Trust in the midst of Mis-placed Honour and Shame

T r U S t

We are learning a lot about 'trust'.

And it has popped up in a very interesting context recently - both here in Botswana and in Australia..... in relation to elections.

In the lead up to the recent national elections here the ruling party (who were returned to power), had signs and banners saying they were the party people 'can trust'.

Then just recently an Australian news bulletin email (ABC 3-11-14) came our way saying:

 "Victorian Premier makes trust a central election issue -
The Victorian Premier has made an election pitch to voters calling on them to decide who they can trust to manage the state's finances.  .......Dr Napthine said the election was about three things: choice, trust and good decisions......."Over the next 24 days, Victorians will be left in no doubt, it is only the Coalition that they can trust to keep our finances in order, to have the money to pay for facilities and services that Victorians need and deserve. To deliver safer communities, to attract investment, to create jobs, and provide opportunities for Victorians to live satisfying and fulfilling lives," he said." (emphasis mine)

Now, maybe I was just unobservant in years past, but I don't recall an Australian election ever before making 'trust' a key election issue.

Not only is this an issue related to every human being, it is an issue of particular interest to us  in our research on honour and shame.

Trust is not a stand-alone commodity, it can only exist where there is something/someone to trust. It means 'to rely on' or 'to put faith in' or 'to believe in'.  

To expect people to have some level of degree of trust of each other requires other people to be trustworthy - faithful - reliable.  It is true that ultimately the only totally faithful and trustworthy One is God Himself, and Scripture tells us not to put our ultimate trust in man but in God. (Ps 118:8)  But God created us in His image, to function in this world according to His character and life within us, which though lost at the Fall, is to be evident in all Christians as we allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in us....and part of that fruit is 'faithfulness' - ie trustworthiness.  It is also still the standard by which this world and relationships within it are designed to function. We of course should be people who can be trusted to keep our word, tell the truth, fulfill committments, love others etc.

However, when a culture (family, community, nation) is or becomes a culture with mis-placed honour and shame and people live for the approval of others rather than or above the approval of God, trust breaks down....well trust in the sense of honesty, anyhow.

When trust breaks down in a society  that once had it, it is no longer something that 'goes without saying'.  It is no longer something automatically assumed.  Honesty becomes some rare jewel as opposed to something good and widely enjoyed.

Our Western world has failed to realise how much its Christians have in the past provided 'salt in society' and how much the history of a Judeo-Christian ethic has formed a safe environment for what the Victorian Premier described as the desire to "live satisfying and fulfilling lives". It has failed to realise that true and full trust is built on honesty.  Honesty can't occur without truth.  In fact the concept of honesty presupposes the existence of truth.

However, the Western world has also failed to realise that they have built for themselves an inconsistency and thus an unreachable goal - that of consistent reliable honesty while denying the existence or need of consistent reliable (absolute) truth.  

The last couple of generations in the Western World have been living in a fools paradise, thinking they can have the benefits of honesty while denying absolute truth.  Society seemed to be able to work with both, whereas in reality it was simply a section of society that refused absolute truth while a large proportion of society was still living under the awareness of absolute truth.  This has slowly changed and now society is living with a large proportion refusing absolute truth and only a small proportion acknowledging absolute truth. The balance has shifted.  Honesty is becoming a rarer commodity because universal honesty according to an external standard is only possible when someone acknowledges an 'absolute truth' outside of themselves or their family or their society.

The west has played with fire and is now getting burnt.  It has said there is no absolute truth - that your 'truth' is as good as my 'truth' or someone else's 'truth'.  But you can't have three 'truths' or three hundred 'truths' that differ from each other and are inconsistent with each other and still have 'satisfying and fulfilling lives' in a community.  I can no longer 'trust' you to act according to a standard that will govern us both, if we don't both acknowledge the 'absolute truth' over both of us.  Everyone does what pleases themselves and is 'right' according to their 'own truth'.

The result: honesty is a rare commodity, trust breaks down and also becomes a rare commodity.   A society loses a sense of safety and community, and thus loses the joy of satisfying and fulfilling lives.

When people are more concerned for honour and are afraid of shame before people as their sole standard for living, and there is no sense of absolute truth and a God who sees and knows all, then people have no cause for concern for truth outside of themselves - they just do whatever suits their personal goals at the time.  But there is a cost, not least that trust breaks down - one's word is no longer consistent in all situations...and thus a sense of community breaks down, a sense of safety breaks down and satisfying and fulfilling lives seem less obtainable.

A slight variation on this is that when a person loses sight of God, instead of having the attitude of "It doesn't matter what other people think, I'll do what God thinks is right", that person doesn't just remove God from the picture, they replace that place of highest honour and authority in their lives with themselves.  So now they say "It doesn't matter what other people think, I'll do what I think is right".  When a person displaces God as absolute authority, they also displace him as absolute truth.  When a whole community of individuals do this, and such individuals become the majority in that community, then that community no longer has a 'community norm' that holds them together except that no-one knows how anyone else is going to act anymore.

The short definition of that is 'dis-trust'.

But deep down in each of us, we yearn for community. We were made for relationships.  But for relationships and a sense of belonging, and 'satisfying and fulfilling lives' we have to have trust.  Where it has become a rare commodity, it can now be held out as a rare jewel being offered, rather than the good that all (or almost all) once enjoyed.

Now of course, whether political party promises of trust are to 'be trusted' is another topic of discussion.  But the point is, that it is a topic to be used at all, is significant.  It infers that all around us are people and groups that cannot be trusted.  It infers that the 'norm' now is untrustworthiness.  It infers that the group offering trustworthiness, is different, better and will bring a return of the 'satisfying and fulfilling lives' we all wish for.

The truth is that 'trust' is a pre-requisite for 'satisfying and fulfilling lives', but only when that trust in placed first and foremost in the One who is totally trustworthy.  When the majority of members of a community are putting their trust in the One who is totally trustworthy, as their Absolute Truth and Authority - there will be an overall level of trust in the society.  Without it there will not.

As Christians it starts with US. Are we living in such a way as to allow the Fruit of the Holy Spirit to be evident? Are we trustworthy and faithful?  Are we known for keeping our word, fulfilling commitments, giving sacrificially, loving others, being diligently honest, upholders of truth, faithful at work, at home, at church? Are you the salt you need to be in the contexts God has placed you. Yes it starts with US.  It starts with ME.  It starts with YOU.

In a futre blog I would love to share with you some excerpts from a terrific book I have just finished reading all about 'trust' and the consequences of its presence or lack in a society and economy.  Meanwhile if you can source a copy for yourself, though not a Christian book, I would highly recommend it.  It is called "Trust: the social virtues and the creation of prosperity" by Francis Fukuyama.