Our Name
According to Strong’s Concordance, the word “plainness” in the scripture above is translated from the Greek word, “parrhesia,” meaning, “outspokenness, i.e. frankness, bluntness, publicity.” The Apostle Paul’s intent in the verse seems clear: he connects the unapologetic boldness of his gospel message to the spiritual hope that lies within him. And it seems safe to say that most of us have seen this before, in ourselves or others: hope provides courage and strength to those who possess it. The un-severable link between hope and truth (discussed here) then brings us to the name of this website: audacityoftruth.org. Because of the eternal hope that we have . . . because of the sure promises found in God’s Word, we are equipped to boldly “speak the truth in love” (Eph 4:15) to a world starved of hope.
Our Motivation
We are under the growing conviction that to refuse to share the hope that lies within us is profoundly selfish: the anguish of broken lives, broken families and broken hearts is all around us. We see so many reaching out for some kind of reassurance . . . some form of hope. By the millions, souls scramble to fulfill their hopes for recognition, wealth, status or material prosperity. But even amongst those who achieve some measure of success in these areas, hopelessness seems alive and well. Others tragically seek to escape it through addictions and self-destructive vices of every kind. All the while a small-but-vocal segment of the population promises us fulfillment through the things we buy, lifestyles we embrace or the politicians that we vote for. And when we finally tire of chasing after their phantoms . . . the sensation of emptiness only feels magnified.
Withholding the hope that only God’s Truth can bring isn’t merely selfish: it is disobedience to God . . . it is sin. The “Great Commission” to share God’s hope with others is clearly commanded for all Christians in Mathew 28:19-20. Conviction drives us to create this website, and we are praying fervently that God will choose to use it.
Through our local church, we have seen thousands of lives transformed through the spiritual birth that only God can give. His proven plan to use the efforts of sinful – yet willing — witnesses serves as a powerful incentive to reach out to others with His life-giving truth.
Our Limitations
The internet – like the world itself – is a cacophony of dissonant voices: who should you believe, and on what authority? And to be sure: in and of ourselves, we can offer you no valid reason to embrace the content of this website. But we can claim the authority of God the Son when presenting His Word – the very definition and embodiment of Truth. As our Pastor is fond of saying, “I don’t write it, I just recite it.” While we are committed to share God’s Word with others as correctly and accurately as possible, we also acknowledge that – as sinners – we are not always going to get it exactly right. That means that to lay hold of Truth – and thereby find real hope – visitors to the site must eventually seek it for themselves through prayer and personal Bible study. It is our prayer that this website will spur many to do precisely that.
Secondly, we must openly acknowledge that humanly-authored media (printed or electronic) should not serve as a stand-alone witnessing effort: as a wise friend of ours once said: “People will not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” We acknowledge that writing a website or a book does not necessarily involve much personal contact with one’s audience. Audacityoftruth.org is primarily intended to serve as a follow-up resource following a personal contact – or perhaps a place for further information and edification between recurring contacts. If you’re a Christian and find the website to be of value in your witnessing, we hope that you will choose to use it in this way.
Structure of the Website
After clicking the “Begin Here” button on the Home page, the website begins by presenting visitors an unusually narrow view of what the Bible really is: the infallible, complete and perfectly-preserved Word of God. All content at audacityoftruth.org is based upon this singular premise.
In the “Christianity?” section, visitors are presented with the miraculous, self-validating nature of God’s Word as infallible Truth. We then briefly refute the false premise that truth can only be established by “scientific proof.” Next, we lay the foundation for the gospel by examining a few important attributes of God, His original created order and the fall of man. We examine the Satanic plan lurking behind man’s fall into sin and explore how this plan actually fit in to an omnipotent God’s grand redemptive purpose – from “before the foundation of the world.” We then examine the topic of faith, it’s practical pursuit and the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation. The section wraps up by confronting the reader with the most important questions he/she will ever face – questions about their spiritual disposition in the light of God’s Word.
It’s worth noting that we do not first confront the non-believer with lengthy apologetic arguments or historical evidences supporting the veracity of the gospel. We provide this information in a separate, stand-alone section of the website. In so doing, we are simply agreeing with God when He tells us that we are “saved by grace through faith.” In a culture which has become intensely humanistic – both in and out of the church – we feel it’s critical to underscore the oft-forgotten biblical doctrine that an unregenerate human being lacks the capacity to save him/herself – through their reasoning, decisions or actions.
Christians can be vulnerable to feelings of hopelessness as well – especially those living in America today. That is not to say they do not have good reason to hope; we simply acknowledge that current trends – both in and out of the church – can be quite discouraging at times. In the “For Christians” section of the website, (yet to be developed) we plan to begin by presenting some of the primary reasons why we believe the Christian Church is losing traction in our culture. (Here’s a teaser: Christianity isn’t “losing traction;” Christians are — and by their own hand.) Next, we examine one of the greatest threats to the Church today: humanism. We’ll consider the history of this threat, its present manifestations, its spiritual consequences, and strategies to combat it. We’ll drill down into some fundamentals that we see as most needful in our time: the power and perfection of God’s Word, the need for faithful witnessing in a spiritually dying world, the basics of a strong marriage, and raising Godly children. We close this section of the website by reminding the Christian reader of God’s greatest promises – a mighty source of hope in a sin-darkened world.
We will eventually provide non-Biblical material we believe will prove useful to readers regardless of world view. In the “Apologetics & Evidence” section, we plan to present some of the compelling arguments in support of Christianity – ranging from controversial topics in Creation Science, historical evidences, and prophesies fulfilled. For the non-Christian, this section picks up where the applicable “Christianity?” section of the website left off – while simultaneously providing useful witnessing material for believers.
In the “Convictions for America” section, we intend to begin by examining the Biblical roots of our nation, including the Christian beliefs of our founders, their use of Biblical principals in creating our founding documents and in establishing our entire system of government. We’ll consider the Oath of Office required of our public servants, touch upon some of the most egregious violations of the Constitution that are presently underway, spotlight a few of the unfolding consequences of these violations, and identify some of the actions that must be taken to reclaim our freedom – before it is too late.
The “Current Events” section of the website is self-explanatory: here we will offer commentary – and link you to helpful commentaries elsewhere – that we feel are particularly relevant to fulfilling, propagating or protecting a hope-filled Christian life.
We plan to (mostly) develop the website in the order presented above – for example, do not expect to see much published in the “Convictions for America” or “Current Events” sections until we’ve finished the other (more important) portions of the web site. Sub-pages under unfinished sections are simply place-holders at this point. Since we feel the material presented in the “Christianity?” section more-than-warrants a stand-alone website, is prerequisite to everything else we ultimately plan to address and is literally a matter of spiritual life-or-death – we decided not to wait to ‘go public’ until the whole site is developed.