I just finished reading a fun little book on the history of Monopoly. Actually the book is more about the obsession of Ralph Anspach. Anspach was a professor and creator of the board game Anti-Monopoly. When Parker Brothers went after Anspach it unleashed a decades long quest which would actually uncover the real history of Monopoly. It wasn’t invented by Charles Darrow–the guy whose story was on many Monopoly boards.
At one point Darrow had a third-mortgage on his home, multiple maxed out credit cards, a struggling marriage, and deteriorated friendships. Anspach finally won the case and the real history of Monopoly was told. He was allowed to continue selling his board game, Anti-Monopoly, and all of his court costs were paid by Parker Brothers. But it would end up costing him his marriage and decades of his life.
It was an interesting story to read. I think it’s at least somewhat important for us to be telling an accurate story and for the true inventors to be given proper credit. But after reading the book and seeing the toll it took, I was left asking, “Was it worth it?”
Clearly sacrificing your marriage for uncovering the real history of Monopoly is a bit of a foolish exchange. (And it likely wasn’t that black and white). But this got me to wondering about our propensity to sacrifice much in the name of “truth”. The apostle Paul tells us to “avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law.” But I’m convinced we can fool ourselves into thinking our controversies aren’t foolish if we can say it’s for the sake of truth.
As I’ve given this some thought I think there are four types of engagement with truth.
The truth about the truth. (Jesus Christ rose from the dead)
The truth about a truth (How the gospel speaks into a scientific truth)
A truth about the truth. (Where a common grace truth helps us apply Scripture better)
A truth about a truth. (The creator of Monopoly wasn’t Charles Darrow)
I’m using “a truth” for something which is rightly true but it’s source of truth is not directly tied to the Scriptures. And I’m using “the truth” for something which directly comes from God’s Word. God is the fountain of all truth. But all truth does not weigh the same. Believing that animal crackers will give me cancer will only stop me from enjoying animal crackers. But believing that I can stop a fast moving semi-truck with a shoulder block will have far-reaching implications.
All truth is God’s truth, but we shouldn’t fight for them all equally. What I’m saying is that if we aren’t careful we’ll be duped by the enemy into giving our lives for the sake of “truth” but it’s a truth no more significant than uncovering the real creator of Monopoly. After you win, what have you got? And we’ll feel really good about ourselves for being one who preserves the truth. We’ll even be lauded by our peers for being a truth-teller who is concerned about rightly dividing the Word of Truth. But it’ll be a sham. Because we aren’t rightly dividing the Word if you give improper weight to things.
So give your life to truth which matters.
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