What "Truth" ?

The world as you know it is not what it seems. "You've been living in a dream world," Morpheus tells Neo. "This is the world as it exists today."

"The Matrix" blew the doors off the theater back in 1999, overshadowing even the new Star Wars film as the best sci-fi movie of the year. A great script, stylish action sequences, cool costumes, and heavy philosophy made it the film to see. And crowds went to see it over and over again.

Larry and Andy Wachowski tapped into themes of religion, philosophy, systems and controls, choices, fate, and the concept of reality. So much is packed into "The Matrix" that it's easy to see reflections of your own faith or worldview in it. The Wachowskis have taken the stance to never explain their motivations behind the film, and purposely stay mute on how to interpret it.

At THE DECODER RING, we usually go right to the heart of the creator's intentions, and most of the time, they are more than happy to explain why they made their film. With "The Matrix," we are left with only our own interpretations, as the creative forces behind it stay silent.

But that silence speaks louder than anything.

Our discussion centered on the concept of truth, and how the modern world responds to it. We discovered that the Traditional method of discovering truth through scripture has been discarded not once, but twice. It used to be "The Truth." Then the Enlightenment came, and the Scientific Method dominated the world's thinking. Soon "The Truth" became "a Truth." One of many. That is the Modernist view.

But we're not done there. We now live in the Postmodern world, where we've gone from "The Truth" to "a Truth" to "my truth." It's all about you. Your perception, your interpretation. It only matters what you believe and what is important to you. And that's what the real message is about "The Matrix." That you are just as much an author of the truth as anybody else. Even the creators themselves.

With all this nonsense swirling around our heads, we dove into the only place to find clear answers, The Bible. In it, Pilate asks Jesus the ultimate question, "What is Truth?" (John 18:38a). And Jesus makes it very clear. In John 14:6 "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Then in John 17:17 He prays to God saying, "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." And in 1 John 5:6b, the Bible says "the Spirit is the truth."

So there you have it. What is Truth? Jesus, God's Word (The Bible), and The Holy Spirit. And the author of our faith has no problem telling that to us! Praise Him. We also gleaned from the scriptures how to discern the truth and understand our commission to explain it to others. This was a pretty in-depth discussion, and I thank everyone for all their focus and input into this critical exercise.

At the end of our time, as is our tradition, we prayed for the filmmakers and actors, crew members and artists, thanking God for their talents, and praying that He would redeem them so their marvelous craft could be used to give Him glory.

Join us for the next DECODER RING, hopefully in October. God bless!