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Can a Person Become a Christ Follower on a Fragment of the Truth?

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I can hear them now. Those who tout knowledge of the truth over everything else. I can hear the scripture they might quote or the list of theological truths necessary to “be saved.”

My interactions with believers in foreign countries who only have a portion of God’s Word in their heart language lead me to believe that a person, any person for that matter, becomes a believer on a fragment of the Truth.

None of us will have the full revelation of who God is while we are on this earth. Yet we can arrogantly present an attitude that a person needs to know a certain amount of truth to be saved.

This kind of truth is described as objective truth. But what about our knowledge of a subjective truth? Does it have any merit?

The 19th century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard contrasted objective and subjective truth. As a thinker that based his philosophy on the premise that man has a concrete and specific existence in the world (Existentialism), Kierkegaard suggests that if all a person does is pursue a knowledge based on objective truth—a list of rules, historical facts of Jesus, etc—he doesn’t have a hold on Christianity at all but simply the facts of Christianity.

Have I lost you yet? I hope not! This can change your life.

Think of your earthly relationships

I became a believer in my wife long before I knew everything about her. In fact, I still don’t know everything about her after 26 years of marriage. Yet I believed in her so much that I became her husband on a fragment of the truth. How strange would that have been if I would have delayed marrying her until I got all the facts about her? I became her husband based on a subjective truth filled with emotion and passion.

The question is do you have enough of the Truth to commit your life to Jesus Christ? I mean really belong to Him? Passionate, sold-out, “I am Yours!” kind of commitment?

That kind of relationship can not fully emanate from an objective truth alone. It also comes from a passionate knowing.

What is Faith?

That leads us to the understanding of what faith is and is not. Whenever we have to know the answer to every one of our questions, do we really exercise faith? Our pursuit of all the answers before we move forward reflects an unbelieving spirit.

My years of a “Christianity” focused on gaining more and more knowledge of an objective truth resulted in just that—a knowing of more facts about God. Sure, I gained an appreciation of who He is, what He has done, and what He is doing. But that alone did not transform me. In reality, it dulled my walk. It caused me to be critical and judgmental.

Not until I began to place my faith in the fragment of what I knew about Him did I begin to experience a passion and emotional knowing.

What if I never learn another objective fact or truth about God?

It really doesn’t matter to me if I ever learn another objective truth about Jesus Christ. Whoa! Really?

What I know about Him both objectively and subjectively (in my spirit) is enough for me to be madly in love with Him, right now, today. It is enough for me to live abandoned for Him, sacrifice my life to be with Him.

Oh how sad I get when I become dulled by a pursuit of more objective knowledge of God. I prefer to relish in the passionate knowing that I am His and one day I will know Him completely.

Don’t misunderstand me. I love knowing more about Him, but the pursuit of the objective knowledge is not my main goal. I want to be with Him; in His presence; in sweet intimate communion.  I need to know not one more thing about Him to do that.

This explains the passionate Christianity I have observed by a new believer or a believer from a culture that only has a portion of God’s word in their language. Even if they wanted to learn more about God, they might not have access to that knowledge in their lifetime. That doesn’t seem to hold them back one bit in their subjective knowing of their Savior.

Oh might that be what describes my relationship with Him.

Want to explore this more? Please either leave a comment for all to join or send me a private message.

About the Author

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I am a longtime Austinite. Married my beautiful wife over 35 years ago. Adopted our son September 2012.
As a small business and nonprofit coach/consultant, I have found my sweet spot. I lean on my varied background of corporate, small business ownership, writing, and pastoring as I work to help small business owners and nonprofit founders build the business they want to have.


  • Great post Kenneth! Yes, it’s about the experience of Christ, not the experience of knowing about Jesus. Keep up the great writing.

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