Hello, and thanks for dropping by Truthscan, a blog that investigates the various claims made by science, culture and religion. These themes are by no means watertight, and by no means exhaustive, however it seems reasonable to assume that when it comes to the existential questions of life, people, more often than not, look to these areas of enquiry to shed light on the issues that perplex them.

WHY ONLY THESE THREE THEMES? WHY NOT OTHERS?

Whilst science is, for the most part, a pretty straightforward category of inquiry, culture and religion can be more nuanced, with plenty of sub-themes contained within them. For instance, philosophy, could be an additional thread that sits under religion in the same way that politics sits under culture; morality and ethics, on the other hand, could justifiably sit under both.

Of course, you might have your own ideas as to where people tend to look for truth, and that’s fine. This blog does not claim that the themes of science, culture and religion are the ultimate sources of truth; what the blog is saying is that these are the broad go-to areas for many people. Plus, having just three themes does help to simplify the structure of the blog into categories that should be reasonably familiar to anyone who visits. Nevertheless, in its investigation, Truthscan will attempt to touch on all possible areas that purport to deal with the idea of truth.

WHAT IS TRUTHSCAN TRYING TO ACHIEVE?

Being a blog with a Biblical worldview, Truthscan aims to share key elements of the Christian faith, beliefs and worldview with readers from all walks of life. There are some very specific reasons for this ambition, as outlined below.

• First and foremost, Truthscan aims to serve as a resource for challenging wrong ideas about Truth, Reality, God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, The Bible and Christianity, and for correcting any misunderstandings or misconceptions that people might have about these topics. You might think this is quite arrogant; after all, who is Truthscan to correct anyone? Fact is, the blog’s intentions in seeking to correct any misconceptions is not out of any sense of moral or intellectual superiority, but a deep sense of concern for the wellbeing of others. Because knowledge that is false, or untrue, or only partially true can be very damaging to the individual. This idea will be developed further as additional posts appear. However, suffice to say this for now. Imagine youself driving down an unknown road on a dark, stormy night. You’re pretty confident that you’re on the right road. But a person on the road stops you to let you know that the bridge a few kilometres away is in a very rickety condition. In fact, this person advises you to turn back. Would you consider them to be arrogant? It’s the same with Truthscan. You’re going on your merry way, enjoying life, and Truthscan is here to tell you that the road that you’re on will turn quite nasty further down the track; so we urge you to do a u-turn. Could we be misinformed? Most certainly. But please be assured that Truthscan is not motivated by any sense of superiority. Which leads to the second objective.

• In keeping with the spirit of Ezekiel 33, Truthscan seeks to be a watchman on the wall who warns the residents of the city of danger. The city is made up of people of all sorts of religious (and irreligious) persuasions and we see it as our duty to ring the alarm bells when we see danger on the horizon. Now some people may say that we’re imagining things and the danger is only in our heads. Others might say we’re stark, raving mad. We’re quite okay with those responses. As for us, we will endeavour to substantiate, to whatever extent possible, the reasons for our views. You are free to accept or reject them. If you accept them, fantastic — let’s do lunch and discuss these issues further. If you reject them, no worries — but we do hope it’s because you have a solid reason for doing so and not because we hurt your feelings, or because you simply “feel” differently. As we have said elsewhere on this website, “Emotions don’t change facts”. So let’s stick with facts.

Truthscan seeks to be a faithful and fearless voice for Christ in Australia, and wherever else this blog may end up being read.

• We want to commend ourselves to the consciences of people around us. In other words, we want to connect with them on a deep and personal level that goes beyond superficial sentimentality and touches a chord within their minds. As the apostle Paul says in his second letter to the church at Corinth:

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, 2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

This is not something we can do ourselves because we have no ability to speak to anybody’s conscience. Hence, we rely on God’s truth to speak into their hearts; after all, it’s the Creator who has direct access to the inner contemplations of the creature. Oue job is merely to convey that truth in its entirety and with accuracy. Thus, we do not seek to be charismatic or clever. Rather, we seek to be faithful using the skills that are at our disposal.

• We want to attack and tear down every intellectual barrier that prevents individuals from coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, knowing full well that even if all these barriers are torn down, the brokenness and corruption of people will still prevent them from accepting the message of Christ. But like we said in the earlier point, our job is not to convert individuals. Our job is to present them with the facts, to get all the misunderstandings and misconceptions out of the way, so that God can speak directly to them. Again, we will use the words of the Apostle Paul to state our intentions:

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Or, to put it in the words of the Apostle Peter:

but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame (1 Peter 3:15-16)

• If we can sum it up in a mission statement, this would be it — Truthscan seeks to be a faithful and fearless voice for Christ in Australia, and wherever else this blog may end up being read.

Hopefully, we’ve been able to communicate the reasons and motivations behind why this blog exists.

If nothing else, we hope to persuade you that truth matters because it is the most precious commodity we have.

Yours truthfully,

Truthscan