A Certain Point of View

What does it mean when someone says a person has a certain point of view? Does it mean that people can have vastly differing ideas about what something means, or the reality of a situation, and still be correct? Does it even matter?

Anyone who knows even a little bit about me knows I love a good story, but most of all that I’m a sci-fi geek. Marvel Comics movies, Star Trek, MMORPGs, the works. Telling a good story makes learning a point interesting and fun (like Aesop’s Fables), and I appreciate sci-fi because the special effects are cool! But beyond all the eye-candy, I’ve found that you can gain a certain amount of insight into how people think. You sometimes have an opportunity to peek into the thoughts and beliefs of the ones involved in telling the story as they expound on a certain point of view. A perfect example can be found in the Star Wars episodes.

If you’ve ever watched the movie series then you’ll remember this scene;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8uDQuWlnww

Luke had discovered a terrible secret – Darth Vader was his father! That fact was verified through the ‘ghost’ of Obi Wan, his old mentor. Obi Wan had lied to Luke in claiming Darth Vader had killed his father, but it just wasn’t so. In his explanation of why he had deceived Luke, Obi Wan justified his lie by claiming that it was really the truth, from a certain point of view. Obi Wan then goes on to claim that a great many things we think are true aren’t necessarily so; instead he suggests that truth is often only true to the one who has ‘a certain point of view. ‘ He means it’s subjective.

There are those who will say, “So what’s the big deal? It’s just a movie.” No, it’s much more than just a movie.

The inference of believing everyone simply has their own point of view is that there really isn’t any such thing as unchanging truth. “What’s true for you is not necessarily true for me.” The end result is that people don’t accept much of anything as real truth.

That kind of thinking will help determine what you consider to be valid, or truthful. It can even get to the point of people relegating God’s Word to just a certain point of view. That way of thinking is a disaster just waiting to happen!

Here are a few examples of how people who think this way might respond to the truth of God’s Word;

“That may work for you, but it doesn’t work for me.”

“Who are you to judge?”

“Whatever (floats your boat, lights your lamp, flips your switch, etc.).”

Have you ever approached someone with the truth of God’s Word and gotten one of those lines as a response? I know I have. It’s very frustrating! They think of God’s Word as just a certain point of view. They are, and remain, lost – all because they have a faulty view of reality. They do have a certain point of view, but that ‘view’ isn’t reality and will cost them dearly!

How can anyone overcome that faulty view of reality? It only comes from the revelation of the unchanging nature of God’s Word and Who Jesus is, as that truth is applied by the Holy Spirit.

Arguing about the truth of Scripture won’t change someone’s mind. Threatening someone with it won’t work. Neither will pleading. The Word is brought alive to an individual, any individual, by the work of the Holy Spirit alone as He reveals the truth of Who Jesus is and the reality of the Word.

The part we play is that we can ask God for two things regarding such a person;

That He would show them the truth of Who Jesus is – 2 Cor 4:3-4; Luke 10:21-22;

And that He would give them a change of heart – 2 Tim 2:24-26; 2 Peter 3:9

By prayer, and through appropriately sharing God’s Word, we can help those around us get to know the King of the Universe. At least that’s what the Word states, from a certain point of view!