This page is a very quick explanation of something that could be an entire book. If you would like to spend the time reading a slightly more indepth discussion, you can read a draft of a manuscript by clicking here.

Alethia is a Greek word that means Truth. It refers to that which is objective as opposed to opinion. It also includes moral truth as opposed to situational morality. The Alethia Principle is summed up in the words "Reality is more important than anything we believe."

This means that Truth is the highest value, more important that religion, more important than denomination, more important than doctrine or one's believes about God. It means that if we find out that anything we think, believe or feel is at odds with God's Truth, that we place Truth above ourselves.

Alethia means that Truth trumps opinion when the two are different. It does not mean we are not permitted to have opinions, but that we must always be aware that Truth is more important than our opinions. For instance, I can have an opinion about whether I think our government should do this or that, but that opinion is subject to learning more facts. As I learn more facts, my opinion might change. An opinion is and ought to be subject to change as more facts are available. The most obvious fact is whether or not the plan I think ought to work really does what it's supposed to do.

Also, many people have opinions about what they think is true. Some people have strongly held opinions about God, the Bible, various doctrines, who did what to whom, which solution will produce which result, what it takes to get rich, etc.

No matter one's opinion, that opinion should always be subject to what is actually True about all these things. Is the Bible the Word of God? Does that include only the autographa (original version hand written by the original author) or does that include the King James version? All versions? Any language? (For the record, I believe that autographa is the Word of God, and the translations are subject to scrutiny.) What impact would evidence have? If evidence doesn't matter, then that is a sign that opinions are being placed above Truth. ("Don't confuse me with the facts, I've already made up my mind.") If nothing we believe is subject to scrutiny, then it shows that we are placing our currently held beliefs above God's Truth.

Alethia also implies moral truth. There are moral truths that transcend all cultures. One such truth is "Do unto others..." which varies only in who in included in the category of the "others" to which one ought to do unto. In a Biblical sense, it also includes the Truth of God's morality, which, I find, is greatly different than the morality of the World, and, at times, even the Church.

While examples of how the World and the Word differ are so many that anyone can think of examples, I have even heard churches teach that their rules are "better" than the rules set forth in the Bible. Defining the denominational rules as "safer" would not provoke distrust from me, but "better"? God's Law was "improved" by the Pharisees, and it does not take much Gospel reading to see how Jesus dealt with them.

Alethia is Truth, and if we read the Bible carefully, we discover how important Truth is to God. Jesus even said that He IS The Truth. In James 5:19-20, it talks about one who errs from the Truth. All through the Bible, hundreds of times, it makes reference to Truth. Speaking the Truth to one another in love (Ephesians 4:15) requies that we know Truth first, and we must also have love. "Sin" simply means missing the mark, which in it's use in archery means that someone knew where the bullseye was, they thought they had it in their sights, but when they shot the arrow it missed.

Part of my prayers include asking God to help me bullseye the Truth and for Him to deliver others from the consequences of what mistakes I know I must still make. I am not perfect, but I am still growing as a man and a Christian. I value Truth above all, and that's part of what anchors me to my faith. I know my God, not just about Him, but I know Him in a personal relationship and a key component of that relationship is that I value His Truth above anything I believe.

To truly live out the Alethia Principle, we must always be willing to entertain the possbility that any given thing we know is wrong. We must also be willing to entertain the possibility that everything we know is wrong. What we think we know might be exactly backwards, or it might be just a little off, but so long as we seek Truth and value it above everything else, our lives will be filled with a constant progressive revelation of God's Truth. We will continually gain in knowledge and wisdom as we learn facts that help us refine what we think.

For instance, we might believe that God always heals His faithful, but when we encounter our first truly faithful person whom God does not heal, we can either presume sin (which is the typical response for those with this theology) or we can entertain the idea that maybe our belief is incorrect. It might be the God does heal, but He does not ALWAYS heal.

Similarly for those who believe God protects them so they do not need to take any safetly measures themselves - who are then victims of a crime. Likewise those who believe that all we can do is pray for our children because there is nothing parents can do to raise their children right - who then see child abuse and realize that, at the very least, we can avoid making such serious mistakes.

The Alethia Principle even means that our concept of God is always up for consideration. We need people of different faiths to entertain that notion, but if we do not, then how can we expect them to do so? If they are wrong about God, they need to consider that they may be wrong about God. If we do not entertain that notion, why should they?

I believe that to God, all places are here (omnipresent in space) and all times are now (onmipresent in time - omnitemporal). I believe He transcends infinities upon infinities in His existence, and that even the Bible is an inadequate revelation of Him because He cannot explain His complete nature to beings as finite as us - even just seeing Him in all His glory would slay us.

However, I am open to the possibility that I have it wrong, and if I encountered evidence of this, I would adjust my beliefs. I know that there are those who do not believe that God is onmitemporal, that He moves through time in a manner very similar to us, and that His apparent omnipresence in time is an illusion created by His All Knowing nature (omniscience). I have heard their argument, and I have considered their evidence, and I still believe that God is omnitemporal. I have also listened to the arguments of atheists and of members of other faiths, and I have logically considered their evidence in light of what I know, and I have maintained my position. In an honest, open discussion, they must likewise admit that I have a basis for my faith - that it is not blind faith (faith for no reason).

From time to time, though, I do find facts that lead me to refine my view of God and how He works in our lives. The most frequent change, I find, is discovering that Principles I was taught as universal (they apply to everyone all the time) are actually conditional (they only apply sometimes). God does not always do the same thing, and He sometimes acts in ways that might seem unrighteous to some (flooding the world, killing and ordering killing), but He knows what He's doing and with patience and diligence, we can learn why He does what He does in many, perhaps most cases. Part of His work in my own life has to do with a bodybuilding principle - it takes extreme discomfort to produce maximum gains in strength. He's done seemingly painful things to me, but from brokeness He crafts strength and a faith more powerful than might have been produced any other way. Thus I have learned to trust His ways and trust His design. When the times of pain come, my faith remains steadfast. I "count it all joy" as part of God's word in my life (James 1:2).

God often intervenes to protect us from our own ignorance. There's no telling how many potential disasters have been averted about which I knew nothing. But one thing I have found in my own life and walk with God is that we are usually held accountable for what we know. When God gives us light, we are accountable for what we did with that light.

Email me if you would like to share your thoughts on the matter.

- Scot Conway, Ph.D., J.D.