into the sunrise with rays of ethereal light illuminating their upturned faces; the idea being, one would gather, that those who enter our halls of higher learning are one and all burning with desire to walk in the way of philosophers and sages, if not indeed in the way of prophets and apostles, or even of martyrs if God so wills.

This fallacy is obviously maintained by our educators for the time the student remains within the ivied walls, for the baccalaureate orator chosen to do the honors at graduation is almost always one who will go along with the pleasant deception and assure the innocent graduate that after years of searching for the fountain of all wisdom he has at last found it and is now prepared to go out along with his fellow graduates to “build a better and a finer world.”

Why this kind of pablum is swallowed so eagerly by the outgoing students and by their smiling and misty-eyed parents can be understood only when we remember that people like to hear what they want to hear and at a time like that they are not willing to spoil the pleasure of it by checking on the accuracy of anything they are told.

The fact is that men have never in any numbers sought after truth. If we may judge people’s interests by their deeds, then of the young men and women who stream forth from our halls of learning each year the vast majority have no more than a passing and academic interest in truth. They go to college not to satisfy a yearning to discover truth, but to improve their social standing and increase their earning power. These motives are not necessarily to be despised; but they should be known for what they are, and not hidden beneath a pink cloud of specious idealism.

What are people actually seeking? Of course they seek satisfaction for the basic urges such as hunger, sex and social companionship; but beyond these what? Certainly for nothing as high and noble as truth.

Ask the average American what he wants from life and if he is candid he will tell you he wants success in his chosen field; and he wants success both for the prestige it brings him and for the financial security it affords. And why does he want financial security? To guarantee him against the loss of comforts, luxuries and pleasures, which he believes are rightfully his as a part of his American heritage. The ominous thing about all this is that everything he wants can be bought with money. It would be hard to think of an indictment more terrible than that.

The notion that the world is full of truth seekers becomes stronger as we approach the church and mingle with religious persons.

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