Part of the power of contemporary secularism is that it feels like a modern faith meta-narrative that provides an answer to all other faith perspectives.  According to Paul’s devastating analysis, truth is the only remedy to futile thinking, darkened understanding and alienation from the life of God that derive from ignorance and hardening hearts - and lead to indulgent sensuality (Eph 4:17-20).

Nevertheless, we should not underestimate the attractiveness of truth. Even Matthew Parris writing about his childhood acknowledged (Times 28 December 2008), ’Christians were always different… They stood tall.  Now a confirmed atheist, I have become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes… Christianity changes people’s hearts.  It brings a spiritual transformation.  The rebirth is real’.

I particularly like the example of Baruch, not the US President but a namesake from 2600 years ago, an outstanding research assistant and devoted secretary of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah and Baruch became determined to oppose those who wanted to fight against the terrifying Babylonian superpower that threatened his nation.  He knew that arguing for a bloodless surrender would be regarded as treason even though a negotiated settlement would be less destructive than wholesale slaughter and exile.  But God had spoken to him and God’s truth had to be revealed even to stubborn political leaders.

Few political programs can proceed unless they are upbeat.  So Jeremiah was put under house-arrest for airing his views. Baruch then came to the fore.  Truth cannot be arrested.  Baruch recorded and then read out Jeremiah’s improbable message in public.  What enabled Baruch to state and restate truth in such pressured circumstances? 

One clue concerned his ability to anchor two chains of truth – one, revealed truth in Scripture; the other, declared truth to society. This ensured he was not tossed about by the fashions of his day. Truth is indestructible.  It originates in God’s heart.  It is revealed to human minds.  We can listen and respond. We can trash it through the instruments of scholarship or force.  These two vitally important chains clamped Baruch’s testimony, one to heaven – the other to earth.

The first chain was God’s revelation; the second was Baruch’s declaration.  The first is part of an indestructible chain in eternity that threads through human life.  It is a word that is revealed, then spoken, then written, then preserved and then performed. This truth, the living Word, is eternal and is embodied in Jesus, wholly divine and wholly human. Through this chain truth becomes the written Word in Scripture, wholly divine and wholly human.   Scripture is a wholly trustworthy record of some of the vast truth that is in God.

Jesus said, ‘Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures... I’m not here to demolish but to complete them’ (Matt 5:17). We cannot hope to imitate the calibre of Baruch’s convictions until we recover our confidence in God’s trustworthiness when he speaks in Scripture. Scripture has to be the foundation of any durable spirituality.  It is the ruler’s edge against which everything has to be measured. We must be willing and equipped to confront the challenges of scholarship or force ranged against Scripture. This is as relevant to Government, academia or business organisations as it is to the Church. The more strenuous our working environment, the more necessary our biblical convictions.