The Sacred Quest

W. Carl Ketcherside

[Page 10]

     It has long been a favorite theme of ours that the noblest purpose of man on earth is the pursuit of truth. From this, however, many shrink back, moved by fear, and hampered by the fetters of tradition. The party spirit, which is classed with the works of the flesh, by the apostle Paul, is always opposed to free investigation and unhampered research. The Romanist, for instance, dares not select his reading matter without permission from other men. The power of censorship is exercised by the hierarchy. The mother of all sects seeks to perpetuate her tyranny over the intellect through suppression and boycott.

     The same charge can be leveled against religious partyism in general. It may be a veritable hallmark of the sectarian attitude. Indeed, the slanted propaganda, the twisted testimony, and the one-sided presentation are the chief weapons in the party arsenal. On what grounds do men who are thrust into prominence by force of circumstances, arrogate to themselves the right to think for others, and to enforce conformity by threat of excommunication and boycott? Does the mere assumption of leadership convey to him who exercises it the right to dominate thought, and to deny its freedom to others?

     We face today the sad spectacle of the closed mind. Even worse, this attitude has its public defenders. These assert that one should make up his mind as to the truth of a matter and then close it against the encroachment of any other idea. The philosophy of such rationalization is that

[Page 11]

the open mind can arrive at truth, but cannot retain it; that it can sort truth out from error originally, but cannot preserve it against error in the future. In its final analysis this simply means that one possessed of truth is more helpless than before he arrived at it, for if one without truth has power to attain to it, then loses his ability to retain it, he is weaker with truth than without it.

     It would astonish many of our readers to know how many of those in current factions are cautioned against reading anything not written by a member of "the faithful brotherhood." The leaders exercise their right to read what they wish, and often borrow ideas which they use freely, but these must be filtered to the "common people" who are discouraged from doing their own thinking, lest they he led away from "the truth." This is Romanistic censorship on a small scale, and conducted by wholly unqualified and inadequate regulators.

     Actually, such enslaved partisans can never really come to an appreciation of universal truth, because their outlook is too provincial and parochial. It would be like a dweller in a remote mountain who judged the geography of the whole world by what he could see from his cabin door. In ancient times, Heraclitus assigned the lack of wisdom to the fact that, "Men sought truth in their own little worlds, and not in the great and common world." No man is God, and no party is the Deity. None of us possess universal knowledge or infallible wisdom. It is only through the free exchange of thought that we can strive toward either.

     He who closes his mind, generally does so, not because he fears to learn truths new to him, but because he fears that what he already has may prove to be not the truth. He does not want it placed in the crucible of investigation, for fear that it will not stand the test. By throwing up walls about himself, he can forego the searchlight of investigation and consider himself fortunate to continue unhampered in pursuit of his traditional pattern. It is fear which causes men to refuse to examine anew those practices which, in the past, have created division. To assume that when brethren have once severed relations with each other, the case is forever settled, because one side has all the truth and the other has none, and that future generations have no recourse but to perpetuate the feud and widen the gap, is the tragic conclusion of little minds and warped spirits. Such a philosophy would render reconciliation forever an impossibility, and brand a peacemaker as a traitor and reprobate, instead of a child of God.

     George Bernanos, in his book, Tradition of Freedom, makes this apt observation, "The man who defends freedom of thought only for himself is, indeed, already on the point of betraying it." This statement deserves long and careful meditation. I am convinced that all who misrepresent, ridicule and persecute those who are sincere non-conformists, do so because of a genuine lack of personal faith. It is not the desire to defend the truth which prompts their castigation of others, but the attempt to force misguided zeal to atone for their empty hearts. Those who love truth for truth's sake, and who love mankind for God's sake, are neither egotistical nor cruel.

     The first step toward acquisition of truth is the acknowledgment of truth regardless of where it may be and who holds it. So long as it is regarded as a partisan possession, we must be limited only to the discoveries of the coterie of partisans with whom we are directly affiliated. When truth is regarded as a universal blessing bestowed upon the intelligent creation by a benevolent Creator, we can join with anyone in honest research for greater knowledge of truth without sacrificing either past acquirements or present convictions.

     The open Bible, the open mind, and the open hand--these are characteristics of spiritual greatness. When the sacred volume is kept open for unbiased and objective study, when the open mind is freed from the fetters of traditionalism and creedal tyranny, when the open hand

[Page 12]

is extended to welcome all lovers of truth and to receive their contributions of discovered truth- we are safe! But the Bible is a closed book to many. They have mined a few of its treasures and these they jealously clutch, the while they bar the entrance against those who would dig deeper and explore those veins of precious ore not yet brought to the surface.

     It is frequently those who know the least who make such frantic objection to learning more. Their minds have "waxed gross" lest they discover truths which would make their sermon notes obsolete, and force them to acknowledge mistakes of the past. The closed mind is barred by fear and locked by pride. No man is free who is shackled by inner dread. It is the closed mind which so often resorts to the closed fist, thinking by brute force to compel where reason is lacking. Such tactics only shift the ground of our problems, they never solve them!

     The apostle, in a startling sentence, shows the utter futility of any attempt to suppress the truth. One must either acknowledge truth or eventually be crushed by it. In 2 Corinthians 13:8 we are informed, "For, after all, we can make no progress against the truth; we can only work for the truth." He who denies the truth, who shrinks from it and refuses to acknowledge it, will make no progress. He will lose his soul and be banished from the light. We need bold adventurers who dare to set sail with their only goal being discovery of the truth! The truth makes men free!