The Curious Pilgrim

Is Truth in the Eye of the Beholder?

A Signature Reflection on Epistle to the Romans 7:13–25

🌅 Opening: A Question That Will Not Let Me Go

There are questions that come and go…
and then there are questions that stay with you.

This is one that has walked with me most of my life:

Is truth in the eye of the beholder?

I did not always ask that question.

There was a time when I thought I already knew the answer.

🌾 The World That Formed Me

I grew up in a world where things were clearly defined—or so it seemed.

Women were expected to stay within certain roles
Children were often treated more like property than persons
The color of one’s skin determined their place
Sexuality was hidden
The church preached hellfire and brimstone
People were measured by position, wealth, education, and power

And the church—more than anything—told us:

what was good
what was evil
what was true

I believed it.

Not because I had questioned it…
but because it was the only world I knew.

📖 A Boy, a Bible, and Certainty

I began reading the Bible at eight years old.

At that age, I did not read it on my own terms.
I read it through the eyes of:

my parents
my church
my community

By the time I was fourteen, I had become a pastor.

I thought I knew what to say.
I thought I knew what to do.

I thought I understood truth.

💔 When Life Interrupted My Certainty

But life has a way of confronting what we think we know.

My first real encounter with death came at a funeral—
a woman who had been murdered.

That moment did not ask for theology.
It demanded something deeper.

And then the world itself began to press in:

the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
the reality of martial law
the Vietnam War
Watergate scandal
the AIDS crisis
the Civil Rights movement
the Women’s Rights movement
the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ rights

These were not abstract issues.

They were lived realities.

And they began to challenge everything I thought I knew about truth, good, and evil.

🎓 The Search for Truth

I went to college seeking truth.

What I found was not certainty…
but complexity.

History was not as simple as I had been taught.
Theology was not as settled as I believed.
And life did not follow the neat categories I once trusted.

💔 When It Became Personal

Then life moved from the classroom to the heart.

I experienced:

the death of a child
marriage
the unfolding of life with all its beauty and pain

And I came face to face with something I could no longer deny:

What I once believed did not always give me the answers I needed.

🧠 Understanding Paul at Last

It is here—after years of living—that I began to understand Paul.

In Epistle to the Romans 7, he writes:

“I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”

When I was young, I read that as doctrine.

Now, I read it as experience.

Paul is not writing as a man who has mastered truth.
He is writing as someone who is:

aware of what is good
drawn toward it
and yet struggling to live it in a complicated world

That is not failure.

That is humanity.

⚖️ A World That Has Shifted

The world I grew up in is not the world I live in now.

The pendulum has swung:

women have gained rights and voice
children are seen in ways they once were not
racial injustice is being confronted, though not erased
sexuality is no longer hidden, yet still debated
power still rests largely with the rich and the popular

The old certainty is gone.

But the new clarity has not fully arrived.

So I find myself living between two worlds—
one that was too rigid…
and one that often feels uncertain.

🪞 Is Truth in the Eye of the Beholder?

After all of this, I cannot fully say yes.

Because I have seen things that feel undeniably real:

love that heals
injustice that wounds
truth that brings freedom
deception that destroys

These are not merely opinions.

And yet, I cannot say no so simply either.

Because I have also seen:

how easily we misunderstand
how often we misapply what we call truth
how deeply our upbringing shapes what we believe

So perhaps the better question is not:

“Is truth created by the beholder?”

But:

“How clearly does the beholder see?”

🌿 Where I Now See Truth

I no longer place my full trust in:

institutions
governments
or even the church as I once did

Instead, I see glimpses of truth in individuals—

In those who live with an awareness that:

There is something greater than us…
something we do not control…
something we are still learning to understand.

I see truth in:

humility that listens
compassion that acts
honesty that costs something
love that does not walk away

🌱 A Pilgrim’s Confession

So here is where I stand today:

I believe:

there is truth
there is good
there is love

But I also confess:

I have not arrived.

I am still learning.
Still questioning.
Still growing.

And maybe that is not weakness…

Maybe that is what it means to be a pilgrim.

🌅 Final Word

Romans 7 no longer troubles me the way it once did.

Now it gives me language for the journey.

It reminds me:

the struggle is real
the questions are real
the tension is real

And yet…

So is the possibility of something greater—
something true—
something good—
something rooted in love.

🙏 A Pilgrim’s Prayer

God of truth beyond all certainty,
You who are greater than every system and every understanding,
Walk with me in this ongoing journey.

When I cling too tightly to what I think I know, give me humility.
When I feel lost in uncertainty, give me courage.
When I struggle within myself, give me peace.

Teach me not just to define truth…
but to recognize it,
to live it,
and to love through it.

Amen.

✨ Signature Line for the Series

We are not the creators of truth—
we are seekers,
learning to see it more clearly with each step of the journey.